How many meals a day does your 2 year old have?

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

We are currently trying to sort out an early waking issue with our 2.5 year old. After doing a diary I now think it's actually hunger!

So, how many meals a day does your little one have and what time is their last big meal?

3 meals a day plus a snack. Roughly:

Breakfast at 8.30am
Lunch at 1pm
Snack 4pm ( fruit and piece cheese)
Dinner 7.30pm

Breakfast around 7.30am
Sometimes a snack around 10am
Lunch at 12/12.30
Snack at 3ish
Dinner at 6.30

Everyone's different though, so your DC might need more frequent smaller meals while someone else's needs bigger meals further apart.

DD2 is three in June and tends to have two good sized meals and a couple of snacks at her choice.

So say 2 Weetabix and a banana for breakfast, biscuit about 11, and then be not very bothered about lunch, but would have a yoghurt and a piece of toast.

Tea - mash and peas if she can get away with it and another yoghurt or maybe mini cake for pudding.

DD1 could eat for England though and would happily have 3 cooked meals and 2/3 snacks if I let her.

They eat around 8, 12 and 5.

3 meals, probably one snack, last meal at 5pmish but my nephews both did better with main meal in the middle of the day, tea around 4pm and supper (bowl of weetabix and a banana or similar) at 6.30-7pm.

At 2

7 breakfast

1030 snack

1230 lunch

330 snack

530 dinner

4 at home or 5 on nursery days. They (1.8 and 3.1 y.old) also have occasional snacks (not everyday though).
They have, on a typical day:
breakfast - a bowl of cereal with a drink of milk. The 1y.old doesn't always eat this.

2nd breakfast at nursery - another bowl of cereal with water.

lunch - anything really. A bowl of pasta and sauce; lasagna; jacket spud with beans or cheese; fish; stew or casserole; sandwiches; beans & sausages; curry; chilli; Bolognese etc etc. They also have a pudding of yoghurt or fruit or cake.

Tea - similar to lunch. Again, they have a pudding.

Supper - toast or cereal with a drink of milk.

Throughout the day they have water or very dilute cordial as often as they want and, very occasionally, snack of fruit or breadsticks or something.

Ok so glad to see there are some fellow hungry toddlers. I think we under images how much he needed and was giving him more of a light tea when he came home, when actually I think he needs a proper meal.

8am breakfast- large bowl or porridge
10am - fruit
1130: cooked lunch plus pudding- he usually has two portions
330: tea of sandwiches and fruit
5/6pm we were giving toast, boiled egg etc, but now will give another proper meal after his bath as he seems very hungry.

We were previously giving an evening meal but he gave it up, looks like it's back on the menu.

Does he really need x2 meals of sandwiches? Ie at 3.30 and 5pm?

Apart from an egg there's little veg or protein there and that's why he's hungry later

I would just give fruit, maybe piece of cheese/ glass milk at 3.30pm snack. Then he will be hungry enough at 6pm for proper dinner.

I always think you can't expect a child to still be asleep 12 hrs after last meal. So meal at 5pm, 5am is a reasonable time to wake as might be hungry, 6pm dinner, 6am onwards waking, 7pm dinner, 7am onwards waking

3 meals.

8am - Breakfast is cereal with raisins or a bagel or crumpets.

12.30 - Lunch is bread or crackers with humous or peanut butter or something, grapes or orange and ham. Sometimes pasta. Always a yoghurt.

5.30 - Tea is something I've batched cooked out the freezer with veg and some form or potato. Fruit/yoghurt/rice.

DS rarely snacks, sometimes a biscuit or fruit. Everything is dairy free too as he's allergic.

Plus milk morning and evening forgot that! That's more of a habit though.

He's at nursery so we don't have any control over what they give at 330. They have also moved tea from 430 without telling us, hence why he was giving up his evening meal as before it was much later. So giving hima boiled egg, sandwich etc was intended to rode him over Artandco- make sense!?

So now an earlier tea is better and makes sense that he needs a proper evening meal later- shame we just found that bit out!

When he's home he has different meals- less, and later. Similar to Whispers.

My DS eats tea at 3.30 at nursery and is always hungry by the time he gets home, he likes to have a banana, apple and orange!

Yes! They live their fruit dint they! He's always been a really good eater, ironically meat is the only issue, he loves veg, all pulses, pasta, all breads a variety of cheeses etc, but lamb, beef unless it's sausages or in a bolognaise... He's not too keen.

He doesn't like kiddy food, which I am so pleased about!

So, I shouldn't worry about his double portions of every meal, just wish I'd known about nursery moving tea- saved a lot of heart ache, and dark circles!

Yes thank god DS likes fruit too, as he rejects all form of salad! Cucumber, tomato etc. he makes up for it with fruit and veg.

Ah yes that makes sense. In that case I would just feed him whatever you are going to have at 6/6.30pm

7am dd eats her breakfast
7.10 dd eats my breakfast
7.20 dd eats dh's breakfast
8.00 dd eats breakfast at nursery
10 snack at nursery
12 lunch and pudding at nursery
3pm bottle of milk and/or banana
5.30 dinner
7pm bottle of milk
8pm bed

If dd refuses to eat dinner usually because she has eaten too much breakfast then she will wake up early and hungry the next day.

Then she wants loads of breakfast

DS has three meals a day and then whatever he can scavenge from the rest of us!
He has milk when he wakes up and then:
8am - breakfast-usually porridge or weetabix, then maybe a yoghurt or piece of brioche if still hungry
10am - cup of milk or snack
12pm - lunch - usually cheese and ham sandwich, couple of crisps, yoghurt or pot of fruit purée
2pm - milk or snack
5pm - dinner-cottage pie, or fish fingers or pasta and sauce. Usually lots of cheese somewhere along the line and then rice pudding or fruity custard or a little piece of cake.
6pm - milk
7pm - bed.
He is going through a fruit and veg refusing phase so I am hiding them in things and riding it out...!

3 meals (2 main cooked and cereal/ porridge brekki)
8:30, 1:30 and 6pm.
Ds always slept 7-7 but when I moved dinner back to 6 he started sleeping until 8:30 its the only thing we changed.

At home:
Breakfast
Snack (eg biscuit/ fruit)
Lunch with fruit or yog
Snack
Dinner inc pudding
Plus 2 milk drinks of 2-6oz.

At nursery:
Breakfast (home or nursery)
Lunch
Tea
Fruit snack
...then at home portion of our dinner!
Plus milk as above.

DS is 2.11 and always v hungry!

Breakfast at eight, always her biggest meal off the day. Cup of milk, slice of toast, bowl of cereal, portion of fruitor two.
Lunch very light at 12, half sandwich, cucumber and tomatoes, yoghurt.
Dinner at four, spag bol or similar.
Supper is cup of milk, banana, slice of toast or porridge.