Should I be giving my toddler dinner after Nursery?

[Alakashazam0]

DD is 3. Full time at Nursery. She has a large lunch, usually a hot meal with pudding and a smaller tea, I.e.wraps, sandwiches, savoury scones etc, usually with a starter such as humous and carrots or pepper sticks etc, she has that around 4.15pm, she always has seconds.. Every day.. She eats so well. I pick her up at 5pm, she has a snack on the way home, usually a packet of hula hoops, or a pear or some cut up apple, then when we get home she usually wants a bowl of cereal and milk or slice of toast. Does this sound OK? Was talking to one of the nursery mums today, her little girl is in the same room as my daughter, she says they have a full on meal every single night, a proper dinner and her daughter goes to sleep at 9pm.... My DD has her cereal and milk around 5.45pm, then a bath then is lights out at 7pm, as soon as she hits her bed she's out like a light.
Should I be giving her a full dinner? She doesn't show any signs of being ravenous when she comes in, she's a very, very good eater and eats pretty much everything. I was just worried I was under feeding her.. Would like to hear from others who have 3+ year olds who go to nursery and find out what they eat when they get home. I'm a single parent to one child and have nothing to base this on.. Thanks

Do you feed her cutted up pear? 😂 Sorry OP - a joke from a long time ago.

Anyway, I think it's fine what you're doing. She has 'tea' at 4:15 and then 2 snacks before bed. Sounds great!

Mine always did as they were hungry. They’re still the same now from after school club where they get fed at about 4pm. Still expect a hot dinner when they get in! Means we all eat together which is nice.

I might try something like scrambled eggs on toast when we get home tomorrow and see if she'll eat it. I couldn't prepare a full dinner in that time as she always eats a dinner made from scratch at home. I don't have a freezer at present to bulk cook and freeze as there's no room in my kitchen for one as there was only two under counter spaces, one for a fridge and one for washing machine, the last tenant had a freezer in the cupboard under the stairs but doesn't seem sanitary to me...

It’s perfectly sanitary

My freezer is in the garage - it’s a sealed box with several layers between the outside world and the food!

I always expected that I'd give her dinner when she starts school.. Although being a single parent I'm not sure how much time she'll spend in either after school club or with a childminder as I work full time :( hopefully in the future I can negotiate with my employer at least 1 or 2 school pick ups.

She's greedy lol.. If I don't bring a snack for 8 minute journey.. All hell breaks loose!

Probably best to get her out of 'habit eating' now then.

It could cause problems in the future and lead to comfort/boredom eating, which many adults say they can't break the habit of.

At 2 course meal with seconds at 4.15 and then a snack at 5, does very much sound like a habit.

Definitely give her a little something. When I’ve worked in nurseries the ‘tea’ portions are very small - so if it’s sandwiches it’s two tiny ham/cheese sandwich triangles, not a big sandwich with lots of veg.

Bowl or porridge or eggs on toast sounds perfect.

Literally every day I get told she eats seconds.. Whether that's because she actually wants it or expects it I don't know.. But I'm just glad she eats well.. My other nursery mum friend has a daughter in my daughters class and her daughter literally eats nothing all day :( every day. I really feel for her.

Definitely give her something - I work in childcare - as PP said the snack pm will be fairly small & believe me when I say that the children are "on the go" all day 😅

Will try tomorrow and see if she eats it :) it wont be a full on dinner, but bit more substantial than cereal.

Ours is much younger so feel free to gloss over this 😂 but the meals are similar in our nursery to yours, tea is usually a bit more substantial than a sandwich though maybe tuna pasta type thing or pizzas they all make together.

Almost every day he eats ‘all+’ which means he ate seconds or pinched some of someone else’s agaaaiin but we get home between 5-6 depending on who is getting him and then me and DP eat tea. We do serve DC a bit of what we’re having and he sits at the table with us, sometimes he eats it sometimes he doesn’t there’s no pressure on it or routine.

Bath at 6:15. Bed at 6:45-7 then. Knock out until 6:30-7am. He’s 14m

All good OP

This nursery routine was the same for my daughter. I used to give her a snack and that was all. She never asked for anything else. If she is asking for more then give her it but if not, then don't.

Yeah but ‘seconds’ at a nursery doesn’t mean a full new plate of tea usually.

It means that after two small triangles they might give a third, then they will count that as ‘seconds.’ I think a quick something is usually needed, and she’ll be busy playing and growing all day!

I worked in nurseries for a long time and the portions weren't very big at all. It was designed more as a snack thatn a tea to tide them over until they got home.

All children are different though. My eldest used to have a meal with us when he got home but my youngest would have usually just have cereal.

More than a tea*

Yes when I picture sandwiches at nursery. I do envisage very meagre portions. Most of the time her tea is bread based at nursery so don't want to give her more bread when she gets home. Need some ideas for a light type of dinner or something a bit more substantial then cereal.

I have a 4.5 yo who goes to nursery from 1-6 and he gets high tea at 4pm. To be honest he's usually too tired for the family meal after that before bedtime and sometimes he eats quite a lot at nursery. DH doesn't get in til then and I feed the baby tea earlier so I usually just give him supper and he watches TV to chill out. Either toast and peanut butter or some weetabix. If its one of his favorites he sneaks an second dinner in.

Maybe some scrambled egg with cheese and veg/an omelet? Baked beans with little sausages, baked potato? A cold mix up with cold meat and veg. Can’t think of any others at the moment!

Maybe the other child doesn't eat so well at nursery so the family want to make sure she's had something substantial before she goes to bed? We did this while DD wasn't eating too well at nursery but now she's cracked it (hopefully) I just give her her usual water and biscuit when we get in (mainly for the water to be routine, I think she forgets to drink as much when she's there as always seems thirstier than when at home) and then she sits for dinner with us as normal but only really picks at it, which is fine because she's had plenty during the day. Our non-nursery routine is she has meals at same times as at nursery but I bear in mind she will eat with us later too. This only works for us because she doesn't have an early bedtime, never has, and she gets some quality time with her dad before bed then. If she had an early/normal bedtime I don't know how I'd work it!

My son is 16 months and his nursery feeding schedule is a bowl of Porridge/weetabix between 8-8.30, toast at 10am, a substantial lunch at 11.30 (e.g. curry, sausage and mash, pasta), yoghurt or custard at 1.30/2 and a substantial snack type meal at around 3.30/4. I pick him up around 5 and try to have him asleep by 7.30 or 8 at the latest but would always give him dinner as soon as I can after getting home. What works for us is if I save a portion from the meal I cook for DH and I, then DS has it the next day after nursery. So he always has a home cooked meal but it is ready very quickly, just usually heat in the microwave!

My DC get a whole meal some days and just a sandwich or some cereal other nights. I play it by ear. During a growth spurt my DS needed a full meal most nights, but at other times would be just worn out from playing and just have a bag of crisps or a banana and ask to go to bed early

@8dpwoah

Maybe the other child doesn't eat so well at nursery so the family want to make sure she's had something substantial before she goes to bed? We did this while DD wasn't eating too well at nursery but now she's cracked it (hopefully) I just give her her usual water and biscuit when we get in (mainly for the water to be routine, I think she forgets to drink as much when she's there as always seems thirstier than when at home) and then she sits for dinner with us as normal but only really picks at it, which is fine because she's had plenty during the day. Our non-nursery routine is she has meals at same times as at nursery but I bear in mind she will eat with us later too. This only works for us because she doesn't have an early bedtime, never has, and she gets some quality time with her dad before bed then. If she had an early/normal bedtime I don't know how I'd work it!

That's nice.. Your set up works for your family and that's really nice. I have about 45 minutes with my daughter in the morning and then an hour after work. She knows her routine and it's not broken so I guess I don't need to fix it. I love that your child has quality time with dad before bed, that's so sweet x

I'd stop with all the crisps and cereal between 5pm-6pm and just do one pre-bed "supper" of milk and banana or a boiled egg or something.

Ours do a small portion of a hot meal at 4, we collect at 5 and all have dinner together at 6. Sometimes they clear the plate, others they don't touch it and maybe just have some fruit. We don't push either way as plenty of healthy food will have already gone in by that time of day.