How are your LO's appetites?

[Chookie07]

My son is not a very good eater. Daycare tells me he eats well for them which is great, but I want to see it too! He LOVES spaghetti and noodles, but he's never hungry and when he is he eats so little. We dont believe in the whole "stay at the table till you clean your plate". We go by his cues and hes growing fine and all but its still frustrating that he wont eat anything!!

He does say hes hungry in the morning and will eat a little but I just feel like he should be eating more....what are your kids eating habits?

[Thyninne]

Well, Jonathan is normally a very good eater. I've lucked out in that sense. He's a terrible sleeper, but is a great eater. He'll usually have two bowls of cereal at breakfast, and almost always cleans his plate at dinner. He is also a big pasta lover.

However, we also don't believe in staying at the table until the plate is cleaned. I trust that he will eat until he's full. He knows his own body best. Although on days where he doesn't eat much dinner, then comes to me saying that he "needs candy", I don't have as much faith in his own cues :lol: I believe that forcing a child to eat will get you nowhere, so it sounds to me like you are doing the right thing. I know it's not easy not to worry, but if he's growing fine, it sounds like he's doing okay.

[NyMommy04]

Julie eats like a bird too. Jayde is my good eater. She's always got food in her mouth.
funny thing is, she's still 19 lbs. We haven't broken that 20 lbs mark yet.

Julie loves fruits and veggies. Not too keen on the meat.

[~HollyBear~]

Joseph is a light eater as well. He loves cereal, and most "breakfast" foods. I have to limit breakfast though or else he honestly would not eat the rest of the day. I have learned to give very small amounts and have him ask for more if he's hungry. Also it seems small amounts are less overwhelming to him than large portions, even if he eats the same amount in 3 small helpings--if that makes sense.

Dinner is our hardest. He's just never hungry. Kaitlyn eats 3 times the dinner Joseph does! He will almost always eat all his veggies/fruit. He really doesn't like pasta, loves most meat. And like Jonathan, sometimes he'll whine about being full after not eating much, then 20 minutes later say he needs a treat.

[barbygirl43]

William's a pretty good eater sometimes going for 2nds or even thirds. We too don't make them stay at the table nor promote "happy plates." They do have to take at least 3 bites of everything if they want their "treat" (which is usually canned fruit, pop ice, sometimes ice cream, raisins, etc. Only around holidays do we offer cookies, cakes, candy as their after dinner treat.)

[Chookie07]

Thanks ladies! I was so shocked that he ate 7 dinosaur nuggets tonight! I guess there something about eating T-Rex's head! lol

[Thyninne]

:lol: That's funny! Jonathan loves chicken nuggets. I bought some zoo animal shaped ones, and they were devoured :lol:

[~HollyBear~]

Joseph eats the dino ones too. He usually loves them with ranch or ketchup, but i just introduced him to bbq sauce and he LOVES it!

[brooklynkc1023]

Brooklyn is now a good eater! She can chow with the best of them. She used to be terrible, and I worried she wasn't getting enough. Maybe she hit a growth spurt, but she has been eating pretty much anything I put in front of her.

[Thyninne]

That's great! Good for Brooklyn!

Jonathan's eating habits remain the same...he still pretty much devours everything :lol: