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.

Overweight is associated with early puberty in boys and girls
https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(21)00018-4/fulltext
(Journal of Pediatrics)

It has been clear that overweight and obesity in childhood is associated with onset of puberty at a younger age in girls. For boys, this has been less clear and study results have been variable. One issue is that defining onset of puberty may be more difficult in boys compared with girls. In this volume of The Journal, Chen et al used data from the Boston Birth Cohort Study to evaluate this question. They used age at peak height velocity as a marker of puberty. They found that overweight or obesity from age 2-7 years is associated with earlier onset of puberty in boys as well as in girls. However, those with overweight or obesity at age 2-4 years who became normal weight at age 5-7 had normal timing of puberty. This suggests that interventions to achieve normal weight from age 5-6 years could impact timing of puberty and avoid the deleterious impact of early onset of puberty.

Oh bore off you judgemental battleaxe! Zzzzzz

@APC303 She measured her blood glucose level with a glucometer and saw that it spiked after those things. Nuts or cheese would absolutely be healthier. I'm not perfect though and we have a combination of healthy and unhealthy snacks in our house. I do agree that snack culture is difficult to challenge and 3 main meals would be better. Even less would be better for adults actually. But in reality, this is very difficult for everyone to achieve due to the nature of people's lives nowadays and many people struggling to find the time.

The children that you saw by the pool.. it might be their only treat of the week. So I would withhold judgement about people you don’t know. And no, I don’t think kids should be eating too much junk food but I don’t judge strangers for feeding their kids snacks because I don’t know what’s going on with their diet for the rest of the time. I feed my daughter ice cream and doughnuts sometimes, but she also receives healthy snacks on a daily basis.

I echo others on here that 30 years ago when I was at primary school a standard packed lunch was a sandwich consisting of cheap white sliced bread and billy bear ‘ham’, a packet of crisps and a penguin biscuit bar. Standards seem much higher nowadays. School canteen food wasn’t much better (turkey twizzlers etc) I think standards are higher now!

Hmm this post made me feel terrible because I've started allowing my toddler snacks but then I read OP's update and felt better! Mine also has two snacks a day at scheduled times. I started it after he'd been at nursery a while (part time) and was getting used to that routine. Usually a mini meal where I try to make sure there's three of either protein, fat, carb, fruit/veg present such as a homemade flapjack, though recently I've been letting him have bits of Kallo rice cake and think that's fine! Mine will happily have mixed veg as a snack. Eats 3 good meals a day and still breastfeeding too.

Now I'm starting to gently wean him, I am leaning more on little snacks and some water where he might have had a feed instead, so a bite of rice cake. Usually I'm strict with the feeding schedule though. He's never been given sugar and only the occasional processed food eg veg spring roll, some of a veggie burger if I was eating one, Grandma does a potato smiley once a week (but everyone on here told me to unclench re other people feeding him). I think kids' appetites are just different! My nephew can't have any snacks or he won't eat a bite of his next meal and he's very fussy with food anyway. DS will happily eat all sorts of fish, olives, celery, plantain, pretty good with spice.

But I agree OP kids don't need to be loaded with sugar and crisps daily. I also think letting or encouraging kids to become obese is neglect. Mine is only little but very active as are me and DH and we'll make sure he's doing enough physical activity as well as eating a balanced diet.

Ludicrous to judge snack intake based on one interaction. The pool children might’ve come straight from school not having previously eaten since lunch, and the toddlers in prams might be having something light in between meals.

My DS eats everything, was never given toddler snacks eg vegetable crisps, puffs or rice cakes, but there’s no harm in cutting up a pear or giving them a yoghurt. It never affected his meals or milk intake, and given how much they run around most of them need it.

And he’s now a v skinny 7 year old.

It’s not light snacks driving obesity most of the time - it’s parents not cooking healthy meals and letting their DC eat chicken and chips from takeaways and only giving them processed dinners.

Lazy parenting. The food equivalent of sticking kids in front of an ipad.

Giving kids junk to munch on is an easy way of keeping them quiet and in one place. It's right up there with sticking them in front of a tablet in terms of lazy parenting.

It's not surprising that one in five 10 year olds in the UK are obese.

I rarely see kids snacking in prams/public transport etc as there noses are glued to devices

I think a lot of the smug posters still have quite little children. It can all change.

I was very strict about screen time (zero screen time before age 2, very very limited after that, focus on getting outside and doing wholesome activities) and also food (did blw, organic meals cooked from scratch, only set snacks of fruit or veg, no junk). He’s now a beige-food loving, fast food obsessed teenage boy who won’t touch vegetables, snacks all day and is utterly addicted to his smartphone.

Kids get really hungry after school. If they're at a 4pm swimming lesson, then thry probably haven't had dinner, no.

My toddler is on a low centile for her weight so definitely needs to snack. And before you say it no she doesn't eat more at meal times if she doesn't snack.
My BMI is in the underweight category and I always have 3 meals and at least 2 snacks a day.
Food eaten at snack time is no worse than if it's eaten at a meal time. Some people just like to feel superior...

I actually agree with the OP and keep snacks to a minimum, something like an apple or a cracker and hummus once or twice a day if she asks. But ironically I found myself being loudly judged on the train the other day. Nearly at the end of a two hour very crowded train journey it was nearly lunchtime and my toddler got hungry and cross. I somehow managed to wrestle a box of emergency breadsticks out of my bag and put it on the table, toddler swiftly grabbed two and started devouring. Seconds later I heard tutting from a neighbouring table about children today being allowed to just eat and eat all day 😂 For content this was nearly 5 hours since breakfast. A good warning for me not to judge by what I see on one occasion!

My 2 year old loves snacks, and will also eat her main meals very happily, often having second portions. She’d be so hangry if we didn’t do snacks as well. She loves veggies, will eat most foods (more then a lot of adults I know) including boiled eggs, fish, curries, pastas, chicken from the bone etc. she just has a big appetite, so will also have 4 or 5 snacks during the day as well. Usually things like a yoghurt, fruit, some cheese, a pita bread and hummus, Wheatabix maybe. She’s in the bottom 25% for weight for her age so god knows where she puts it! Like having a teenage boy in the house with the amount she eats

Same here. We walked or cycled everywhere and played out after school. I loved our tuck shop. There were no healthy options at all. Just penny mixtures and empire biscuits.

Same in our house. A healthy snack mid morning and mid afternoon and some days something else before bed. I thought this was standard in households with young children. Our nursery follows the same routine and prides itself on healthy eating.

Me too
but was also fond of salt n vinegar squares and a mint club

Have you or your children ever done a lot of sport/ physical activity? My children are all very sporty and active- without an after school snack they’d struggle to maintain their strength and physical activity levels. They still also eat 3 meals a day

This is true, we used to walk loads and ‘play out’ non stop after school and on weekend. Lots of kids nowadays are ferried round in suvs everywhere and don’t ’play out’ anymore which is a real shame. I think lack of activity is a big factor in obesity rates.

Oh, I’ve lost count of the number of kids that are given a sausage roll for breakfast from the local shop before going in school … they stand outside the school gates scoffing it down before they walk in. That’s primary age kids!!

Anything to shut the kids up so they don’t actually have to speak to them or entertain them.

We don’t have regular timed snacks like you do (rarely snack at all). But, we also don’t always all sit together and eat. We also don’t have set times for lunch and dinner, especially on weekends. I think you just need to find what works for you and your family.

Literally full of shite? 😂

Mine are 14 and 10 and I certainly don’t allow that behaviour! Eat the dinner you are given, eat fruit and veg, regular exercise / sports and a healthy breakfast.