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I give ALL of my kids a FULL glass of water before meals. I find most kids (and people) confuse thirst with hunger. Kid is crying? Toss him a snack. Sort of mindset. We drink a LOT of water throughout the day. It's easy for my kids to finish off a 12 oz cup of water MULTIPLE times a day here.I'd also cut her liquid calories. A serving of milk for her age is 4 oz. never give more milk. But always give as much water as they want.
Lunch for a 17 month old
4 oz whole milk
1 oz meat (think half a piece of string cheese)
1/8 cup fruit
1/8 cup veggie
1/2 oz of grain or 1/2 slice of toast
I tell the kids what they MAY put on their plates (family style) and when they finish, I allow everyone else to finish FIRST, and then we are offered seconds of vegetables, then seconds of protein. I never serve seconds of the grain, I only ever portion out one serving size of it for each kid. I also prefer to serve two veggies at lunch, I've even started serving veggies with breakfast (eg. sc eggs with spinach, or cauliflower rice with poached eggs) The new food program guidelines allow us to replace the grain with a protein 2x a week and it is still creditable.
I was going to suggest this as well.
Poor kiddo. Parents have probably overfed from infancy, and now there is no way she is going to learn to naturally turn off the hunger.
I was overweight as a kid, too. We ate terribly, hamburger helper (minus the hamburger) potted meat on white bread. Until I started going to a local produce store myself, I didn't know certain fruits or vegetables existed outside of a can! It took YEARS and YEARS to retrain my body, mind and tastebuds.
Unfortunately, some super unhealthy habits with food and exercise in my early teen years did not help with that.
I will ALWAYS struggle with my weight. Part genetics maybe, but definitely how my metabolism is shot.Comment
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Peer pressure.
I was also a fat child. When I was 12 I turned exercise-happy, working out for 4 hours a day and living on 2 cans of vegetable soup. My mother allowed this because she hated I was fat.
I've had issues with food/weight ever since.
It's also why I came here for support. I can't ever trust my intuition when it comes to food.
My ds is slightly chubby - maybe 10 lbs, but he works out at taekwondo 6x a week, 11.5 hours. He eats healthy. So I just kind of shut my mouth. I don't want him to have body issues like I do. But he tells me he wants to be skinny like the other boys. And he isn't even fat! I mean, he's not even in a chubby pa t's size or anything. He's just not stick thin like most boys his age.
Children are little angels, even when they are little devils.
They are also our future.Comment
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Poor little girl If it were me, I wouldn't have a conversation with dcm and dcd yet, just make the changes within the dc's meals, such as the ones that have already been suggested.
Agree with the less milk and more water. Kids love muffins and I do the mini muffins too. I cannot imagine a 17 mo devouring 2 whole big muffins. *I* could though.
I know kids love fruits but maybe have a few lunches/snacks with veggies instead of fruits at all.
I was a fat kid, fat teen, fat....well you get the idea. Always trying to lose weight, trick my appetite, eat healthy(why oh why can't carrot cake be as healthy as carrot sticks??). I have let my weight determine who I am, depending on the pounds my scale measures. Stupid stupid I know. But if you can't tell an adult she's good enough just the way she is, how will a little child ever be convinced if, all of a sudden, everyone around her is concerned about her weight. As I said, as long as dcps are feeding healthy, you're feeding healthy(maybe cutting portions a bit, adding more water, more veggies), little dcg will grow reasonably.
BTW, my parents used to buy all kinds of crap as treats, and we had dessert every single day. Kool-aid, Ring Dings, cookies, you name it, they bought it. And somehow I ended up using food as a form of self-soothing. Sad honey? Here, let's have some cookies and milk. They(and most people) could control that part of their eating, but not some(like me). Showing love by food is never a good thing. Well, almost never.
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I wouldn't do seconds or thirds. For anyone really. At that age they don't know what a healthy amount of food is. Feed her the appropriate sized portions of a well balanced meal and then once she has eaten that, the meal is over. Make sure she's hydrated throughout the day too. I have a 14mth old that would eat me out of house and home if I let her. She will eat anything I put in front of her so it's up to me to determine when the meal is over, not her.Comment
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Totally agree with seconds and then only veggies from then on. I might even do raw carrots or celery because it might be an oral fixation.
I had a 40lb 2 year old in my care and I definitely did not allow her to eat two full muffins! They are pretty much empty calories anyway so if she wanted more I gave something with fats like nuts and seeds. Those are my go to's to fill a kid up. Sugar/fruit/carbs will never fill you up. I buy the big tub of salted mixed nuts at Costco and they eat that if they want more food.Comment
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Today at lunch I did this:
20 minutes before lunch, I gave her a glass of water.
At lunch, 1 cup cauliflower mac and cheese (200 calories), guava serving (50 calories), 2 toddler servings baked green beans - nothing added except a pinch of salt (40 calories), 4 oz milk (90 cal, I think).
I think the water helped alot. She didn't seem as hungry as even left some cauliflower on her plate!Comment
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The OP's child in question is only 17 mo, other wise I'd totally agree with the raw veggies.
My other thought is, why do they insist on whole milk? It's because of the fats and brain development, right? Why can't we provide better fats for a child over the age of 1 yo, rather than whole milk. I mean, whole milk isn't the end all to the problem, but it doesn't help. Cow's milk isn't all it's cracked up to be anyways.Comment
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