Food portions?

Watching my DD east her breakfast this morning got me thinking about how much food you give your child for each meal...

I made her a cinnamon toast with jam...she housed the 1st one, so I decided to make her another one. I stopped at 2, but she probably would keep eating if I had offered her more. (she was ate about 1/2 cup of dry cheerios)

For dinner last night, she ate about a handful of pasta and 2 chicken hot dogs...but would most likely have eaten 3rd if I offered it to her.

So my ? to you is this...when do you STOP feeding/offering food at mealtime? How do you know what's enough? (obviously I wouldn't feed her a whole box! )

KWIM?

Re: Food portions?

Lily is a very delicate little flower when it comes to eating.
She eats tiny little portions and when she's done, she starts pushing it around her tray, or hadning it to us, or whining that she's still in her chair. So we stop when she lets us know.

I don't know what we'd do if she just kept eating!!

Re: Food portions?

Posted by Palebride

Lily is a very delicate little flower when it comes to eating.
She eats tiny little portions and when she's done, she starts pushing it around her tray, or hadning it to us, or whining that she's still in her chair. So we stop when she lets us know.

I don't know what we'd do if she just kept eating!!

Re: Food portions?

Once she starts feeding the dog- we know she's done.

Re: Food portions?

Once they start playing with it, or giving it to others they are done! lol

Re: Food portions?

Christopher feeds Maggie or whines if we aren't home.

Chelle, Christopher eats like a truck driver, do I know what you mean, but I see that it evens out, if he has a HUGE lunch, he doesn't eat a big dinner, or dinner at all.

Re: Food portions?

Someday Robbie can eat & eat (I don't know where he puts it All) but then he has days where he'll barely want to touch his food. Robbie will tell me when he's done, but other than that he eats as much/little. He also eats healthy foods/snacks so it doesnt bother me!

Re: Food portions?

I dont..I just let him eat till he's had enough. Cause it doesnt always last. Some days he wants none. My Ped told me to judge how much they eat in a WEEK, not a day and divide it up to even it out, as some days appetite is more then others.

If it was every day that he ate that much, well then I just dont know.

Re: Food portions?

My DS can eat a lot also!
He has days when he wont eat much, but for the most part, he will keep eating until I stop feeding him.
I try to use my best judgement about portion size and if I see he is still hungry I will give him extra cut up fruit/veggies and his diluted juice until he stops eating!!!

Re: Food portions?

DS has always been on the thin side, and when he doesn't need more food, he won't eat anymore. So I've never really worried about it, I just feed him what he seems to want which can vary.

He's only 8.5 months though, guess this may change when he's eating more of a variety of foods.

Re: Food portions?

EJ still eat baby food so I know what he eats. And that's a lot!!!!!!!!

I just had to increase because he was crying that he was still hungry.

Breakfast:
5oz milk
Bowl of oatmeal with 1/2 jar (2oz) fruit

Snack:
5oz milk and puffs (lately we have skipped that one)

Lunch:
1 jar(4oz) meat
1 jar (4oz) veggie
1 jar (4oz) fruit

Then he asks for a few puffs.

Snack
5oz milk and a few puffs

Dinner:
1 jar (4oz) veggie
1 jar (4oz) fruit

20 minutes before bed
5oz bottle

I don't know how he can eat of that.

Re: Food portions?

I let her have as much as she wants. She tells me when she is done. If she turns over her dish or throws it on the floor we know she is done, too.

I also heard something similar to a previous poster. I heard to think of how much they eat over three days and not one day. Some days are more and some are less.

Re: Food portions?

There are some days he's just not interested in food because he's more interested in getting back to playing with his cars. I usually give him a little bit of everything we're having for dinner. For lunch, he gets 1/2 a sandwich and some fruit. Breakfast ranges from Cheerios and yogurt to waffles and pancakes.

When he's done, he started throwing it on the floor.

Re: Food portions?

Posted by chelle

Watching my DD east her breakfast this morning got me thinking about how much food you give your child for each meal...

I made her a cinnamon toast with jam...she housed the 1st one, so I decided to make her another one. I stopped at 2, but she probably would keep eating if I had offered her more. (she was ate about 1/2 cup of dry cheerios)

For dinner last night, she ate about a handful of pasta and 2 chicken hot dogs...but would most likely have eaten 3rd if I offered it to her.

So my ? to you is this...when do you STOP feeding/offering food at mealtime? How do you know what's enough? (obviously I wouldn't feed her a whole box! )

KWIM?