The Bottomless 3 Year Old

Our 3 year old will not eat a full meal at meal time; he will eat only half of what you put in front of him at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, regardless of how much you give him. It drives me crazy how much food he wastes. And then, and hour later, he claims, “I’m real hungry.” He wants a snack about every hour—sometimes it’s every half hour.

During a given day, we hear, “I’m real hungry,” about a dozen times. We fix him three mini pancakes (frozen, microwavable pancakes about two inches in diameter) and he eats one and a bite off another. We give him a small carton of yogurt and he eats half of it.

An hour later: “I’m real hungry.” We give him some grapes.

An hour later: “I’m real hungry.” We give him some crackers.

An hour later: “I’m real hungry.” We give him a banana, of which he only eats half.

An hour later, we make lunch. He eats half his sandwich and half his corn.

An hour later: “I’m real hungry.” We give him the rest of his sandwich and corn, and he eats half (a quarter of the original whole).

An hour later: “I’m real hungry.” We give him some mac & cheese, and he eats half.

An hour later: “I’m real hungry.” We give him the remaining half of his banana, of which he only eats half (a quarter of the original whole).

An hour later: “I’m real hungry.” We give him some crackers.

An hour later, we make dinner. He eats half his spaghetti and half his green beans.

He used to say, “I’m real hungry,” again, an hour later, when we’re getting him ready for bed, but we’ve nixed that little game. We’ve explained to him that he needs to get full at dinner because we won’t be eating again until breakfast. It took a couple times for him to realize we’re serious, but now he knows. He still will only eat half his dinner.

He eats his fill, or so he tells us, at each meal and each snack, but an hour later, “I’m real hungry.” Arrggh!

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com