Binging

My Child Eats a Lot One Day and Nothing the Next

Common age: 12 months to 3 years

According to nutrition experts, this is nothing to worry about. For the most part, children are better than adults at monitoring their hunger. While adults tend to eat because food is in front of us or we’re bored, a young child is innately in touch with his appetite. Moreover, children’s second and third years are prime times for rapid growth spurts that may encourage what seems like binge eating. These episodes will ebb and flow as your child grows. The bottom line? Don’t put yourself through torture trying to get your child to eat.

Set a reasonable time limit for your child to eat his meal, and then move on.

Make sure, too, that your child isn’t drinking all of his calories; too much milk or juice could quash her appetite for food. Three or four ounces of juice a day is enough. To wean a child from the juice-all-day habit, slowly dilute each cup until they are used to drinking water whenever thirsty.

It’s important for children to get the nutrients that dairy provides, but it doesn’t all have to come from milk. Children this age need four half-cup servings of dairy a day, so serve healthy choices such as yogurt as part of your child’s meals.