Toddler snacks

[Rachel1210]

Sorry if I’ve posted this in the wrong place but what snacks do you give your toddlers (20mo)? I’m finding the balance tricky between filling him up until his next meal but not overfilling him so that he’s not hungry for lunch/dinner. He always seems to want more after his snack but if I give him too much he won’t eat lunch or dinner. Any ideas?

The thing that strikes me is that you're under the impression that toddlers or children in general need to be "filled up until the next meal"

They really don't.

I didn't ever feed mine snacks...I fed them small meals more often. So rather than 3 meals plus snacks, mine had something like 6 mini meals.

All consisted of good, whole ingredients....not always meat...we'd do meat once a day.

A plate with cut up or grated cheese and carrot with a few little crackers and some cucumber is an example of a meat free plate that I'd typically offer.

When they got older and would eat larger portions, I would offer only fruit or nuts or perhaps peanut butter inbetween meals.

Going hungry for an hour or two is not harmful.

hi there. im a mum to a 20m old boy and not sure if im doing it "right" but mine has 3 main meals with 2 snacks mid mornign and mid afternoon. know exactly what tyou mean. generally i find fruit a good snack as it gives them energy but also i find he doesnt get overly full so it doesnt interrupt his next meal - something like a banana, pear or some berries gives him a bit of a reboot until lunch. if i think hes struggling with hunger unti lthe next meal sometimes i bulk it out wiht a drink of some milk rather than water so its a bit more for him. i give him things like: couple wheat crackers (sometimes wiht a few small cubes of cheese), pepper/cucumber sticks, some baby biscuits, half a pack of those baby veggie crisp things, a box of raisins, a baby flapjack, sometimes if he has some leftovers i may give him a couple small finger sandwiches from his lunch. generally i aim for fruit for morning snack (tends not to be overly hungry but just needs a bit more energy) and something a little more filling (liek crackers and milk) in afternoon, as he sometimes struggles to last til dinner. fwiw everyones different but i do find that trying to keep to set snack times at the highchair and not grazing has worked well for us - generally he doesnt bother us for food inbetween as he knows when the next snack is coming x

Thank you both! If he has breakfast at 8 I’ll then give him a snack around 9.30/10 - usually some fruit - but by 11 he’s clambering up me and crying that he’s hungry! Same in the afternoon - so I wonder if 6 mini meals may work as he’s quite little so probably doesn’t have the biggest of stomachs. Can you give an example of 6 mini meals you’d give throughout the day?

Sure...can I also ask what he has for a typical breakfast? Amounts etc?

Here's a sample of what I might give.

Morning at around 7.30 might be some boiled egg...one egg, one slice of toast typically plus a plum or a handful of strawberries.

About 10. or 10.30 might be something like a slice of turkey, some cut up apples and grapes.

About 12 ish...beans and cheese on half a baked potato with some salady bits on the side.

2-3 ish something like pasta in tomato sauce with some broccoli

4.5 ish a bit of what we're having for tea so maybe some casserole or spag bol. I tend to make tea early so older kids can eat their main meal as soon as they get in from school...they're always starving and I find it stops them eating a load of toast and asking for cake on the way home.

Bedtime would be 8 or thereabouts and I would offer some soup and bread or maybe porridge at about 7 or so

All my kids are tall and rangy with quite big appetites. They don't get a lot of 'treats' but I do buy icecream and crisps on the weekends. Also, if we go out for a day or shopping, I do get them a hot chocolate and cake or similar. I'm not all about healthy food only...but I don't buy biscuits or cakes really. Sometimes I bake a cake but it's occasional.

Mine has breakfast which is normally porridge or cereal and a bit of fruit, she will then have banana and a bit more fruit mid morning and occasionally
small helping of crisps/flapjack/biscuit. She'll then have something lunchy like a sandwich or boiled egg (current favourite) at 11:30ish with some vege sticks. She'll have more fruit and maybe a snack bar/crisps depending on what she didn't have earlier mid afternoon and we all have an early tea together and she has whatever we have at 5:30-6. Occasionally she asks for more but normally she is satisfied. She will occasionally have days where you can't fill her up and others where she barely eats and we just roll with that. My only rule is only one sweet snack like biscuit and one savoury snack per day and otherwise she has to fill up on proper food and fruit. We deliberately don't pay any attention to exactly how much of her main meals she eats as I don't want to get into the habit of assuming she doesn't like it or allowing her to fuss enough to refuse certain meals. Sometimes she polishes it off sometimes not so much but they're not daft. Most of them will eat what they need

Ìve always done a mid morning snack and afternoon one.. DS needs it.

We have things like:
Banana, raisins, Apple, raspberries
Banana and oat cookies.. dimple to make and no sugar
Breadsticks and hummus or other dip
Apple and cheese
Cracker

We have biscuits too sometimes or those oaty bars

You know if the snacks been too late or big as lunch is affected, not the end of the world.. you're just learning your child's individual way.

3 main meals here with fruit or yogurt afterwards, not always. Never ever bothered with snacks

Never done snacks here either (although they are allowed to choose fruit or plain yogurt for "pudding" after each of the 3 meals, take it about 50% of the time, easier when they choose because they think of an apple as a treat, all good!)