Reception child came home ravenous!

[missy111]

My LB came home yesterday, and pretty much tried to eat a full days worth of food in 4 hours! He said they only got given cherry tomato at playtime (we were told not to send snack, but he doesn't eat tomato) and a 'small' portion at lunch (he said a lot less than nursery gave him).
Is this normal? He's asking for packed lunches, which I'd rather not do, given the lunch is free..but will if necessary! I'm sending him in today with an apple and banana for playtime, and will see how lunch goes. Also going to ask for a menu, so can see what the lunches are going to be..

My DD was the same in reception, she didn't really like the food and there was to much going on flinch time with people to talk too and other people finishing their dinners and going outside to play so she didn't eat much and came home everyday like a starving animal

What is he having for breakfast? I find I need to step up the breakfasts at the start of term or when they have just starting school. This morning we are having grilled mushrooms and bacon on toast, porridge with coconut and fruit salad. Sounds like a lot but we don’t tend to do snacks after school until dinner and this sets them up.

I’d ask if there was an alternative to tomatoes for snacks. Cucumber, grapes or apple slices perhaps?

They always come home starving!
You can check the menu and think about packed lunches, but in my experience they always need after school snacks and big piles of Weetabix in the morning.

Most schools give a menu at the beginning of term.

Also when DS started YR they had 2 breaks, and got given free fruit/vegetable in one break and I seem to remember I sent him with a small snack for the other. They also had the option of a carton of milk (think it was free in YR and then had to pay for it after that)

Mine started a week ago and has come home starving every day so far! They’re having fruit at mid morning break and then school dinners, some of which she’s liked and some she’s not keen on. I’m persevering with the school dinners for a while though, and just giving her a decent sized snack when she gets home and slightly earlier dinner.
I think it’s fairly common as they get used to the new routine. I don’t think they get a huge amount of time to each lunch either so I think faffing may be playing a part for my DD!

Oh and mine has a really good breakfast (things like scrambled egg, bacon and beans) but is still starving when she comes home!

The fruit will be getting delivered every day or every other day and there will be some variety but it’s not predictable. Although I bet it’s carrot today it it wasn’t yesterday! There is no ‘cucumber, grapes or apple slices’ to ask for. Sometimes there is some of yesterday’s fruit.

Some schools discourage children from bringing their own advice some don’t. In some classrooms it’s out all of the time so they can access it whenever they want, in some they have it when they go outside and in some they have it at a set time like at story time.

If you send in fruit, try to make it something that isn’t in a container as then your child will have that to deal with as an extra job.

My DD started school 4 weeks ago and had been the same.

She has cereal and fruit for breakfast, we p snack (fruit, cereal bar, crisps, biscuit, pancake type), then a school lunch (meal+dessert), a small snack on the way home (raisins/cheerios) and she's still eating a full meal plus yogurt/ice lolly afterwards!

I figure school is hard going and there's just no filling her.

*we provide

At a school I worked in at the UK the portions for the children were absolutely tiny. They hardly give anything. I'd send snacks/packed lunch for my kids.

School is hard going, it’s all new, lots of brain use, social interaction and running around.

Do a hearty breakfast l, send in a banana if allowed at snack time and be prepared to feed a substantial after school snack as well as tea.

Being hungry is fine and probably good for them long term. It means he had a busy active today. A bit of hunger is fine.

Better they give him a tomato than a biscuit.

Give him more breakfast containing protein if you are really worried.

This is the same with my primary school DC
I ask what did you have lunch today
they say fish and chips.
I say oh that sounds delicious , how can you still be hungry ...
They then tell me they only are a few chips ( they love fish by the way )
Same story with other dishes ie . Mince and potatoes , they only eat a potato

I frequently have to give them a bowl of pasta and a sandwich after school as they are ravenous . They still ask for more but then it’s dinner at 5 .

They say it’s because they are rushed at school . It really annoys me because I remember years ago we were not allowed to hand our trays back for stacking if we hadn’t finished our food . ( obvs around 30 years ago though )

It seems such a waste , they provide all these free school meals , hot healthy and tasty and then the kids are rushed and don’t eat properly

Other parents say exactly the same thing when I chat to them in the playground

They aren't rushed though. The reality is that they sit at the table for 15 minutes chatting with all their new friends until their food goes cold. Then the lunch supervisor walks over and says "Coome on, five more minutes and then you can go out and play together!"

Play, you say?

"I'm not hungry, let's go!"

Yes I don’t think mine is rushed, she’d just rather chat to her friends for 15 mins then eat 3 mouthfuls of food before going out to play! I imagine she’ll soon realise that if she doesn’t eat properly at lunchtime she’ll be hungry in the afternoon.

Same here. School meal portions are tiny and poor quality. Decent breakfast that includes protein especially eggs seems to help. An afternoon snack always goes down well and they still demolish their evening meal.
I think learning burns energy alongside p.e and playtime and as said upthread being hungry is no bad thing.

Absolutely normal then😂
I will give him whatever he wants for breakfast, but it's like torture trying to get him to eat unless he has been up 2 hours! Just managed to get him to eat 1/2 Slice of toast, a boiled egg white (he won't eat the yolk) and a satsuma.
I have offered everything from sausages/ham/cereal etc

I find portion sizes of school meals are very stingy. My 10 year old very rarely takes the meals as he gets so little and is starving when they get home.

Our school has a bread basket and fruit bowl for children who are having school lunches to help themselves, might be worth asking if there's anything like that he can take a bit extra.

Do you walk to school? Could he eat cheese on a couple of oatcakes as he walks? Think he might be hungrier by then and also eat without thinking.

Not so starving today, more the hunger that I expected..
Having looked through the menus, I am tempted to send him with packed lunches though, then at least I know he will get a decent portion of food!

Mine both come home starving too I’m afraid, even up into juniors.

the portions are meant to be the right amount of food for an average child, but only if your child eats the whole lot and most don't eat the salad/veg bit and the puddings are generally left as they aren't like home puddings. The children also rush out to play.

Yup my ds did that most days on the way home from reception and had school dinners

This year is packed lunches and he has extra needs so I needed to explain he would need to eat what id packed for him as he wouldn't be given food like last year

I picked him up and he had eaten the cucumber and the carrots and bugger all else

He then promptly insisted on eating the rest on the car on the way home which made me laugh given there is a current thread about it on here somewhere

Then ate a full bowl of pasta when he got in and half a bag of sugar snap peas....so that talk about eating his lunch obviously went well

Mine only seems to be eating the veg! Yesterday was lasagne, garlic bread, vegetables and an iced bun or fruit. She says she ate peas, sweet corn and fruit.

If you can't get him to eat his breakfast at home, how do you expect the school to get him to eat their snack/lunch?

Of course it's all new, but work on it over the next few weeks and see what happens.

Even children who will happily eat the snack/lunch have to get used to the new routine too.