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View Full Version : Do you limit how much your child snacks?



chrissyhowie
09-08-2004, 02:31 PM
Recently DD#1 has been more reluctant to eat what I'd consider "real food" meals. She will however eat crackers and other snacks all day long if I let her. She's growing just fine so I'm not worried about intake, but I feel like I'm setting up a cycle of grazing all day instead of eating meals. Should I really be trying somewhat to establish good eating habits at this point? In other words, will limiting her snacking make her more hungry for a "meal" or just set me up for toddler tantrums x(? Your experience is much appreciated!

TIA,

Mommie2MadLyn
09-08-2004, 03:09 PM
DD has always been a very picky eater. I have often said that I wonder where she gets her energy from because there are many days when she barely eats anything!!! So, I have become a slave to the "grazer" lifestyle! ;-) That said, I don't really mind her snacking all day long if the snacks are somewhat healthy. She eats a lot of fruit, and veggies...so the occasional cracker or cookie doesn't really bother me. Unfortunately, I have taken on the feeling of "hey..at least its something!" MY DD is also growing fine and I figure that someday she will learn to eat her 3 meals a day, but for now...we are just happy that she's eating!!! Also, limiting the snacking has never made her more interested in eating "real food", so I can't really give you advice on that!

chrissyhowie
09-09-2004, 01:20 PM
Tracey,
Thanks for sharing your experience. DD#1 had previously been an adventurous eater, but is now going through the lovely toddler "let me control my environment" phase :), so no longer wants to eat what we're eating. She'll sit and play with the food more during mealtimes than eat. I'm learning to love picking noodles off my floor LOL. Thankfully she likes fruit.

I'm hoping though her seeming addiction to Ritz crackers will taper a bit soon (she once polished off a more than a half box by herself in one day!) -- guess it could be worse, like my addiction to Ben&Jerry's :P!

KarenNYC
09-11-2004, 02:01 PM
groan - I wish I had some good news to share but Ryan grazes all day as well and he practically LIVES on Teddy Grahams. We does eat a ton of fruits and some veggies as well tho. Some days he eats three decent meals along with snacks and some days he basically grazes all day. So - I assume it is normal as most of my friends report the same thing - a few have kids that will eat anything any time food is placed in front of them but this does not seem to be the norm.

Karen