The typical three year old eats less than their parents think they should. Between the ages of 18
months and five years, growth slows down to a trickle. Since children eat best when they are
grow, appetite cuts back during this time as well.
At 30 pounds, your son is in the 10th percentile for his weight, which is normal. This means in a
random sample of 1,000 3 year old boys, 900 would weight more and 100 would weigh less.
In the first year of life, a child triples their birth weight. That means a child 7lbs 5 ounces at birth
would be roughly 22 pounds at one year. If they tripled their weight in the second year, they
would be 66 pounds at two years!
Fortunately, this does not happen. Instead, growth slows and the reduced growth velocity is
reflected in a diminished appetite. Studies have repeatedly shown that children will get the
nutrients they need when they are offered a variety of foods and not interfered with.
Around the
time your son enters kindergarten and then again during, adolescence, his appetite will improve
when he begins to rapidly grow again.
Most adults eat only because it is lunch or dinner time. They eat when they are bored, depressed,
stressed out or in social settings where everyone else is eating. How many times have you eaten
something when you were not hungry but did so because your mother made her famous apple pie
and she would be upset if you did not take “just a bite?”
Two out of five adults in the United States are overweight and many have gotten that way
because they have lost touch with their body’s signal’s concerning hunger. In order to avoid
problems with weight ( both obesity and eating disorders), we need to allow kids to stay in tune
with their body’s messages.
The best advice we can give you is not to comment on what your son eats or does not eat and try
not to control his eating in any way. No child will starve with a full refrigerator!
Click here
to view our article on kids’appetite.
