Do toddlers actually need snacks in between meals?

[Babycatsarenice]

My instinct is no and DD eats better when we don't but we have a part time nanny who insists they need it. What's the truth?

I don't think there is a blanket rule that applies to all children but you should be decided what's best for your child not a part time nanny

No.

It's a marketing strategy to sell more shit.

One that schools and nurseries had mindlessly taken on.

Other countries do not have this.

And we wonder why we have an obesity or in this country.

Mine never did. He survived just fine.

Nobody needs snacks. Otherwise we wouldn't have survived as a species. We also don't need to have so many meals, for the same reason.
Agree that it is a strategy to sell more shit.

I started out with the assumption that they didn't and did try that for some time but found that mine did need snacks. They got very grumpy otherwise.

Not an endless supply of snacks but some carrot/cucumber sticks, an apple and peanut butter, that sort of thing, mid morning and after nap

Other countries do have this! Well, I can only speak for France. Some people need different amounts of food, I don’t think it’s a one size fits all. I like two meals a day, my husband likes three. One child likes a snack, the other doesn’t, but eats more at meal times (the other gets full more quickly).

They should have two healthy(emphasis on healthy) snacks.

https://www.cwt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CHEW-1-4YearsPracticalGuide3rd-Edition.pdf(This also covers 3 and 4 year olds so also past the toddler stage but it’s helpful.)

I would not expect young children who are rapidly growing and developing and who have much smaller stomachs, to eat exactly as adults do.

Cavemen ate one meal a day and fruit and nuts as snacks. Nobody needs breakfast, lunch and dinner. People just need enough food to sustain them, it doesn’t really matter when they eat it.

My kid needs to eat every 3hrs if the ey get hangry.
neither kid is overweight.
snacks are foods that are nourishing.
not crisps and crap

My toddler does far better with eating little and often, so yes, he does need snacks.

I nanny and if small children are hungry and as a result grumpy in between meals, I don’t see any drama in giving them a healthy snack.

I guess it depends on their meal times; my DC were early risers so breakfast was 6.30am so it felt like a mid morning snack was needed, not so much an afternoon one as it was a shorter gap between lunch and dinner. Unfortunately they then went to nursery and got into this annoying habit of eating something every 2 hours

If they are eating enough calories in 3 meals to have enough energy and grow healthily then no they don't need snacks

Dd gets full easily and can't finish a big meal. She does much better having 3 smaller meals with morning and afternoon snack without them she wouldn't be gaining weight.

I see a lot of parents projecting their own attitudes toward eating and mealtimes onto their children to be honest and I just don’t think that’s on.

Things don’t have to be a one size fits all in every aspect of life.

One of mine definitely does more than the other, or he gets really grumpy. You can see the energy start to flag and ideally you offer them something you want them to have before they get too hangry and unreasonable to actually eat it. I don't really get the 'it's just to sell more stuff' argument, as you don't have to feed them designated 'toddler snacks' out of packets. If I was at home I would give them e.g. a couple of rice cakes with peanut butter on and an apple. I also found with DC1 that if he got too hungry he also wouldn't be able to sit and eat his dinner - so I give him some fruit straight away as he comes out of nursery and then he lasts till I get him home and cook something. DC2 is a bit more easygoing about it even if hungry, so I guess if I'd had him first I might be one of the 'toddlers don't need snacks' people.

Ugh ugh I'm a caveman. I count the number of meal I have in a day. If there is a glut of food, I'm just going to leave it till tomorrow when it might have rotted a bit so I can eat it then. Equally I just nip to the shops on days when the hunting and foraging was a bit shit.

In no way did I just eat food when it was available precisely because I had no guaranteed source of food and no food storage.

The idea that caveman ate regular meals at all is very amusing.

Surely there are so many factors... and surely snack requirement will be depended on day / activity / overall health...

My 3 year old has a mid-morning snack. He eats a big breakfast and lunch but still needs a snack. He's very active.

But we do no snacks after lunch. He eats his dinner better if it's quite early (around 4pm) and there have been no snacks beforehand. If he's still hungry afterwards, or in the run up to bedtime then he can have fruit or a yoghurt or pudding if we're having some. Some days he'll even have supper with a glass of milk, I guess if he's going through a big growth spurt.

It really depends on the children. As long as they are not being force fed and not eating lunch/dinner then I wouldn’t worry.

My daughter has never had a morning snack but has afternoon snacks but not every day.
She's 4 but I'm not sure when she started. She didn't eat 3 meals a day until 20 months so I'm thinking possibly not until 2.5-3 as she's not been the best eater.

Snacks are things like bread sticks, water crackers, cucumber or fruit. Occasionally a Soren bar or slice of Soren loaf.

Yes, they need snacks because toddlers still have tiny stomachs and high calorie needs for growth and development. In fact, it’s better for them to have six mini-meals than to over eat 3x a day and limp along with a snack inbetween.

Cavemen ate one meal a day and fruit and nuts as snacks

hah that’s utter bullshit. Hunter/scavengers/gatherers tended to graze throughout the day and into the evening. They ate sporadically and opportunistically. If they managed to score a lot of food, they’d feast. If food was scarce, they’d be eating very little. This is because primitive food preservation was not developed yet.

Mine definitely did. She used to suddenly get a bit wild, a sure sign she needed to eat something. Never leave home without a banana and a packet of oatcakes.

It all depends on the child! Mine didn’t, and actually preferred just eating at mealtimes. Since she ate no snacks in between meals she did always have a very good appetite at mealtimes and ate big meals and a really wide range of different foods. She also was very good at knowing when she was full and not overeating.

Bear in mind that even though some people will tell you they need it, snacking is not as good for the teeth as eating less frequently. If you give “healthy” snacks (usually fruit or dried fruit) between meals it still changes the pH of the mouth, and makes tooth decay more likely. It’s better to eat fewer meals if you can from the perspective of dental health. Or keep healthy snacks to non-fruit, low sugar but high fibre items (veg, hummus, rice or non-added sugar oat cakes etc).

Indeed, this is why we provide healthy snacks mid-morning at our preschool

Yes, I think they do. Toddlers are growing at an incredible rate and need energy. That being said, a snack doesn't have to be a ready-made/pre-packed snack. It can be apple slices or other fruit, cucumber sticks, a small bread roll, a babybel cheese etc.