Eating me out of house & home

NB.  This is not a rant, I'm really pleased actually, but also curious to know if any other toddlers do this.

Michaela eats so much atm.  I do my grocery shopping fortnightly and by the end of the first week it looks like I need to go again.  This week I spent extra so I could buy more tinned and frozen foods to stretch our meals and keep our pantry full for longer.

She's always gone through stages where for a few days she's ravenous and then she goes back to eating like a bird but for the past few weeks she's been eating non-stop.  It coincided with giving up her morning and evening bottles but she's still getting milk (now in a sippy cup) so I think that may be a coincidence.

Yesterday after her nap and before I got home from work she'd eaten a homemade iceblock, a biscuit and a pear.  Despite that for dinner she had a medium sized potato, a couple of piece of broccoli, a small handful of grated cheese, 1/2 carrot and a couple of spoons of bolognaise mince, 1/2 cup yoghurt, 1/2 cup fruit salad, a peanut butter sandwich and 1 marshmallow followed by a cup of milk.   Breakfast starts at about 5:30am with a piece of fruit and a bowl of ricies and continues well after I leave for work (she'll usually fit in some cornflakes or weetbix, another piece of fruit and a piece of toast too).

I am totally amazed at how much she can put away, she's usually still eating long after I'm full.  I'm just waiting for the growing to start because with all this food surely she's going to sprout upwards soon (either that or she's part bear and is planning on going into hibernation for the rest of the winter).

Edited by MrsMojo

Michaela's the same, loves fruit and mandarins are her favourite atm too.  She loves peeling them herself and we're not even allowed to help her.

mummydee wrote: eta: Just a thought, maybe because its so cold at themoment she's using up energy keeping warm so is eating more??

 

Good point, it could be.  Then again she spends most of her time in the lounge where we have double glazing and a roaring fire, I usually find I need to strip off when I get home because it's so warm in there.

I'm also wondering if anyone has any tips for stretching meals further.  I've tried lentils in her mince dishes but she won't eat them.  I added beans to our bolognaise last night which was delicious.

Oh how I wish Zaara was like your DD right now.... she has become sooo picky, wont eat this, wont eat that. Even tho a week ago she was eating soo much that I was worried where she fitted all that food.

I think its a phase, you might see her shoot up and grow really fast in the next few weeks and then this eating migt slow down a bit!!

But Yah good on her!! she seems like she is eating all the right type of foods.

All my children are eating so much at the moment and I agree, I DO think the weather has a lot to do with it. There's constantly a need to go to the super market so I am trying hard to plan the menus as best I can to avoid over spending.
Most people, including children tend to do a lot less exercise in winter, slowing down the metabolism and we store food instinctively too when its this cold.

I am tempted sometimes to make "fillers", like pancakes, muffins etc but nutritionally they are not getting much. But I am always after tasty and nutritious recipes.

Rhiannon is doing excatly the same....eating eating eating, and is sleeping better too i might add

apparently its common during winter to eat up to store fat, to keep warm, to lose it in summer when they spend all day outside

Charlotte is also eating like no tomorrow, I am constantly getting "Mummy, I'm hungry" - the other day she had 3 lunches within the space of 2.5 hours! And she eats it all without scraps. Just incredible.

No doubt she will shoot up again soon - we are due for another growth in the next month I would say.

MrsMojo wrote: Michaela, Rhiannon and Charlotte - the usual suspects!! At least we know our daughters are either hitting the toddler phases at the right time or they're missing them together.

Isnt it funny how our 3 always do things together.....wonder if they somehow conspire together

Lol - you are probably right. They are all so close in age so I guess its bound to happen.

Joshie is the same. Seriously, his dinner consists of 4 courses - main meal (meat, vege, pasta etc), yoghurt with fruit puree and honey, fruit platter and crackers, and homemade iceblock. Sometimes he is eating for an hour and a half at a time

He eats more than me!