HELP! how much food is enough?

Question

I have a 17mth old lil' girl and she never seems to eat enough by my standards. 2 or 3 spoonfuls and she is done the rest of the time its a struggle unless she is entertained my something else (toy, big bro', tv, etc). I feed her at 8am, mid-day snack (crackers,cheese) then dinner at 3:30-4pm this is the worst, she never seems to be hungry. Milk (7 oz) at 10am, then mabybe 1:30pm, 5:30-6pm then 8:30pm before bedtime. Is this enough food? I also give her yogurt or some cereal around 8pm before bedtime.

Answer 1

I would cut her down to 3 glasses of Milk per day. She needs 16-24 ounces of whole milk. Keep offering her the healthy foods. Don't force her to eat (hard though that is).
Mine eats:
breakfast 7am
snack 10am
lunch12pm
snack 3pm
dinner 5pm
"milkshake" before bed

My daughter is underweight because of her reflux and goes through phases where she won't eat much of anything. I give her one 8oz can of Pediasure per day (4oz with morning snack, and 4oz+2oz milk in a cup at night....we call that her milkshake because she gets the strawberry mixed with milk every night and it is her favorite) and that has really helped. She only gained 1 pound from 9 to 16 months, so the doc ordered we start her on it. She is 16 months old and still fitting into her 6/9 month clothes, some 12 months.
She loves her Pediasure and I feel better knowing that the 8oz can is 1/3 of her daily nutritional needs. Then she can just pick her way through the other 2/3. Talk to her doc and see if they recommend Pediasure. It is not cheap, but it is SO worth it!

Answer 2

Your standards may be different than what her body needs. My daughter has always been a "small portion" eater. I cut back some on the milk intake, which helped a little. I asked my doc, he said children self-regulate food intake & she just may be that way. She checked out physically, there was nothing wrong with her, but she is a petite little thing! During toddler & elementary school years, every year I'd get a phone call from a concerned teacher 'cause she ate so little. Just normal for her, it never changed until she became a teenager! Just have your doc check her out to rule out anything else. If everything's fine physically, just go with the flow! Good luck:)

Answer 3

You seem to have a picky eater. Both my kids were. Even when they were babies they would eat like birds compared to other kids.
Some pediatricians used to yell at me for my kids being at the bottom of their weight scale. I finally found one that told me as long as they're growing and developing they're fine.
My best advice is to offer several small meals through out the day, as often as 6-7 times. Even if they only eat a few spoonfuls, it's fine. Is she active, can she walk, does she seem like any other kid.
My kids are now 10 and 13, perfectly healthy. My 13 year old eats like a pig, my 10 year old is still not a big eater, but she is healthy.
Don't stress it too much as long as she's healthy, the more you push the food, get stressed out, is only going to make it worse.

Answer 4

At that age I don't think she needs so much milk. That may be filling her up and she isn't hungry to eat solid food. If I remember correctly my daughter was drinking milk once or twice a day at that age, usually with her meals.

Answer 5

Toddlers have an annoying habit of eating what and when they feel like it. I'd be more worried about getting good stuff in her (which it sounds like you do) then how much of it gets in. Kids will eat if they are hungry. They basically don't know how to underfeed themselves.

Here's a good article on teaching kids healthy eating habits:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/336183/healthy_eating_for_toddlers.html

Answer 6

talk to her pediatrician or doctor your standards may be different than what is appropriate for her body or she may have health problems either way its always a good idea to consult the doc.

Answer 7

I would ask her doc........but she would probably say if she's hungry she will eat and if not she won't...I would give her some vitamins just to be sure shes getting enough vitamins

Answer 8

i don't think she needs to be drinking all that milk, maybe if she didn't fill up on milk she'd be hungrier, or maybe she has medical reasons her body knows not to eat certian foods, talk to her dr at her next check up

Answer 9

try looking at the website wholesometoddlerfood.com
they have some good info on how much food toddlers need