Nursery Feeding Regimes!
Annabel starts nursery in 2 weeks, she is only going for 2 days a week but I'm a bit worried about the feeding regime. At home we are quite relaxed about what time we eat but have a rough routine of:
Breakfast: between 08:30 - 09:30 with a breast feed shortly after waking.
Snacks: about 11:00 and another at about 15:30-16:30
Lunch: between 13:30-14:30
Dinner: approx. 18:30-19:30 then bed after a breast feed.
This has always worked quite well for us. However nursery has a totally different regime.
Breakfast - between 07:00 - 09:00
Snack: 10:00 and 13:00
Lunch: 11:30!!!
Dinner at 15:30.
While it seems that the children spend the majority of the day eating (Annabel will love that I'm sure ha ha), I do worry that all the meals are so much earlier than our normal times. When her Dad picks her up at about 18:00 we will have to give her another snack as she won't last until bedtime from 15:30.
If your LO is in nursery what did you do? did you try to change your 'at home' regime to fit in with the nursery's or did you just let them fall into a new routine. The nursery have told me not to worry and that Annabel will just fit in the more she attends. I suppose I am just worrying, but I'd love to hear any advice you can offer, I want Annabel to continue to be a good eater.
Replies
I really wouldn't worry!
The whole situation will be so new to Annabel, that timings for eating will not be noticed.
I know Flo's nursery serves tea (dinner!) at about 4pm, where as at home she eats anytime between 5pm and 6pm. Either way she has supper (usually cereal) before bed. By the time we've picked her up from nursery, get home, have a play, bath and change for bed, supper is at the same time.
We get a daily report saying how much of each meal/snack Flo has eaten, so if she has not eaten much in the afternoon, I will give her a snack as soon as we get home.
Enjoy! I have noticed so much change since she started at nursery. Quite amazing really!
My little one started nursery 4 days a week mid Oct and the feeding times is the same as your nursery. I feed him breakfast in the morning as I worry he will go hungry if he doesn't eat breakfast at nursery. Snacks are very small, a couple of pieces of melon, bread sticks etc. lunch is early and he sleeps from around 12:20 to 2:30. Apart from once a few weeks back, he fell asleep during pudding
Dinner is at 3:30 at nursery ( very early) and I feed him between 6-6:30 at home then he is asleep around 7:30. he usually eats a good amount of dinner and finishes a pudding ( fruit or yogurt). so I am assuming he is still hungry. I was worried I was over feeding, but after two months his weight is still on track on his percentile!
I get a daily report from nursery letting me know what he has eaten, how much, whether he liked it or not etc.
He loves nursery, I am sure Annabel will love it too. Only thing is the amount of times he has been ill with one thing or another since starting nursery. I am also thinking of getting the flu jab for myself, as I seem to catch what he has!
I wouldn't worry too much. My daughter does 2 days in nursery & eats lunch around 11.30 ish & supper at 4.30 but then has dinner with us at home in the evening! She's also got in the habit of eating an apple in the car on our 45 min drive home. But then my toddler is a food monster!!
Those timings seem to be normal for nurseries and I was certainly worried to begin with especially with dinner being so early. I think I used to give her a little snack at home but after a while I stopped and she still slept through the night so I stopped giving her the snack. They eat plenty (but not too much it's strictly monitored in most cases) so have had enough calories but if you are worried you could give her a bit more milk on those evenings.
We've followed a fairly strict routine most of the time but vary it up on certain days and both children cope really well with changes and different times to eating etc so I expect your little one will too.
Good luck!x
Just seen the original post was a while ago... How is she getting on?
Hi Mummy Swan,
Thank you for advice. We are getting ok, it is still early days. Annabel has only actually had two whole days at nursery. She is eating food whilst there and then has a small snack at home, like a crumpet or slice of toast . On the days she is not at nursery we still eat at about 6, but I give her a snack at 3:30.
It is a long day for her, but so far its not been too bad. The staff reported she ate a plate of fish and chips with her hands..ha ha.
This was the same when my little one started nursery, although because she was there till gone 5 they fed her a proper dinner then. The only thing that changed for us what that on the days she was at home she got proper grumpy if she hadn't had her dinner by 5. Tears tantrums etc. But otherwise she fit into their really well. I'm sure Annabel will love it