What do you serve for snack?

At daycare, my boys get a morning snack at 10am & an afternoon snack at 3pm (with breakfast at 8am, lunch at 11:30am, & dinner at 5pm). We decided to stick with daycare's schedule on our non-daycare days to keep the boys' days the same (they're in daycare 2-3 days per week).

We were at my parents' last weekend & my mom commented that the boys ate a large snack. They kept signing "more", so I assumed they were still hungry. Of course, then come dinner time, they were more interested in throwing the food than in eating it. I don't know if it was that they didn't like it or that they truly weren't hungry, which my mother swore was the problem.

So, what kind of snacks do you serve your tots & what portion size (ie if you say crackers...then how many)? Just curious so I can try to get my little ones on track!!!!

PS I'm not sure the size daycare feeds, but I know they feed smaller meals. My boys are HUGE breakfast eaters so it's no doubt they devour morning snack there (and then daycare does sometimes say that they didn't eat a very good lunch)....vicious cycle!

 

My munchkins only get one snack a day, after they wake up from nap.

They typically drink about 4 to 6 oz. of milk, followed by a handful of fruit -- maybe 8 to 10 grapes each, or 15 to 20 bites of strawberry/nectarine/whatever, and maybe half a slice of cheddar cheese.

With crackers or cheerios, it's hard to gauge how much -- same thing, maybe 15 to 20 mouthfuls?

 

i give about 5 animal crackers and maybe 4 oz of juice (each), so not that much, really. or a gerber graduates fruit bar. usually they get carbs for snack, since they get fruit at every other meal during the day. oh, mine also have just one snack, at about 2:30 p.m....

 

Mine only get one snack a day. They eat breakfast around 8:30am, lunch 11:30, dinner 5:30/6pm. They have a snack with milk when they wake from their nap around 3:30pm. It is normally 1/2 banana each, split a peach or 1/2 grahm cracker each. I have found mine eat better meals if we limit snacks. If I find them getting hungry around 11am I just give them lunch early, KWIM.

 

Morning snack is usually a cereal bar (adult sized) and some apple.

Afternoon Snack is usually Veggie Straws or Veggie Bootie (maybe 1 cup)

Before bed snack is Yogurt and usually some fruit. Maybe 1/2 cup

My kids eat huge meals too. They are just big eaters.

 

My boys snack twice a day - sometimes three times if we're out and about and I need to keep them happy in their stroller! An average snack might include:

1/2 an apple or peach each, cut into little slivers.
4 whole wheat salteen crackers or mini brown rice cakes with cream cheese or peanut butter

OR

1/2 a banana muffin each
1/2 a container of yogurt each
2 baby carrots cut into little slivers each

OR

Shreddies or Cheerios in a little bowl (maybe 1/4-1/2 cup each?)
Dried cranberries or raisins or apricots
1/2 a banana

I always offer milk with snacks.

My boys are pretty good eaters and their snacks rarely seem to interfere with their meals.

 

We do a snack at 10am and around 3pm with meals at 8am, noon, and 6pm.

For snacks they have : a small container of cottage cheese mixed with applesauce each
or split a yogurt and a cereal bar
or mango slices and a cheese stick each
or a cup of Kix cereal each and some blueberries
or some whole grain goldfish or graham crackers and some fruit
we have also done fig newtons (whole grain) on occasion

 

Thanks, everyone!

Sounds like I'm doing about the same as everyone else. Today I eliminated their morning snack & they did fine (I just gave them some water). I'll see what I come up with for afternoon snack, but I'm definitely less creative than all you ! I hate dragging them to their high chairs for snack, so guess I may have to change my ways a bit....

Thanks again...guess it just depends on the kiddo as usual, huh?

 

I found that my girls would eat a ton of snack and then refuse dinner too. So then I started giving them a small portion and when it was done, it was done. We would do things like cheese stick, goldfish, animal crackers, graham crackers, fruit, yogurt. It really depended on what they had for breakfast and lunch and what food groups they were lacking for the day at that point.

 

Cheese sticks are our go-to snack. Another really good one are the fig and apple bars from Trader Joes. My girls usually polish off a cheese stick and apple bar between them for snack. We have those if I don't feel like using the high chairs.

 

I don't get out the high chairs for snack time. I use snack traps. They get a sippy cup of water with a splash of juice and about 1/2 of a snack trap filled with Cheerios or goldfish crackers or veggie bootie or animal crackers or cheese or about a tablespoon of raisins. Some days they get a nutrigrain bar to split...and I give them one piece at a time to eat til it is gone (very quickly eaten).

They get fruits with their meals. I try to have snacks that aren't too terribly messy and are easy to do in the snack cup but aren't too filling to mess with dinner time.

 

What is this Veggie Bootie stuff?

 

http://www.robscape.com/files/prod-veggie-booty.php

Sort of like puffed cheetos, but smaller and easier to eat -- and healthier.

 

We cut down from 3 snacks to one and they do better at meal time (DD is a finicky eater to begin with). Thanks for the thread, I got some better snacking ideas!!!!!