Anyone not do snacks

We have always had morning and afternoon snack. It's not usually an elaborate snack, just a little something. However, the boys have not been eating well during their meals and I notice that they do much better at meals when we don't bother with snack.

I'd rather have them come to the table with a good appetite for their meals than train them to be constant grazers. Is it sacrilegious to knock out a toddler's snacks?

 

Actually, if we are at an activity in the morning, I will skip the morning snack and it doesn't seem to bother them. I haven't noticed if they eat more lunch or not.
I can't see skipping the afternoon snack, as that's the first thing they ask for when they get up from their nap.

 

We don't do a morning snack because I want them to eat lunch. In the past, when I offered a morning snack they didn't eat much lunch. The afternoon snack depends on when they wake up from their nap. If they wake up late, I don't offer a snack because then they wouldn't eat much dinner. So, some days they get no snacks at all. I feel bad, but they eat well at the meals.

thea

 

Yes, we eliminated snacks and eating at meals improved. Now that they are older, they only get snack if we know the meal will be delayed - like we went to a bday party yesterday and lunch wasn't served until almost 2!

 

I've been skipping the morning snack too, but I have been giving them a "juice" cup (about 75% water, 25% juice) around 9 to get them to last napwise until 11. But since dumping the snack, they have been MUCH better lunch eaters. I do give them an afternoon snack, but it's 3hrs before we eat dinner. There's no way they would last otherwise!

 

I have never given morning snacks and we rarely ever give an afternoon snack. It really depends if they ask for one and if we do it's only a coupld of crackers or a string cheese or something really small that won't make a difference. We also eat dinner early between 5 and 5:30. The only time they do ask for a snack is if they know we have string cheese in the house or if they see dh eating something since he usually doesn't get a chance to eat lunch at work (he gets home around 3:30 and 4)he eats when he gets home and they see that and want something too.

 

Siri, I do that sometimes. I'm not totally consistent with it. If they don't have a great breakfast, then they can't make it to lunch. So I just go with the flow!!

 

We have never had much in the way of daytime snacks. I tried them one time with William hoping to get some more calories in him, but it back fired and he just stopped eating at mealtime, so they got stopped. We might have an afternoon snack once they stop napping, but I don't see that happening really soon.

 

I've never done snacks for that reason. Both my kids eat really well at meal times and I did not want to mess that up. I will usually take a snack with me if we are going somewhere around their meal time incase we are late in eating. I really wanted my kids to grow up with good eating habits. I never did have set meal times and my siblings and I would just have mom make us a snack or sandwich whenver we were hungry. I grew up with no concept of what a healthy diet was.

 

QUOTE(SweetpeaG @ Dec 2 2007, 12:06 AM) [snapback]517322[/snapback]
We have always had morning and afternoon snack. It's not usually an elaborate snack, just a little something. However, the boys have not been eating well during their meals and I notice that they do much better at meals when we don't bother with snack.

I'd rather have them come to the table with a good appetite for their meals than train them to be constant grazers. Is it sacrilegious to knock out a toddler's snacks?


We don't do snacks unless we are out at stores, when snacks is the only way they'll last more then five minutes. There doesn't seem to be enough time in the day for meals, snacks, milk and naps. We tried snacks and it did interfere with their meals. I think if they eat better without the snacks, go for it!

 

Actually, this is what my pedi recommended. I honestly didn't do snacks to begin with (I figured if they weren't hungry at meals then they obviously didn't need a snack), but the doctor said this was the best thing to do since they weren't eating as much as I would like and they are at the bottom of the weight curve. He also recommended not putting their milk on their trays, but making them ask for it when they want a drink. This has really helped, too since they aren't just filling up on milk.

 

They do have both morning and afternoon snack during the week at daycare, but at home on the weekends we only do afternoon snack, and not always that. Just depends on how the day is going. We pretty much eliminated the snacks around 14-16 months because they just ate much better overall w/o the snacks, and it just seemed like all we ever did was eat and sleep when we had all those snacks in there.

 

Mine eat 4 meals a day- no snacks just some juice in the morning on weekends when they're at home. They don't eat as much as I would like them to at mealtimes anyway so I'm afraid snacks will just make things worse.

 

They have one snack after they get up from their nap to tide them over til dinner. It's always fruit, usually a kiwi or grapes with cheerios and some water to wash it down. They get up around 8:30 and lunch is at 11:30-12 so they really don't need a snack inbetween. They eat a bunch at mealtimes.

 

Mine never had snacks either, and even now, only when they ask, and only then if it isn't too close to a meal.

 

Mine would be far too grumpy without the snack, although we occasionally skip it if the meal schedule gets off kilter. Mine eat their meals pretty well though.

 

We don't do snacks either and they eat 3 good meals. I don't see a need really with the balanced meals they eat.

Holly

 

I'm currently trying to do this because mine have pretty much stopped eating...my son is turning into a grazer and all he wants is cookies (thanks MIL)...

 

Hmmm...all of these responses have started me thinking. I have terrible eaters, and I generally give either very small snacks (e.g. 2-3 crackers) or none at all if I can get away with it. I do, however, give them sippy cups of milk between meals. They generally get 2 sippies of milk a day: one mid-morning and one after their afternoon nap. This is a holdover from when I used to nurse them during the day - when I dropped the daytime nursing sessions, I replaced them with sippies of milk (we still nurse at bedtime and in the morning, which is why they only get 2 cups of milk a day). Anyway, to get to the point (and sorry if I'm hijacking the thread) - could those milk sippies be ruining their appetites? They usually have them about an hour or more before their meal, so I didn't think it would be a problem, but they certainly aren't eating much at meals these days..... Should I give them milk with their meals instead? Normally they just drink water with meals.

 

We do a scheduled morning and afternoon snack. In my mind, as long as the snacks are nutritious, it doesn't matter if they eat more at snack than at dinner. We do a lot of fruit, plus whole grain crackers, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.

Michelle