Evening Snack?

snacking just before bedtime is not a good idea and would lead to bad habits in eating. You could give them a glass of warm milk with a drop of vanilla and a little sugar. this would relax them and put them to sleep. I use this formula for my kids and myself and it works.

Sometimes thirsty pains can be confussed with hunger pains. Maybe a glass of water or cup of milk might do the trick! There is a vegetarian cookbook for children called Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson.

I also feed my kids dinner around 5pm and then give them a healthy snack (grapes, apples, whole wheat crackers, milk)before their 7:30pm bedtime. They sleep better and don't wake up starving. What works for a grown-up body is not necessarily the same for a little body that is still growing.
Good luck.

hi C.. i think your husband is correct. there is nothing wrong with giving young children a healthy snack, however, i don't think that it is beneficial to do so directly before bedtime. it's important to remember that children are miniature versions of adults (with little to no difference in our physiological processes). digestion is optimal when our bodies are in an upright position. in the recumbent position (when one is sleeping), the 'gastric acid'/ undigested food becomes parallel with the lower esophageal sphincter. this is not ideal for the digestive process and could give rise to acid refux. this problem may not be present in all children or adults but it is a great idea to encourage healthy eating habits now.
you seem like an amazing mom as evidence by your concern in posting your question. your kids may whine a little or complain as they adjust to the changes, as children do. however, i personally don't believe they are being harmed by not having a pre-bedtime snack after having been satiated by a healthy dinner. thank God so many children in this country are blessed with bounty. if you think you're harming your kids by withholding a snack just consider: there are children in many countries that don't have the words "breakfast, lunch or dinner" in their vocabulary, much more the word snack. hope this helps. best wishes in your decision making.

Give them a "dessert" before bed. You could freeze/warm fruit to give them. Persimmons are great partially frozen, or you would warm up an apple. Most fruits are easily digestable and they are naturally low in calories. I would not advise eating a whole meal or anything too "heavy" which would make little tummies feel sick when they lay down.

I found that something light for a after dinner/before bedtime snack makes things a lot easier. Obviously cake or candy wouldn't be the smartest thing to your children. I like to give my children some sort of fruit. It keeps them from waking up in the middle of the night because they are hungry. I say go for it, just make it healthy and light.

I feel if you or your kids are really hungry you should eat a piece of vegetable/fruit with peanut butter. The combination will alkaline your body and keep you satisfied. Cookies/milk/candy will make you hungrier and keep the kids up!
:)

Hi C.,

Your kids are probably hungry. A small healthy snack before bed will help them sleep better and longer without interruptions. We should all be in the habit of eating a little bit all day long. It stops our bodies from going into insulin shock and our metabolisms run consistently better. Also, make sure they are eating enough during the day.

Our deserts consist of fresh fruits or sorbet with yogurt. We may also have a bowl of non sweetened, whole grain cereal or a protein smoothly.

Go with what nature has given us and you can't go wrong.

Hope this helps.

L. C
Certified Nutritionist
Herbalife Wellness Coach

Hello, C., I think it is perfectly reasonable that your daughters are hungry at 7PM when you eat dinner so early! I also don't think that children have the same digestive issues that adults do, and so they can eat more frequently, and NEED to eat more frequently. As long as their teeth are brushed before going to bed, I can't see why giving them their snack or dessert at 7PM should be a problem. Have you thought of adjusting your meal times? Perhaps you should have a mid-afternoon snack (tea time) around 4, dinner at 6 - 6:30, and then bed at 8 - 8:30. If you are making the girls wait from lunch until 5PM without food, it's no surprise that they are still hungry at 7! I don't know what foods your girls will and won't eat, but I know there are many prepared crackers and snacks that are gluten-free. Japanese rice crackers are crunchy, fat-free and delicious (you can buy the seaweed-wrapped kind at Trader Joe's). TJ's also has soy cheeses and nuts, which are great for staving off hunger. Fresh fruit, dried fruit, fruit popsicles, soy ice cream, etc. Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
S. A.

We had simliar difficulties with our oldest daughter (4 yrs old) near bedtime. As a result, we added a new facet to our bedtime routine. When reading her bedtime story, she eats some crackers and a small glass of milk, then we brush teeth. That has worked well for us. Good luck!

I would not be able to make it thru the night from 5p to 6a!
I started offering my 2.5 year old a healthy dinner at 5pm and a little snack right before bed at 7pm. I sometimes give her a few pieces of apple with almond butter. She also likes a few nuts and a slice of bread or some cheese

Why not try moving dinner up a little to 5:30 or 5:45? Or allowing the kids a healthy snack, like a banana or a yogurt around 7? If they drink milk, or soy milk, that will make them feel fuller and help them sleep as well. No food three hours before bed is fine for adults, but kids have a MUCH smaller stomach and they eat and retain less than we do. Good luck!

It depends. Are your children over-weight, or slender. If they are over-weight, I would suggest you consider monitoring the food intake and consider more raw vegetables as snack foods. I found it helped not to purchase or prepare unhealthy snacks, but keep the refrigerator loaded with salad ingredients and cupboards stocked with healthy snacks so that everything that went in the mouth was good for health. Teeth should be brushed before bedtime. I'm not sure that a bedtime snack is unhealthy. However, if a child is over weight, a bed-time snack can begin late eating habits that don't end with childhood.

My children ask for snacks at bedtime from time to time, as well. It is not considered the best time for children, or adults, to have a snack as your digestion slows considerably when one is sleeping. The food then sits in the stomach longer, produces more gas, and may end up causing a stomach ache, uncomfortable gas, heartburn, or even regurgitation with the chance of choking--(the child is lying fairly flat, the stomach contents back up, and can get into their lungs--causing choking or worse. What works for me is making sure the children get an adequate portion of protein at dinner time--protein takes longer to digest and promotes a sense of fullness longer. It is usually when they have skimped on their protein, that they are hungry at bedtime. I am pretty firm about not giving a bedtime snack (my kids call it "mean") but they have learned to focus on eating a good dinner instead of eating quickly--since they know that this is the last meal of the day. I have given them the choice to have a vitamin (they have the chewable ones that actually taste good) and that usually satisfies them. With my children, if they "learn" that they can get something once (like a bedtime snack) they tend to expect it on a regular basis. Don't be afraid to set limits; you'll be teaching them good eating habits for life. Best wishes!

I think it is fine if they eat an hour before bed. My daughter eats a snack of dry cheerios before bed and nothing at all is wrong with her. I don't think that eating before bed would cause any problem, unless they get done eating and jump right into bed, then they might get a tummy ache or something in the morning but i wouldn't worry about it.

Apples with some peanut butter are a great snack.
Feeding the kids at 7pm a healthy snack is fine just keep portions down.They will sleep better with something in their tummies then being hungey.
Your children will let you know if eating a snack an hour before bed doesn't work,their bodies will let you know,ie.
restless sleep,tummy aches etc.
Apples are also great for regularity :)

we usually eat later in the evening, but my kids snack all the time. they graze rather than sit down for meals, they are just too busy. i used to worry about it, but now i just let them eat when they want to. you can save something like applesauce/fruit/soy yogurt and call it "dessert".

Hi, there,
My daughter always asks for a snack before bed, and I, too, don't know if she's actually hungry or just stalling but I have just gotten to the point where I give it to her and it helps her sleep all night. I give her a glass of milk and a rice cake. The milk is obviously not a lactose-free option for you, but maybe a small glass of soy, almond or nut milk, and a rice cake might do the trick for your kids! The only other thing we struggle with then is brushing her teeth, which we do at bath time, but then she wants the snack in bed, so teeth-brushing is hard. I'm sure her dentist appt in acouple months will be a disaster!! BTW, my daughter is 2.5yo.
Good luck!
M. Rubin

My son, who's nearly 10, has gone both ways. Sometimes for months at a time he needed to eat every 2 hours - he was growing adn that's what he needed. it was really stresful for me becuase I need to eat about every 3-5 hours and we totally were not sync'ing up. I got angry about it and I did decide to move it a bit earlier than 10 minutes before bed. I also discovered that if I fed him a bit more during the day that eventually he did not need an nighttime snack.

But for a while he did. And so we did.

I know there's lots of advice about doing things one way or the other, but I really find that trusting myself, my skills and my son is the best path I could have chosen.

Good luck.

In our house we eat snack at 3 and dinner at 7

I don't know if it's physically ok, but my daughters have snacks before bedtime which is right around 7 o'clock. We eat at 5 to 5:30. When my 18 month old doesn't get a late snack, she will wake up real hungry. I think kids just burn food faster and need more. Both my girls are fairly thin and very healthy. I try to give then easy foods. Tonight for example, I gave both my almost 4 year old and my 18 month old fresh blueberries, rasberries and some cashews. My kids are fine with nuts and I realize most moms don't give them to their kids. my oldest was still a bit hungry so I gave her one half of a quarter slice or a bagel with some light cream cheese. Made her drink a full "kids" glass of water and then she was off doing her teeth and getting ready for bed. Most nights she has a cheese stick and maybe some fruit. I guess I'm lucky because we eat everything and have no problems. But I believe in the late night snack. We are pretty active after dinner so it makes sense to have a little food. Oh, yogurt is a late snack favorite and I believe you can get that without lactose.

I don't know if this helps, but I thought I'd share. Bottom line, our family always has a snack at the exact time your kids get hungry. If you ate at 6 o'clock, they probably wouldn't need the snack.

my advise- give them a snack!! they're kids, they need to eat frequent little meals. just don't give them somthing sugary that will keep them awake. avocado, carrots and peaunt butter, oatmeal, rice. easily digestable, not sweet. it may not be the best for adults to eat so close to bedtime (weight management, digestion, etc) but we are not growing at nearly as rapid rate as the little ones!
hope that helps!

Well you said at the end there lactose free... so that modifies my ritual for you. I warm a little chocolate milk with majority whole milk for my daughter and let her have that before bedtime. I just started this and it works very well- mostly in settling her before bedtime. It is comforting right before she goes to sleep and actually helps her fade off much sooner. Warming it is the key. I only fill her cup to half full. Try it with Soy or Almond milk myabe it will curb thier "appetites" and help them have sweeter dreams sooner!

It is absolutely alright for you to feed your children a healthy snack sometime before bed. Children are hungry when they are hungry and as long as they are not obese or have issues with unhealthy eating habits, it is normal for them not to be able to go all those hours between 5 and 7:30 without a little something in their stomachs. Allow them to have things like apples, grapes, bananas, cheese and crackers - common sense healthy foods in general in common sense proportions. ADULTS should not eat within 3 hours of bedtime as it is found that we have more trouble falling to sleep and digesting our food in a way that doesn't make us fat. Healthy children burn much more of their food calories that we do, so they tend to be hungry more often .

I give my three boys snacks everynight before they retire to bed. They have their choice of a small bowl of raisin bran cereal, yogurt or a fruit. Their snacks are always small servings and healthy.

I hope this advice helps.

C.

Hi C.,

My husband and I had the same issue with our two boys. We now have a last call for food (which my brother had suggested after doing it with his two sons) about 30 to 45 minutes before bedtime. It has to be healthy food, junk food or sweets. The boys then sleep much better and wake up less cranky.

Gluten free crackers are a favorite with my kids... Finn Crisps original flavor and Rice crackers.

Good luck,
S. L.

WOW! Your kids are right on track! Kids, like adults, need to eat every 2 to 3 hours. When we eat healthy digestable food, we should be hungry 2-3 hours later. (When we eat and are full for hours...we have eaten the wrong stuff... most likely too much fat).

Kids need nutritious bedtime snacks that will take them on til morning, but what...Well that is up to you the parent. Our family is pretty scheduled, dinner at 5 snack at 7 bedtime at 8:30 and 9:00 for my two daughters.

Our evbening snack is almost always yogurt (sorry not so lactose free) and fruit. If they are still hungry I make them a nutrtion shake to really keep them satsified. (this happens mostly when they are going through growth spurts.) My gilrs are 8 & 11, they seem to be always growing!

Having been a Family Health Coach for over 2 years now, I know that from experience when you feed your kids right, they will be hungry for the right foods every 2-3 hours. Sure sometimes they use it as an excuse to stay up late, but you can ALWAYS know the difference. If what they ate 2 hours ago was healthy, natural and easily processed by the body, then hunger is real. If they had burger and fries for dinner, the hunger may be a ploy to stay up later.

Please let me know what you decide, this is how I learn to help my clients better...from real moms doing real stuff!

B.
www.HeyYouGetReal.com

As shocking as it may seem, my family doesn't eat dinner until 7:00 - 7:30. We eat pretty healthy but I myself wake up hungery in the middle of the night and that just really blows if you want a full nights rest. My son eats the amount that he wants and then he is down with a bottle of milk. (Yes I give him a bottle at night and his teeth are doing great!) I think eating at 5pm is way to early. I'm not even home from work then.

Hi C.,
I am a kindergarden teacher trained in the waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) method. I am so glad your family is eating dinner at 5 pm, we tend to eat dinner too late. Put your children to bed earlier so that they are asleep at 7pm. They are not hungry, they are tired and the snack is giving them extra calories to keep going. Don't worry about them getting up too early or stopping their naps if you move their bedtime earlier, sleep begets sleep and they will adjust and be healthier for it. Another bonus is that going to bed earlier and forgoing the snack will increase their appetite in the morning when it is most important to eat.
Best of luck with whatever solution you come to!

Hi,

My children eat a snack about 7 and go to bed at 8:30. Its usually fruit,cheese etc. I do notice a that when they don't eat or have junk they wake up cranky. I also notice they eat more at meals and snacks when they're growing.

Personally, it seems like a long time to go without food, especially for beings with such little tummies. It doesn't sound surprising that your husband is comfortable with it- he's much larger with a slower digestive system, not to mention can handle things like hunger as an adult. My family tends to eat late due to busy schedules- so maybe 7:30, then bedtime for my 6 year old around 8, and she *needs* to eat as soon as she wakes up. My husband and I tend to eat a light late night snack right before bed, and I need to eat pretty much as soon as I get up, too. I really think you should trust your children's word on this one. Try some fruit and/ or raw nuts. HTH!

Love, J.

My fitness instructor at college has recommended that I have a protein shake immediately before going to bed and first thing upon rising. He says the protein (especially in the protein shake formula) provides your body with the necessary nutrients for it to call upon while its doing its nightly repair and maintenance jobs, so that it doesn't take the nutrients from existing muscles. My favorite tasting powder is Jay Robb's, available at Henry's. What my instructor does not recommend for 2 hours before going to bed are simple sugars, because they tend to cause dreams to be more disturbing, and because they do not provide the kind of nutrients the body needs during the night.