My Son Is Hungry All the Time

Hi M.,
My 3 year old goes through phases of this, too. I've found that *sometimes* he's really saying, "I'm bored." - not always, but usually when he has to play by himself for longer that 10 or 15 minutes. If I give him food at these times, and go back to my work, he doesn't finish the food I give him.

When I think that's what is going on, I tell him: "I'm going to make you lunch soon;" or "It's not lunch/snack/dinner time yet - so please wait" and he has to learn to find something else to do besides eat.

After a while, I learned to tell the difference, but it did take some time. Also, he's started putting his own dirty dishes in the dishwasher, so when he asks for food he doesn't really want, the extra effort of having to put his dish in the machine makes it less of a 'satisfying' distraction for him.

Have a good one.
T

Could he be thirsty? My children have been doing this lately and when I offer them water they usually forget that they wanted food and drink the water.

Hi M.,

My daughter did the exact same thing. I decided that 3 snacks a day were good for her on top of her 3 meals. I laid them out on the counter and told her when they are gone they are gone. So if she is still hungry she needs to eat more at meal time. I don't think I've heard I'm hungry near as much and it takes away the hassle of constantly getting them food.

K.

My 4 year old son is the exact same way. I tried the snack box technique SuperNanny suggests (someone suggested here to leave the snacks on the counter) but he would eat them all in about an hour. So I just set a limit on what and when he could eat. He has breakfast at 7:30, a health snack at 9:45, lunch at noon, a snack of his choice at 2:30 and dinner at 5:30. That's all he's allowed to have, plus unlimited water. It was difficult for him the first couple of days, but now he's gotten it down. If he's asking for something to eat before it's snack time or lunch or whatever, I suggest we do an activity that'll fill some of that time and then we'll eat.

My son did the same thing. He finally stopped and he just turned 5. I would feed him good meals and then offer cut up carrots and apples for in between. It seemed to help. Also, drinking water or even juice (I'm not a fan of too much juice) will help also...Good luck! PS my teen-age son is now doing this...LOL

he is probably going through a growth spurt. both my boys did the same thing then they would go back to normal eating. as long as they are healthy snacks not fat and sugary meals i think he should be ok.

If you are giving him nutritional meals and snacks he is probably just thirsty. We sometimes confuse hunger with thirst. Try to give him lots of water and watered down juice between meals. That might hold him off. If that does not work, he might be going through a growth spurt. Give him a little more food with each meal and snack. He might need all the calories he can get( healthy ones of course).Good Luck!

Is he drinking enough water? They say that sometimes when you feel hungary you are really thirsty. Also, check to make sure that he is getting enough protein. And lastly, if it persists talk with his doctor just to make sure that there isn't anything to worry about.