Nursery snacks and meals

[RenF]

Just looking for a bit of inspiration really if anyone wants to share!

Baby F has started nursery and I generally pick her up between 5.30 and 6 pm.

Nursery gives them a cooked lunch then she has a bottle about 2.30 and 'tea' at 4 ish (generally something like sandwiches or soup).

I don't think 'tea' is enough for dinner, and it's too early besides (don't want her waking up hungry in the night), but it seems too much to give her a full meal when we get home... Wondering what others have done in this situation? Any great ideas for healthy filling snacks?

Thanks!

[Strawbs]

As baby strawbs will ONLY feed himself our nursery agreed that if I sent dinner in they would pop him in a highchair at 5 and let him have his dinner and its working really well especially as they dont need to do anything outside of storing the meal in their fridge, heating it up and popping it on the highchair tray for him to eat himself. I collect him normally at 5.45 and he has a bottle with bed, there is no way I could fit in a dinner at 6 and then bottle bed at 6.30.. Maybe ask your nursery if they can do this for you?

[Mrs_Glennie]

I have the same situation with mini G at our nursery RenF, I give her something really simple when we get home - either yoghurt and fruit or chopped up bits of cheddar and fruit. That way I don't have to cook and she is happy to feed herself while I can get her bottle/bath ready and it gives us a bit more play time.

We have a 15 min walk from nursery to home and I have once tried giving her an ella's kitchen type pouch to feed herself with but it was very messy and I felt like a terrible mother feeding her on the go!

[slh2009]

Hi we have this with our almost 2 year old, he is always ready to eat again when he gets home between 5:30pm and 6:15pm...and still has a bottle at bed time around 7:30pm.

It's got to be something really quick so normally beans or spaghetti hoops or you could do cheese or egg on toast. Brioche or bread roll if he hasn't had sandwiches at nursery. Small portion of gnocchi or pasta with homemade sauce (I keep some in the freezer and take it out to defrost in the morning then zap in the microwave). Banana. Petits filous.

Basically it is a bit more than the nursery tea but not as much as I'd give for dinner at the weekends. I also have a bit of a fuss pot eater and am trying to vary the beans/"betty" options so look forward to more suggestions!

[jennyh]

How old is your daughter? When mine started nursery around 8 months she wouldn't have any additional tea but then around the age she hit 1 she wanted a small portion of something - a cheese sandwich, beans on toast, bit of pasta, risotto etc. However in the last 2-3 months (she is now 20 months) she has started refusing any tea after nursery and it seems a bit of a trend with others I know. Sometimes I am grateful if she will have an Ella's squeezy fruit pouch or a packet of rice cakes because usually she refuses most food. It may be that yours goes through stages as well and what you try to do for her now may change as time goes on.

I also find that the nursery focuses on a more balanced and larger lunch and then tea is the lighter meal, across the day though she has a nice balance. Anything that goes in after 5.30 is a bonus and with a massive bottle at 7 she is usually pretty full until the morning.

Good luck!

[RenF]

Thanks so much for the replies and ideas- as ever it's nice to know that others experience similar issues. To be honest, I think the logistical issues of the nursery run are by far the most stressful bit of returning to work!

Baby F is 11months and seems definitely to want something else to eat when we get in before bath, bed and bottle. One idea I had was making a batch of mini muffins with grated veg (courgette, butternut squash have gone down well in the past). Baby F loves these and it's a cheeky way of getting a bit of extra veg in there...

[patt1980]

I agree, since starting nursery at 11 months my now 18 month old has varied as to whether she needs much more after finishing nursery at 5:45pm. I think it depends when she is having a growth spurt as i know she always eats loads at nursery, she also gets given a big lunch and lighter tea. I tend to take a few snacks with me for her to eat on our walk home like oatcakes, potato cakes, avocado sandwich fingers etc and that plus a bottle at bed tends to satisfy her. Although she now gets quite keen to see what i have in my bag when i collect her so maybe I am making a rod for my own back to always have a snack on board!

[Yak]

If you search under my name you'll find a thread about this earlier in the year when I was pondering the same food dilemma! Yes, be prepared for appetites to wax and wane. In the early days even waiting for gnochhi or pasta to cool down was too long for my little one to wait, so we had quite a few picky suppers of crackers, fruit, veg, cheese, hummus etc - something they can get stuck into while you take shoes off, make yourself a cup of tea etc. The only thing I would say is that don't try and kill yourself by making something very special to make up for not being there all day - having said that those mini muffins sound amazing! But do be gentle on yourself - it takes time to adjust to the new routine!

[MGolden]

patt1980 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I agree, since starting nursery at 11 months my

> now 18 month old has varied as to whether she

> needs much more after finishing nursery at 5:45pm.

> I think it depends when she is having a growth

> spurt as i know she always eats loads at nursery,

> she also gets given a big lunch and lighter tea. I

> tend to take a few snacks with me for her to eat

> on our walk home like oatcakes, potato cakes,

> avocado sandwich fingers etc and that plus a

> bottle at bed tends to satisfy her. Although she

> now gets quite keen to see what i have in my bag

> when i collect her so maybe I am making a rod for

> my own back to always have a snack on board!

My big (13 and 10 yo) boys STILL expect me to have food on me for them when I collect them from school (although I rarely collect the older one now and that's only by appointment and NEVER near school in case he's seen). I have always packed enough food in their lunch boxes for something to eat on the way home but sometimes even that's not enough and the wails of misery if I forget to bring something extra just in case are woeful! So yes, patt1980 you are creating a rod for your own back in all probability but that's part and parcel of being a parent really!

[patt1980]

MGolden - it's funny as I vividly remember being the only kid whose mum didn't have snacks with her after school (she didn't deem them necessary) so maybe I am trying to over compensate! Saying that my daughter did start searching through another mum's handbag for food at a class this week so i might need to explain the rules a bit more.