18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Can you tell that DD and DH are both sleeping and I'm bored out of my mind with all these posts??

Anywya, I was wondering what your 18mos-2 year old's portion sizes were like.

For example, chicken nuggets Emily will eat anywhere between 1/2 and 2 whole ones.

She'll eat a whole eggo...

Half a banana....

Half to a whole avacado...

1/4 - 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich....etc.

I wonder if she eats normal amounts, or too little. Sometimes I feel like she eats too little, because there are a LOT of days when she'll eat the smaller end of things....and it seems like just a few bites per meal.

She does like her snacks though. Granddad gives her a lot of cookies. She also loves banana cookies (gerber) and mini muffins...junk food kinda stuff like that...and I give it to her because I worry that she doesn't eat enough.

She is definately on the thin side. I don't want you all to think I'm worrying about her not eating enough and that she's a chunky baby. SHe's actually very thin...definately over 34 inches (she was 34 at 18 mos and her pants are shorter now) and probably around 27 lbs (she was 26.5 at 18 mos.)

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

I have no idea...Bella can eat a whole dannon yogurt and had two large size Boars head hot dogs the other night...and then sometimes you can barely get anything in her...

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Its really hit or miss but overall I would say Miranda eats less than that most of the time.

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

My 12 month old eats more than that...but every kid is different. Some are bigger eaters than others and as they get into the toddler years, my experience has been that they eat less or get inconsistent with their eating patterns.

If there are healthy things (snack type stuff)you know she'll eat, keep those in supply to supplement her meals if you feel like she's not eating enough.

For what it's worth, my DD is almost 3 and she weighs about the same as your DD, maybe even a pound less. But honestly, as long as she is full of energy and bright eyed, I wouldn't stress about the weight.

HTH

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Alyson is 16 mths old....some portions (on a good/normal day):

a whole waffle/pancake
about 1/2 cup cereal with milk
a whole packet of instant oatmeal
sometimes a whole pear
5 strawberries
a plastic gerber bowl full of rice & beans, or pasta/baked ziti
2 chicken nuggets
2 meatballs
1-2 slices of turkey or ham w/ 1 slice of cheese (usually no bread).

depends on her mood....but even on a good day, she'll snack 1 1/2 hrs after a meal too. Oh, and let's not forget that she eats off mommy & Daddy's plates too (for breakfast or lunch)

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Hit or miss over here too...

Seriously there are days Ryan only eats 1 meal a day- and handfull of crackers or little cookies... (Actually Im starting to become a little worried- its rare that Ryan eats 3 meals/day )

Fruit- well honestly this is the one thing who will always eat- and he usually dosent stop until I stop giving them to him... I go through 2 large containers of straweberries every 2-3 days

French toast, waffles, pancakes etc... He on avg. eats 1.5 at a sitting

Pasta- he usually has about 2-3 of his little bowls full

He eats .5- 1 whole chicken cutlet

He LOVES steak- and truthfully eats more than me (on a night he actually eats)



Honestly- his servings size are a nice size WHEN he actually eats- but as I said above He only avgs. about 1 meal/day


ETA- RJ gains weight at every visit BUT is slowly falling off the charts in the weight category

Message edited 5/19/2007 10:16:58 PM.

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Same here, its hit or miss (yeah, my kid is 16 months but I thought I would add) Sometimes I give him like a cup of pasta and sauce and he wants more, other times he has a little bit and is finished.

But if I make him scrambled Eggs...he will happily eat 2 eggs...

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

It all depends on her mood. If I let her, she would eat a whole bag of green beans...she loves them!! She can eat 2 or 3 chicken nuggets (for lunch or dinner), 2 pancakes, half an apple cut up, she loves whole wheat pasta and sauce...she will keep saying Mommy, more???

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Like the rest of the mommies stated, my son fluctuates on what he will eat on a given day.

Usually its
2-3 mini pancakes
1-2 scrambled eggs
1/2 cup cereal

snacks are usually whole wheat goldfish crackers, pretzel rods, etc

Fruit, no problem there, will eat
2-3 apples a day,
a half a canteloupe,
1-1.5 bananas,
10 grapes cut up small

Lunch:
1/2-2 chicken nuggets,
1/4 cup of corn or carrots,
small bowl of soup (tomato with goldfish crackers is his new favorite),
1-2 hot dogs,
2-3 turkey & cheese roll-ups

Dinner is the tough one, if we are having pasta he will eat like
2-3 bowls,
1-2 meatballs
1/2 a chicken cutlet,
Steak, maybe 1/2 of a small filet
1/4 cup of mashed potatoes.

Most days I can only get him to eat 1 meal.

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Fiona & Saoirse love to eat. But, there are times that I think they don't get enough.
This morning I gave them cheerios & raisins. They were picking not really eating them. So, I gave them toast. They ignored that so John opened a yo baby & they both didn't want that. So, we just figured that's all they want.
And now for lunch I'm sure they are going to eat like they haven't eaten in years.

I give them plenty of snacks they love fruit, gerber fruit snacks, pretzels, goldfish.

They are both dainty as I like to call them. They are 19 months & still fit in 12 month pants. (18 months falls off them) Last weigh in they were 22 lbs.

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

he still has 3 bottles of milk a day

1 slice french toast
1/2 bananna
1 to 1 1/2 pancakes
1 yobaby with cereal in it
1/2 slice of pizza
1 grilled cheese sandwich
small peach
5 grapes
small baby bowl of pasta

and sometimes all I can get in him is a stage 2 cereal and fruit gerber jar

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

We usually get two good meals into DS, sometimes three. And he snacks all day too. He just turned two. Some things he eats in one sitting:

Whole can of Campbell's soup (chicken noodle, chicken and stars, etc)
Whole can of Spaghetti-Os (or Beefaroni or something similar -- can't get him to eat real pasta and sauce)
Grilled cheese sandwich (two pieces of bread and two pieces of cheese)
2-3 chicken nuggets and 3-4 mini potato pancakes
2 waffles or pieces of french toast or pancakes
adult size bowl of oatmeal or farina with a serving of applesauce to sweeten it
adult size bowl of breakfast cereal with milk (usually has something additional with it - applesauce, yogurt, cheerios, etc)
Breyer's yogurt and a snack (pretzels, goldfish, etc)
3-4 fish sticks with potatoes

He eats almost no fruit or vegetables. We make pasta piselli (not sure of the spelling - it's little pasta with peas) and he'll eat a huge bowl of that. We really have to figure out a way to get him to eat more fruits and veggies.

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Breakfast varies but the portions are the same:
yobaby every morning
with one of the following: 1/2 banana, fruit cup of mandarin oranges, 2 rings of pineapple, 4 - 5 strawberries, cup of applesauce
with one of the following: slice of french toast, waffle, 1/2 of a packet of oatmeal.

Sometimes they only eat 1/2 a waffle each but they normally finish breakfast.

Lunch - 3 chicken nuggets, or a 1/2 a sandwich, cheese stick, hot dog, with a similar serving of fruit like breakfast, and a similar serving of vegetables, 4 piece of broccoli, 1/2 an avocado

Dinner - 1/2 slice - full slice of pizza, or pretty much the same as lunch.

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

Julia LOVES to eat!

Breatfast: 2 pieces of french toast and a whole banana.

Lunch: Chicken nuggets, she can eat 6 of them, and have a yogurt after that.


Snacks: She loves snacks, I will give her baby goldfish (small bowl) or gerber pinwheels in apple flavor, 4 of them. She loves to have chips and dip too--lol


Dinner: She usually eats what I make, or I will give her a grilled cheese sandwich, or mac and cheese and she will eat the whole thing. She will have fruit for a snack after that, usually 4 or 5 pieces of cantalope.

When shes teething, she hardly eats at all, some days are better then others.

Re: 18mos-2 years...can we talk portion sizes?

It really varies with Nate. There are somethings that he will eat all of like - Bananas, grilled cheese, yogurt, PBJ and chicken nuggets (4 of them). Some nights he'll barely eat dinner. I just go with the flow and let him control how much he eats. The doctor told me that even though it may seem like they are not eating enough, but as long as they are around the avg weight/height and have regular dirty diapers you shouldn't worry.

Nate will be 2 on June 1st and he's about 28lbs.

Message edited 5/20/2007 9:52:57 PM.