Food once home from Nursery?

[Fevs]

I went back to work full time 5 weeks ago and my 18mth daughter goes to Nursery 3 days a week.
I had thought she would come home exhausted and after bath/bed routine would be out like a light.... oh how wrong I was.
She's got into a habit of chatting and singing in her cot from 7ish (when I put her down) until 830/9 sometimes even 930! It is just proving to be a nightmare as she's exhausted in the morning when I try to get her up!

I know that the nursery feed her tea at 430/5 and because we give her milk before bed I haven't been feeding her again apart from a small snack.
However I'm thinking perhaps she's not falling asleep because she does need food and is in fact hungry... I just popped into her now and gave her more milk (which she devoured) and is now quiet... touch wood.

It just seems like so much food though! Breakfast, snacks, milk, lunch, tea, snack at home then more milk! Would I give her another tea at 530/6 then...?

What do other mums do in terms of food once their LO's are home from nursery, assuming they eat tea at 430/5ish there too...?

Obviously all children are different but I don't want to be ignoratently starving her!

Thanks

Family meals are so important its a chance to talk be a unit and to try the same foods as every one else. I would take any meal given before 5 as a snack and expect a child to eat again at home. other wise you are asking them to go more than 14 hours without food at a time when children should be moving towards more nutrients from solid food.

In my experience most children tend to :-
Breakfast 7 to 8
Fruit light snack 10 to 10.30
Lunch 12
pm snack 3 to 4
tea 5.30 to 6

bedtime milky drink 7.
so during the day don't go more than 2 or 3 hours without something as they get older this gets longer up to 4 to 5 hours at school nursery age.

I agree that meal times are important @jannier but your ideal timings only really work on a weekend day for me (personally).
During the week my husband and I both get in from work pretty late (certainly past 530/6) so there is just enough time to give our LO a snack, bath, story, milk, bed. It would be totally unrealistic for us to be able cook our dinner and expect her to be up eating with us Mon-Fri.
I think from this forum (which has been really helpful) I have come to realise that all nurseries operate really differently as do all kids. It's impossible to devise an ideal timeline for all as every single one are their own individuals.
My daughter eats enough both at nursery and home (and is a perfect weight!) but the snack we used to give after nursery now doesn't seem enough so I was keen to hear the general opinion on if I should change this - or if I would become a feeder.
We are feeding her more substantial amounts now before her bath, some nights she's wolfed it down, others barely touched it, but at least we know we've tried!
Thanks again all!

Yes we put little one to Bed later - normally It's 6 before I get home, then he has a breastfeed, then I cook