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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Scrounging toddler!

64 replies

Leonie87 · 06/12/2018 00:30

She’s adorbs, but OMG. I have to hide if I want to eat anything! I swear to god she hears the cutlery drawer open from the living room and toddles through with her mouth already open!

She has her tea at nursery. Comes home and scrounges half of my older girls tea! She cannot surely be hungry. She gets plenty to eat!

Is this normal? Is it likely that she is hungry??

OP posts:
AjasLipstick · 06/12/2018 01:28

Have you checked what she's being given at nursery? Could it be a bit too light? Sometimes they give sort of picnic teas....not like a proper hot meal is it. She's probably hungry.

itsfuckingxmasnotduckingxmas · 06/12/2018 01:31

I'd assume she's hungry and give her food....

halfwitpicker · 06/12/2018 01:37

She'll need supper too, nursery tea is snacky.

SpoonBlender · 06/12/2018 01:39

Are you sure she's not a puppy?

Flambola · 06/12/2018 02:26

She probably is hungry. My DD gets tea at nursery but at her age (3) it's picnic food: wraps or veg sticks and hummus, so I give her some supper at home.

Cloglover · 06/12/2018 02:37

If she's at nursery how do you know she's getting plenty to eat? How big are the portions? Is she eating everything? Is she really active there and needing extra food to compensate? Is she getting protein and fat rather than carbs and fruit and veg? If your child is taking other people's food (and not just wanting treats) I would imagine she is hungry and you should be giving her extra.

Sashkin · 06/12/2018 03:18

Mine is just greedy. If he hears the kitchen cupboard opening he is round like a flash: “Bees-keet? Bees-keet?” Fridge opens: “Tcheese?” Then much wailing and rolling about on the floor when we say no.

It definitely isn’t hunger, because he refuses his dinner trying to hold out for some cheese or a sodding biscuit instead (never works but he keeps trying).

frogface69 · 06/12/2018 03:59

adorbs? Eh ?

DonkeyHotei · 06/12/2018 04:31

frogface69

adorbs?eh?

Yes. It is a lighthearted abbreviation indicating adorable. Do you generally have comprehension problems? I have elementary- level ESOL students who would be able to understand this, especially from the context.

DonkeyHotei · 06/12/2018 04:35

OP, I envy you. I can barely get my toddler to eat at all Sad. I have no idea how he hasn't wasted away...

She sounds really cute, toddling in at the sound of the drawer Grin

PumpkinPie2016 · 06/12/2018 05:59

She could well be hungry. When my son was at nursery, he would have breakfast at home, then breakfast, snack, lunch, tea at nursery. Then he would come home and eat a full dinner with us.

He's the same now he's at school - has a snack if say cheese and crackers when he gets in, then a full dinner then milk and a banana at bed time. He always eats everything so he must be hungry!

I'd just give her tea with your older girl.

Santasushi · 06/12/2018 06:07

Maybe she’s hungry?

yikesanotherbooboo · 06/12/2018 06:15

Is she overweight?
Does she do this at weekends when you know she has eaten?
I would be inclined to think she was hungry is she was asking for food.i would probably sit her up at the table and give her a little of what I was having.

Oysterbabe · 06/12/2018 06:16

My DD still has a full cooked meal after having tea at nursery. Also I never eat without offering her something, feels a bit rude!

Roaring · 06/12/2018 06:17

Tea at nursery is tiny. She's most likely hungry.
Mine had tea at nursery and a full dinner at home as he was starving.

dottycat123 · 06/12/2018 06:19

I never considered tea at nursery to be the last meal of the day. My dc's nursery had sandwiches and fruit at 3:30pm but they always had a proper cooked meal about 5:30pm. I would expect she is hungry.

geekone · 06/12/2018 06:20

@SpoonBlender Grin my thoughts when I read this too

Mummyoflittledragon · 06/12/2018 06:21

Why are you concerned? Is she very overweight or something?

Children go through growth spurts and eat loads. Some children eat more than others. My dd is 10 and has gone through stages of being always hungry. Recently her appetite has actually reduced but some days she gets very hungry. It fluctuates from eating very little in the evening to eating loads.

Most children self regulate. If your dd were unable to regulate her eating and not creating the hormones required to signal satiety she would be getting very overweight.

BertrandRussell · 06/12/2018 06:30

If she's asking for food she's hungry.

Madeline88 · 06/12/2018 06:34

Mine gets afternoon tea but definitely still needs dinner at home!

megletthesecond · 06/12/2018 06:37

Nursery tea isn't that big. They have to cater for children who will have a home cooked meal later.

I'd give her a bit more to eat. Mine always had a top up supper when they got home.

hidinginthenightgarden · 06/12/2018 06:41

Nursery teas are often tiny. I always gave my son extra at 6ish.
My DD nursery give really good portions and she never asks for more at home.

blueskiesandforests · 06/12/2018 06:46

Eating separately will make her feel left out. It's a massive ask for a toddler to ignore her probably adored role model older sisters eating and not want to eat with them. Why don't you just all eat together? Ask nursery to give her a small portion if all the nursery children eat together, or if only some children pay for tea then move her to the group who eat at home, because she'll be eating with the family.

Jaxtellerswife · 06/12/2018 06:49

My son is four and eats like a bird. My almost two year old girl, we call her the vulture. She can hear a wrapper or a tin or even a hungry thought from a mile away Grin
She particularly enjoys other people's food, even if she has a plate of her own.

IWasTrendingThereForAMinute · 06/12/2018 06:57

Donkey are you always this spiky?

Swipe left for the next trending thread