Toddlers gorging on fruit

[candycat]

Generally I would say that I let my two toddlers self-regulate when it comes to eating. Generally they do pretty well, even with dessert types of things. The only problem is that in the summer months when fruit is abundant and is plentiful in our house, my daughter doesn't limit herself at all. And I mean at all. She will sit there all day long and eat fruit if I let her. At first I put the fruit at her disposal thinking she'd get bored of it, but no. She will eat what I think is truly an unhealthy amount - judging from the messy diapers complete with diaper rash she gets. She would eat a couple of quarts of berries, a dozen apricots, a few apples, two bags of grapes... casually throughout the day. She loves all kinds of fruit and throws a fit if I try to limit it (and limit I must). She even raids the fridge (which she's not allowed to do) and will escape into the garage to find "hidden" fruit. She's a fruit-fiend.

What is a reasonable amount of fruit I can give her in a day? I was always taught that "as much as a child wants, give to her/him" but obviously in this case it's just not working.

[cristeen]

What else does she eat? Does it impact her willingness/desire to eat her meals? How old is she? How big is she? All of those things would impact what I would recommend. But generally speaking, without knowing those things, I'd say I'd limit her somewhere around 8 servings/day (many fruits are 2 servings per piece). I'd also want to make sure she was getting plenty of fat and protein with all that sugar.

[candycat]

It does affect her willingness to eat other things, actually, and that's what worries me. Generally she is a good eater. That's an understatement, she LOVES food, but isn't overweight, just really enjoys eating and treats it like it's serious business. But lately she's not as into mealtimes. She normally clears her (toddler sized) plate and sometimes asks for seconds but now she just kind of dabbles in it. She's good on protein I think but the too-much-sugar and acid worry me, I agree.

[sprouthead]

how long has she been doing this? sometimes my son will have to have a few days of going overboard on a certain food before he begins self-regulating.

[mumkimum]

Kiddo here has done that too, at points.

I've taken this angle: I make sure there aren't other sugars/white breadstuff getting eaten when she's like this. I offer well-liked proteins (cheese cubes, eggs). I offer frozen fruits (take longer to eat, so will be somewhat more satisfying and she won't end up eating SO much). And I make sure she's got lots of water out and easy to get at - sometimes she seems to be doing it when she might be thirsty, I'll try out ice water too or iced herbal teas.