Do I encourage her to eat more?

[KurumiSophia]

DD is 29 months old and eats like a bird. We'll give her a full meal (entree and 2 sides) and she'll eat maybe a quarter of the whole thing at best. She'll snack a little bit but not a ton. Most of the time, what she's served goes right down the garbage disposal. I'm a bit worried because she seems to eat so little and this is a huge time for growth in her life.

Anything I can do to get her to eat more? Eliminate snacks, reduce drinks, etc?

[Katie T]

Thats been a normal stage for my kids. If she gets tons of juice or milk limiting it could help but even when my kids get well below the recomended amount they still didnt eat great. I just make snacks healthy & try not to worry.

[Violet2]

As long as food is available, I wouldn't worry about it.

I do sometimes ask DD if she's hungry on days she hasn't eaten much. I also make an effort to offer things I know she loves when she's not eaten a lot.

V

[redvlagrl]

I wouldn't worry. Incidentely, how much are you serving her? A toddler serving size is actually really small.

Also their tummies are tiny so you might find she needs to have equally sized snacks rather than 3 square meals with small snacks. I would just make sure that she knows food is always available if she asks and/or keep some snacks at her level so she can help herself.

[bluejaunte]

.. how small is a toddler serving size, out of curiosity? Some days my toddler sounds a lot like the OP's, but other days he'll eat a whole sandwich and five other things all in a sitting. Which doesn't keep me from worrying on the days he doesn't eat much at all (if I'm not following him around popping food in his mouth while he plays). Sigh!

[redvlagrl]

According to a booklet I have (Feeding your child Age 2 to 5) servings for the lower end of this age group (age 2, I suppose) are:

1/2 slice bread
1/4 bagel
4 soda crackers
1/2 medium fruit
50ml fresh, frozen or canned fruit or veg
1/2 cup salad
50ml juice
25g cheese
75g yogurt
25 g meat, fish or poultry
1 egg
50ml beans
50g tofu
15ml peanut butter

[leaveit2beeker]

I don't think you should worry about getting her to eat more. I would put more emphasis on making sure what little she does eat has the most nutrition possible. I know I'm doing the best I can if I offer whole fruits as snacks instead of gummy snacks, blah blah blah...Don't worry about quantity as much as quality, at this point. Although I would def. cut any juice with water and limit milk/choc milk. I noticed my ds wouldn't eat as much on the days that started off with a big helping of choc milk. (And that's a hard habit to break!!)

[bluejaunte]

Huh. Thanks, redvlagrl. Good to know!