Toddler Says She Is Always Hungry

Hi T....

I had five children who "grazed" all day...I would let them have all the fruit and veggies they wanted...now I am a Grandma...and its the same thing...they are hungry the whole time I have them...again...its fruits and veggies and maybe some sprouted toast for snacks...they eat good meals, with protein and starches added in...but I just let them graze, I feel as long as you are making healthy choices for them and not handing them a donut every five minutes...its totally OK...to make it easy on me...I did make a place for the kids food...a spot they could reach..for me it was a cupboard...where they had their cup of water and various snacks in little bags...that way I was not stopping what I was doing every few minutes...and they could start to make choices from the available choices.

T.

Maybe she's really thirsty. Is she drinking enough milk? If so, maybe you need to limit the snacks, and when she says she's hungry, get her distracted and involved in something else.

You might want to leave a healthy (non-perishable) snack out in a a bowl for her that she can "graze" on as she goes from one task to the next. Make sure she has enough to drink as well. Sometimes kids don't realize that they are actually thirsty - not hungry. Leave a few sippy cups with water around where she can reach them.

EDIT: I have a 1 year old whom I still nurse as well as giving solid food. When it is time to feed the little one, I know my older daughter will feel a bit left out. I try to always nurse and feed little one in the same room as the older one. In addition, before I start nursing/feeding I say "I'm going to feed your sister in a few minutes. What do you want to do while I am doing that?" This lets her know that I know she wants attention, and also it helps her focus on doing something while I am busy with baby.

Two year olds are all about control--they don't have much but they want it all at once! She has found a way to 1) get your attention and 2) assert her own likes and dislikes. Good for her! Make sure she is getting enough water, as sometimes kids confuse hunger with thirst, and can get dehydrated easily. Second, try different fruit and veggie snacks till you find some that she will eat--interesting textures and tastes like jicama, or celery or apples with peanut butter, may give her something new and fun (and she can help make the peanut butter/celery herself, which gives her more of your attention as well). My son went through a phase where all he wanted to eat for two weeks was peanut butter sandwiches and milk--my pediatrician just said make sure it's on whole-grain bread and give him a daily multivitamin, but fighting about food issues with a two-year-old sets you up for a whole lot of battles you don't want to fight later in life. They go through a fad for a week or two and then drop it. She doesn't know yet how to assert control but she is learning--which is what you want her to do, right?

She might be having stomach pains which make her feel hungry. That is how I gained weight. My stomach hurt all the time. Watch that what you feed her isn't upsetting her stomach. Sometimes too, it can be a lactose intolerance from regular milk. Mint tea is soothing to the stomach. Yogert, jello, and other things. Check with your doctor also.

2 1/2 year olds are infamous for their exploration of how to control their surroundings. Some children discover that if they ask "why," they can engage and adult for a long time. Others get attention by fussing. And some use food. For your daughter's socialization and developing healthy eating habits, now is the time to introduce the fact that we eat at regular intervals, usually with others. She should have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the rest of the family and should be offered a light snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Don't worry about her not liking many foods. She won't starve herself. Some children this age seem to need amazingly little to keep going, but remember that her stomach is the size of her fist; she doesn't need a lot of food in order to be full.

My daughter always felt hungry. She had a terrible time telling when she was full and ate too quickly to give her body a chance to tell her she was full before she'd overeaten. The result was that she overate, gained weight, and has had a weight problem since she was young. At 20 years old, she exercises and watches what she eats, but she still has difficulty curtailing her food intake. There are very few foods she doesn't like. So, you should count your blessings that your daughter doesn't like a lot of foods! That will probably keep her from having a lifetime challenge with weight. Best wishes!

Sounds just like MY daughter. She started around 2 1/2. Now she is almost 3 1/2 years old and she still does it once in a while. In my case, I have found that the "I am hungry" is a weapon she uses to get more attention. Or sometimes she will say it in an attempt to get something sweet (example, she says she is "done" with her food but she is still "hungry" and therefore wants me to give her some pie...ha, ha!) I completely agree with Kim...have some healthy snacks and water easily available. That should ease your mind. If she is trully hungry she will eat what is offered to her.

Many toddlers are grazers. If you don't want to stop every few minutes give several healthy snacks in a muffin tin and set out where she can get them easily. Muffin tins are nice because they are easy to clean, hold 6 - 12 different items, and appeal to most toddlers needs to keep things organized and seperate. Some ideas are finely diced carrots, apples, bananas, plain yogurt (for dipping), ranch dressing, cheerios, quartered grapes, broccoli florets, etc. Obviously, you'll want to tailor this to what you feel is safe for her to eat. Also, give her plenty of water. As others have suggested she may be using the wrong word. Good luck!

Perhaps she may not have the right "word" for what she is feeling and uses "hungry" instead. We found many times our boys would say they were hungry when they were actually tired, thirsty or in need of a hug. Saying something like "I'm not sure what you are feeling is really hunger, are you . . . . ? (give some suggestions). Maybe that could help.

Try giving her water to drink more often. Sometimes, even adults, mistake thirst for hunger. Otherwise, she may be saying she's hungry for lack of something else to say, perhaps it's an emotion she's trying to name? See if you can figure it out and name it for her, or distract her. Good luck, C.

My little one was a grazer for a while. Then lives were very busy...out and about quite a bit...and she couldn't graze all day long. She ate breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, snack, and dinner.

It was amazing what she would eat when she was hungry. That would be just about anything put in front of her.

She snacks on healthy food,like grapes, bananas, oranges, whole grain crackers/cheese, etc.

You have a grazer and it's okay.
Stephanie

My 2.75 year old has started this - but more mildly. I realized that sometimes 'hungry' means full. As her vocabulary is expanding I realized she's trying to tell me she has a feeling in her belly, and has been hearing "are you hungry" for a while now, so that's the word she uses. You might want to ask her "how does your tummy feel" or if she needs needs to go potty or other question to figure out what she means.

Fun to watch them express themselves but can be confusing : )

Hi T.. My son did the same thing and still tends to snack more than eat meals. The Dr said it was more or less just a phase and that all toddlers normally do it. I just feed my son snack portions most of the day and he can eat dinner with us at night. If you want to change her habit you just have to make food available only at meal times - for us personally I don't see a problem with it but it almost sounds like maybe there's something else going on w/ her because she only takes a bite. I would just run it by the Dr and see what he says. Good luck.

Hi T.!

I have a 2 year old and a 3 month old. My 2 year old daughter does the same thing. What I figured out, is it's a way to get my attention and do something for her. It happens especially when I'm having to feed or tend to my 3 month old son. She knows he's eating, and my attention is focused on him. I've learned to give her 1 snack and leave it on the table. When she asks for things over and over, I just have to keep telling her that she's not hungry, or divert her attention to another project such as coloring, or a short TV program while I'm finishing with my son. I also have her help me (get the burp cloth, put the bottle in the sink for Mommy) and that helps a little bit too.
Just stick to your guns. The older sisters need to learn to share Mommy with the younger siblings. She'll get it. And hey, at least she still wants her Mommy! It doesn't last forever...
Good luck to you!
M.

You might want to try giving her water to drink. Sometimes we mistake hunger for being thirsty.

Could it be possible that what she really means is she is thirsty and needs a drink? Not only do small kids have trouble putting words on needs, but even as adults our bodies will have cravings, and we don't realize it that our bodies are trying to tell us it needs water. Our bodies are programmed for survival. Our body knows that it can absorb water from food, so it will have food cravings when it is dehydrated. My own personal experience that I will only crave eating foods at night when I have not drank enough water during the day.
A good book on the subject is " Your bodies many cries for water."

My son was the same way! It really helps to set meal and snack times (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and depending on when dinner is, and when bedtime is, maybe a bedtime snack). Don't let your daughter eat at any other times. It sounds kind of mean to just let them go hungry, but if she's not eating more than a bite here and there, she's not really hungry- chances are, she's just bored. That should also help with her not wanting to eat most foods. She'll be more hungry, therefore she'll be more likely to eat what you give her.

Also, if you or your husband frequently complain about the food you eat, she could be picking up on that, and imitating it by refusing to eat what is given to her. Or, if you tell her she might not like something, she'll decide before she even tries it that she doesn't like it. When I introduced food to my son, I wouldn't make a big deal of it being new, or something he won't like. He'll eat almost anything now, though he does like some foods more than others. Remember, you're the mom: what you say goes!

If she really is hungry, just keep healthy snacks available. My kids would say they were hungry but when meal time came it was a major battle to finish the child-sized portions on their plates. So, I had to limit the snacking to mid-morning and again mid-afternoon at that age. I've just recently taken all snacks away from my almost 4 year old because she'll hork down the snack and then push her lunch meal around the plate. So, now she knows that she can go back to having a mid-afternoon snack after she regularly eats 3 meals a day.

I'd rather hear about how hungry they are all day and know that they are having 3 square meals, than let them graze and not be sure they're getting all they should.

But every child is different, some can graze all day and still eat their meals. I just know that when mine say they are hungry, I tell them "Good, then I know you won't have any trouble getting your dinner down in a little bit" then we have a little water and find something fun to do.

Good luck.

Hi T.,
My son was the same way, he says he is always hungry but then never eats when I give him a snack. I found that he was just wanting something to occupy his time, which meant he was either tired, bored of what he was doing at the time, or vying for a little more attention. Try diverting her to something new and see if that works.

At that age they are not very good at articulating their needs, and it could be that there is something else she likes about the meal situation, like, maybe you stop what else you are doing to get her a bite and she likes the attention more than the bite.
With a new baby on the scene, maybe she feels the shift in your attention.
I know the first couple of months with my toddler, 2,5, and his new sister, all was fine, because the little one mostly slept and did not interrupt his daily life. Once she got more lively it was trickier.
Good luck!

My son did this, and after a while, I realized that he was really just wanting my attention or he was bored.

Once we realized this, I would say something like, "honey, are you really hungry (becuase we just ate lunch...or)? Would you like to go play outside instead?" He would often choose to go play outside (that would mean that I had to be out there too becuase we live on property).

Good luck
R.

You say you have a 2-1/2 month old also. I wonder if your 2-1/2 year old isn't taking her cues from the baby. She sees you hold and feed the baby several times per day - it sounds like she wants that same attention. Maybe you could start sitting and talking with her while she eats so she gets that same attention at meal time. She does, however, need to understand that it is not okay to waste food. If she asks for something, she must eat it all. If she doesn't, put it in a ziploc bag or cover it with plastic wrap and the next time she wants something to eat, she must finish it. She doesn't get anything else to eat until she finishes what she asked for previously. I would also not let her eat so often - you know she's not hungry and if you keep giving in to her she may run the risk of obesity and have completely out-of-control eating habits. I really think she just wants the same time and attention to young sibling is getting.