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?

If you are weaning, I would go with three meals and milk in between.

Toddler and preschoolers burn off an insane amount of energy running about. DS has always eaten like a horse but is actually pretty slim (9th centile for weight, 25th centile for height), so he always gets a mid morning snack (usually a piece of fruit) and something more substantial at about 3pm (small cheese sandwich, or cheese and crackers, or very occasionally an ice cream or crisps). He may also get a fruit yoyo, yoghurt, or something else small on the way home from an activity like swimming where he is starving afterwards and can’t wait to the next meal. Dinner at 6pm, which he also wolfs down.

He does a lot of activities though - swimming lessons, football club, tennis and yoga in afterschool club, and gymnastics, family swimming, rugby club and family bike ride at the weekend. So he burns it all off. He would probably eat less if he was doing less.

Depends on the child, surely? DS isn’t a big eater and never has been since he was weaned. If we relied on all his calories coming from main meals then he’d be malnourished. We allow regular healthy snacks because he needs them.

My eldest hardly ever snacked, didn't need too and would happily eat her full meals at breakfast, lunch and dinner - my youngest has small snacks constantly throughout the day because she struggles to eat a full meal at meal times and will literally sit for hours picking at a meal, and so instead she gets smaller portions at meal times and regular snacks throughout the day. Both are healthy weights (youngest is perhaps slightly underweight but not worryingly so) and very energetic and active. I don't believe there is a right or wrong way to go about eating as long as they are thriving and can recognise when they are full/are not constantly hungry. What works for one child, may not work for the other.

Once they're fully weaned it's recommended to have a mid morning and mid afternoon snack.

I'm sure like most of us, on many days it's cucumber sticks and houmous but busy days out and about it's going to be a baby biscotti biscuit. Theyre also the days I find theyre less interesed in meals as theres lots going on. Personally I don't care for pouches but you bet I give the odd fruit one when they're grizzly out and about.

Solidstarts and SR nutrition are great weaning resourcing on instragram if you're gearing up for this stage

As a general rule small children do need to eat little and often, not as much as a baby, but not three big meals like an adult. For most children, 3 meals and 2 snacks is a good ballpark, but obviously there are exceptions to this.

The key thing is to remember that every child and every circumstance is different. That being the case you cannot look at a child eating a breadstick on a bus and infer anything about how you should parent your child. Instead, you need to stop looking at other people's children and look at your own. Are they growing well? Are they content? Are they getting a good balance of nutrients? If yes, then you're good. If not then you may need to tweak something.

I do find that often the cause of a grumpy or stroppy child is food, water or sleep based so always start there!

At home DD (almost 4) will have one snack mid morning and one mid afternoon. She has breakfast at 7ish, lunch 12.30 ish and dinner 5.30ish. 5+ hrs is a long time for little tummies to go without a top up.

Also it's a habit created at nursery - she has breakfast when she gets up, sometimes a piece of toast as second breakfast when she gets there, snack about 10, then lunch at 11.30, another snack about 2, tea at 3.30/3.45 then she needs supper before she goes to bed. It means she's used to that pattern of eating.

DD does get grumpy when she's hungry so she does still need it.

I expect it to drop off naturally as she gets older. Once she goes to school next year it will be breakfast, a piece of fruit mid-morning, lunch, I expect a post school snack, then a sensible dinner.

I agree the content of the snack is important though. At nursery it's either fruit or breadsticks. At home there's more variety and I flex content and size to how well meals went. When we're out and about it changes again. Meals can be off schedule, or she didn't like it and only really ate chips for lunch so a more substantial snack of veg sticks and cheese or a few peanuts is needed.

If you're thinking about it from a weaning perspective then yes, little kids do need snacks. But spaced out snacks, not food every 20 minutes!

You can tell by the kids surely.... if they look too fat or obese then yes, otherwise no? You'll learn.

I think it depends on the child and family. My DS Is a snacker and I really don't see the harm in a few breadsticks or rice cakes. Do what feels right for you and your family.

Yes children have more snacks now than in previous generations, but so do adults!

Do you have kids

Like anything, it can be taken to extremes, but toddlers do tend to eat better little and often.

DS has milk in the morning then cereal or porridge.

Then a snack of fruit mid morning then lunch. He sleeps 12:30-2 (sometimes!) then has a snack around half three before dinner at 5, then a snack before bed.

It’s all healthy stuff. So not sure if it’s ‘wrong’. DS hasn’t got a brilliant appetite so do need to try to make sure he eats well.

It’s actually healthier for all people to have several smaller meals throughout the day and not just have three enormous (often too protein and carb heavy) main meals.

With little kids in particular, yes some of them get more hungry than others. They have smaller stomachs so get hungry faster. It also just keeps them entertained and when they go through picky phases (which is normal part of development) they aren’t too hungry later.

I know a girl who use to snack constantly. Some of those around her were worried about her eating habits as her brother ate less than her. She is now 6 foot and her brother is 4 inches shorter than her. Both are fully grown.

I know another girl of 7 who snacks constantly. She is tall for her age and her predicted adult height is around 6ft. Her younger sister eats less and is predicted to be just above average height.

My own DD eats when she is hungry and mainly snacks on fruit. She is predicted to be around average height.

My ds almost 4 has food available constantly, including in his room. He's 90th percentile for height but only 9th for weight as he's just not interested. I try to encourage mindless grazing while watching/reading. He had severe feeding (milk and food) issues as a baby though. We have follwed dietician and paediatrician (both nhs) advice on him. His baby sister has no such issues. She will not be having constant access to food like he does, but meals and healthy snacks, which she's thriving with :)

I don't think my ds is unusual, there are a fair few v slim kids at his nursery who are also just too busy/uninterested to eat. Trying to ensure they get the right vitamins, proteins, carbs and extra fat is really tough, and if some need grazing trays constantly, then so what.

My DD is 2.5. When she started weaning it was pretty regular: 3 meals and 2 snacks (mid-morning and mid-afternoon) per day.

Then, about 6-8 months ago she started to become less and less interested in the mid-afternoon snack... (unless a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar falls out of the top cupboard where we hide them, then suddenly she wants that😂) but she rarely asks for an afternoon snack anymore and will often refuse if offered (we usually offer things like fruit, or cream crackers with cheese...).

Also OP isn't it annoying how you can't ask a simple bloody question without everyone assuming you're being judgy. I wondered the exact same thing when my DD was weaning - saw lots of little kids who seemed to be constantly snacking and wondered if that was something I was going to need to prepare for - and if so, when. But the answer is no, small children don't necessarily need to snack constantly. Maybe some do due to their metabolism or whatever, maybe the parents need snacks as a tool to keep them quiet, but it's not a blanket thing you'll definitely need to do, no.

@BiscuitLover3678 , do you have any scientific proof to back that statement?

Kids can't eat enough at mealtimes to get enough calories /nutrition into them. That's how I've always understood it anyway

When weaning I did three meals a day, which seemed to work well, supplemented with milk. Toddler stage we do have snacks out and about, mostly if we have to travel somewhere and they get irritable (sometimes they don’t eat a full meal of we are eating out). Planes especially, I tend to skip the meal and give them a range of snacks to occupy them and stop them annoying others!

Constant snacking leads to fat kids. Hence why there's so many of them now. Kids need three square meals per day with a couple of small healthy snacks to tide them over till meal time.

Today has been a nursery day, DS had poached egg on toast, a banana and full fat plain yoghurt for breakfast at home. He then had a snack at 10 a nectarine and buttered cracker, lunch at 12:15 was hotpot with green veg, snack at 2:30 was apple slices with whole nut butter. Dinner at 5 was vegetable pasta followed by pudding. Milk or water water offered at meal times. DS is just under 50th centile for weight, and fluctuates between 75th and 90th centile for height (DH and I are both tall). You probably think he eats too much. I don't. It's not the volume and frequency as much as what people eat and how much activity they do.

No they don’t need it. I avoided doing this. I think parents get into the habit quickly of giving snacks to keep babies busy (quiet) and because they are enthusiastic about weaning and it’s nice to see your baby enjoy a snack. It all comes from a good place. The problem is I find that past a certain age the urge and habit to snack is strong and embedded - but the snacks become less healthy.

My children were under a paediatric dietitian for allergies. I was told 3 meals a day from 9 months and to add in at least 2 snacks from 12 months.

I always have a snack ready when I pick up DD2 from nursery because she doesn’t eat breakfast and would otherwise have a melt down and not manage the walk home.

You have to remember a child grows to half their adult height by their 2 birthday. That’s a lot of energy needed by small tummies.

I don't find the presence or absence of snacks in themselves to be the issue. The bigger issue in my opinion is the parental approach.

Eg We found that having set eating times worked for DC when they were young. We had breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, supper. It was the same routine at nursery too. It meant that they could eat as much or little as they wanted at each time, but as adults we set the schedule and snacks were healthy. We decided we weren't going to have food battles, so this approach took the power dynamic out of food.

But then I know other people who can't seem to go to the shop without carting around assorted snacks and options, and if DC don't eat their meals they have the option of sugary/higher salt/higher fat/more 'fun' snacky food. To be that's problematic because the child learns there's always the option to stuff their face with junk if they don't want the meal.

I also find that quite a lot of adults snack as boredom eating and can't help but wonder if the increase in children having back to back snacking all day is a product of adults who also back to back eat, snack, have a drive thru coffee, then another coffee on the go.

I don't know about other DCS but my DS stuck to breakfast, lunch, afterschool snack and then supper at about 7pm.A ll the way through childhood

The demand for endless snacks started this year - he's 14 - and now it's constant, like trying to feed a rubbish truck. 😁