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AIBU?

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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:
AuntMarch · 06/12/2018 07:05

If I had breakfast, a fruit snack, a hot lunch and a snacky "tea" at about 4 pm, I'd still need something else later. Not a full size dinner maybe, but a smaller helping of what my siblings were having might be nice. The social aspects of sitting at the table together would be lovely too.

HexagonalBattenburg · 06/12/2018 07:11

It doesn't improve. My school age little one hears me put the kettle on and comes in to tell me I really really need to have a biscuit with my coffee (translation: I want your biscuit you're going to have with your coffee).

ShadowHuntress · 06/12/2018 07:27

What time does she finish nursery? When my dd was younger she had the afternoon slot 1-6pm. They would give them tea around 4pm and it would be a light meal. She was always hungry when we picked her up and would have dinner at home with us around 6.30. We’d just give her a little less than the days she wasn’t at nursery. If she’s asking for more food she needs it

PermanentlyFrizzyHairBall · 06/12/2018 07:31

Toddlers have tiny tummies, they can fit enough in there to survive on three meals a day. They need snacks too. They're also sociable like anyone else, if the older girls are eating why not give the youngest a little healthy snack too.

Baffledmummy · 06/12/2018 07:39

Our youngest is the same....she’s a bottomless pit. She’s not overweight but definitely on the stocky side in comparison to DC1 who eats fresh air and is slight and petite. If she sees anyone eating anything she is over like a shot giving her best cute smile and unsolicited cuddles so she can get within snatching distance of the food. Then she pounces and is off like a rocket before you can get it back from her!

Terribletwos84 · 06/12/2018 07:54

My little boy is the same. I will give him his lunch and half an hour later will do myself some toast and he'll be up on the sofa eating half of it. If the fridge opena he's in there (and will open it himself now) finding food. I actually caught him having pulled a chair over to reach the fruit bowl last week 😂 He is very energetic though and seems to never put on weight.

Iloveautumnleaves · 06/12/2018 08:11

Donkey are you always this spiky?

Donkey wasn’t spiky. She was replying to the ‘faux confusion’ of Frog. I don’t like words like ‘adorbs’ either, but I don’t pretend not to understand their meaning to make a point.

Original poster
Leonie87 · 06/12/2018 13:38

Thanks for the input.

To clarify, I supply her tea for nursery. She gets it around half four. It’s usually a decent sized portion of something like macaroni, soup and bread, or an Ella’s kitchen meal (1-3 age group). DD1 eats around six (we will all sit in the kitchen but we don’t eat together. DH and I eat later once the girls are asleep).

I don’t think she’s hungry but I think going forward I will make her some toast or something. She is not overweight. She is just where she should be. But I don’t want her to become overweight.

OP posts:
Oysterbabe · 06/12/2018 13:42

I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old. They always want what the other has got, irrespective of what else they may have had. I would sit her up with her sister with a small portion of food. Toddlers do eat a surprising amount and 4:30 until breakfast is a long time.

Original poster
Leonie87 · 06/12/2018 13:43

She has milk before bed.

But yes I take the point. It would be easy enough to give her a small portion. I just don’t want to overfeed her.

OP posts:
EwItsAHooman · 06/12/2018 14:19

Toddlers don't need snacks but they should eat roughly every 3-4hrs so if she has a big gap from tea at nursery to bedtime then maybe offer her a little supper of something like toast? If she refuses the toast then she's either not actually hungry or is holding out for treats.

Littlest DD appears whenever she hears someone in the kitchen, making "aahhh" noises and pointing at her tummy with her mouth open. Are you hungry, DD?: "Yah!" Here, have a banana: "Bikkit?" No sweetheart, it's not a biscuit, it's a banana: "Want bikkit". Cue apoplectic rage at the lack of biscuit supply because she's not actually hungry, she's just trolling for the good stuff.

Are you sure she's not a puppy?

Grin
GummyGoddess · 06/12/2018 14:27

Some children just eat and eat, they aren't all hungry when they ask. Dc1 has hollow legs and is perfectly capable of eating an adults sized meal. Plus pudding. Then asking for a snack a few minutes later.

omione · 06/12/2018 14:43

Last Nursery i worked in tea was 1/4 of a crumpet, slice of apple and a few raisins

Rainatnight · 06/12/2018 14:49

That's a long time between tea at nursery and bedtime. I think most people would need something to eat!

I see where you're coming from cos my DD is similar, to the point that we sometimes refer to her the Labradaughter. Like you, I don't want her to become overweight. But toddlers really do need to eat pretty frequently and if other people are eating in the house it's much more sociable just to give her something.

What I tend to do with mine is just increase the variety. So say she's had a load of bread etc but still claims to be hungry, I'll offer fruit or a carrot. 'No more bread, cos you've had enough of that, but if you're still hungry, you can have X or Y.'

EnglishRose13 · 06/12/2018 14:49

My son always eats well at nursery and often asks for a second helping (or so they claim) but he always wants more when he gets home. When he's in the right mood, there's no stopping him from eating!

He's not overweight at all. In fact he's two and a half and wears 12-18m clothing.

littlemeitslyn · 06/12/2018 14:52

Light hearted abbreviations my arse

AmbeRiddle · 06/12/2018 14:55

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
Leonie87 · 06/12/2018 18:21

What is it that you think it is littleme, if not a lighthearted abbreviation?

OP posts:
itsfuckingxmasnotduckingxmas · 06/12/2018 19:23

You're more worried about her being overweight than her potentially being hungry?

RedPandaMama · 06/12/2018 19:28

DD is 16mo but even she comes home from nursery ravenous! She's much more active there than at home, plus they have 'tea' (usually crumpets with cheese, wraps, hummus and dippy bread, soup etc) at 4pm, so I'm not surprised she wants a proper meal. Today she had soup at nursery then got home and at 6pm had half an adult portion of pasta with tomato, bacon and peas, plus half a packet of Aldi lentil crisps, then 8oz milk! She's not overweight at all btw. Just greedy! Grin

Original poster
Leonie87 · 06/12/2018 19:28

Of course not. But I’m not convinced she is actually hungry.

Don’t make out it’s poor parenting to not what your children to be overweight.

OP posts:
Original poster
Leonie87 · 06/12/2018 19:28

Want

OP posts:
Sashkin · 06/12/2018 19:56

It depends on what she’s eating. If it’s normal tea, fine she’s probably hungry. If she’s only after treats, probably not.

QuilliamCakespeare · 06/12/2018 20:00

I don't think toddlers are capable of greed, they're pretty good at self-moderating their intake. Obviously if she just wants junk food it's different but I'd never deny 'proper' food to a child who says they're hungry.

The weight thing is a non-issue at her age. Please don't teach her to watch her weight, even if you're not doing it deliberately.

GoodCow · 06/12/2018 20:13

My nearly 2yo DD "enjoys her food". Not overweight at all, but the minute she hears/sees/smells food, she's on you in a flash! When I have breakfast, I have to give her a snack to stop her begging like a dog. She made herself ill recently as she failed to chew her pasta!
I think it's just them using so much energy just to exist they need to refuel! I'd offer something small so she feels included but not so she's going to bed with a heavy stomach