So my daughter is 4, will be 5 in January and she eats constantly. Snacls all the time. Is this normal? We wake up and she has breakfast and then goes to preschool from 9 to 1130, where she has a small snack there and then around noon we eat lunch, then she snacks, snakcs, snacks, until dinner, eats dinner, then wants more snacks. She doesn't eat all that bad. Bananas, yogart, apples, cheese, fruit snacks. On weekends she does eat chips because daddy eats chip when he's home on weekends. She isn't fat, but she isn't skinny. She's only gained two pounds but has grown 2 inches. I am wondering if this is normal or if she could have a eating problem or some underlying problem. What do you all think?
If she eats healthy snacks, I think she's fine. It's actually healthier to eat small snacks throughout the day than to eat a few big meals.
If she's not overweight, then this may not be a problem. You say that she is eating at meals. You might want to try higher protein snacks.
I grew up on a farm where we ate 4 meals a day, plus evening snacks, and no one in my family was overweight.
I think it's normal. My 4yo has been asking for food constantly, too. I think that eating when you're hungry is very important, and unless it's within 30 minutes of dinner time, I don't make him wait. I also don't force him to eat if he says he's full unless he immediately asks for something sweet afterwards. In which case I will tell him that if he is still hungry enough to eat sweets then he is still hungry enough to finish his real food. I also notice that the weather makes a difference. He eats more now that it's cold and he needs to calories to help keep him warm, than he was eating when it was blistering hot outside. Anyway, I'm sure you'll come up with a good way to handle it, but I don't think it's anything to worry about. :)
If you are looking to limit her snacks during the day- you could try what my mom did with my daughter when she was that age- she would also constantly be wanting something to eat/snack on. She gave her "snack dollars". She used old monopoly money or money she got at the dollar store and wrote a number on each one and she was allowed 4 or 5 snacks per day and she had to "buy" a snack with one of her dollars and when she was out, she was out, she couldn't get anymore snacks. This really helped her spread out her snacks because the first couple of days, she would use all her snack dollars up by lunchtime or shortly after. Now that she's older she has her buy her snacks with money too but she is allowed $2 in change and she has to decide how she is going to spend her money: 1/4 C of M&M's is $1, veggie stick chips are .75, string cheese is .45, jello is .50, veggies are .40 etc- she can choose a "junk-food" but then she doesn't have that much left over to spend. She also does this with my niece who just turned 5 and she does very well- and she is learning to recognize money, of course, my niece gets simpler money like just quarters, dimes and nickels but she also has a smaller amount she starts with.
I would say if she still eats dinner (all of the dinner - veggies/fruit too and not just the "good" stuff), and she's not overweight, she sounds like she's doing okay. I pretty much had to cut out snacks alltogether because my kids wouldn't eat any dinner or would only eat parts of it.
You mentioned a growth spurt. Kids go through stages where they need more food and then their growth slows down and they may eat less. Please make sure you are not showing or communicating your fears onto your child. This could lead her to have issues with food. The goal here is have a healthy child. Feed her healthy food and she should be okay. She's not heavy or skinny. She sounds perfect. As she gets older find her an activity like a sport or hobby that will encourage good health. The key to good health, exercise (or outside play at her age), healthy food, and good sleep. Relax mom. Enjoy your daughter.
Hopefully it is an "age" thing and she is just growing. My girls turn 4 in February, and we are amazed daily at how much they eat. It is foods that you listed, fruit, yogurt, nutrigrain bars, cheese, and some non-healthy snacks. They are tall for their age, but underweight (37 and 40 lbs at almost 5 yrs old). I kid that they eat like their mother, but realistically, they are probably just growning. They have been complaining of growing pains in the chest lately, and the one who normally doesn't eat as much, has been eating double at mealtime.
It sounds like a growth spurt to me, too! Does she also get enough to drink during the day? Sometimes they think they are hungry for food when what they really need is a drink of water! I also agree with the other responses about upping the protein (peanut butter, cheese, nuts, sliced lunchmeat) to help her feel full longer. Sounds like she's growing great!
If she is eating right then its ok. Its when a child wants cookies, candy cake, donuts ect ect constantly or keeps asking for more food after they eaten a large meal it becomes a concern. You have to help teach them what the full factor is. However in this case you have no problem, keep it up ;)
If she is overweight or a doctor has made comments about her weight, then I would began limiting her intake. Otherwise, if she is at a healthy weight and her snacks are health then let her snack. If your are still concerned, you mentioned that she will be 5 in January, ask her doctor if she is considered overweight when you take her in for her 5 year old well child check-up and shots. She is probably in a growth spurt if this has just been going on for a few weeks.
My daughter was doing the same thing around that age. It started to become a bit much for me (all the constant "I'm hungry!" comments throughout the day), and she wasn't hungry at dinnertime, which upset me. So I decided to make a couple set snack times at reasonable hours, and it worked great! We had snack time at 3:00 each afternoon and a bedtime snack at 7:30/8:00 (usually just a piece of toast and a small cup of milk). Then whenever I got the "I'm hungry", I just told her how long until the next snack or meal. If she was really hungry and couldn't wait, I just moved the snack time forward a bit, with the understanding that if she ate now, she wasn't going to have a snack at the usual time as well; but this didn't usually happen. She was normally fine to wait. I even started planning a weekly snack menu when I made out my weekly meal plan so that I would always have something different and interesting for her to eat at snack time. She loved it. Anyway, maybe this would work for your family - and like someone else said, eating small meals or snacks through the day is good for you (keeps your metabolism going)! [Side note: I lost 10 pounds a few years ago just by changing my eating habits to smaller meals + snacks and walking more places instead of driving.]
Growth-spurt.
BOTH my kids do that too... then they GROW so much!
My daughter, when hitting growth-spurts, eats/gets hungry every hour or two. She eats healthy, so its no big deal to me. We don't have junk in the house anyway.
My kids are BOTH, very big/tall/lanky kids. NOT chubby or anything. Lean and healthy! But they grow like weeds!
Our Ped says, its fine, normal and they are growing.
all the best,
Susan
