Welcome back to another instalment of The Baby Feeding Series, where we spotlight real stories from real parents navigating the messy, emotional, and often confusing journey of feeding their babies. My hope is that this space becomes a comforting corner where others who feel lost or overwhelmed can read these experiences and feel a little less alone. Parenthood is hands-down the toughest role out there, but it’s also the most beautiful. Through these stories, I want to honour both the struggle and the joys.
Last week, we had the wonderful Helen from The Mumatron Blog share her combination feeding journey with her son, highlighting the challenges of establishing any form of feeding early on due to reflux. I was excited to feature Helen’s story since we hadn’t showcased a combi-feeding mama in the series before. This week, I’m delighted to introduce my lovely friend Naomi from Life By Naomi, who has written about moving on from toddler snacks. As a mum to a picky toddler, my daughter seems to prefer grazing over eating proper meals at the moment. I also don’t get the fascination with those bland, dry rice cakes! So, without further ado, I’ll hand it over to the lovely Naomi...
MOVING ON FROM TODDLER SNACKS
For a year or so, starting with weaning snacks, you always need a bag of toddler snacks in your bag. Rice cakes are a favourite. Bread sticks. Cut up vegetables or fruit. Mostly, I confess, I use these to keep my baby happy in the pushchair or to distract him when lunch might take a bit longer than planned.
Then, at some point in the toddler years, you start noticing things.
"Mammy, snack? More snack? More please?"
Despite eating more rice cakes than I personally could bear (how can they enjoy something so dry and tasteless), your toddler is still hungry.
Welcome to the snack phase.
I have two boys. They are 4 and 1, and both are pretty good eaters. They both have good appetites, and eat 3 decent meals a day. They both still drink cows milk as a drink morning and night. And they need snacks.
They are up early, and often eat breakfast before 7am. They might not have lunch for another 5 and a half hours. That's a long time for a small tummy to go. I read once that small children need 2/3 of the calories that an adult needs, and only have tummies 1/5 of the size. So snacks, and fairly calorie dense foods, are necessary.
Both my boys, especially my eldest, will eat fruit like it's going out of fashion. While that's great, fruit isn't that calorie dense, so I've had to encourage him to eat something else with his fruit, or to save fruit for pudding so that he's not hungry five minutes later.
Here are my go-to snacks for hungry children:
So far, they're both pretty healthy, eat a wide range of foods and enjoy them!
Then, at some point in the toddler years, you start noticing things.
"Mammy, snack? More snack? More please?"
Despite eating more rice cakes than I personally could bear (how can they enjoy something so dry and tasteless), your toddler is still hungry.
Welcome to the snack phase.
I have two boys. They are 4 and 1, and both are pretty good eaters. They both have good appetites, and eat 3 decent meals a day. They both still drink cows milk as a drink morning and night. And they need snacks.
They are up early, and often eat breakfast before 7am. They might not have lunch for another 5 and a half hours. That's a long time for a small tummy to go. I read once that small children need 2/3 of the calories that an adult needs, and only have tummies 1/5 of the size. So snacks, and fairly calorie dense foods, are necessary.
Both my boys, especially my eldest, will eat fruit like it's going out of fashion. While that's great, fruit isn't that calorie dense, so I've had to encourage him to eat something else with his fruit, or to save fruit for pudding so that he's not hungry five minutes later.
Here are my go-to snacks for hungry children:
- Bananas
- Crackers and cheese
- Mini-cheddars and grapes
- Malt loaf
- Fruit toast (especially hot cross buns)
- Ham on crackers
- Avocado on toast
- Crustless quiches (make in batches and keep them in the freezer)
- Flapjack
- Cheesy flapjack
- Low-sugar cereal
- Ham and cheese wraps
- Breadsticks and cream cheese
- Hard-boiled eggs
So far, they're both pretty healthy, eat a wide range of foods and enjoy them!
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About Naomi
A family lifestyle blogger, documenting about her life in Lancashire. Naomi is a wife, mother and teacher, and life is a bit of a juggling act at times. Naomi writes about parenting Ben and Samuel, discussing faith, food, family and anything else that may crop up. Naomi started her blogging journey in 2013 whilst on maternity leave so she could have a place to share her experiences as a mum and have a creative outlet. Back in August 2014 Naomi and her family moved Manchester to the Ribble Valley in Lancashire and her blogging had moved on too, and so Life By Naomi was created.
Remember you can find Naomi over at Life By Naomi
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