Food after childerminder's

VandC

Hi All. I'm looking for a bit of advice on what to give 8 m/o baby in the evening after she comes home from the childerminder's. Just to give you a bit of background to what she is eating/doing now:

6:30: Wakes up and gets up at 7:15
7:30: 180ml bottle (will drink from 120ml to all of it)
9:30-10: Breakfast Weetabix or Ready Brek with a bit of fruit mixed in
10:30-11: Yoghurt depending if hungry
11-11:45: Nap
12:30-1: Lunch usually just mixture of veg. 150ml bottle offered, usually doesn't drink more than 100ml
2:30-3:15: Nap
3:30-4: Dinner with fish or meat. 150ml bottle offered, usually doesn't drink more than 120ml
5:00 - might give a little snack like cucumber sticks or cheese to nibble on (this is more to feed herself than a snack, she hardly eats any of it)
6:15 - Gets home
6:30 - Tea. I have been giving a scrambled egg, or half banana with custard, or fruity bedtime (which I will be stopping, it is waaayyy too sweet!!) or creamed rice. Generally something along those lines.
6:45 - 180ml bottle (will drink from 120ml to all of it)
7:15 - bed

She's on the comfort formula and to be honest I'm lucky to get 400ml in to her a day so I make sure that either lunch or dinner is a "good" source of iron. She also sips water with meals and in between if she wants it (this is in a beaker but I doubt she gets more than 50ml a day in to her).

I suppose I'm looking for ideas re the 6:30 "meal". I don't want to get in to giving her a meal as such as then she would be on four meals a day. I have tried giving her the "tea" type meal at 3:30 and vice versa but she is so tired by 7 I feel I am being unfair keeping her up just for food and hence the current pattern. Similarly I have to give something as from 3:30 to 9:30 the next morning is too long to go without food. She is a terrible daytime sleeper so getting her to nap for longer to keep her up later isn't an option (I have tried everything and she just won't sleep during day - been like that since born). What I am offering for tea I feel is "boring" I'd like to give more variety. I have the Annabel Karmel books but going back to work I'm looking for quick and practical here, happy to make fresh in the evening if it takes ten min, but her recipes seem to take quite a bit of prep.

Sorry for the long windedness - just to give as much background as possible.

Thanks in advance!

kandr10

It sounds like you've got great variety there as is. Would you consider giving the meat dinner at 12:30/1 and a snack at 3:30 after the nap?Then at 5 you could give the tea and it's not so close to bed. That way the tea could be any of the before bed things that you're giving or the egg or the veg mix you would've given at 12:30?

I have always given a scrambled egg with bits of veg and maybe cheese at tea time. I reckon if there's enough variety during the day I'm not going to worry about having something handy for after work so I'm not fussed about it always being the same.

Other options could be beans, cheese on toast fingers, savoury muffins, hummus and bread/ peppers to dip, bits of pasta...really though it sounds like you've already got huge variety going on.

VandC

I'm not too fussed if she swaps her "dinner" and "lunch" meals. Anyways she'll need/use more energy during the day once (if ) she gets moving.

I'd have to speak to childminder and see if she would be up for doing the five o'clock meal you suggested. I know this might sound selfish, but I feel a little sad that if i do that then I'll just be the person who gets her up and puts her to bed during the week. But that's my problem, I need to do what's right for her and then deal with my feelings!

Thanks for the tea ideas too BTW

I have been giving toast fingers but yesterday she has just started to stuff the whole finger in her mouth. I had to rescue her a couple of times yesterday!!! Is this just a phase? She is never left alone when eating but I need to warn others who may feed her to be on the look out

livinsane

Instead of the toast fingers, maybe give half a slice of toast so she won't be able to put it all in her mouth and should just take bites hopefully.

kandr10

VandC wrote: »

I'm not too fussed if she swaps her "dinner" and "lunch" meals. Anyways she'll need/use more energy during the day once (if ) she gets moving.

I'd have to speak to childminder and see if she would be up for doing the five o'clock meal you suggested. I know this might sound selfish, but I feel a little sad that if i do that then I'll just be the person who gets her up and puts her to bed during the week. But that's my problem, I need to do what's right for her and then deal with my feelings!

Thanks for the tea ideas too BTW

I have been giving toast fingers but yesterday she has just started to stuff the whole finger in her mouth. I had to rescue her a couple of times yesterday!!! Is this just a phase? She is never left alone when eating but I need to warn others who may feed her to be on the look out

Ah I'm only seeing now that your tea time is when you're home. That totally makes sense and is not in the slightest selfish to want to give it yourself. All the more reason to keep it handy. I just thought you could free up some options by swapping the two earlier meals. They sound like big meals to give close together. It's hard to tell obviously - you know what you're putting in etc. my general point, is don't sweat it and enjoy your time in the evening, even if you give the same tea 5 days a week to do that. Good luck with it all. I know it's not easy at first but you'll find a routine and keep in mind food needs change a lot at this stage too. I found meals got more casual and less regimented as little one got older.

Just thinking, you can make these egg cup things where you put a mixture of beaten egg and various veggies/cheese into muffin trays and bake for 10 mins. They keep in fridge for few days. Handy tea/finger food and light enough. Though I know cooking a bit of egg isn't gonna cost you much time, they're handy snacks generally to have around.

VandC

livinsane wrote:

Instead of the toast fingers, maybe give half a slice of toast so she won't be able to put it all in her mouth and should just take bites hopefully.

Must try and keep a very close eye on her. She is a beast with food, you'd swear she was never fed the way she stuffs her face

kandr10 wrote:

Just thinking, you can make these egg cup things where you put a mixture of beaten egg and various veggies/cheese into muffin trays and bake for 10 mins. They keep in fridge for few days. Handy tea/finger food and light enough. Though I know cooking a bit of egg isn't gonna cost you much time, they're handy snacks generally to have around.

Will look these up. These sound like something I'd enjoy nibbling on too

elleg

scrambled egg is a good one, toast with humus, toast with avacodo mashed onto it, broccoli and cheese mini muffins (bake and freeze), puff pastry pinwheels with veg /cheese / meat filling (make and freeze), crackers with cream cheese?