Toddler coming home from nursery starving, normal?

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My last thread was a bit of a jokey one but on a serious note is it normal my toddler comes home from nursery and is starving?

She doesn't eat much at home. 3 meals a day which she may or may not eat. Fruit for snacks with the occasional quavers and crackers thrown in there a couple of times a week. At nursery its very similar. 3 meals and 2 snacks. We have the famly app so they update what she's eaten and 99 percent of the time she eats it all.

I collect her and she's starving. Today she's been home since 6 and has eaten 2 pieces of toast and some crackers and a banana. She's now clinging to the safety gate screaming hungry. I've given her a glass of milk and water If she's mistaking thirst for hunger. She's downed them both but still adamant she's hungry.
This is every week
Is this normal?

DD has breakfast at nursery, snack, potentially 2 servings of lunch and 2 desserts some days, then snack and a light tea (like paninis). Then she comes home and I normally give her tea on top 😅

Portions at nursery can be quite small so she probably is hungry.

@HiKelsey ok that makes me feel better. Most days at home she eats very little. At nursery she eats everything. I mean they give her things she won't entertain at home and its always marked as eaten. Best start plating her up some tea as well then!

We do breakfast and dinner at home and he also has both at nursery as well as lunch and snacks

@Danikm151 I never even considered portion size. Good point. They usually put a + next to it if they have extra but I've never even thought of how much of it she's getting.

My DD came home from nursery and ate a full dinner, and not a baby sized portion!

She is a long lean thing though.

And nursery meals were earlier in the day than we eat.

Might just be a growing phase.

Soup was a great one for us, easy to give her quickly when she got home.

Ask to see portions given for size so you can have a better idea and pack some snacks to take to nursery?

@Mumtobabyhavoc I like that idea. I'll do that next drop off. I mean I never even thought of portion size being an issue.

Yes in my experience and it carries on into primary school.

There are more interesting things to do than eat, so DD would eat just enough to take the hunger away then go to play. She's 8 now and does exactly the same. PE days she's like a locust, they do PE all afternoon 2 days a week and she comes home knackered and famished.

@polkadotclip mines a long lean thing too! Tall for her age but very slim. My husband cooks while I collect her so ill let him know to plate her up some. She's now having a ham sandwich and is very content

How long has she been going to nursery? Mine has gradually eaten more the longer she's been going. But to be honest she's usually hungry when she gets home, even if she's eaten well at nursery - it's a bit hit and miss as to whether she will eat a full dinner or just a snack like crumpet etc, but she will usually want a big drink and something to eat when she gets in. There's a lot going on at nursery and your LO might not always be able to concentrate on whether she's hungry or not. Mine gets 7-9 (!!) eating chances a day on nursery days - milk or breakfast at home, breakfast offered again at nursery, snack, lunch, snack, then tea at nursery and then I offer her a snack when she gets home and she gets to eat dinner with us if she would like to before her bath, then she has milk before bed.

We give dd tea on days she goes to nursery and she often eats a good amount of it. I think that's normal. Most nurseries do a cooked lunch then a snacky mid-afternoon "tea" but def not enough to last until bedtime.

Oh yes and I had forgotten that both lunch and tea at nursery are two courses - a meal plus dessert/yogurt!!

@wibblewobbleball she goes 2 full days a week. She has breakfast at home with me before I drop her off. That's always cereal. Probably porridge now it's getting cold. And then she has breakfast at nursery, then a snack, then lunch, then a snack, then tea and then a final snack about 5. I collect her at 5 45 ish and drop her off about 8. She eats everything there. I was surprised cos at home I'm sure she lives off air and the sun like a plant. I'm definitely gonna get her a plate of tea sorted.

Yeah, my son has milk before he goes in, then he usually eats absolutely everything that they give him, then he comes home and has third dinner and usually some fruit, then milk. He's 14 months old now, always had good appetite.

Friend's son demolishes a full bowl of 2x weetabix with whole milk and banana as soon as he walks through the door, he's 18 months now.

All my mum friends top up their toddlers a bit in the evenings.

And yeah, recently on days when he's not in nursery, he seems to eat barely anything. Then the next day I get updates from nursery saying "Leo's eaten all of his fish pie, jelly, followed by a yoghurt" and that's like this throughout the day. Go figure! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Also remember they are on the go constantly at nursery. Mine ate loads more when they started walking. They also eat things they don’t like at home because everyone else is - just look at the napping, we have a hard time getting them down for a nap at weekends even if we try and stick to the nursery routine! If anyone can tell me how a nap refuser manages to sleep with 6 other children at nearly the same time everyday, I will pay handsomely!!

@PurplePansy05 that's exactly like mine. She actually ate coleslaw at nursery today and it had a + next to it so she had extra. I've offered her coleslaw about 20 times and she looks at it like I'm trying to poison her. She eats all and everything at nursery.

This, too.

@gretr slightly cross posted but yeah that makes sense. Who would have thought peer pressure started so early?

Also check if nursery would allow snacks before packing them up for her, my nursery doesn't allow to bring any food in because there are kids with various food intolerances and allergies there.

@PurplePansy05 we are not allowed at all. I think there's a couple of children with severe allergies. I bring her something for the walk home. I mean its mainly a bribe to convince her to walk home. But I know her nursery doesn't like any outside food being brought into nursery.

I think it’s more them trying to copy. Ours would only use their hands to eat, then a spoon sometimes, but since they’ve seen us with a fork - that’s all they want to use and they will eat anything with it!! Was a bit wary about giving a 17m old a fork, but they are quite coordinated and supervise them constantly. It’s they only way to get them to eat vegetables!

@gretr mine loves a fork. They give her a knife at nursery as I got told last month. I'm slightly more wary about giving my only just 2 year old a knife just yet. I'm not feeling an a and e visit.

Nurseries tend to to tea time very early as well, around 3:30/4pm so by the time you're home she probably is hungry again. Portions could be smaller too.

Also if she's very active all day at nursery she will be working up an appetite. Maybe plan a more substantial supper for nursery days if you're not doing her evening meal at home. e.g. beans or toast, scrambled eggs, big bowl of porridge.