Do little kids eat too much these days?

[BlueBirdAmberBird]

I notice that most parents have a constant supply of snacks for their kids when they're out and about, and most 2/3/4 year olds are constantly munching on breadsticks and rice cakes etc. No judgement as I'm genuinely interested to know whether or not this is the right approach. Do kids need a constant supply of healthy snacks to thrive? Or are they physiologically capable of lasting a few hours between meals?

How many small children do you look after currently?

You say no judgment but your post is entirely judgemental!

It's not your business !!

I have a child in the age range you describe and I don’t recognise the behaviour. DC doesn’t routinely snack and they’re friends that do are offered snacks at relatively set times once or twice a day. On days completely out of the ordinary (eg we recently did a 6h train journey for a friends wedding) snacking went up a lot, as meals were less predictable and less easy to source - are you sure you aren’t just seeing parents on these days that are entirely out of the norm?

I thought this. Whenever we are out with SD and DGS, he seems to be eating all the time and it's not fruit for example, it's cereal bars, bunny bites etc and often very close to meal times. I queried this as gently as I could and was told that the advice now is to offer snacks regularly, but I don't know whether that is true.

Back in the day my DC had free access to fruit and then had a biscuit when they came home from school.

My DC are both in the normal weight range in their 30s, but SD is morbidly obese and I worry that she is setting up DGS to be the same way.

No judgement my arse

Our children were both grazers, rarely ate a full meal until school aged.

It’s none of your concern really, is it?

What it the obsession with threads like this and especially the term 'Munching' no doubt you will describe drinking as 'Slurping'

One of my children is underweight and has to have extra snacks to maintain a healthy weight. He is not fussy nor does he skip any of his home cooked meals. His siblings are all a healthy weight and do not need the same amount of snacks. Every child is different, I would definitely be annoyed if someone made a comment.

Yep, it felt like DS1 had pretty continuous food. Like breakfast, second breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, tea, dinner. It was rarely fruit, as it wasn't calorie dese enough
He was always a skinny thing, and still sits around 6th centile as a teen. He still eats mountains. But will also self regulate, and on occasion eat much less than I'd expect, or turn down something he loves.
His younger brother got offered a similar food pattern, but has always eaten less. He's slender, but not as slender as his brother.
I don't see a problem?

I have 3 kids and yes I think a lot do. My own kids would snack all day if I allowed them to. They are not allowed to. They have 3 main meals a day and a mid morning snack, mid afternoon snack and sometimes if they have been really active toast before bed. They are all a healthy weight range. Unfortunately I can see a trend towards obesity in children and it’s not healthy but neither are hungry children. It’s a balance like most things.

I do think that snacking is more prevalent possibly due the the availability of snack items specifically marketed at young children and also maybe due to busy lives or as a tool to keep them quiet when out and about. Most of the snack foods did not exist 10-20 years ago and I do think that it could possibly lead to a snacking habit into later life.

Oh dear :O

The reason I'm asking is because I'm about to wean my baby and I want to know if I should be letting her snack often or try to stick to meals. Babies need to eat very regularly so I want to know if the same goes for little kids, hence the frequent snacking I see. I'm not being disingenuous but I guess people preempt judgement online so can only assume I have an agenda.

Deary I.

Do what you think is best for your baby. Plenty of people who have or don’t have children will tell you you’re ruining them whatever you do. I expect I’ve cross posted with a few

I see loads of people 50+ snacking. I blame the parents

I've found children are a lot better at self regulating than adults. My children will stop eating (even sweet stuff) when they are full. I did used to take snacks with me though as they are far less patient when they are hungry.

I met a friend once with her one year old. She had fruit, a pouch, breadsticks and other stuff with her. Then ordered him pancakes. We met up for about an hour and she was just ramming him with food. I was too lazy / forgetful to do the same!!

The advice is to offer snacks regularly but I agree that refined carbs isn't always the best choice. I can't see how a little carb hit is that beneficial between meals but nor is it going to spoil their appetite for lunch really.

We mostly used fruit/veg/oatcakes for snacks but did always have an oaty bar thing in the rucksack if we were out and about as an emergency snack.

One of the problems with toddlers being brought up eating every 2–3 hours is that it creates a habit that then needs addressing later on when the advice changes to not snacking!

DD is 5 now and I only give her a snack if she asks for one or if we're having food for some sort of social thing (friends round for tea/cake or whatever).

If nobody ever commented on things that were 'not their concern,' then Mumsnet wouldn't exist.

My 8 month old has one morning snack.

My 4 year old has one morning snack and one afternoon snack.

No other snacks on offer unless it's some kind of different day and I need my sanity e.g long journey or something. Constant / frequent snacking is bad for little teeth imo and if my eldest had any more snacks than the 2 he currently has then he'd never touch his meals and it's a mission to get him to eat those as it is!

Mine certainly don’t, I literally have no idea how they exist on so little and have so much energy! I definitely think mine prefer to graze though rather than eat a lot in one sitting. They don’t really seem to get the concept of eating a lot at one point so they don’t get hungry between meals. I do always have snacks on hand though when out and about though as the whinging if they’re hungry or bored ruins any chance of enjoying the activity.

Maybe she planned it so he had plenty of food during that time because it would work better for him when meeting up with someone. Or maybe she js terrible.

The childminders dropping and collecting at school have a constant supply of snacks. A mum we sometimes get the bus with has a whole picnic in her bag. In fact she has a whole separate bag just for snacks. Child will just have finished a tub of fruit and it's do you want a biscuit now, do you want your crisps, do you want some water? Ffs the child can barely draw breath between finishing on thing and the next being offered. I take ds a snack

There’s a certain point when often children don’t always eat their main meals, so it’s a good idea to have some snacks.

Sorry. Ds a snack of some sort. Fruit, crisps, chocolate or maybe sweets on occasion. He can have one thing after school but after he's eaten his own snack his friends' mums start offering him things from their never ending supplies including cartons of juice or capri suns. I've told them not to offer but they still do. Ds can manage without loads of snacks between lunch and dinner. Some children need more than others but looking at how overweight some kids are then I'm not sure there's much need there. Does any child need fruit, crisps, chocolate biscuit and sometimes a sandwich as well before they get home? Unlikely.
It's hard to get the balance right with meals and snacks and there's such a strong snack culture now that you're fighting against the tide. Any criticism of things like this on here never goes down well.