The constant feeding / snacking of children

@Lordofthebantams
My child has an enormous appetite, snacks and eats big meals.
Hes an early riser so is onto his mid morning snack earlier than some would have breakfast.

Ravenous after swimming as standard.

He'll sometimes snack at mealtimes if we are out and trying to stretch to a later lunch or dinner instead of eating while we are out.

Days out probably involve more treats than a normal day which is what the rest of the world like you might judge us for but its a one off blow out day.

Ill also dissuade him from trying something while we are out somewhere expensive or far from home as its not easy to provide an alt if he doesn't like it. But we'll try lots of things at home.

Hes a growing lad with a balanced diet, no foods are demonised as bad foods.

Hes constantly eating but certainly not fat.

Sounds like you are doing great with your kids but dont judge a moment un others lives when you dont have the context.

“A child fed constantly never learns how appetite and satiety feels”

tbh I think this is a really stupid thing to think. They’re not being force fed. There is no reason they wouldn’t learn appetite and satiety, it’s a natural human feeling

PLUS, stating the obvious, no child is fed constantly

I think you’re being unreasonable moaning about children constantly snacking. They do actually need snacks between meals to keep them fuelled so they have energy.

the problem is what some of these kids are snacking on - crisps/sweets - all the bad stuff but you also don’t know how much good stuff they’re also eating.

we finish swimming and gymnastics and usually have a banana and rice cakes.
mine have a lot of fruit - all the berries, grapes, apples, blueberries. But I’ll also let them have an occasional packet of crisps and cake.
the other problem is some kids just don’t get enough exercise!!

I don't know if you are for or against eating little and often but my two younger children, 29 and 31 do have endocrine issues. My Mother and Aunt did, luckily it's skipped me. My middle DD, who has my GC, has left sided colitis and other issues. Her other child has had a MPA and bowel issues. Her youngest, who I'm talking about is under NHS pediatric departments, so I'll trust those experts. We do needs led parenting and it works when you have different conditions and ND, becauseit can take a while for a proper diagnosis.

Goodness me is it not just a snapshot of someone’s day?! Imagine what you’d think about me pushing my boy in his pushchair with a packet of crisps or a cookie, I’d be the next victim of your threads, shame you wouldn’t see the visits to restaurants where he sits beautifully at two years old, no iPad or phone, looking at the menu while I read to him what’s on it. Then him eating (normally something that includes rice and broccoli his two favourite foods), with his little spoon and fork. I have zero guilt about letting him snack on crisps or a cookie every now and again and I’ll do the same with my daughter. He already does football and swimming every week as well as lots of time on his balance bike and in softplay. He’s perfectly active and healthy and a packet of crisps or a cookie sometimes is not going to make the slightest bit of difference

So true 🤣🤣🤣

Nonsense.

Everybody is different with different metabolisms.

PersonA might weigh 8 stone and need 2800 calories to maintain
PersonB might weigh 8 stone and need 1700

It depends on all sorts..

When you've done a properly researched study with longitudinal data, mixed-methods analysis, and verifiable empirical evidence I'll be more interested in your conclusions. You've quite a lot of variables to control for before you can speak with certainly.

If "snacking" wasn't a problem, the massively increased amount of snacking wouldn't correlate with the massive increase in obesity. But unfortunately it does. Kids don't need snacks. They only have meltdowns because they have learned they get a snack if they have one.

Nobody ever ‘eats’ on these threads, they ‘chomp’, ‘guzzle’ and ‘scoff’ 😆

my children are 11 and 8. My oldest is autistic and will not eat eggs or cheese. My little one is a bit funny with onion (acid reflux - we both get it from onions and it hurts so we avoid)
However, when they come home from school they have a “snack basket” they can choose one thing from and a drawer in the fridge plus the fruit bowl. Usually that means a granola bar or flapjack, a piece of cheese (little one) and an apple or the biggest will typically opt for cold cooked chicken chunks and a banana.
They get home from school at 3:30. After school clubs don’t start until at least 4:15, at the earliest and in our house dinner isn’t until 7:30pm. Dinner is always fresh cooked, plenty of veg (which my kids eat) and usually a minimal portion of carbs and a piece of protein. A typical dinner for us is chicken with veg and potatoes, salmon or fresh ham salad.

I don’t mind the snacks, my children are in the “healthy” (slightly underweight) category for their respective heights, even if they are “too tall” for their ages. And my boys play rugby twice a week, swim twice a week and my littlest dances for an hour plus does 30 mins of tap and ballet each week. My oldest isn’t allowed to dance (medical issues) so he runs parkrun every weekend.

My granddaughter is the same. She naturally needs to eat little and often, as do a lot of women.

Little and often is up there with skinning puppies in the world of mumsnet orthorexia. Everyone on here seems to have done Zoe and thinks they're an endocrine expert.

I’m snacking while I read this.

I think snacking is fine.too :)

One of my dc is food obsessed. Has meltdowns if can’t eat every hour through the day (has AuDHD). We have had to carefully manage this need to snack with maintaining a healthy weight so have set very low calorie snacks that we give. It’s really hard.

Well I don't think it's inherently problematic.....it depends on the snack and I know from personal experience that a healthy snack has prevented a meltdown in my child when it's a while until next mealtime

@Lentilcakes why do see you children being super skinny as a good thing? One bad chest infection and they are in the danger zone. A bit of chubbiness isn't the end of the world.
Also just a reminder, you don't know if the child you are weirdly watching has a milk allergy etc. Or why they are overweight. It's taken my eldest GC to grow out of her MPA (through guided exposure) to be a normal weight. To some she might look weighty, but the hospital are happy and it's natural for the women in our family to be weighty until around 13.

That was my shopping, my partner has a stoma and eats stodge. The rest was for the school summer fair. If you are judging people's shopping at the moment, realise that there are a lot of fairs on (churches, community groups etc) and crisps/cakes/sweets etc are being asked for.
@AmazingGreatAunt not all children eat breakfast. My youngest couldn't keep anything down for at least an hour after waking up. She still doesn't eat until after 1.30pm (her break at work). My granddaughter is the same. She naturally needs to eat little and often, as do a lot of women.
Posters are forgetting that more primary school children are travelling by bus. My GC has a croissant/pancake on the bus, or when we get off. She's been awake at this point for 1.5 hours and feels that she can eat. She takes a packed lunch, but doesn't always eat all of it, she sometimes finishes it off, on the bus home. We wait up to 30 minutes for a bus. When I was a child, we all walked ten minutes max to school. My GC would rather have cheese or hummus than fruit. If I'm hungry, fruit makes me feel sick.

Don’t be so bloody ridiculous! So I , as an adult, wouldn’t be allowed to buy myself some ice cream or cake unless I threw a turnip in my basket as well? 🙄

Why do you refer to those other children as ‘little darlings’? It sounds like a jibe at the children even if you mean it as a jibe to the parents. (For the record my kids have never been overweight and eat different cuisines so I’m not being defensive).

Table manners is a separate issue.

What happens if you are buying a pack of ice-lollies and going to the park with the offspring? Am I then forced to buy a bunch of bananas, some carrots and a block of cheese to get the dictated percentage? Even though I bought those 2 hours ago for the weekly shop?

Ah yes. It’s like when there’s a school trip and the school says no sweets. The parents are up in arms because “how dare the school dictate what little Caiydden can or can’t eat for breakfast…”

The incessant eating is totally bizarre. But if you work in schools or know anyone who does, they will tell you that many children don’t know how to eat with cutlery, preferring to use their fingers and shovel the food in. Those who work in education are expected to teach the children how to eat and drink properly. And any manners are a thing of the past. Sad but true.

She stated "I stand by snacking is inherently problematic"