Food (again!)

[Makingitupasigoalong13]

Am sure this has been done to death but please give me your thoughts anyway...

My 1yo has started nursery, seems to be settling in well, and the staff seem to do a good job. However am a bit about some of the food. Breakfast and lunch seem fine (apart from serving ice cream for dessert), but afternoon tea is basically jam/ honey/ bread and butter sandwiches. To me this feels way too sugary for such a little one. Is this just the norm at nurseries and do i just need to suck it up/ bring in her own food for her?

Ultimately I know I'm lucky to have found somewhere she seems to have settled in well, but obviously I also want her to be eating well too. But i don't want to start the whole process again if I'm just going to find that most nurseries are like this. thoughts?

Is afternoon tea just a little snack to get them through to dinner time at home or is it meant to be a full meal?
Are you sure this is all there is rather than just what is offered to the kids that haven't eaten much all day so just need something in them?

I think they leave it up to parents to decide whether its 'get through to dinner time at home' or actually dinner. They serve it at 4/4.30 which is a bit awkward at the minute - I normally pick her up at 5 and she's so tired she's in bed by 645, so not much time to fit in a full dinner before her bedtime milk at 630 (plus she's not really hungry for a proper meal at 5.30/6 having eaten at 4ish).

Their food routine is basically
830 - breakfast (cereal/ toast)
12 - lunch (casserole/ pasta bake etc) plus dessert (ice cream/ fruit salad/ yoghurt)
4 - afternoon tea (jam/honey sandwiches, bread and butter, veg/ fruit slices)

Not sure whether they have snacks apart from this - don't think so, although have seen them handing out raisins.

That seems like a fairly long stretch between lunch and afternoon tea. At our creche, the children get dinner about 12 followed by nap from approx 12.30 - 2 (depending on age), and snack at 3pm (soup, scones with cheese, cheese toasties, bagels, beans on toast) and another snack about 5 if they are still there (can't remember what as I pick up just after 3pm).

I'd just talk to them explain this is dinner for her and maybe say the sugar is making her moody/hyper at bedtime or that she tends to constipation so you want to get some extra veg into her and ask them to just give her more of the veg and fruit with plain bread and butter. Or if doable ask for her just to have fruit/veg and take and easy dinner with you for pickup/as soon as you get home. If uses had bread and butter and veg a boiled egg snack, chicken drum stick etc would balance things out.