My 3 yo old son came out of the womb with a dramatic entrance & has been bringing the drama ever since! He is extremely loud, active, tenacious & demanding. He never accepts no for an answer & is relentless in his quest for what he is after. He has been like this since day 1! He cries his head off over time out buit immediately goes back to previous behaviors. Despite how it sounds he is also sweet, hilarious, tons of fun, and brings an indescribable amount of joy into our lives! I have an older daughter & 17 month twins as well. My issue is that my son eats a TON & refuses to eat fruits & veggies for the most part. He is a big guy - he is about the same size as most 5-6 yo's, despite turning 3 about 3 weeks ago. He is pretty lean w/ the exception of a very small toddler tummy. He is well over the 100 percentile marker on height & in the 90th percentile for weight. He has been picky since infancy but lately he is constantly complaining of hunger despite eating large amounts at mealtime. Today he ate 2 packets of oatmeal & 1/2 of a nbanana & milk for breakfast. Within 5 min of finishing he asked for scrambled eggs. I made him one. An hour later he wants lunch. He doesn't like snacks much - he likes meals. He basically wants to eat mac n chz all day everyday - literally. He loves Michelenas Wheels & cheese & will eat 2 containers of it then complain/cry/ask me incessantly because I refuse to give him more! He won't eat nuts, fruit snacks, smoothies, most fruit, crackers, sandwiches, etc. at all. He will eat an apple slice or two, endless amounts of cheese, or yogurt. Other than that he is not a snacker. He wants to eat enormous grown man sized meals.
My husband & I both struggle w/ our weight so this seems scary to me. Is it normal? Am I paranoid? Please share your thoughts, suggestions, etc with me! Thank you so much!!
I would stop buying the Mac and Cheese, if you dont have it he cant eat it. Start buying a making healthier foods. My boys eat what we eat, no special meal at my house. I hope I'm not sounding rude, but if you really want to change his eating habits then you need to start with yours and your husbands. Fresh veggies, fresh fruits, whole grains, and the least amount of processed foods are the best.
Could it be a growt spurt? Call your pedi and ask. Sounds like it since he is ravenous. Unless you traveled out of the country recently and he picked up a parasite of some sort? Can you say no, wait till dinner? Give him water to fill him up a little? I know you said he is high drama and maybe that also makes you give him what he wants when he wants to keep him calm? If that's the case your angel is playing you? As long as you are not depriving him of 3 meals a day just tell him no and cover your ears(lol)
That seems like a lot of food, but what does your pediatrician say? You should have your pediatrican rule out blood sugar and metobolic issues, and do a developmental screen to be sure that there is nothing more serious going on that could cause extreem hunger.
If he is as big as you say, he may just need more to eat, especially if he is higher in his hight percentile than his weight percentile, you don't have a weight problem now. Focus on ruling out metobloic issues and on expanding the foods that he will eat, because your question is kind of two pronged, he both wants to eat a lot, and he has very limited food choices and ridgid food habbits and restrictions that he has imposed on himself.
Some of that could be sensory, if he is a super taster, it may be nearly imposible to get him to like some veggies, but there will usually be one or two that you can sneak by, texture is a different story. If he likes only creamy, easy to eat items (which all of what you list sound like to me) then you should explore the sensory route and see if you might be able to get some therapy with an OT or speech therapist to get him used to texture (refulsal to eat cruchy, dry, crispy or chewy can be a feeding issue that will have concequences on speech articulation.)
How is his speech? Does he use a new bite to push the old bite to the back of the mouth to swallow or does he chew and use his muscles to push the food to the back of the mouth to swallow? You want the latter, so watch him, it is especially easy to see them do this with bananas, they take a bite, chew a little, take another bite before they swallow, and use that bite to move the food to the back of the mouth. The muscles are week, and they have found a strategy to avoid using them, but the problem is, they need to practice that movement and build that muscle for clear articulation. Does he get upset if you serve him a different shape of mac and cheese? Could he like the size of the macaroni because he can use the next bit to push the last one to the back of his mouth? What will he eat when he eats a full meal?
M.
This reminds me of an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition where one of the kids had a rare disease where he was hungry ALL the time. The parents had to put a lock on all the places where food was kept because if they didn't the kid would eat until his stomach would basically explode.
I'm not saying that's what your son has, i'm just saying that's what it reminded me of and unless you get more answers that make more sense I would talk to your doctor about it.
First to address the food issue-my son goes thru periods where he absolutely can't get enough to eat. But what does his doctor say about it? How long has he been eating like this? I would rule out any medical concerns first.
Then if nothing is wrong work out a meal plan for him. Look into the book Sneaky Chef. That way you can get more fruit/veggies into him. I made her mac n cheese with added orange puree (carrot and sweet potato) and you absolutely couldn't tell it was in there! Also, present him with fruit and/or veggies at every meal and snack time. Make sure what you are feeding him doesn't fall into the packaged or processed category or limit that greatly.
For the behavior issues-my son was a wild child but we did structured activities every single week.Things like storytime at the library so he would have to sit and listen. In the beginning i would have to have his sippy cup and a snack so he would sit still. We did toddler gymnastics. Again so he would have to listen and follow instructions. We did toddler music classes. We were active in a moms group. We did storytime every week and moms group activities every week and then picked one activity like the gymnastics or music for a few weeks and then changed it up. It was a lot of work for me but it made a huge difference in his behavior.
It sounds like he's a growing boy, but you need to be in charge of what he eats, not him. No reason to have the pre-packaged foods in my opinion. If you want to have a mac n cheese occasionally, add frozen peas or tomatoes to it to make it healthier. Costco has a great oatmeal - Coaches Oatmeal (kinda like the steel cut), but you can microwave it. Just add fresh fruit or honey, or nuts. Too much sugar in the little packets and it won't fill him up. Change the eating habits for the family, not just him and you will all fell better for it. Try giving him a healthy choice between two things, so he feels like he is making the choice. No need to limit healthy foods like carrots, celery, mushrooms, fruit, etc... Skip the fruit snacks, how about dried fruit? Sprouts and Trader Joes have lots to choose from. Maybe try new foods. Does he like kiwi or avacado? Is he confusing thirsty for hungry? Make sure he drinks lots of water and he's not eating because he's bored. We tell our kids that they have to try new foods, it's ok if they don't like it, but they have to try it. Lots of playtime is important too. As long as he is eating healthy choices and gets good exercise every day he'll be in good shape. But, be sure to check with your doctor to be sure.
No more processed foods. Get it out of the house. Why not give him real oatmeal instead of packets? Try the steel cut ones, there is lots more fiber in those. Cheese is good protein though, make sure you are trying yogurt and cottage cheese as well.
Give him what you eat, are you eating fruits and veggies and nuts and all that like you want him to do? If you are really struggling, please please stop this pattern from repeating. I give my kids Mac and Cheese and hot dogs, but they know this is a treat. So that is usually every other week. Is he eating out of boredom?
And I have to respectfully disagree with Denise's comment. Frozen dinners and ramen/pizza/weinies are not foods. I like them too, but we are grown ups and the sodium and all sorts of nonsense in them will make your head spin.
Hello!
I am with Denise - I did not see proteins in your list. The simple starches in the pastas burn through fast. They give short term energy, where proteins will add long term energy because the body has to work on them more to break them down, keeping hunger at bay.
If you start him off with a protein breakfast, you might also find that his mood improves because his blood sugar does not get as much into a rollercoaster up and down from running only on starch. There are great ideas in Denise's post.
Also, as a protein option, just recently I got firm tofu for my girls (20 mo & almost 5) for the first time to see what they thought. I browned slices it in the pan, some with some mild spice, some without. They polished it off in no time. I was actually stunned that my husband and I only got a morsel to taste and that was all for us. Tofu comes in different textures and does not have a lot of flavor on its own, so you could mix it into other dishes if this is a diffcult transition for him and still get some protein into him.
He might be also old enough to help with some meal preparation, which makes everything more interesting!
Good luck!
You just described my son who's 7. What I do is provide a healthy meal and portion that I think is adequate for him. Then I provide cut up fruit and veggies in the kitchen for snacks (your son will be too young to help himself but this might give you ideas). He can eat those or just wait until the next meal. I homeschool and I have 5 kids and it seemed like they were constantly wanting to eat. Two of my kids have blood sugar issues so this really helped with all of their cravings etc. He'll get used to this way of eating in no time. He shouldn't eat so much because he will end up with a weight problem. Also, keep introducing fruits and veggies to him. He'll get used to it and enjoy these things when he is older. It takes practice. Good luck to you!
I agree with Dori that he may be in a growth spurt and you may need to try cooking some of the veggies in the food you cook. They do make some freezer section food that has the veggies cooked into normal foods and say you cannot taste it.
I agree that he needs proteins added to his diet.
What I do not see is anyone suggesting the one bite rule.... My son was a straight non-meat eater for years. Yes, I agree that is not necessarily totally a bad thing. Well when he went to Head Start that would not be ok. They do what is called the one bite rule. Whatever is put on your plate you have to take one bite before being done or getting seconds of something you do like. After that if you did not like it you did not have to eat it. With some kids like my son... So many meal times of taking a bite of some foods like meat. They end up liking the food.
So I think you need to try talking to your doctor and see what he/she says and I would even try the one bite rule. I still use this to this day and my kids are in the double digits.
you are not listing protien foods in your list. feed him more protien. bologna, peanut butter, eggs and sausage for breakfast not oatmeal. feed him snacks like fish sticks chicken nuggets, frozen burritoes, frozen pizza, beans and wienies, make homemade burritoes with rice, potatoes beans, meat cheese and veggies if he wants them. vienna saugages hot dogs, fry or bake some chicken legs for snacks. put cheese on his eggs like an ham and cheese omlet with 2 eggs not one lots of protien. meatballs and ramen noodles for a snack. lots of cheese and meat. when you make him a bologna sandwich make it 2 pieces of bologna and 2 pieces of cheese and 2 pieces of bread. chili dogs for snacks that has beans and hamburger and hotdogs in it. chili cheese fries. lots of protien again. good luck its probably just a growth spurt but this should slow him down to a degree.
Katye, after you rule out any possible medical condition, you should think about how you and your husband think about food. There were two siblilings in my daughter's pre-school who were always trying to get more food, sneaking food from other children, like an obsession. It turns out their parents had struggled with weight and were limiting the kid's food at home so they wouldn't get fat. The kids were responding to the limits by trying to get more, and they were beginning to resemble the Campbell Soup Kids. The suggestions for healthy meals in other posts are good, but I wouldn't limit how much in kids this young. If they get the idea you don't want them to have it they will want it more.
