Food query - Those with children in nursery

Hi,

My 1 year old attends nursery while I am at work.  She has her breakfast, lunch and tea at nursery 3 days a week.  They have main meal at lunch and snack tea of sandwiches, yoghurt, fruit and cake at 4pm.  The information sent through from the nursery states that the 'tea' at 4pm is not to be treated as a proper meal and a snack should be offered when you get them home.  Now I don't understand this really as in my mind she has still had the same amount of food as if she had been at home all day its just that the lunch and tea meals have been swapped so that her main meal is at lunch time.  

So do I offer her something or not? and if I do what do I offer? I obviously don't want her to be hungry but I don't want to feed her for the sake of it and also she still has formula morning, afternoon and night and she never seems to drink all of the last bottle of the day.  I'm not sure whether to drop her afternoon milk so she would just have water and a snack at nursery and home and then this may make her eat more at 'tea' time and drink her last bottle.

What do you do with yours when you bring them home from nursery?  I usually pick her up at 5pm and then have to cook something for me, OH and other daughter.

Bubbles05

Sounds the same as our nursery. J is two now & has been going 4 days a week for a year.

I don't give her another meal when we get home. I usually give her some raisins or a piece of fruit or (if I've rushed to grab something on the way) a biscuit or two on the train on the way home. She rarely asks for food when we get home, but it occasionally might be a yoghurt or a chunk of cheese (really rare for her to ask for food when we get home though). Then she'll have her usual cup of milk or two & then bath & bed.

hello

my sons are 4 and 1 and both go to nursery. similar to you, they get cooked meal at about 12 and then tea at about 3 - sandwiches, fruit etc. my 1 year old stopped having his afternoon milk when he goes there as he is too interested in everything going on.

when they get home (about 545pm)  they have another cooked meal - just the same as the other days. they normally manage to eat it all, then have yoghurt for dessert. my 1 year old especially is always very hungry. they have things like pasta, sausage and mash, spaghetti. but they normally eat plenty if it's something they like!

my 4 year old also gets toast in the morning at school so some days he has breakfast at home, breakfast at school at breakfast club, toast at school, dinner at nursery, tea at nursery, dinner at home. he is still pretty skinny though!!!!

my 1 year old normally eats his dinner at home then gets cross when i eat mine and wants some of that too! i don't know, boys eh - goodness knows how much they will eat when they are teenagers!!!

while I am writing this my daughter is tucking into french toast while watching something special, she will probably have a banana afterwards.  She does have a snack tea at nursury but I have always found she needed something when she got home, although its snacky, french toast, pancake, sandwiches followed by fruit, rather than a proper meal.  To me the difference is more the time, I don't give her her "tea" at 4 on home days, it seems really early to me, and then to expect them to go through to 8 the next morning with only milk seems a long time, so we have always offered something.

A, 17 months has 2 weetabix with milk and friut, normally a handful of blueberries in the morning before nursery.  Then at nursery she has toast and a cup of milk with the other kids.  They get a hot meal for lunch about 12, usually pasta and veg/chickena nd potatoes etc.  Plus a desert and fruit.  About 3pm they have a snack - crackers and cheese, breadsticks and hummus, and a yogurt.  H collects her and they get in about 6pm.  She then has her dinner ie potatoes, veg and meat or filled pasta or similar.  She will have a yogurt, more fruit and sometimes a biscuit after dinner while watching ITNG.

She has never had formula.  She self weaned from BFing at 14 months but wont really drink cows milk now.

Since about the age of 2 S has had a meal after nursery, but before then she had milk and a snack if she asked for one/hadn't eaten well that day.

Otherwise it's a long time to go without food input! I couldn't go that long - but milk in itself is a food, so that should be fine if it seems to fit your child's appetite.

Danny's nursery routine is similar - lunch at about 11:30 then tea around 3:30. We leave a snack in his bag (normally cheese string or yoghurt) which they give him about 5pm and we pick him up at 5:30.

He'll generally have a piece of fruit or some raisins when we get in.

Same as our nursery.  Tea at about 4pm, usually sandwiches, cake & fruit or soup, bread & fruit, sometimes macaroni cheese and fruit etc.  You get the idea hopefully!  I don't give B anything else when he's gets home, except maybe a biscuit.  He has a large beaker of milk at about 6pm then that does him until breakfast at about 6am the next morning.  At weekends we eat dinner at about 5pm.

My LO has lunch at 11am and tea at 3pm similar to what you say. Often she comes home from nursery quite hungry due to the time, we normally give her tea at around 5-6pm. I know when she's hungry as she always asks for chocolate when she gets in , I normally offer her fruit and toast. Tonight she wanted chocolate, apple, orange, crumpet so I'm guessing she was ravenous tonight!!!

Just offer them fruit or something light and take it from there.

LO is 2 now but he has always had a meal and pudding when he gets home - he's usually ravenous... the meals at my nursery are much smaller than he would have at home.... and if I gave him nothing 3 til 8ish the next day is a long time to go without food. At one we went over to cows milk from formula and he dropped the morning milk by himself, then gradually dropped the afternoon one, then fairly recently the night one.

G's nursery does the same but offers a snack at 10am (she has breakfast at home), cooked dinner at 12, then tea at 4pm which is often sandwiches/rolls but can be spaghetti on toast, omelette, quiche as well.

By 5.30 when I get her home she is often asking for 'more toast' or something else and will then put away 2 slices of toast, a couple of lumps of cheese, a portion of fruit and if she is still hungry, either another portion of fruit or something like a handful or two of cheerios (if that is what she asks for).

When I mentioned this to the nursery they said it is good for them to eat lots of smaller meals and not to worry, she is hungry because she is very active at nursery.

Same kind of thing with Izzy's nursery. Think they have tea at around 4pm and it's along the lines that everyone else has mentioned. I confess I hadn't thought about giving her something when she got home at 6pm until she started trying to wrestle food off H and I realised she was clearly hungry! He now offers her some fruit or toast when she gets home, she's just 20 months now, sometimes she'll eat the lot and sometimes she's not bothered. I guess as she gets older she may need something more substantial when she gets back home

Thanks ladies.  Interesting to hear most nurseries operate the same sort of 'tea' times and offer similar foods at that time.

Bubbles05