what times do your toddlers have their meals?

[bethdivine]

DS is 2.5 and has breakfast 8.30 - 9ish, lunch around mid-day and a snack 3ish, so that he can have tea with us at 5.30 when DH gets home. the times vary slightly as fit in with whatever I can manage with DD's feeds, who is 13 wks.

It's always been important to me that we sit down together as a family, DS eats better when he's not eating alone plus I don't want the faff of cooking twice if I'm honest. However, some days he gets hungry and wants a snack before tea is ready, thus, not having room to eat tea fully and ending up hungry at bedtime. I'm wondering if I need to give up on him waiting for tea time with us and feed him 4ish instead, just saving something from tea the night before to reheat, then a snack at bedtime. At the moment, he ends up not having a proper meal somedays and just a few snacks instead.

Just wondering what other people do about this problem and what time your toddlers eat their meals?
TIA.

DS3 eats breakfast at around 8ish

Lunch at 12ish

Dinner around 6-6.30ish

He does snack in between whiles as well though.

My two (3.5 and 17 months) eat at
8am to 9am breakfast
12pm lunch
5 to 5.30pm tea

5.30 is a perfectly reasonable time to eat tea at 2.5years.
Can you give him a slightly more substantial snack at 3pm and then he'll just ahve to wait till 5.30 for his tea?

On the days he doesnt eat so much tea you could give him 'supper' of weetabix or something like that just before bed (I used to do that with DS2 and it worked a treat!)

Could you give him a snack in the afternoon a bit later so that there is less time between the snack and dinner?

My DS has...

8.00ish breakfast
10.30 snack
12.30 lunch
2.00 snack
4.40 snack
6.00 dinner.

snacks are usually yoghurt or fruit, sometimes a biscuit.

Ds is 2.3
We have B1 (usually toast) around 8;
B2 (usually porridge or eggs) around 10
He may or may not have another snack before he naps, depending on whether he sticks around til 1 or crashes out at 11:30. Nap is 1.5hrs.
Lunch can therefore be anywhere between 1 and 3.
Snacks around 4:30, usually cake (home-made) or biscuits and cheese.
Dinner at 6 (ish)
Ds usually hangs around the entire time I'm cooking, asking for things to eat, regardless of when or how much he had for lunch.

oh and I'm feeding a 13-week old too - quite often before, during and after dinner

DD4, now just over 2 1/2 yo has meals at the same time as us:

between 7.00/7.30 breakfast

10.00 snack

between 12.00/12.30 lunch

4.00 snack

between 6.30/7.00 supper

Breakfast around 7.30/8 depending on when he wakes. Snack around 10.30, lunch at 12. Afternoon snacks vary, sometimes fruit or something at 3 and then a coupld of handfulls of cheerios or a biscuit or some of his sister's leftovers at 5 when she eats (6 months old) then dinner with us at 7.

Ds went through a phase of demanding snacks all the time then not wanting dinner and I found the snack box thing worked very well. I just filled a bowl with breadsticks, grapes etc and he knew that that was his supply for the morning, it got refilled for the afternoon and he stopped asking.

2 dcs, 3.2years and 17 months.

Breakfast 6.30/7

Banana mid-morning

Lunch 12ish

mid-afternoon snack 3ish (breadstick, fruit, or biscuit)

Supper 5/5.15 - ds1 can't wait any later than this

I sit down with them, but don't eat (just have cup of tea).

2 dcs, 3.2years and 17 months.

Breakfast 6.30/7

Banana mid-morning

Lunch 12ish

mid-afternoon snack 3ish (breadstick, fruit, or biscuit)

Supper 5/5.15 - ds2 can't wait any later than this

I sit down with them, but don't eat (just have cup of tea).

7.30 - breakfast
9.30 - snack
12.00 - lunch
2.30 - snack
4.00 - substantial snack
6.00 - supper (had with us when possible, otherwise I make sure I sit down)

DD at nursery for everything apart from lunch and supper, so I like to try to have supper together

Breakfast 6ish
Snack (at nursery) 10ish
Lunch 12
Snack en route home from nursery 5ish
Tea 6ish.

We eat Breakfast and tea together because I work and I need that time with her, and her with me. On days off/weekends I can not keep her going from 12 til 5 though, I think she just does that because of nursery.

wow, I pop out to get the washing in from rain and so many replies, thank you. Ok, so what I'm doing is fine then, just make the snack a bit more filling and maybe push it back a bit. Just wanted to know really if that was a reasonable time for tea and looks like it is.
brill, thanks.