Nursery food portion sizes

[Gigi00]

Hi,

In the last month i feel like my DS (19 months) is coming home very hungry from nursery.

He eats 3 meals there & the last meal is between 4-4:30pm and is typically a lighter meal. I pick him up at 5pm and we are home by 5:15.

I had previously on some days where the meal is very light e.g soup or wraps, given a second meal at home. When available sometimes he is given a double portion, but there is not always availability for a second i'm told.

Recently he is screaming badly for food when he comes home and i cant make the food quick enough!

I just wanted to get some advice on if should discuss his portion sizes with the nursery

Sorry.

Ask the nursery to take photos of what he eats in a day or at least write it down so you can gauge how much he is having compared to at home

@BobbyBiscuits sadly the nursery doesn't allow snacks brought in from home

@JLT24 thanks for the idea!

@Gigi00 that's a shame. I hope they'll give him ones he likes, or a bit more food. But he still needs dinner at home I'd imagine.

I’m disagree with a lot of posters. You (presumably) pay a lot of money for nursery and I’d expect enough food to be offered. My dd got 3 meals and 2 snacks a day and got given seconds if she wanted it. Food was cooked by the nursery chef and there was always enough. We still have her a snack at home after nursery but more because tea was served early so she needed something before bed.

Personally I wouldn't give in to that. Just tell them tea will be along soon. A piece of fruit if they really need it. It won't hurt them to wait a little while for their evening meal. Afternoon tea at nursery is meant to tide them over till their evening meal. Don't be dragged into the constant snacking that some families get stuck in. Children probably don't need to snack at all.

@Overthebow did your nursery ever offer a different snack if a certain one is regularly refused? Im not sure what to do as he does get hungry between meals , but they have snacks that day that are the same for all the children. Its annoying, if i was allowed to send my own i would

He's 19 months, a baby. Not quite at the "tell them tea will be along soon" stage, and probably hell for OP to deal with as we all know hangry babies are essentially feral cats.

And the NHS recommends three meals and two snacks at this age. Their tummies are small and can't hold much.

Ours is the same, it's a snack. We always give a main meal at home but it's not always eaten. But to me it's not the point, it's one of the most important to me that we all eat together as a family when we get home so we can reconnect after a day apart.

It was a long time ago now but DS1 has an infamously large appetite.
He would have breakfast at home, breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, tea at nursery - usually with seconds, occasionally thirds. Then diner and supper at home.
It was endless.

Just feed him more at home, and maybe ask if they can offer him slightly larger portions. I wouldn't ask for alternatives snacks.

No, they didn’t offer an alternative snack but they were things that most kids would eat like breadsticks, veg and hummus, bagel with cream cheese, crackers and cheese, fruit. It was rare that dd didn’t eat it.

Thank you all for your suggestions!

My LO is also very hungry coming home despite eating lots at nursery.

soemtimes we plate up some left overs the night before that we can just ping in the microwave soon as we get home, or plan soemthing like an omlette that’s quick to do (so grate the cheese/chop veggies the night before then can bring it all together on the day etc)
if we are not organised enough for that and dinner takes longer to prep my LO will snack on cucumber or rice cake or grapes or frozen peas- and dinner still gets demolished!!

Nursery portions are tiny after aged 2 or so.

i always had to make my son dinner.