How big a snack do you offer?

[Mashi]

That is the same here Nicole - I will hear/see DS dragging a chair across the kitchen floor and it is so he can climb up it onto the counter to get into the cupboard, or will find him sitting on the kitchen floor with the milk and getting himself a cup - so I get him what it is he wants.  Pretty much any of the food in the house, he can have though, with the exception of grapes and blueberries which I limit in the day as blueberries constipate him and grapes give him the runs.  This week I have on my list to buy BOTH instead of just one so that I can let him have them together so at least they will balance out!!  When he is getting shouty for food and I am at that point of plating up, I give him something from the table that is set, tell him he can pick something out of the salad bowl (he always chooses cheese though!) but it emotionally satisfies him and I can then get him past it by telling him to wash his hands and find a hungry train/car/friend to share his dinner with and by the time he has rooted through his toy box to get someone to bring to the table, dinner is ready.  

I also keep things like rice cakes/corn cakes or puffed wheat/puffed rye cakes on hand (they are rectangle in shape and sort of like ryvita or crisp breads but are puffy and fluffy sort of?) as they are low calorie (about 25 cal each) so they don't affect a meal much and they are quite high in fibre (the wheat/rye ones are) and count as a whole grain serving for the day so if he eats one of them then great! They also take him quite a long time to eat and so totally distract him from the hunger - I suspect that he probably burns off those 25 calories with the games he plays with them while he is eating!

(Oh dear, busy thread, lots of replies while i was typing!)

[~Sara~]

Am a tad late to the party, but I just wanted to add that Aaron does better with eating if we keep his snacks few and far between.  He has breakfast at ~8 (earlier if hungry), lunch at ~11:30, a post-nap snack at ~3:30, then dinner at 6:30.  Obviously, if he's just positively starving, he eats, but he's now at the age that it's hard to tell if he's asking for something because he likes the taste and can SAY it, or if the request is truly hunger-driven.

His snacks are pretty much anything, we try to let him choose what he wants (within reason, of course).  But it could be fruit, a granola bar, cheese, some dry cereal, yogurt...we're really lax about snacks.  We are with breakfast and lunch, too, I should say; but with dinner, I try to plan something that he will eat.  Most nights of the week anyways, but there are always some nights when I make him an alternative.

Going back to the original post, Martina, do you and your DH eat a lot at meals?  Also, I think I remember you mentioning your boys were smaller, and if that's the case, I really think they're getting everything they need from the nice meals/snacks you provide.

Oh and Wendy, hon...I totally understand everything you're feeling/thinking/experiencing.  Just wanted you to know.

[~*Nicole*~]

)  I am a firm believer that often our bodies will have cravings if we are lacking something.  So for example, I worry that his cheese obsession means that he's not getting enough of something, calcium or something?

I generally agree with this. I think we crave what we need, to a certain extent! I certainly crave a beverage when I am thirsty, but if I crave a beer....do I really NEED anything that it has to offer? Or a big bowl of chocolate ice cream w/ whipped cream and syrup on top? So I am also certain that sometimes she craves things she needs but other times she craves things she just plain LIKES as do we all. And DD asks for a LOT of cheese

find a hungry train/car/friend to share his dinner with and by the time he has rooted through his toy box to get someone to bring to the table, dinner is ready.

I love this idea! I might start using that to stall her!

Also, I think I remember you mentioning your boys were smaller, and if that's the case, I really think they're getting everything they need from the nice meals/snacks you provide. Smiley

This is what I am thinking. With them being smaller they probably do get fuller faster but then also hungrier faster. I would imagine they NEED those snacks between meals and just smaller portions for meals in general. You are quite small as well, right? I am willing to bet they are getting all that they need from what you are providing. The examples you gave are certainly healthy and well balanced sounding to me.


This thread makes me hungry and this dairy/soy free elim. diet is not really satisfying my cravings!

[Mom to M&M]

Also, Wendy - I believe that "sometime" our bodies crave what they need/are missing BUT it's complicated by the fact that also "sometimes" our bodies crave what they are intolerant too. Like my DS used to crave cow's milk but he's actually quite intolerant of it. A good friend of mine saw her son used to crave wheat - yet he was diagnosed recently with celiac. So it's so hard to say - maybe Finn just really likes cheese?!

[*Becky*]

karen - where is your breakfast cookie recipe? Would like to try it x
we are going through something similar so it must be an age thing. Henry just had a meltdown because I would not let him eat cereal 20 mins before dinner. I do find that too many snacks def affect dinner and he is a snack monster!

[Mom to M&M]

See reply #174 here! http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=184435.165

[We Three]

I too have always believed in teaching dd to listen to her body....but tbh, when she asks for food or says she is hungry just before dinner, I will just say "Oh I'm so glad you're hungry because I am making a yummy dinner!"  She is fine with that...and I feel good that I haven't brushed her off, just asked her to wait a teeny bit longer, kwim?  I do keep carrot sticks and celery sticks on the bottom shelf of the fridge in water, and she knows she can have these whenever, so sometimes I will say "Why don't you munch on a carrot while I finish up dinner?" 

[~inbalance~]

Mealtime is important to me.  I like our structured meals for me and the boys because we sit and eat together.  It's not that I'm a stickler for them being at the table ALL the time, just those three times a day for a bit of together time.  I think eating together promotes family time and brings ever one together in a social aspect.  So I make a point of our mealtimes being the same time.  DH joins us for dinner every night and occasionally for breakfast.

I agree that I want them to know when they feel hungry too.  But if left to his devices T would be asking for crackers and cookies all day.  We have snacking issues, but not out of hunger.    But I have no problem offering fruit or veg anytime they want.

It is a fine line for a toddler!

Carrots are a staple here, but not raw ones.  They only like them cooked. 

Thanks for all your suggestions!! 

[Mama2boys]

as DS1 has gotten older I have noticed sometimes he says he is hungry based on boredom or just plain old thirst!

[Mom to M&M]

I keep meaning to try this carrot recipe - my friend gave it to me and said her kids (5.5 and 2.5) love them!

32-oz. pkg. baby carrots
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup orange juice
1 Tbsp. butter
½-¾ tsp. ground cinnamon, according to your taste preference
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
¼ cup water
 
1. Combine all ingredients except cornstarch and water in slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on low 4-6 hours, or until carrots are done to your liking.
3. Put carrots in serving dish and keep warm, reserving cooking juices. Put reserved juices in small saucepan. Bring to boil.
4. Mix cornstarch and water in small bowl until blended. Add to juices. Boil one minute or until thickened, stirring constantly.
5. Pour over carrots and serve.

[Tweakster]

I just don't know how you ladies get your LOs to accept a carrot when they don't really want a carrot.  When I say to F 'that's all there is, you can snack on carrots' he throws a wobbly.  Maybe it's just because he's too young to get it yet.  I can't get him distracted at all either, once he has a thought in his head forget it.  The walls could fall down around him and he will remain fixated on what he wants.

Mukta, that's another issue for us too, he won't drink.  I offer him water all the time...sometimes now I even give him juice because it's getting warmer out and when he's been playing I figure he needs the liquid.  His diapers are hardly ever wet or full.  Honestly, he's like a camel.

Mmm yummy carrots!!!  I have had them like that before and very tasty!  Too bad I'm the only one who likes cooked carrots in our house...I have the opposite issue to Martina lol

[*Becky*]

I just don't know how you ladies get your LOs to accept a carrot when they don't really want a carrot.  When I say to F 'that's all there is, you can snack on carrots' he throws a wobbly.  Maybe it's just because he's too young to get it yet.  I can't get him distracted at all either, once he has a thought in his head forget it.  The walls could fall down around him and he will remain fixated on what he wants.

Henry is EXACTLY the same - you are not alone. x

[Mama2boys]

Mukta, that's another issue for us too, he won't drink.  I offer him water all the time...sometimes now I even give him juice because it's getting warmer out and when he's been playing I figure he needs the liquid.  His diapers are hardly ever wet or full.  Honestly, he's like a camel.

milk and water? he refuses both?

I have always stuck to water with meals just so that milk becomes a meal, just something i grew up with so made sens eto me IYKWIM.

What if you helped him make say a lemondae with you? would he like that? or squeeze a half orange into a glass of water? or throw in a few cucumber slices t just make it fun

[~inbalance~]

Wendy, what about having two options.  A carrot, or an apple but nothing else?

I will happily sit and snack on raw carrots all day.  F will suck on one, but T can't be bothered.  But what drives me batty is if I'm cutting up vegetables for dinner, say carrots and peppers, he will stand at the counter and scream to have one.  He is not hungry and doesn't actually want it, except only because I am there cutting it up.    I will give him one and find it mushed up on the floor somewhere. 

That is where the problem lies, he will ask for all sorts of things with no intention of eating them.  Or he will just ask for unhealthy stuff with every intention of eating it!! 

[We Three]

Millie didn't like raw veggies that much at that age, until I bought some organic ranch dressing and put some in a tiny dish as a "dipping pond", Also, she enjoys having the carrots cut the other way, so they look like coins, kwim? She calls them carrot chips!  Sometimes presentaion is everything!!  

 Also ITA with the choices, "You may have some grapes, an apple, a piece of cheese or a yogurt....your choice."  But it is one of those things, if dinner is near.