In the evening after nursery....

[BotBotticelli]

....what (if anything) do you feed your toddler?

DS1 is 16mo and goes to nursery 4 days per week whilst i work. I drop him off at 8am and pick him up at 5pm. He loves nursery, is really happy there and eats like a trooper there.

But they give him 'tea' (a light meal, usually something like sandwiches and yoghurt,spaghetti on toast and fruit etc) at 4pm.

I am not sure what, if anything, I can feed him when we get home before bed. He's usually in bed asleep by 7pm (bath at 6.30) which doesn't help as there's not much time. Whether he's hungry or not seems to vary wildly day-by-day, probably depending on how much he has liked 'tea' at nursery.

I am loathe to start 'cooking' anything proper, or defrosting little cottage pies etc out the freezer for him cos I get really annoyed throwing them away if he's not interested -when i have slaved over a hot stove making them-- besides which I am knackered from a long day at work and a horrid commute.

Obviously a sarnie would be ideal but often he has had a sarnie at 4 at nursery.

Last week, a new low, he had a hot cross bun and 3 strawberries at home for his supper before bath. Hardly a nutritious choice! But he snarfed it all down so must have been hungry.

Please send me your suggestions!!

We do fruit (banana, pear, satsuma, grapes etc), toast or things like dates at about 6pm while watching favourite TV programme.

We just feed dd the normal family dinner, sometimes she eats it all sometimes she doesn't.

Do you eat at the same time as your ds normally? Seems a lot of faff to make a separate meal.

Does he have bed time milk?
How about some cereal?
If he has already had a 'proper' dinner midday and a pretty substantial tea, I would have thought that would be fine.

DS used to have yogurts and then bedtime milk. He was fine. But he always ate his lunch - and usually had seconds - so he ate well during the day. So I would suggest what you give him is dictated by how well he eats at nursery.

DH and I have dinner much later (8pm) so no family meals in the evening. I found getting home and just having enough time for yogurts during the bed time hour in CBeebies then into pyjamas and milk/story was enough in terms of time available and what he needed.

We usually do porridge with fruit or pasta with pesto or cold meat and tomato and cucumber for quick meals

I give DD (18 months) cheese and crackers, or a felafel, or a few cold pesto pasta twirls. Not a lot, just something to stop potential early pending rumbles

DS (22 months) loves nakd fruit and nut bars - I would probably give him something like a nakd bar and a yoghurt and some milk in your situation. Or maybe a plate of wee picky things like some cheese, peas, ham, savoury muffin etc.

Thanks all - will give cheese and crackers and yoghurt, and a plate of picky things a go. That's a good idea.

DH not home from work till 7pm so I eat my evening meal with him at around 7.30.

DS is tucked up in bed long before then - it literally wouldn't be possible for me to get back from work, pick him up from nursery, get home, and then cook 'the family evening meal' before DS needs to go to bed!

So yes - DS eats separately to us in the evening (all of my friends in RL do the same with their toddlers but I have noticed this is frowned upon on MN for some reason!)...

DD never ate after a day at nursery. Had milk sometimes, but not everyday. DS on the other hand eats a full meal. I bulk cooked pasta sauce and made a quick pasta dish if I wasn't feeding the family before he went to bed.

What about cooking a little extra each evening and putting it in the fridge for the next day for your ds?
No waste, no defrosting, no cooking as such.

I used to do a plate of picky things for DS - rice cakes, cheese, cherry tomatoes, bits of fruit etc. Start off small and you can easily add more if it all gets eaten. Or you could cook up a load of soup and freeze it in toddler portions?

FWIW, when DS was in nursery (from 1-4 years) we never ate "as a family" during the week. As you say, there's just no time to fit it in! However, since he started school and I changed my working hours, we do now eat together for most meals. It does not appear to have done him any lasting damage...

We have porridge or oat bar or yoghurt & fruit, basically something snacky. I would have deemed hot cross bun & strawberries perfectly acceptable, he's already had 3 meals remember.

Dd just has a snack (she's 3, but this has been the routine since she stopped her bedtime bottle) which bus normally something like (1 of) biscuits, grapes, apples, raisins, toast, yoghurt etc. never anything meal like.

I love whereisegg suggestion though if he needs more.

My dd goes to a childminder but I ask her to give her a substantial snack about 3pm, like a whole banana and a couple of rice cakes. She then has her dinner when we get home at 5.15. This is either something very quick like pasta that I can make quickly or often a portion of our leftovers from the night before. It works for us she is 16mo

We tend to have some cooked pasta in the fridge then DH adds some tomato purée/ sweet corn/ whatever we have in the fridge. She can have as much or as little as she wants and the rest just goes back in the fridge for whoever the next day!

We do porridge with mashed up banana. Oats and banana are nice and filling, and both contain tryptophan which aids sleep.

Chopped carrot, cucumber, cheese, yoghurt, fruit, ryvita, little picky things, easy to prepare and full of good things.

Normally things like:
A yogurt, a few grapes, some cheese and drink
A crumpet, cut up Apple and drink
Piece of toast, pear and drink
Biscuit, milk and melon

Just snack stuff really.

Similar to others - fruit, yoghurt, toast, or sometimes cereal with milk.
It goes through phases, she'll have maybe a fortnight when she's hungry after nursery, then maybe a month or so of not being. Growth spurts, maybe.

My little one has dinner when he gets home from nursery at about 6 ish. We batch cook and defrost something, or if there's any leftovers from the day before he'll have that. He's 17 months. They have lunch at 11.30 and a snack at 4.30 so he's very hungry by the time he's home.

Banana and milk
Oatcakes
Hummous
Banana oat cookies