15 months- Obsessed with Food.... help?

In a nutshell (excuse the pun)... DS seems to be a bit obsessed with food.

He wants everyone elses food, even when he has his own, which I understand, and am sure is normal, but often he will eat his entire bowl of dinner in under 2 min flat, then grizzle/scream for ours- if we've even had a chance to dish it up and sit down, its making meal times quite hard for us, as we tend not to eat in under 2 mins, and he will devour our dinner too if given a chance. He eats sooo much and still seems hungry. He will sit in the kitchen at 4.45 and cry till dinner time, and hang off my legs....

He isnt huge, but is starting to get a little roundy iykwim.... I just dont want to encourage bad eating habits, but dont want to put him off food/eating time by making it an unpleasant time (letting him cry etc)... He will eat anything.... just loves food... perhaps too much?
Is it bad to say no, no more??

He eats every 2 hours or screams the house down. His father has a super turbo powered metabolism- I think he inherited it.

anyone got any tips?

Um yes. Ditto here. Put some food into it lol  Clodagh does the same thing, can refuse her own food but god forbid we don't share ours lol. Try and make it healthy then just feed until her turns away I guess??

Have you spoken with your GP about it? Maybe it has something to do with a fast metabolism?

Thinking about it, could it be a growth spurt?

My first thought was - is he getting enough fat in his diet? Toddlers need fat to make up around a third of their total food intake. Low-fat diets are great for adults but kids need more fat than adults.

Of course, I don't mean foods like cakes, chips, and McD's Hehe, and you aren't giving him those anyway. I mean things like full fat milk, cheese and yoghurts, oily fish, red meats etc. Peanut butter or macadamia nut spread on bread or cracker might be a good filler-upper in addition to the fruits etc he has as snacks.

he drinks a lot of water over the day. loves it... and still has a bottle in the morning, and one at night. Only 100ml, but im sure its not dehydration. Good to know though.

Fat- he eats peanut butter sammies a lot at the mo- only way Ive found to keep up with his consumption. the perfect protien. And almond butters, and tahini.etc, eats red meat too, so hopefully thats enough fat? He has gone off avo lately which was a first. Maybe Ill up the oily fish intake too... he seems great on white fish, not sure about mackeral and sardines yet.
Cheese and yog go straight through him, so we dont go there anymore!!
I make mini burger patties w carrot and parsnip in them, and he will eat those as snacks too sometimes... Im always worried im giving him too much meat but he powers through it. Im not starving him- dont think that! my gosh- he def isnt starving. lol

I hope its not worms. yuk! Ill mention it to the GP next time.
I dont dare ask what the symptoms are- I am not going in there at night with a torch!!!!    lol (anyone remember that thread,? urgh)

Anymore snack ideas- transportable, easy to keep/make... dairy free pref.

Youre all awesome help... thanks

KitKat wrote: Im not starving him- dont think that! my gosh- he def isnt starving. lol

No, no! I didn't think that at all! I only mentioned it as I've seen people asking elsewhere about what to do about their child always being hungry and they go on to list a very low-fat diet filled with mostly veges, fruits and carbs with some proteins and a very small amount of fat thrown in. Which is all very well and good if you are an adult (and are needing/wanting to be on that sort of diet) but people sometimes tend to forget that kids need way more fat than adults (and that fat is actually an essential part of the diet - one of the downsides of the media always demonising fat...)

KitKat wrote: Anymore snack ideas- transportable, easy to keep/make... dairy free pref.

Dairy free is hard! Some snacks we have are:

Tuna sandwiches
Hummus cruskits
Scones, loaves, bran muffins (sorry these all probably have milk in them)
Any type of eggs (egg sandwhich, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, We just had bacon and egg pie for tea tonight - yum!)
Cream cheese on rice crackers (again with the dairy )
Along with the many and varied fruits and veges etc we give him (and the things like yoghurt and cheese lol).

Can't think of anymore right now, though I'm sure there is heaps more. Having a mind blank

One other thing I thought of was - what does he have for breakfast?

I'm a big believer in breakfast setting you up for the rest of the day food and energy wise. We have porridge pretty much every morning here. Cereal and toast are OK.... but a hot breakfast like porridge, bacon and eggs, scrambled eggs etc is much better. Most important meal of the day, I reckon.

Kat, maybe because he's just started walking, he's burning up more energy now?