Is it normal to feed your DC their lunch at 11.00am ?

[rookiemater]

Today DS and I headed off to the zoo as we are members.

The weather wasn't great so we ended up in the cafe and soft play. I was mentally congratulating myself on actually being together enough to bring along a healthy snack (banana) and juice so we didn't have to pay extortionate cafe prices.

Along rocks another couple of families. DS quite excited as no one else in the soft play , but then to my surprise the Mums start feeding their DCs filled rolls, bread sticks and hoummus and grapes at 11.00 am. DS being the greedy child that the is immediately started demanding his lunch and of course negligent lazy mother that I am we didn't have any with us as planning to meet Dh at 12.30pm to have lunch with him.

I did notice that the children were really tucking into it and DS normally has a snack around 11.00am, so is this actually a good idea and should I be changing to an earlier lunch ( and simultaneously changing into the type of mother that actually remembers to have all the ingrediants to make a pack lunch and in fact does) ?

Ds has lunch at 12, but I can't see anything wrong with giving it to them earlier if they've been up early and are hungry. Some parents don't 'do' snacks for their kids, either, as it means their children don't eat all of their meals. Different strokes and all that...

kids might have been up since 6am , or not a big fan of breakfast

My dd goes to nursery from 12.30 so I usually give her lunch at 11.30.

This morning we went to the park with a couple of friends and they all got started on their packed lunches at 11.

She is always starving by 4pm though.

How old is your ds?

Ds is 3. He is a big snacker so I'm seriously thinking about moving lunch to earlier.

DD2 and DS have their lunch at 11.30. DD2 has it at nursery the same time too.

DD1-I have no idea as she is at school!

lunch at 11.30 sounds good to me. Time for toddler nap before school pick-up. And I get to have another lunch at a more 'civilised' time.

Depends on the child I suppose. Ds used to get up so early (5AM) that he was often ready for lunch by 11am - particularly as he rarely ate much breakfast for some reason.

Nowadays ds (4.4) again ahs lunch at about 11.45am because he goes to nursery from 1-3,30pm so I need to have the lunch stuff done dusted and cleaned away by 12.30pm

In between these times, i.e when ds was sleeping a bit better but not at afternoon nursery then he probably ate at about 12-12.30pm. TBH a 1pm lunchtime was optten too late for him and he got really grumpy if we waited that long. Nowadays he eats later at the weekend wothout too much problem as long as he has a snack around 10/11am.

DD's nursery give lunch at 11:30 and tea at 3:30. All well and good except the little monster is starving by 6.30 and won't go to bed until she has our tea as well!

You know what? I'd make decisions on what time you feed your child lunch based on the feedback you get from your child. If he seems happy with the current schedule then stick to that. If he seems to be hungry then give him more. DOn't go round gawping at what other people do and then angsting about whether you should do it too.

If he's hungry at snack time then ggive a larger snack.

And the self-congratulatory stuff about "healthy snack - banana" etc, well I guess it's pre-empting other MNers coming along and critising you but it's that kind of extra smuggery which gets my goat.

I think everyone's different aren't they? DS has two routines, when he's with me on my days off he has breakfast at 7, a snack at about 10am, a sleep from 11am-1pm and then lunch around 1.30. He might have a snack at about 3.30 then tea at 5.30. It's totally different when he's with the cm, he has breakfast at 8am, lunch at 11.30am, sleep at 12-2 and tea at 4.30. He's usually pretty hungry when he gets home so he has a snack before bathtime. He's happy with either arrangement.

I think everyone's different aren't they? DS has two routines, when he's with me on my days off he has breakfast at 7, a snack at about 10am, a sleep from 11am-1pm and then lunch around 1.30. He might have a snack at about 3.30 then tea at 5.30. It's totally different when he's with the cm, he has breakfast at 8am, lunch at 11.30am, sleep at 12-2 and tea at 4.30. He's usually pretty hungry when he gets home so he has a snack before bathtime. He's happy with either arrangement.

Sorry Whatsthebloodypoint, its not smuggery its self justification which could be worse or better I'm not entirely sure.

I always feel so ill organised when I see lots of other DCs enjoying well prepared lunches in lots of tupperware containers when we are reduced to buttered rolls and fruit shoots because I'm too lazy or thoughtless to do such a thing.

This time I must admit I was feeling a leetle bit pleased with myself for having actually prepared in advance, but twas soon knocked out of me by the uber organised mummys with their lunches.

I gave DS his lunch today at 11 as he'd been up since 05:30 and so that he would go to sleep around lunch time as he's down to one nap a day now.

rookie... those uberorganised mums could have houses that resembles your local tip, don't get too hung up on what other people are doing because you're not seeing the whole story.

Well done on being organised though, I never am and always end up having to dash in to a supermarket to buy ds something to eat because he's hungry and all I've got is chewing gum and some stale biscuits.

I don't really mind so don't get stressed but... "self-justification" for what? It is smuggery, you say "This time I must admit I was feeling a leetle bit pleased with myself for having actually prepared in advance" what's that if not smug? And also, why the need to tell MN you're members of the zoo?

That aside, stop calling yourself negligent, lazy, ill-prepared and thoughtless. Plenty of other people will beat you up in life (and on MN see above ) you took your child to the zoo, he had a great time charging around with the other kids. Who ate what, when, and it's provenance didn't matter to him and shouldn't matter to you. My DC love buttered rolls.

We have to leave at 12.30pm to take DD1 to school and DD2 to nursery so we tend to give them lunch at 11.30am.

Also, my kids are up for the day anytime between 5 and 6am!

I've recently bought the DC's mealtimes waay forward and it's working out a lot better. Lunch at 11am, dinner at 4:30pm. I am always amazed how much they eat so early, but they do. I'm also far happier to give them a snack after their dinner (say, cereal at 7pm) than before.

Also, make the packed lunch the evening before - it's the only way you'll get it done. (Says one of those Tupperware-toting mums. )

There's no such thing as a general "should". What time lunch "should" be depends on what time your child got up, what they had for breakfast, when they had breakfast, what they've been doing since then, what time dinner is planned for, what you're planning to have for dinner, what your child's appetite is normally like, whether they've been having a growth spurt recently, what their napping habits are like, when you'll be able to find a free table to have lunch at, what other people you are trying to coordinate with are doing and many many other factors.