Mums to 3/4 year olds.

[Cheesecrumpets01]

If your child has dinner and pudding at nursery around 4.15-4.45, do you then offer them a dinner or snack when they get home or before bed (bedtime is usually 7pm)!!

Our daughter dosent really know when she is hungry as she constantly asks for food even if she has just eaten.

If she asks for food around 6pm, is it possible for her to be genuinely hungry again? Or if she actually needs anything before bed at this age?
If you do, what do you give them?

You could give her a little slice of toast or something. It would depend on what they'd had for dinner and how active they are for me.

Yes. My daughter of same age has her tea at 5pm (usually clears the plate) and then often asks for a snack around 6.30/6.45. She gets dried fruit or biscuit or small peanut butter sandwich. Sometimes just milk. Then sleeps like a log for 12 hours. Personally I respect her ability to self regulate her appetite.

Yep, DD eats tea at nursery - around 4pm - and then has supper when she gets home with us at about 7, bed for 8. She often doesn't eat much, but she is definitely peckish by that time.

DD is 4 and has tea at nursery and will come home and say she's hungry. She always has something when she comes home, ranging from another 'tea' (fish fingers and veg) to toast with peanut butter to fruit. If she keeps on saying she's hungry after she's had one thing to eat then I just offer her more fruit. Sometimes she really is hungry and will eat a couple of pieces of fruit - sometimes it's just a delaying tactic to delay going to bed!

Sleepyroo- I would love to let her self regulate her food, but she is a child who isn't fussy, eats anything put in front of her, no matter how large the portion is she will clear it, have pudding and still be looking for food.
She is constantly trying to get snacks and asking for things. So I know from past experience, sadly, she just dosent know when to stop.

She has put on weight recently but was previously underweight so isn't a concern that she is finally in the healthy range, but I do wonder how quickly it can soon go the other way, if not controlled !?

Usually she has tea around 4 so if she is hungry again we give her a banana and glass of milk around 6pm, she goes to bed about 7.30.

Yes, I would. Otherwise they would be up at 5am starving. I'm not a fan of 5am get ups...

Yes, my 4 yo twins have a snack when they get in from nursery - usually a glass of milk or a fruit smoothie, a slice of toast, some cubes of cheese or a banana

What i find with dd who is 3 is that when she comes home from nursery she is saying she is hungry even though according to nursery she has eaten everything there and the menu for that day was proper food not snacky things etc.

I think nursery dont dish up big portions. At home for breakfast she will have cereal and toast, where as at nursery for breakfast its just toast.

I do give dd something to eat after nursery yes as shes moaning shes hungry, but if she doesnt mention it then i dont offer it as bedtime becomes later etc

Dd has just turned 4. She has a snack at nursery at 3.30. Sometimes it's quite a big snack like humous and pitta bread. We have dinner at 6 - dh and i have main meal, she has toast and an egg or similar. Dd has main meal at lunchtime at nursery.

I find the idea of dinner /tea at 4 strange as it's so early. We never eat before 6pm!

Op she might be about to have a growth spurt. I'm sure she wouldn't suddenly be eating lots more for no reason.

I suppose if you're worried she's eating too much, keep it healthy and unexciting so she's less likely to eat for pleasure. Also maybe more milk or other drinks.

You don't trust her to self regulate as she eats too much, yet she has been underweight?

Why are you worrying she could "go the other way if not controlled" when she has only just reached a healthy weight?

DD (4) has her tea about 4 pm at nursery, then a sandwhich/toast or similar and a yoghurt or something about 6pm when we get in.

She was underweight due to medical conditions which ment she spent a lot of time in and out of hospital, not diet related. She has always been a good eater.
It is more the fact of she suddenly, obviously got some meat on her where she has always looked thin. Which is great she now looks healthy again, but I don't want her going the other way, as quickly as she became a healthy weight after so long.

I don't think children do necessarily regulate their own appetite at that age as they've started to realise there are chocolate biscuits in the cupboard! By age 3 most kids have come across cakes and treats and know that food is about more than just satisfying hunger.

Try offering healthy food (fruit, maybe couple of crackers or rice cakes). Bananas are filling, healthy and easy to eat close to bedtime.

Our dd has a proper dinner at nursery around 4.30pm. Generally she'll just have fruit and maybe a couple of oat crackers on the way home/before bathtime. She rarely seems hungry (she's a solid weight and a good eater).

What we've noticed recently though is sudden claims of hunger right around bedtime - we offer a banana which dd often declines or doesn't finish so am guessing it may be more of a delay tactic....

Similarly at weekends dd sometimes asks for a snack saying 'I'm so so hungry' but when something healthy is offered she often loses interest.

I've also always given a snack or light meal after nursery in those circumstances.

Going off on a tangent a little bit, but when your daughter is eating does she tend to shovel it in as well as eating a lot? It reminds me of another child I know - she puts too much food in her mouth at a time, and eats much more than she should unless someone supervises. It's because she has sensory processing issues. If there's any indication that there might be something similar with your daughter it might be worth speaking to the HV.

If my children are hungry they get food.

If I'm hungry I get food.

Basically.

We are all healthy weights.

It depends on what nursery serve them for tea. When mine were at nursery they had their main meal at lunch time and the 4pm meal was quite small, a crumpet with soft cheese/small sandwich, that kind of thing. That meant mine were always ready for something when they got home.

Mine has proper dinner at nursery at lunch time then around 4.30 they have a tea which tends to be sandwiches or something and fruit. Some days we are serving dinner when we get home anyway as the rest of us need to eat and he will join us. Sometimes he eats a few mouthfuls and declares himself full, other times he eats a full meal. On a Monday the big ones eat at the childminders as they have activities in the evening so I'm not cooking and he is quite happy just having a banana or something when the big ones are clamouring for something as they change into uniforms to go to beavers/Cubs. I tend to just trust him to regulate his own appetite.

I just don't think it's helpful to bring external "control" into the equation with a kid that age, who is a healthy weight. If she says she's hungry, believe her. Give her healthy stuff, no need withhold. Help her develop a happy, healthy, straightforward attitude to food and hunger.

Yy SleepyRoo was about to say the same thing.
Please don't "control" her eating. She is growing, potentially a lot.
DS is 3.9 and going through a growth spurt, yesterday he ate 4 slices of peanut butter on toast and 2 bananas for breakfast. Half hour later he was starving again.
The only sort of control I use is, if he says he is hungry, I offer him something healthy, like fruit or cheese, and if he turns it down I know he was just angling for a biscuit, and not really hungry!

Just offer her something decent and healthy when she says she is hungry.

Dd has her dinner at 4 at the CMs, so she has a bowl of cereal or porridge around 6pm, in bed between 6.30 and 7pm.

Breakfast is her meal though - cereal toast, fruit, yoghurt etc. She will spend 2 hours over the morning eating breakfast of I let her.

If you are concerned then only offer fruit/veg. If she's selective and just wants a biscuit etc then she's not really hungry.

We always offer food after nursery pick up and mostly DS will have something small. Last night he wanted a slice of cheese, but sometimes he'll eat a small portion of whatever we are having (especially if pasta) or I'll do him toast/cereal/fruit.

His nursery offer a light tea about 3:30/4, and then a snack (usually sticks of veg) around 5, so he's often peckish in the evening.

LaurieLemons, that was my grandma's technique and one I've adopted - a hungry child is offered their choice of anything in the fruit bowl. If they don't want it, they obviously aren't that hungry, and can wait till mealtime.

Having said that, DD frequently came back from nursery starving, despite having had at least two helpings at tea. I assume it was a combination of small portions and using up more energy than she would at home, as she wasn't like that on non-nursery days.