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Original poster

Do you give hot dinner after a day at nursery?

34 replies

TBC45678 · 15/02/2023 20:08

Just that really. I've always given my two a hot dinner after nursery at 5.30/6, but after talking to a couple of friends I realised maybe I shouldn't bother! It's obviously quite a hassle and means my few hours with them before bed is spent cooking and feeding them (sometimes a battle when they're tired or grumpy etc).

They have breakfast at home, then cooked lunch at nursery (something like shepherd's pie, curry etc) at 11.30, then they do tea at 3.30 which is something like fish finger wraps, soup and garlic bread, tuna pasta etc.

This is 3 meals, so maybe I don't need to worry about a proper cooked dinner at home? They obviously couldn't go from 3.30 until bedtime with no food, but maybe I could just do sandwiches or hummus + veg etc...

What do other people do?

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Dragonfly909 · 15/02/2023 20:15

On nursery days we do dinner about 6pm and it's just something like toast, satsuma, tomatoes, carrot sticks, cheese, yoghurt, that sort of thing. Sometimes porridge or pancakes to mix it up. Then we swap around and have a sandwich lunch / cooked dinner on the other days. DP and I follow the same pattern so we have a big cooked lunch on nursery days too (we both wfh).

Lkydfju · 15/02/2023 20:23

I do a snack like scrambled egg, beans on toast, omelette, some pasta as mine love pasta and butter, a sandwich, toast.

Lovely27 · 15/02/2023 20:23

We just do a couple of snacks (bit of fruit, maybe a biscuit or babybel) and some milk at home before bed. I used to worry DD would be hungry but she always sleeps through as she's so tired after nursery! Doesn't seem to do her any harm.

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LuckyMoonstone · 15/02/2023 20:24

I just give DS a ‘large snack’ after nursery, he gets a hot cooked lunch there and then something like sandwiches/wraps/beans on toast/cheese bagels etc for tea. So at home about half 5 I’ll do him veg sticks & bread sticks with hummus, or pancakes & fruit, fruit loaf, something that’s not quite a meal but more than a snack. I love nursery days when I don’t have to cook his tea after work!

BecuaseIWantItThatWay · 15/02/2023 20:25

We have the same set up as you OP but found that a hot meal, usually a variation of mashed vegetables, is working very well right now, and from the way it is gobbled down it is clearly needed!

If your two are eating all that you make (except when tired, grumpy), then maybe they need it. It's all additional nutrients at the end of the day!

johsq20 · 15/02/2023 20:26

I do cooked dinner. She eats with me when I'm having mine - can never be too sure how much she's actually eaten at nursery so always prefer to offer it and if she doesn't want it she doesn't want it.

I do feel like it's out of the norm tho as most people I know offer a snack.

My DD goes to bed quite late though - always has, so I think that factors into it too.

PetitPorpoise · 15/02/2023 20:30

Depends. If we are all eating then she has a small portion of what we're having. On the evenings where my DH is at work and my son has tea at my parents' house then she and I will just have something like crumpets or some soup.

TheBelmont · 15/02/2023 20:31

breakfast at home, then second breakfast at nursery, hot lunch, late afternoon snack at nursery and when I got them home they’d get hot milk before bed and if they were hungry (very rarely) a banana or an apple or a slice of toast. Never needed an evening meal until primary school but I think because they didn’t get the mid afternoon snack. Save yourself the hassle!

Blablablablaba · 15/02/2023 20:32

Yes, always. Making dinner for all the family so she just gets what we are having about 6pm. Unless me and dh are having something not child friendly then I'll make the kids something different.

Sleeplessin2023 · 15/02/2023 20:38

Usually do full dinner if both my DH and I are home (just what we are eating) but on nights that it's only one of us it's usually cheese and toast plus bananas etc

Always very rushed trying to get them picked up fed and watered by bed.

Do anything you can to make life easier at this tricky stage and if that means toast for dinner so be it !

user567543 · 15/02/2023 20:41

Something small and quick, scrambled eggs, soup - mine seemed to have so much food they were never hungry. Certainly don't think they need a hot meal after all that food.

Tireddoggymum · 15/02/2023 20:42

It depends how much they actually eat at nursery.

QforCucumber · 15/02/2023 20:44

Ours often has porridge or weetabix with warm milk and blueberries, but sometimes will have some of what we are having: all depends how he is.

today he had scrambled egg for breakfast. quiche, new potatoes and cucumber for lunch then chopped fruit then cheese and ham wraps so only wanted a weetabix before bed at 7ish and wasn’t fussed about dinner with us at 6

LittleMrsPerfect · 15/02/2023 20:59

Yeah if you child is having tea at 3:30 they do not need another hot meal at 5:30. They xan just have a snack.

My nursery gives a hot lunch at 12 then a snack at 4 so I just give a quick tea at 6 like beans on toast or eggs. She doesn't need two hot meals in a day and it's less rushing for me.

20viona · 15/02/2023 21:02

Just snacks or she eats off our plates but not a full on meal.

Mummyboy1 · 15/02/2023 21:02

I give my son porridge and some fruit, fills him up. I usually do the porridge either the night before on in the morning.

CrispAppleStrudels · 15/02/2023 21:05

Yes, i used to do this and then DD (20months) was weighed at her last hospital check up and she had jumped from 60th centile to about 80th, having started off when she was born at 0.4th!! I cut back to just give her a snack now (rice cake or satsuma or a small bowl of greek yoghurt etc) at 5.30pm ish and then she has about 150-180ml of milk just before teethbrushing / bed at 7pm. She doesn't seem to miss it and isn't seeming hungry / waking overnight so i think it might be working better for her?

fandjango · 15/02/2023 21:09

Porridge and Fruit on nursery days. We found he was eating a bit of the hot meals we made but not all. Porridge and fruit gets wolfed down and at least we know he has a full stomach before bedtime

QueenLagertha · 15/02/2023 21:14

Our nursery gives breakfast, 10am snack, hot dinner at 12 and small snack such as a pancake and grapes/toast/crackers and cheese at 3. Both my boys have needed a hot meal when they come home. If they had something more substantial at 3pm snack I probably wouldn't need to.

DS1 (nearly 5 now) has always come home and eaten a hot dinner (curry and rice, spag bol, pasta type meal), bowl of yoghurt and a bowl of chopped up fruit.
Over the past year he also needs supper too before bed. Tonight he had an apple, a pear and a banana!

CoalCraft · 15/02/2023 21:28

Nah, they have a hot meal around 3:30 at nursery so wouldn't want another in the evening. We give a light snack and the kids eat it at the table with us while DH and I eat have our dinners.

Blanketwars · 15/02/2023 21:32

We used to, but he just stopped eating it at about 16 months (gets the hot lunch and tea etc at nursery and eats really well) so now he just has some cheese and crackers or pitta and hoummous, something like that. Then we eat when he’s gone to bed

Pjmasksonrepeat · 15/02/2023 21:37

Ours has a cooked lunch at nursery and then a snack on the way home around 3.30pm. Then I do a small tea either sandwich/fruit/yoghurt or eggs on toast at around 5pm.

Original poster

TBC45678 · 15/02/2023 21:37

Thanks everyone! I think I'm going to scale back. They definitely can't make it to bed without something substantial-ish but I'm going to start just doing beans on toast/sandwich/eggs etc. Annoyingly it's my youngest (who is very big) who wolfs down his dinner at home when I know he's eaten absolutely loads at nursery, and my eldest (who is very small) who just picks at his dinner when I know he's not eaten that much at nursery either! If it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't bother offering much but I'm always worrying about getting calories in.

@CrispAppleStrudels yes I have this worry with my youngest, he's well above 91st centile line now so I'm a little worried I'm over feeding him... Hard to not give him dinner when I'm giving it to the tiny eldest one though!

OP posts:

TheOldLadyOfThreadneedleStreet · 15/02/2023 21:51

I just gave yogurt after nursery. The DC had breakfast, a 2 course lunch and tea at 4pm. They always ate well at nursery , there was a list pinned up on the wall telling you how much they ate every day and my 2 were usually big eaters.

TheNine · 15/02/2023 21:53

Yes I do, but reading this thread I’m now starting to understand why DS rarely eats all of it. I’ve had a crisis of confidence about my cooking since having him, but he’s probably just full up!
Will always include him in family dinner, but not worry if he doesn’t eat much. Im
not a fan of making a separate dinner for children, or just feeding the snack food at meal times.

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