tea at 3.30?

[mumofben]

Just about to send DS (6 months old) to full time nursery - this coincides with weaning. They do lunch at 11.30 and tea at 3.30.

Is this usual? i would have thought tea would be later, say 5?
He will be there 8-6 so by the time I pick him up and get home, there'll just be time for bath, bottle and bed.

Is 3.30 ok to be the last meal of the day?

[twickersmum]

all nurseries are pretty much like that - ours do lunch at 11.45 then tea at 3.45.
He will need something when he gets home. Otherwise you will find him waking in the night/very early! (i know this from experience!)
just a rusk/fruit puree or something. Now i do "pittas" with ham/cheese/tuna or a bagel or soup & bread. Something quick and easy, but they do need it.

[moondog]

It's not the nursery my ds goes to is it?!
I thought it was a bit weird but I see the logic.
My ds is happy with it.
I give him something small to eat when he gets home but he never eats much.

[Bozza]

It does seem to be standard. They wouldn't do it at 5 because some of the children start getting picked up at that time. I have always given my children something to eat wehn they get home. Usually this will be a small portion of what DH and I are eating. And now also DS because he is at school while DD is still at nursery so he has a school dinner but nothing at the child minder. Although I think when DS was 3 or 4 we started just giving him yoghurts/fruit etc because he seemed less hungry at that point but he would still sit at the table with us.

[HandbagAddiction]

I think this is pretty normal for most nurseries as any later would mean that they would be unlikely to be able to finish tea before the parents start arriving to take their children home. Remember that not all children are there until 6 and some parents do pick up around 4:30/5:00.

It never seemed to be a problem for dd1 and doesn't appear to be an issue for dd2 currently. Also, it has never been a problem for either of them reverting to more normal tea times, i.e. 5pm, at the weekends.

I do find though that they both need a snack of sorts when they get home and before they go to bed. dd1 normally has juice, toast and/or fruit/yoghurt. dd2 normally has some puree of sorts or yoghurt, toast or maybe one of those organix fruit pots.

[JARM]

the nursery that Jessica will go to in september do lunch at 12 and tea at 4, so when she gets home at 6 she will need a snack to see her through.

[cjmummy]

the nursery my ds goes to is the same and he is there from 7.30am until 5pm .. they have tea at 3.30pm but a snack at 5pm which carries him through until his milk at bed time without any problem!

[mumofben]

thanks for your replies, I suppose it's pretty normal then!
he did a trial day the other day and was so tired when we got home, that he barely stayed awake for his milk, and I had to give him another bottle at 10.30 (which I thought I could have dropped by now?)

Also, just started solids as tasters, following the nursery menu which is veg or fruit purees, but HV told me not to give fruits until veg established - just thinking about how I'm going to manage doing a 10 hr day at work then messing about with purees with a tired baby

[Bozza]

Personally if the nursery offers fruit or veg purees I would let him have them. You can always stick with veg at weekends.

[mumofben]

btw, HV also said not to give rusks due to the sugar - now a rusk, I imagine would be quite nice with warm milk at bedtime and quick and easy as well!

[Imafairy]

Mumofben - my DS2 started FT at nursery a couple of weeks ago, and is having his meals at 11.30 and 3.30, so I think it's pretty standard (or else you, Moondog and I all have kids at the same one!!!)
DS2 is fine at the moment woth just a bottle going to bed, but I know from experience with DS1 that as he gets older, and particularly starts walking etc, he might need some toast before he goes to bed.
And, the good news is, at the weekends, they happily ajust back to whatever meal time you want!!
Am a bit confused about your HV advice - I was told to start DSs on fruit puree first, and then veg!!! I'd go with the flow on the nursery stuff, and there are some really good natural packaged purees out there if you don't want to make your own, although from 6 months you can start giving them raw fruit, so if you have bananas and really ripe pears, mangoes etc it's quite easy just to mash and go.

[hermykne]

mumofben
just reading your opening question
what time will oyu collect him at?
tea is better imo at 5pm, you may have to give him something more substantial.
my bil had this with their child and they didnt give him anything after the nursery did at 3.30, i couldnt believe it, they filled him with milk and to this day he still wakes in the night for MILK. so dont necessarily go with their routine,

[twickersmum]

i think your hv is just saying to stick to veg because they tend to favour fruit as it is sweeter / might give them a sweet tooth.

tbh i didn't give either of my children fruit purees for a couple of months and both have a really sweet tooth (they take after dh!) so it didn't work anyway. That's the theory though.

[Bozza]

A banana when he gets in from nursery would be ideal at that age IMO. Either mashed or in pieces if you are doing BLW.

[mumofben]

hermykine - that's my worry - I on;y gave him milk when he got home at 6.30 (pick up's at 6) then had to give him more milk at 10.30pm to avoid hunger during the night. I agree with the other posters that he'll need something when he gets home, it's just what to give and how much etc that I'm unsure about, as the weaning isn't established yet, it's still a bit of a wonder to me! Also he's so tired at that time.

[jellybellie]

3.30pm is pretty standard for tea - when they get a bit older they have a snack around 5pm - breadsticks/crackers or fruit/cheese with a drink of water and this is fine for ds until his bedtime milk (he is 15mths now). Ds started nursery at 6mths and he had the fruit/veg purees no problem but he used to have two bottles of milk during the day with the last one around 5ish - could you try this?

[Bozza]

Yes when DD was that age I think I was still sending 3 bottles of milk in. So she would have milk midmorning (10ish), mid pm (2ish) and late afternoon (5ish). Then maybe a bit of something while we were eating (rice cake, puree, whatever) and a breast feed at about 7.15.

What time does he go to bed? Can you stretch that at all? How well did he sleep at nursery? Maybe once he gets into the routine he won't be quite so tired although generally they do find nursery tiring IME.

[jellybellie]

Just seen Hermykne's post about the milk so I suppose it depends on what your ds is used to - ds used to have a bottle at breakfast, two during the day and one a bedtime and didn't need anymore after that. We dropped the 10.30pm-11pm feed around the time he started nursery and he didn't seem to miss it (we just reduced the amount we gave him over the course of a few nights and then stopped it altogether)

[mumofben]

he has milk at 7, 11, 3, and 6.30 ish before bed. (similar to jelliebellie) Occasionally I give him some at 10.30, depending on how hungry he has appeared that day, as he does still occasionally wake during the night.

His sleep at the nursery was interrupted all the time by other babies - something I'm sure he'll get used to in time (I hope!) Still, it probably won't be as restful as he gets at home in his own room in relative darkness and quiet - I certainly couldn't sleep properly in a room full of babies!

Reading through all the posts again, I think what I'll do is ask the nursery to give him a snack at about 5 ish, so he will still be hungry enough for a full bottle of milk when he gets home and see how he gets on.

Thanks again for everyone's comments - this weaning malarkey plus going back to work plus nursery settling in is all going on in one go, so it's really helpful to see what other mums do / have done !

[weepootleflump]

dd has tea at nursery at 4pm then has tea again with us at 5.30pm but, she only goes twice a week so I'm sure it won't hurt her.

[DizzyBint]

dd has two teas on the two days she's at nursery. one there at 3.30 and one with us at about 5.30. if she were at home she'd ahve a snack at 2 then tea with us, so i just see the nursery tea as a snack.

[Bozza]

As the children got older I pretty much did the two tea thing as well. Because most nurseries serve the main hot meal at lunchtime and just a snack tea in the afternoon.

[decafskinnylatte]

Same here re 2 teas. My 2 would def. not sleep through if they didn't. When I asked our nursery manager about the reasoning behind nursery mealtimes(9, 11:30, 3ish, snack at 5) she said that they are designed to encourage the family to eat together in the evening. Nice idea but oh so difficult when kids in nursery til 5:30/6. As a result have become madly obsessed (spot the racked with guilt working mother) with coming up with new ideas for super quick yet nutritious teas (which don't contain tomatoes in any shape or form - ds hates em)...

[fluffyanimal]

Yes, same mealtimes at my ds's nursery. Fortunately, he isn't ready for food at 3.30 (or else he just doesn't like their sandwiches) so they give him a bottle and I feed him when he gets home.

Decaf, I am going to make some of Annabel Karmel's chicken and apple balls to keep in the freezer and whizz out for tea. Kind of like a healthy home-made chicken nugget! And not a tomato in sight.

[twickersmum]

Annabel Karmel's after school planner is great for quick nutritious meal ideas btw.

can't believe your nursery manager said tea at 3.30 is to encourage families to eat together in the evenings?! Does she live in a parallel universe? Does she think mums are at home cooking family meals (on the table at 6pm?) whilst paying for their kids to be at nursery??! What planet is she on?

Anyway, our nursery manager said lunch was 11.45 as many of the younger children sleep from 12.00 and that also most were hungry by then. Tea is at 3.45 because children start to be picked up from 4.30. She did say that most children would need a light something before bed.

[katierocket]

My DS used to have his nursery tea at 3.30 - I used to pick him up at 4.15 so was good for me. He used to have a snack later at home anyway.