need guidance on spacing food for 1yo

[anyamom]

hi ladies,
i feel as if i am ALWAYS feeding my lo.
she is not a great eater, but not fussy either, so we have our good days and bad ones... but really i think i should try and space the feedings, so that my life is easy and she gets to eat at regular intervals as well.

so our current routine is like this:

bf : 5am-ish (in mid-sleep)
wake up :  6am
bfast -- cereal in 4oz milk+ 1banana-- 8am
nap 1- 9:15am to 10am
snack-- yoghurt 4oz (1/2 cup) -- 10:45am
lunch-- veggies/ lentils/1/2 slice bread -- 12pm
nap 2 -- 1:45-2:45
snack-- biscuits or cheeseslice -- 3:30pm
dinner-- fruit puree/ 1/2 slice bread/ 5pm
bf-- 6:30pm
sleep -- 7pm

now written down it looks very systematic. but meal/ snack sessions are 30min long at least.

so i am , as i said, ALWAYS feeding her. is this normal? is it possible to sort of combine the snacks with meals?

thanks/ sudhi

[tylersmommy]

I feel the same way a lot of the time! Keep in mind that toddlers have really small tummies and burn TONS of calories. Most of them need to eat every couple of hours to keep going, which usually means 3 meals and 2 snacks. That said, watch her cues. If my DS had a snack, he would never be hungry for his meals, so we dropped them before he turned 2. My DD, on the other hand, would eat a full meal every hour if we let her (hence, why I also feel like I feed her all day long!). Sometimes it helps to do snacks on the go, like give her crackers while we're grocery shopping, which also helps keep her entertained.

[anyamom]

yes i think i need to eliminate the evening snack, or make it smaller... thank you for responding!

[Catharine]

Zoe just turned 1 and we've just changed to have breakfast before milk. Her lunch & dinner also take about 20-30mins; I think this is normal as they do take a while to chew their food & sometimes forget to swallow. This is how our routine looks like:

7am- wake
7.30am- breakfast (cereal + fruit) then bottle of milk (about 8oz)
9.30/10am- snack (yoghurt or cheerios or babybel cheese)
11.30am- lunch (a meat dish with/without cheese sauce + fruit) then water
noon- nap
between 2 & 3pm - awake
3/3.30pm- snack
5.30/6pm- dinner (a pasta or rice dish + fruit) then water
6.30pm- some cheerios while she sits with the family during dinner
7pm- bath
7.30pm- bottle of milk (about 8oz)

[pallavirm]

hi,
my daughter nia is about to turn one.shes on 3 meals a day with snacks in b/w.her routine goes like this:
730 -wakeup with 6-8 oz milk.
800-small piece of rusk/cracker.
830-breakfst-2servings of fruit+2 servings of cereal.
930-bath
1000-abt 4oz of fruit smoothie
1030-1115-nap
1230-lunch of 1/2 chappati+veggie of the day and 3 servings of rice n dal
100 pm -finger foods with family lunchi.e. cucumber,chappati,veggies or fruit pieces.
200pm- prenap milk-4-6 oz.
nap till 500
530-walk in the stroller
645- dinner-similar to lunch
800-milk -4/6 oz.
815-bed.

i am aware that the gap between prenap milk snack at noon and dinner is of abt 4hrs.but, i realised from experience that anything given in between ruins her appitite for dinner.Nia, is a good eater, willing to experiment with new foods(not always, ofcourse.but mostly)i think i will introduce a 5 pm snack a little later when she gets more active.shes just tkaing her first baby steps now.
But shes healthy and her paeditrician is very happy with her.i amnot giving her any external vitamins/iron.
i hope this may help you.yes her mealtimes do take 20 mins on avg.i guess that cant be helped.
regards,
Pallavi