He does not eat... much.

My youngest is 3.5 years old. He just is getting over an ear infection and being sick with a fever and cough. He was back to his normal happy self going to preschool today. My issue is that he is a little peanut and does not eat much. He is my 10 lb baby! He is average for weight and a bit above average for height as of his 3 year check up. He will eat a packet of oatmeal for breakfast, some Mac/cheese for lunch and then a half slice of homemade banana bread for snack at three when his siblings come home from school. But then suppertime is a fight. He sits there and plays. Having his brother and sister three is no help, but he should still be hungry. He seriously at maybe 4 bites of his spaghetti tonight. And that was after constantly telling him to eat. This is a ritual no matter what supper we have at 6:00pm. Last night it was Mac/cheese I think. He wants to be fed. Even when I do feed him it takes awhile. I just cannot sit there and force feed him every night. Help! The only option I see is letting him skip the meal and not giving him anything else to eat, which he is just fine with. I remember getting the twins to eat by telling them they can have applesauce, pudding or yogurt afterwards, but he could care less about that. These foods are foods he likes. Thanks for any help.

 

I know exactly what you are going through, Jackie. My two are the same... pretty good breakfast, okay lunch, a small snack, and very little dinner. I will tell you what doctors have always told me & what you probably already know, as long as he is growing (and if he is average weight, he sounds okay) and healthy, then don't worry as long as they are offered a balanced diet they will eat what they need. It is so frustrating, but I have given up the dinner battle. I give them small portions, insist on a few bites (and I do mean a few, like 3) and then if I can get them to eat half a banana or a carton of yogurt (which is hit or miss), I feel pretty good about their dinner. They have been eating this way for over a year & are still growing, so obviously they are okay. I do give them a multivitamin & at times that I get really worried about their nutrition (after they have been sick, etc.) I will add Carnation Instant Breakfast to their milk in the mornings. Other than that, I am just waiting not so patiently for this phase to pass!

 

If he is still on his own growth curve, I would leave it up to him to decide if he wants to eat. I still find it hard to relinquish control, but meal times have never really been a battle for us because I do not make any comments/suggestions on how much to eat.
And I am quite sure their growth slows and they no longer need as much food as they did when younger.
Maybe give him the control and see if it helps.

 

I know it's hard but try not to worry. My girls are the same way. At 18 months they would eat everything put before them. Now they are 3.5 and rarely eat more than 2 bites of dinner, regardless of what I serve. They are extremely picky eaters! I figure if they are hungry, they will eat, and if not then they won't starve to death. I am trying now to get them to at least TRY new foods before saying they don't want them. I can usually coax them into eating 1 bite but not much more than that, LOL. I do give them multivitamins too, and they drink a lot of milk so I know at least they are getting SOME nutrition.

 

I guess I'd say that if he's growing and doing fine, then don't worry about it. Maybe he's just not hungry at dinner time!? If he's not hungry and cranky later on - he's probably just gotten enough calories during the day?

My DH and I made a decision when my girls were starting to eat solid food that we would try to not comment on what or how much they were eating. We've pretty much stuck to this - we try to offer healthy food and let them decide whether want to eat or not. They are almost three now and sometimes they'll chow down at dinner and sometimes they'll take a bit or two and decide they are done. Maybe I'm weird, but it honestly does not bother me either way. My theory is that if they're hungry, they'll eat.

(Oh, we also don't do juice except for a little bit in the a.m. - and they just get milk at breakfast, lunch and before bed, so I know they're not filled up on liquids.)

 

I agree with PP's Jackie. My two have one meal a day that they barely touch (usually it's dinner). My rule with them is if they don't eat dinner, they cannot expect a snack. I, at least, would like to see them finish half of the plate for dinner. My thought is if they are not hungry enough for dinner, then they aren't hungry enough for a snack. If he's fine with no dinner or a hardly a dinner, then I'd let him go.
You are doing what you only can do, offering him the food to eat and it's up to him whether or not he eats it.

 

Thanks.. I do know this but it is frustrating. I know serving sizes are pretty tiny for this age. Thanks... I guess I just needed to hear it from others.

 

Sabrina is itty bitty, and it's always been a huge struggle to get her to eat. We found out in like April that she's quite constipated, which I never would have suspected because she has bowel movements every day. Putting her on Miralax, first on a clean out schedule and now on a maintenance schedule has really helped. And she's gained like 5 lbs in the last 5 months. That's amazing! She's now on the charts for weight, and though she's still very thin, she's in a healthy range for height-weight. It's still a struggle to get her to eat sometimes, but she actually tells me she's hungry now. She never did that before. Turns out being constipated made her feel full when she wasn't. So you might have him checked, just to see if something like that could be an issue. They said it's actually quite common.