To think toddlers don’t need snacks?

[Cuppasoupmonster]

I was just pondering this when washing up. I’ve never really given DD snacks, she has her 3 meals a day and that’s usually it, maybe once or twice a week she will have a digestive biscuit or yoghurt if dinner is going to be later than usual. However it seems like when we go on days out with other mums and toddlers, they come laden with snacks that are whipped out every hour or two. AIBU to think toddlers don’t really need to snack and this might be contributing to the obesity crisis?

Mine doesn’t snack, but then, she’s always existed off air.

It’s a win if she eats more than a few bites of a meal.

I see other toddlers snacking on fruit and veg and could weep. She’s looked at fruit and veg like it’s just dropped out the cats arse since she was a baby.

God help you when DC gets to school. They have morning snack, lunch then fruit at afternoon snack, then a snack at after school club before coming home for tea.

Is it really a problem what other parents choose to do or other children need??

Also my ds is like a stick insect next to his peers. His diet is like this:

Breakfast: scrambled/boiled egg, toast, cucumbar and feta cheese

Snack: fruit or cucumbar/carrot slices

Lunch: Salmon and pasta or soup with bread to dip in

Snack: biscuits, raisins, nuts and crackers

Dinner: Lamb chops, rice, peppers and carrots.

We have issues with veg, yogurt and milk and vitamins are given daily.

All 3 meals are prepared from scratch and food that is boiled like pasta, soup, stew and rice are boiled with home made bone broth cubes that I freeze every month. I was also taught how to make my own yogurt from my late great grandmother but unfortunately my son hates yogurts even the petit Filious. He has fresh squeezed orange and apple juice every morning as well.

But you could be feeding your kids sugar puffs with fruit smoothie, then burger and chips followed by ice cream for lunch and then pizza followed by cake for dinner. Someone else's child might have a Weetabix, then a snack of banana, then a small sandwich on wholemeal and a yoghurt, then a, snack of a few nuts, then a dinner of plain meat and veg with fresh fruit, then a snack of celery and humus and supper of a slice of toast with milk. It isn't a guarantee your child eats better for only being fed three times a, Sat.

I don’t think adults should snack either

Well thankfully it ain't up to you.

How many kids do you have, OP, just out of interest?

Of course it isn’t. It was just something that I was thinking about earlier and wondered if anyone else thought the same. I’m not about to start a Yougov petition to ban snacking so you can relax.

A toddlers stomach is the size of their fist, they require between 1000-1200 Kcal per day. It’s quite difficult to fit that in 3 x the size of their stomach.

if she had porridge then usually a sandwich, like cheese and pickle, with a piece of fruit and packet of Pom bears.

Pom Bears aren't a snack?

My kids are both skinny and have also both always snacked a lot! Not my DS so much but after a couple of hours with nothing to eat DD goes pale/no energy etc.

I don't think you can really blame kids being obese on snacks alone.

No because she has them with lunch? They’re part of her lunch?

Yeah there's definitely an element of interpretation/pedantry to what the OP describes.

If I have fruit and yoghurt at 10 am but not after my evening meal is it any less healthy?

Snacks are small portions of food between main meals.

But according to OP If her child eats the pombears at 12:15 instead of 3pm, then her child won't be obese, but YOURS WILL because those calories were consumed at a different time to hers.

Mine desperately needed them - both chunky toddlers now lean and super active kids! Depends on the kid and their appetite, level of energy. All are different, there are no hard rules. Grazing for the sake of it just as something to do while in the buggy or to keep them quiet is a different matter.

It is fairly obvious that the issue is not the snacks but what is being eaten, as snacks or main meals.
I believe it is healthier, for everyone, to eat small quantities frequently rather than big meals. It is all about the type of food being eaten. Snacking in itself is obviously not the issue.

I'd consider them to be a snack. They aren't part of the main meal. It sounds like you do give your child snacks, just with meals rather than between. I'm not sure why the timing of said snacks makes you a superior parent.

Snacks are king. The best of distractions.

My two year old eats three healthy meals and a fair few fruit / raisin / the odd cracker snacks

Gosh couldn't have got through the early years without bunging snacks DD's way 🤣

She is now 14 tall and thin.

We're now doing competitive under eating kids? And everyone's child is a stick insect!? Jesus.
Yes where could the rise in eating disorders be coming from. What. A. Mystery.

... so another kid might have the same food, but in this pattern.

Breakfast - porridge or wholemeal toast with peanut butter or marmite

Snack: yoghurt or banana

Lunch - a sandwich, like cheese and pickle, with a piece of fruit or wholewheat pasta with tomato sauce and sweetcorn/peas

Snack: pombears or cheese

Dinner - usually something pretty hearty like pie and mash with greens, chilli con carne, chicken and mushroom risotto, sometimes chicken and chips or similar with veg
Followed by fruit and yoghurt. Once a week or so she’ll have cake/ice cream or a proper ‘pudding’ like sticky toffee.

Why do you think that this child would be obese? JUST because they ate snacks?

It's nothing to do with snacking making kids obese. It's the TYPE of food they're consuming, i.e high salt, sugar, ultra processed food.

I’m hearing a bit of “my child eats really well at every meal and never needs snacks so I can’t understand why all children aren’t exactly like mine?”. My ds was a nightmare eater but dd eats really well and isn’t a worry apart from having 4 small meals a day rather than 3. If I hadn’t had ds maybe I’d think everyone was just doing it wrong.

Don't worry, everyone's kids on MN are tall and slim.

In my experience smugness comes before a fall. Don't park yourself on the back too soon op

I thought it was recommended toddlers should have one to two healthy snacks a day?
Im dropping day breastfeeds with my 14 month old atm and everything I’m reading is telling me to introduce snacks now

Yup

I think planned snacks are fine and are not causing the obesity crisis.

An apple at break isn’t going to cause an issue and can actually stop someone over eating at lunch.

I do think the constant snacking is part of the problem though.
I know lots of people who seem to graze all day and on top of that we have much larger portion sizes and we’ve become less active too.