What time do you give your children their evening meal?

[trinity2]

Hi,

I was just wondering whether I feed my children to late and that is why they are bad sleepers? I like us to eat our evening meals as a family its not that late between 5:30 and 6:30pm but both my children who are 20 months and 7 months are really bad sleepers. I was wondering what time other mums give their children their evening meals.

Thank you

[winnie]

ds is 5 and we eat between 6-7 but he does have a snack (sandwich and fruit) when he comes in from school at 3.15.

[jessicaandrebeccasmummy]

MY girls are 2.2 and 11 months and they are about to have their tea now.

Strict bedtime routine, bath at 6, bottle 6.30, bed no later than 7.

Both sleep fairly well - Jess sleeps through til about 6.30/7am, Becky will wake once in the night for a drink and sleep til about the same time as jess. HTH

[cheeseandonion]

5.30

[jessicaandrebeccasmummy]

oh, and we eat with the girls - ok so its early for us, but we often have a snack at about 9pm (sandwhich/toast or cereal)

[biglips]

between 5 - 5.30pm

[Furball]

ds is 5 and we eat all together at about 5.45pm

[biglips]

oh my dd is 23m old btw

[trinity2]

Oh so we son't eat too late maybe if I try and eat at 5:30pm. Don't you find it hard cooking when looking after the children. How do you kept them quite and away from anything hot?

[trinity2]

Sorry for spelling mistakes have sleeping baby on me!

[misdee]

WE EAT ABOUT 5PM, TONIGHT ITS JUST SANDWICHES, AND THE KIDS ARE PLAYING SO I AM BEING LAZY LOL. oops caps lock on.

[IlanaK]

We eat together as a famliy at 6:15. My boys are 5 and 2.

[mrsmalumbas]

We don't eat with our kids. Mine are aged 5 and 2. They like to have their tea by 5.00 or 5.30 at the latest and DH and I just don't want to eat then - in any case DH is still working at that time. So we eat our main meal when they have gone to bed, about 8pm. It also gives us time together to chat. I always make a point of sitting with the girls when they eat though and maybe have a snack. I do feel in some ways we "ought" to have a family meal but it doesn't work for us. When I was a child we did, but my Dad used to get in from work at about 5pm and my Mum didn't work - times have changed! We are trying to start a tradition of Sunday lunch but tbh the girls just aren't that interested in sitting down to a full roast dinner. Maybe when they are older?

[spykid]

Ds's are 7 and5. Between 5.30-6.30 and they have always been fabbo sleepers

[jessicaandrebeccasmummy]

top tips...

prepare what you can in advance while they sleep/are engrossed in something (cbeebies works if JEss wont nap) so if you are having potatoes, peel and chop and leave in a saucepan filled with water with a lid on, same goes for any vegetables.

I go for pretty low maintenance meals so there is a minimum of time spent in the kitchen. We also have a stair gate on our kitchen door so if it is hot hot hot in the kitchen (as jess would say) then i can keep them out and they have to lump it!

On the odd occasion jessica will not settle in the living room by herself, she will sit on the draining board and watch and try to help.

it works for us!

[Mercy]

Mine eat anywhere between 5.15 and 6 pm.

I don't think there is any relation between when they eat and how well or badly they sleep imo.

How much do they eat though? And what time do they go to bed?

[brimfull]

well we have a family dinner around 6-6:30 ,ds is just 4 and we've been doing this forever,he always sleeps well ,so no it doesn't affect his sleep.He goes to be at 7:30-8.He's not at school yet so doesn't wake until 8am.We may have to shift it forward when he starts school to allow an earlier bedtime.

[Gobbledigook]

5-5.30

[FrannyandZooey]

Half the time we eat about 5.30 to 6, and the other half about 6.30. If ds hasn't had a sleep I feed him earlier, about 5 or 5.30, and we eat after he is asleep. My ds is a crap sleeper too and I have wondered whether his dinner time is a contributor! Mind you when your child sleeps badly you consider everything, don't you think? Phases of the moon, sunspots, the weather forecast

[donnie]

kids at 5 - 5.30.


DH and I around 8.30, sometimes not till 9pm!

[Pinkchampagne]

Around 5 - 5.30pm

[chocolateshoes]

5pm for DS who is 14mths - we've done that since he was on solids. He then has milk with a story at 6.30 before bed. He sleeps very well. Don't know if its connected....

I know what you mean about eating as a family though. I always sit with DS & will usually have some toast etc with him to keep him company, but 5pm is totally impractical for me & DP because of work. We all eat our breakfast & lunch together too.

[hermykne]

trinity
i would put their sleeping down to their overall day not their food,
are they happy to eat then or do they fuss
what time is b ed for them,

[Hallgerda]

7pm - we all eat together, and that's the time DH gets back from work.

[justamum]

I try for 6pm, it started that way as i couldn't physically do it any earlier when working, now it is ds's routine-he doesn't want it any earlier and after 6.30 he is too tired to eat. I always used to eat with DH after ds was in bed but it is now becoming more practical for me to eat earlier especially as dd is coming up for weaning,it was also doing my head in cooking twice. He sleeps very well although he does have a tendency to fall asleep in his dinner if he has had a particularly energetic day