Am I giving DS enough snacks between meals?

[saveoursleepplease]

20 month DS always seems hungry - he eats three really good meals, 7.30am, 12ish and 5ish, plus a biscuit after his afternoon sleep. He devours his food at mealtimes - sometimes he has the most godawful tantrum if he has to wait for food to be cooked.

It made me wonder whether we were giving him enough snacks in between, and if we should give him more?

I don't want him to overeat, nor do I want him to go hungry...

Thoughts?

Does he have a mid morning snack?

Maybe give him a small sandwich after his sleep to keep him going rather than a biscuit?

5 1/2 hours is quite a long time for a toddler to go without something. they are always using up energy.

Fwiw I don't think toddlers will over eat, they will just eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full.

At that age I think mine had a morning and afternoon snack (eg ricecakes+raisins, or biscuit, or fruit). And I used to give dd2 a biscuit before bed in a vain effort to get her to sleep in longer unhealthy but I was desperate . Just offer a healthy ish snack morning and afternoon, and trust him to take what he needs. Wouldn't worry about overeating if he is a healthy weight and the food he eats is well balanced.

I'd give him a morning tea at 10am of crackers and cheese, some dried fruit, a small sandwhich or something. The biscuit in the afternoon is a good idea too - maybe offer some fruit as well. Toddlers need to eat every 3 hours or so to keep their blood sugar up - they do so much more running about than adults do.

If he seems hungry and is having tantrums because he can't wait for his food the evidence would suggest that, no you are not giving him enough snacks.

This is one of those things where you need to read your own toddler and not do a survey about what other toddlers eat. If your toddler is hungry, feed him. Don't not feed him because my toddler eats like a sparrow.

Agree with holy - if I give my 2 yo snacks, he doesn't eat his meals and survives on crackers, fruit and bread and butter - how he does this I don't know as he is literally on the move the whole time he is awake.

I have to be quite careful not to give him a snack within a couple of hours of a "mealtime" otherwise it just gets rejected.

However, if yours eats up his main meals, then I'd add in snacks too - maybe higher calorie things like avocado on a rice cake, some pure nut butter on a cracker, a banana or some slices of cheese. You're lucky! I wish mine would eat like that, but it's like eating is a boring interlude in the life of play.

mine also doesnt eat his meals very well if he has big snacks, but I do give him little snacks (crackers, breadsticks, raisins, something simple/small) as they are supposed to eat every 2hrs or seomthing like that?

Agree with learning to read your child. It sounds as if yours might need to eat more often. My 2.7 y.o. generally needs to eat every 1.5-2 hours. A snack might be sandwiches made with 1 or 2 slices of bread and a piece of fruit. Or 3 or 4 crackers with a couple of pieces of fruit.

He has breakfast at about 8ish, usually asks for a snack at 10ish, needs another pre-nap snack at around 11.30-12.30, then has lunch at around 2-3pm, usually a mid-afternoon snack and then dinner at about 6.30pm. If bedtime doesn't immediately follow dinner, he needs a snack immediately before bedtime.

It's helpful that he'll often ask me for food, although he is always reluctant to have lunch after his nap. I think it's because he's actually really hungry and just wants to play - once I've persuaded him to have something to eat, he'll have lots of food.

I make sure all his snacks are healthy things that I'd be happy for him to have as part of a 'proper' meal, so if he eats the snacks but doesn't want much of meals, it's no big deal (though that doesn't happen often).

Protein and wholegrains (and especially the combination of the two) fills you up much more than just white carbs, so adding more of those into snacks and meals may help reduce the need to give frequent snacks. I give DS nut butter, cream cheese, normal cheese and would give things like sausage rolls / mini burgers if he liked them.

Thanks all. Yes, he has a very healthy diet, so I've no worries about the quality of food I'm giving him. He's never had sugar apart from fruit and we eat organic, wholefoods most of the time.

I realise a 'survey' of other toddlers is meaningless - and I'd like to think I read my child - I was just curious whether snacking was commonplace!

But some good thoughts here, so thanks