Reception packed lunch...

[Galena]

Ok, so DD is at the end of reception, but we've had concerns over her weight, so I'd like to know if she's having about the right amount of lunch... some of my friends say she eats loads, some say she doesn't eat much. How much does your reception child eat?

Today she has:
1 slice of bread with top and bottom crusts cut off, with a thin scrape of low-fat 'butter'
1 individual stick reduced fat cheese
1 slice ham
bits of pepper and cucumber
pot of strawberries and grapes
home made banana and choc chip muffin - once a week only!
water

Well my dd is the same age and has ..

ham sandwich or ham roll
banana or pear
yoghurt
chocolate roll or fairy cake

It seems a small lunch to me - a two slice of bread sandwich made with the ham, some full fat cubes of cheese, add a yoghurt daily. Its very "diety".

Doesn't sound much to me, and lacking in any complex carbs for energy really. Why low-fat spread and cheese? Children need fats to grow and develop.

My ds reception has
1 ham sandwich 2 slices brown or nutty bread
1 yog
Carrot sticks
Orange or apple
A slice of a home made load cake OR
Chocolate biscuit
Hoola hoops he doesn't eat it all bit eats some of each thing

Mine would need the cake every day to keep going.

Mine is the same age and today has:
Ham& cucumber wrap
Handful of pretzels
Small sausage roll
Actimel
Yoghurt
Pear
Bottle of water too, this is quite typical, content varies but amount usually about the same.

Low fat in consultation with paediatrician. Basically, she has cerebral palsy and had an op last Oct which took away a lot of her spasticity. Since then the weight has piled on, despite being more active, as she isn't burning so much energy just existing. Paed asked her to move to low fat alternatives.

I think next time we make a homemade batch of cakes it'll be flapjacks for the oats (although she does have cereal or porridge for breakfast half the week)

My reception child eats a LOT. Everyone says so.
Don't mornally do packed lunch, but we had to last thursday. He had (and finished):
2 slices of 50:50 bread with ham as a sandwich, some cubes of cheese, some cucumber sticks, apple, chocolate brownie and a yoghurt tube. Water to drink.

He aparently then had thirds of beans on toast, and seconds of fruit salad at nursery, and had a boiled egg when he got home before football.

He's like a rake, so sounds like the oposite metabolism to your DD. I wouldn't say there is anything wrong with the amount of food - its totally in the relms of normal. Would more protein help fill her up - so maybe chicken strips or a boiled egg? without massive calorie impact?
We've also made savoury muffins in the past - have a google for a recipie you like the sound of.

today DD had 2 cheese and onion rolls (the ones that look like sausage rolls) a handful of sugar snaps, 5 cherry tomatoes, 2 slices of a small melon, 3 biscuits and a cherry bakewell for lunch. She also took in a small pot of grapes for morning snack and will be given a choice of a biscuit or an apple for afternoon break. (she's slightly under weight but always has been).

2 slices of wholemeal bread with full fat butter and a light spread of marmite cut into 4 triangles.
1 packet of crisps, hoops and crosses today.
1 small satsuma
1 small apples
1 pack of 4 mini jammy dodgers (usually a piece of home baked cake but too much on this weekend with parties and sports stuff to bake)
1 yoghurt.
1 babybel.
Drink of water.

Some days he eats it all, some days half is brought home.

We are very active and sporty though. Waiting for him swimming lesson to start ATM.

One sandwich (two slices of bread with butter and a filling) or some pasta salad
Some fruit to about the volume of an apple
A yoghurt
Some cheese (babybel / stick of cheddar)
Crisps (small bag)

Not much comes home again. DD rarely makes it home without complaining of hunger so whoever picks her up has to have emergency rations on their person. Or ear plugs.

DS is a small 6.5yo & could not eat so much volume as OP's child. He might get more calories in what he does eat, though. Today DS had a small sausage roll + 1 small fig roll as entire lunch.

Bag of Haribo (someone's birthday) & Small ice cream after school.

That doesn't sound a lot but as a person with a disability myself I know that sometimes that means a lower energy requirement.

Will she be on school dinners next year when they are free (assuming you are in England)?

It doesn't sound like a lot to me. What does she think about it?

Does she like tuna/chicken/egg? These would be better options as sandwich fillings than the low fat cheese and slice of ham, without adding lots of fat. Yes flapjack better than cake for giving her energy. A banana would also be more satisfying than the strawberries and grapes?

What type of thing does she have for her evening meal?

Could you discuss it again with the paediatrician? I know this is different but when my DS was diagnosed with epilepsy and started on his medication his weight shot up although he was eating the same as before.

My DD of similar age who is a midget would have 2 slices if bread or a roll with may

Oops sorry.

Sandwich - either egg mayo, ham or plain mayo and cucumber (eccentric child) made with two slices of bread.

Fruit something like strawbs, grapes, banana

Home made cake - flapjack or similar.

Quite calorie dense as she's a titchy non eating monkey and we need to try and get something into her!

Your DDs lunch sounds quite sparing to me. Is there an element of finding her own level, presumably in the long run the op will enable her to be more active and her body will readjust? I do sympathise, DD may be a midget but DS is a prop forward! But I find if we keep his diet and activity levels sensible it all evens out.

Hope she is still doing well post op.

My ds is in reception and has

Two slices of bread with crusts cut off with either ham or chicken, chocolate spread on Fridays

Frube

Small tub of fruit, usually grapes or strawberries

Packet of crisps

Chocolate biscuit (penguin type thing)

He has this every day with extra fruit on p.e. days and he's still starving when I pick him up. He's tall for his age and skinny as a pole. But he doesn't sit still for a second, he even moves when he's asleep.

It all depends on the child though. Some kids in reception with ds would be overweight eating what he does. If ds ate any less then he'd be skin and bone.

She's happy with what she has. She usually eats it all, but sometimes leaves the salad. She's not a tuna fan - and prefers her sandwich deconstructed filings to be eaten alongside, rather than inside the bread.

If we walk home she has a snack as we leave school, but if we drive, she doesn't have a snack at all and won't usually ask.

Dinner is a small portion of whatever we have. Today it was a small home-made turkey escalope with about 1.5-2 new potatoes' worth of saute potatoes and veg which she ignored. Then a bowl of fruit salad (plum, strawbs, grapes and satsuma) with plain yoghurt over, but she was full so left some. I told DH he'd given her too much!

She'll have hot dinners in September (at the moment she has 2x a week) and then a snacky tea - either similar to her present packed lunch or something like scrambled egg or beans on toast.

DD is in Y2 and eats about the same as your DD for lunch, though with a full fat yoghurt instead of full fat cheese about half the time and butter on the bread (no crusts cut off). She never gets any cake or biscuits but I will put in some crackers or extra fruit if she has a club after school. She doesn't seem particularly hungry when she comes out of school.

DS is about to start reception, and eats about 3 times that much in his packed lunches, he's very active - not just running around, but fidgets constantly when he's sitting "still" - tapping his feet, nodding his head, drumming fingers etc just like his father.

Generally, he has:
Sandwich (jam) or crackers with butter or a dairylea dunker (treat only)
Hula Hoops
Cucumber chunks
Slices of pepper
Cereal bar
Apple
Raisins
Blueberries
Humzinger
Yogurt or cheese portion

Water to drink

He generally eats all of it, and wants a snack when he gets home!

We have:
Sandwich with ham/cheese/sardines
Apple juice carton
Apple/banana
Yoghurt
Biscuits (2 custard creams, etc.)

When switching her round to school hot dinners and snacky tea, just be aware that most little ones don't eat as much school hot dinner as they would a hot dinner at home. So you might need to up the portion served up for tea.

B