Food obsessed
I'm worried my toddler (2yrs 2 months) is literally obsessed with food. She eats absolutely everything and never seems to be full. People comment what a good eater she is hut it's actually really stressful when she is so preoccupied with is all the time. For example she'll wake and ask for breakfast, she'll have cereal or egg and toast then ask for more. Within a hour or sometimes minutes she'll ask for a snack. She went to dance this morning and kept asking to finish to have a snack, she doesn't seem to enjoy playing or other activities bur gets so excited by food. Her nan just asked her what she did this morning and she said she went to dance then had a snack, then repeated the snack point 4 more times. Every game involves food, she'll walk past a cafe or in the supermarket and stop at food and just whine for it. I feel so sad for her that she seems to preoccupied with food and doesn't get enjoyment from other things. I am worried she's going to develop issues with food and don't know how to manage it. She's seen the HV recently and is tracking her centile and she advised to try not to limit food so it becomes less of a thing but if we don't put boundaries around it she would just constantly want more. Anyone experienced similar or any advice? I know this is a long negative post, but my daughter means everything to me and she is super smart and funny, I just want to do better by her to manage this issue.
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In your case it might be worth trying to offer only ‘healthy’ snacks like carrot sticks/vegetables/nuts. Stuff they will only eat if they are genuinely hungry.
Is it feasible for you to allow her unlimited food for one week, just to see where her natural limits are and how that impacts her weight? You can then go to the HV or GP with a better understanding of whether she has very high limits or no limits at all (e.g. is she eating until she throws up, or is she just eating a lot more than you expect?).
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It’s a hard approach when they are little and don’t understand the reasons behind it. I totally understand your concerns as I’d have the same. I understand HV advised not to limit the food but if so this situation now will simply grow and get worse as she will rely on snacks and food for each activity throughout the day. I do think cut snacks to two snacks a day and let her decide what time she will get them. I think do buy any fun board with stickers and she sticks a sticker for each activity snack and breakfast and other meals and simply say oh you had breakfast add the sticker. If she asks more snacks let her know the limit of two snacks was done. And she might overcome this situation now.