How much do you feed your one year old ?

[Hilda23]

Hi everyone,
I have a 13 month old who has an insatiable appetite. She was a little underweight prior to weaning at 5.5 months and was BF. Since we started weaning she has gained weight and is normal weight and has a very healthy appetite ( although she has always been a terrible sleeper). She started walking at 10 months and as she doesn’t sleep a great deal day or night - she must be burning so many calories. I know each child and each day is different but wondered what people feed their little ones of this age and how much more or less ? Does anyone still give milk at night if waking consistently ?
my daughter is awake for the day very early between 4:30 -6am every day.

She has:
a drink and a small breakfast but then goes to nursery and has another breakfast at 9am. if not a nursery day she has one breakfast at 7am.
A snack of melty sticks / fruit at around 10
lunch 12 o’clock - always a big toddler bowl of vege+carbs+protein
snack around 2pm - toast / banana example
dinner at 3:30 on nursery days or 5pm on non nursery days same vege +carbs+protein
milk 6oz at 6:30pm

3:30 is a very early dinner and I wonder if she needs something more when she is home from nursery before her milk ? We don’t really offer puddings as her main meals are quite large.

thanks everyone :)

I think a supper closer to bed would work with that schedule. My 13mo eats like an Olympic swimmer, he'll have portions something like a half of an adult one and huge amounts of porridge for breakfast as well. He does refuse food eventually so I usually just give him it until he stops. Your schedule looks exactly like his but with an extra meal in the evening around 5.30-6.

I wonder from your schedule if your daughter is waking early because she's hungry? Between 3.30pm and 7am she's not having any solids

Have a look at this guide @Hilda23 as it gives suggested portion sizes and sample menus.

Milk isn't really necessary at night after 12 months but if she's not eating after 3.30 ok that's a long time to go without any solids so you might want to introduce another meal before bedtime

I'd also let her eat her fill, as long as it's (mostly) healthy and reasonably varied. Some of them eat a huge amount at this age, and others seem to live on air. I'd also agree that she likely needs supper/another dinner, especially on nursery days. I have two low sleep needs children, and we've always had a family dinner around 6.30-6.45 after nursery.

What time is bedtime? You mention the early wakes and not much sleep – is the 6.30 milk part of getting ready for bed? If so, you might need to push bedtime back if you want her to sleep longer.

In my experience, the expectation with nurseries giving ‘tea’ at 3:30pm is generally that the child will be fed something else later on as well, since nursery portions can be very small and it might be more of a good snack rather than a proper meal. I agree with others to let her eat until she has had enough - young children find it very difficult to bypass feelings of fullness unlike adults, so it’s unlikely she would overeat.