The constant feeding / snacking of children

[Lordofthebantams]

At swimming lessons tonight I've sat next to two children chomping their way through a packet of crisps and a packet of chocolate biscuits at 4pm. ( No eating on the poolside but never mind that, the little darlings need some salty junk).

We had a day out with friends on Tuesday at a farm park and kids are being handed food every 5 minutes.

You go down the street and everywhere you look the toddlers in buggies have their little hands stuffed in packets of puffs or gripping a biscuit.

It's no wonder we have such chubby children everywhere.

One of my dc is food obsessed. Has meltdowns if can’t eat every hour through the day (has AuDHD). We have had to carefully manage this need to snack with maintaining a healthy weight so have set very low calorie snacks that we give. It’s really hard.

I think snacking is fine.too :)

I’m snacking while I read this.

My granddaughter is the same. She naturally needs to eat little and often, as do a lot of women.

Little and often is up there with skinning puppies in the world of mumsnet orthorexia. Everyone on here seems to have done Zoe and thinks they're an endocrine expert.

my children are 11 and 8. My oldest is autistic and will not eat eggs or cheese. My little one is a bit funny with onion (acid reflux - we both get it from onions and it hurts so we avoid)
However, when they come home from school they have a “snack basket” they can choose one thing from and a drawer in the fridge plus the fruit bowl. Usually that means a granola bar or flapjack, a piece of cheese (little one) and an apple or the biggest will typically opt for cold cooked chicken chunks and a banana.
They get home from school at 3:30. After school clubs don’t start until at least 4:15, at the earliest and in our house dinner isn’t until 7:30pm. Dinner is always fresh cooked, plenty of veg (which my kids eat) and usually a minimal portion of carbs and a piece of protein. A typical dinner for us is chicken with veg and potatoes, salmon or fresh ham salad.

I don’t mind the snacks, my children are in the “healthy” (slightly underweight) category for their respective heights, even if they are “too tall” for their ages. And my boys play rugby twice a week, swim twice a week and my littlest dances for an hour plus does 30 mins of tap and ballet each week. My oldest isn’t allowed to dance (medical issues) so he runs parkrun every weekend.

Nobody ever ‘eats’ on these threads, they ‘chomp’, ‘guzzle’ and ‘scoff’ 😆

If "snacking" wasn't a problem, the massively increased amount of snacking wouldn't correlate with the massive increase in obesity. But unfortunately it does. Kids don't need snacks. They only have meltdowns because they have learned they get a snack if they have one.

When you've done a properly researched study with longitudinal data, mixed-methods analysis, and verifiable empirical evidence I'll be more interested in your conclusions. You've quite a lot of variables to control for before you can speak with certainly.

Nonsense.

Everybody is different with different metabolisms.

PersonA might weigh 8 stone and need 2800 calories to maintain
PersonB might weigh 8 stone and need 1700

It depends on all sorts..

So true 🤣🤣🤣

Goodness me is it not just a snapshot of someone’s day?! Imagine what you’d think about me pushing my boy in his pushchair with a packet of crisps or a cookie, I’d be the next victim of your threads, shame you wouldn’t see the visits to restaurants where he sits beautifully at two years old, no iPad or phone, looking at the menu while I read to him what’s on it. Then him eating (normally something that includes rice and broccoli his two favourite foods), with his little spoon and fork. I have zero guilt about letting him snack on crisps or a cookie every now and again and I’ll do the same with my daughter. He already does football and swimming every week as well as lots of time on his balance bike and in softplay. He’s perfectly active and healthy and a packet of crisps or a cookie sometimes is not going to make the slightest bit of difference

I don't know if you are for or against eating little and often but my two younger children, 29 and 31 do have endocrine issues. My Mother and Aunt did, luckily it's skipped me. My middle DD, who has my GC, has left sided colitis and other issues. Her other child has had a MPA and bowel issues. Her youngest, who I'm talking about is under NHS pediatric departments, so I'll trust those experts. We do needs led parenting and it works when you have different conditions and ND, becauseit can take a while for a proper diagnosis.

I think you’re being unreasonable moaning about children constantly snacking. They do actually need snacks between meals to keep them fuelled so they have energy.

the problem is what some of these kids are snacking on - crisps/sweets - all the bad stuff but you also don’t know how much good stuff they’re also eating.

we finish swimming and gymnastics and usually have a banana and rice cakes.
mine have a lot of fruit - all the berries, grapes, apples, blueberries. But I’ll also let them have an occasional packet of crisps and cake.
the other problem is some kids just don’t get enough exercise!!

“A child fed constantly never learns how appetite and satiety feels”

tbh I think this is a really stupid thing to think. They’re not being force fed. There is no reason they wouldn’t learn appetite and satiety, it’s a natural human feeling

PLUS, stating the obvious, no child is fed constantly

@Lordofthebantams
My child has an enormous appetite, snacks and eats big meals.
Hes an early riser so is onto his mid morning snack earlier than some would have breakfast.

Ravenous after swimming as standard.

He'll sometimes snack at mealtimes if we are out and trying to stretch to a later lunch or dinner instead of eating while we are out.

Days out probably involve more treats than a normal day which is what the rest of the world like you might judge us for but its a one off blow out day.

Ill also dissuade him from trying something while we are out somewhere expensive or far from home as its not easy to provide an alt if he doesn't like it. But we'll try lots of things at home.

Hes a growing lad with a balanced diet, no foods are demonised as bad foods.

Hes constantly eating but certainly not fat.

Sounds like you are doing great with your kids but dont judge a moment un others lives when you dont have the context.

Kids might want snacks but they don't actually need them.

Mine had four meals a day rather than three. Breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. No snacks. Tea was a meal that might be on the hop. It might be fruit, it might have just been a drink and biscuits or cake. In this scenario, I'd have probably given individual portions of biscuits. That time of day probably meant that was their final meal of the day rather than snacking.

I wasn't Draconian. We still had ice creams and trips to the shop for sweets, fizzy drinks and crisps.

Says who? You?

If my 3 year old child is hungry because they had breakfast at 6:45, and lunch isn't until 1:30 because that's when it's being served.... they can have a bit of fruit at 11, thanks.

You feel free to make your child wait, and have them get hungry and grumpy because you have strange notions and rules around food 🤷

😂😂😂

So they had a snack ( a small bite to eat between two main meals) but you just called it tea....

Jesus Christ, so many people claiming their kids didn't/don't snack then go on to describe them doing exactly that... 😂😂😂

Ultra processed crap- you’re not wrong. Nobody needs a constant supply of snacks and it’s really setting them up to NEED those snacks all the time. They aren’t going to die if they have to wait an hour or two for dinner.

No they won't die.
But why make them go hungry for 2 hours when you don't need to?

Weird power play.

Different if it's 10 minutes to dinner and they're 7....etc

I am for eating however best suits the individual. For me, it's little and often, for others it's 3 meals a day, but I would never judge someone based on them doing what works best for them.

Mumsnet has got very prescriptive about how others should eat as if there's only one way, and, frankly, I find it extremely irritating.

You sound like a delightful grandparent

There is nothing wrong with being hungry. They will enjoy their dinner more if they are hungry beforehand. Being able to feel the sensation of hunger but overcoming it and powering through is part of growing up and becoming a fully rounded adult.