Do your children have snacks between meals?

[Socci]

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Depends on the child I think. Never gave mine snacks (maybe a mid afternoon piece of fruit and drink when toddlers) but found that if they had a snack between meals (even if 2 hours before a meal) they wouldn't eat their meals. But a friend of mine could give hers a sandwich 1/2 hour before tea and they would still polish off a full meal.

God yes, I think they need more snacks than meals to be honest. They are so busy and into everything that they can't often sit still for long enough to have a proper meal, and their tummies so tiny that they burn off what they have eaten pretty quickly too. I think a routine of say 5 or more healthy snacks / small meals per day works best for this age group. Their blood sugar gets on the floor if you try to impose strict meal times IME.

I think mine meal between snacks to be honest! . Do some people do no snack at all?

DS would be beside himself if he had nothing between meals! Tend to keep between meal snacks fairly light and healthy though -fruit, rice cakes etc

Definitely, when this little.

It took me an embarrasingly long time to work out that DD2 was miserable in the early evening because she was hungry - I brought tea forward to 4.30 and gave a snack before bed.

"three meals a day" is a cultural and social convention and not a nutritional imperative
(driven by the requirements of employers/factories)
I am all for eating when you're hungry rather than by what the clock says
still cannot believe that this view seems to be so radical, evem heretical - so many people seem to cling to their mealtime routine like a religious rite...

Yep, their tummies are only the size of a raisin or something and they run around all the time.

Ds is 2.4 and his mood plummets without a snack each hour.

I do not leave the house without oakcakes, apples, raisins and cheese. Its deeply sobering as I have always thought of myself as the sort of careless wild spirit who does not bother with such things as changing bags. But now my pushchair is full of tupperware (and unwashed nappies-yeuck)

yes, ideally fruit and a drink but they get a packet of crisps or chocolate occasionally too....what am I saying occasionally at the moment over christmas the majority of their snacks have been crisps and choc

Nope. My children don't need a lot of food - must have my metabolism; look quite chunky despite this.

Have just discovered that DD will eat LOADS if she snacks. 3 meals a day only ends in tears because she is over hungry. Harmony in the house for the 1st time in several months.

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Yes - my two need them, otherwise they get ratty, I give things like:

pack of raisins and piece of fruit
small bowl of cheese cubes & cucumber
breadsticks/crudites and a dip
chopped banana with a few chocolate shavings

Mine have
Breakfast - cereal or toast
Lunch - soup, cooked meal then pudding or fruit
Snack - fruit 2 yoghurts and milk
Dinner - another cooked meal and either yoghurt or fruit or some kind of pudding.

They are 3 and 4

My dds still have "morning snack" and "afternoon snack" and they are 8 and 7! They don't have huge appetites at the best of times but cutting out snacks would not make them eat more at mealtimes, just more miserable in between them.

Dd (6 and a half) has an afternoon snack (homemade muffin, or cheese and apple, or even biscuits )
and sometimes a morning one, which I am never prepared for...
she doesn't eat huge amounts at meal times but she does need at least one snack a day (especially as we eat around 8pm)

Crikey my children are wierd!!!!

DD1 does, b/c she's not a big eater at meal times. She's not a big eater at all, like me and DH. We're a family of grazers. So we offer her nutritious snacks - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. She's 2.5 and sometimes gets too busy to eat a proper meal.

No absolutely not. i am so rigid about this, I find it hard to allow them an icecream on the beach unless it is just after lunch and could count as a pudding. I do just about allow them the sweets/chocolate they sometimes come out of school with if it is someone's birthday, though. Used to make them wait until milk time just before bed.

Usually yes (unless I forget and then wonder why she's shrieking at 11.00am ) but she's only 20mo, I think she needs it at this age.

Lonelymum - why so rigid?

I've just been forced to introduce snacks between meals (and supper) due to my ds's newly diagnosed daibetes. We never had them before. I think my 3 year old've behaviour has improved now you come to mention it. I'm haivng to make meals a bit smaller though to cope with the extra.

I was like you LM. I always believed that;s why my kids ate all their meals. Now I discover they do anyway, even with snacks. They're probably greedy like me and dh.

I don't give sweets or chocolate either LM, but a snack doesn't have to mean junk surely?

DS usually eats so much at meals that he doesn't need snacks, but if he's having a grazing day, he'll have a drink of milk and a banana or a handful of raisins and cheese or something in the afternoon. He eats his own bodyweight in food most days though, and is tiny, so am happy to let him eat when he wants - if he was fussy or less inclined to run up to his highchair shouting "tea" the moment I venture towards the kitchen, I'd do it differently, I'm sure!

I think snacks can be a useful addition to toddler nutrition. They can't eat enough at meals to fulfil their calorific needs. I suppose its a bit harder with older kids.

I don't give sweeties or chocolate. I tend to see raisins as sweeties really, and limit those. I am very wary of ds' blood sugar (I have real problems with mine esp when pg/bf) and keep him on a low gi (but high calorie) diet, ie lots of dairy.

I am a complete food fascist about stuff like ice-cream, chocolate etc. Ds has those maybe once a month, if that. But oatcakes, cheese, milk-he can have those whenever he likes. He's certainly got enough energy!

But I am a smug mummy because ds will eat garlic, chilli, and, as of last week (gasp) lettuce.