Do you feed your toddler after nursery?

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My DD attends nursery for 3 full days each week, and gets fed 3 meals there plus two snacks. She also usually has an extra breakfast at home too as she's an early riser. She starts at 8am and gets home around 5.30pm (they have "tea" at 4pm). She will often accept a snack when getting home and then we sit down to eat our dinner at about 6/6.30pm. Sometimes she will eat heaps at dinner and sometimes very little - I'm fine either way but I think it's good for her to sit with us and eat at the table. She then has a bath and bed is around 7.30pm.

Sometimes it feels really pressured to pick her up and then make dinner before she's too tired though, and I feel sad that I'm usually distracted with food prep on our bit of wind down at the end of the day. I'm wondering whether to just offer a snack before her bath? And then me and DH eat later on? What do others do? She still has a BF before bed and she's nearly 2 if that's relevant. I feel like at nursery she must be eating all day but then she does wolf her dinner down her sometimes!!

Yes, DD always wants to eat after nursery. She has 3 meals plus snacks there, but has something at home too, usually around 6pm.

We eat our main meal at lunchtime so we have a late supper once she is in bed and DD has a second "tea" at home, usually half a toasted bagel with peanut butter, some yoghurt and fruit. Or a sandwich, that sort of thing. She almost always eats it all.

My 3 year old goes to nursery 3 times a week and has 3 meals a day there (plus I offer him some breakfast, like fruit or yoghurt before he goes). Their tea is around 3pm and tends to be something light-like sandwiches or soup.
I always offer him something else when he gets home as I cook for his older brother anyway. I'm fairly relaxed though, if he eats fine, if not I don't stress about it as he eats loads at nursery.
Could you just offer something like toast or sandwich and fruit so you don't have to spend ages prepping an extra meal?

Meant to add, DD is now 2.5 and is fully weaned but this still applied when she was younger and still BF (she was BF to 26 months).

No. DS has a snack at nursery at 4pm and dinner at home at 6pm-ish. He won't eat his dinner if I give him another snack in between. YMMV depending on the child though!

I would offer.

Could you just all have something easy, or half pre prepped on those 3 evenings? That way you can relax with her after work an hour, then all eat around 6.30pm.

Fresh stuffed pasta with simple sauce. Pre prepped veg.
Scrambled egg on nice bread. Add side green veg/ peas/ chorizo for adults.

Leftovers from night before. Start making some meals on days you aren’t working bigger, then just reheat next day with a different side/ salad.

My DD is 3.5 and has been going to nursery since she was 1 - we have a simliar set up and timings. We don't even attempt to eat as a family on the 2 days a week she goes to nursery as it's too much of a rush and she's exhausted. Also my DH doesn't finish work until 7pm some nights so we tend to eat after she's gone to bed and have family dinner the other 5 nights of the week.

If she's eaten really well at nursery she might have a yoghurt and some fruit and a sandwich/wrap when we get home (I let her have it on the sofa in front of the TV and cuddle up with her - bad mum alert ) but if she's had a picky day I'll do her something a bit more substantial like beans/egg on toast, leftover spa bol etc and I'll sit up at the table and chat with her.

DH and I alternate so one does bedtime and the other preps and cooks dinner. She's usually out like a light by 7pm so not too late to eat.

Hope that helps!

We offer ds (almost 3) a snacky sort of food when we get home on nursery days, usually toast with jam or peanut butter.
I walk him home once a week and dh collects him the other 2 days in the car. Generally he is happy with a slice of toast, but on our walking days we usually stop at the shop to get a squishy yogurt thing too. He never wants anything too big.

I think if your DD eats a snack and sometimes wolfs dinner too she needs something quite substantial. My DD (2.5) is too tired to wait for me to cook when she gets home from nursery so she chooses from a range of picky bits like peanut butter toast, cheese, Cucumber, fruit, cooked chicken etc then has weetabix with milk after her bath. We then eat after she goes to bed at 7. We all eat together at the weekend but midweek there's just no time.

My two have "snacky" tea on nursery nights - usual a sandwich or toasted bagel, fruit, cucumber sticks. They seem to eat all day at nursery. I usually have a cup of tea while I'm sat with them and me & DH eat later.

My DD used to have tea with us and eat something of a decent amount.
DD is almost 2 and only picks at it. Depends on the child, if she's wolfing it down, she must need it.

I offer something like scrambled egg on toast, filled pasta, sandwich etc as my DD needs something but has had a full meal at lunch so doesn’t need another one

This is super helpful everyone thanks. I think will keep offering her something but stop it being a proper meal at the table which is what I find is stressful. Cuddling up while she has a decent sized snack or picnic tea in front of the TV is much nicer than stressing isn't it! Also reassuring to hear she's not a gannet wanting to eat so many times a day

It’s rare that we don’t eat together after nursery. He has a snacky tea there at 3.30-4 ish and then he normally gets home between 5.30 & 6.

We normally do a portion for him of whatever we’re having, and sit down together between 6-6.30. Bedtime is normally 7.30, so basically the same for you.

We know he’s a really good eater so I leave him to it as to how much he wants to have. Some days he has thirds, some days he chucks it all on the floor.

I’d say variety of food and consistency of routine is key. He knows that he’s going to eat at a similar time and it’s going to be similar to Mum and Dad, but different food. I think if we offered him just quick meals, he wouldn’t get as much variety. His nursery for example don’t serve fish due to an allergy, so he only gets to eat it with us.

What’s helped is cooking one meal to cover two nights (ie we’re eating a chilli tonight that I cooked yesterday) and to have some quick go tos for everyone (ie veggie quesadillas take 10 mins from prep to cooked).

We really struggle with this. It takes us an hour to get home (following a 5.30pm finish) so I usually prep a few pots of snacks for DS to eat in the car. It tends to be things like cheesy crackers and fruit. By the time we get home we get straight into the bedtime routine so there's no time for a meal.

DH and I always eat together after DS has gone to bed. You just have to do what works for you.

My toddler has breakfast, lunch, bottle of milk and "snack" (3pm/3.30pm ish) at nursery. She's never hungry for her dinner before 6.30pm so we do bath first then dinner and bed.

I would give something - maybe not a full meal but sandwich and fruit, porridge, crackers and cheese, or something like that.

I know they say they give ‘tea’ at nursery but it’s often a very tiny portion of food, not a proper dinner. But at the same time I wouldn’t be pressuring myself to cook a meal from scratch, just something so I knew she had a full belly!

We do snack plates. DS has his lunch and dinner at 4pm plus two snacks in the day at CM. We always offer a snack plate around 6pm as he is hungry. Usually some cheese, crackers, fruit that sort of thing. Some days he will finish the lot, some days hardly touch it but it’s offered. DP does bath and bottle from 6.45-7pm while i make us dinner for around 7.30pm. We like it this way as we have from 4.45-5pm until 6.45-7pm for play, snuggles, books etc. We don’t mind eating later.