What do your kids have for a bed-time snack?

x-no-archive:yes David desJardins wrote:

Splanche writes:
To me, a bed time snack is something small-- usually cheese or
raisins-- maybe a banana. I'd be concerned that eating that much
carbs (ice cream and cereal) that late could disrupt sleep patterns.

Some people's sleep patterns are easy to interrupt and some are not.
My dh can't eat anything before bed because of reflux. But that's
recent. *I* can eat anything any time, and still sleep just fine.
Is that really a problem with children - that carbs disrupt their
sleep patterns? In what way does this manifest itself. I have been
totally unaware of this possibility for my whole life. I mean it
never even occurred to me.

I took "bedtime snack" to mean anything eaten after dinner. My

I took it to mean immediately before bedtime. So dinner at 6, and
bedtime at 9, the bedtime snack would be about 8:30 to 8:45.
Otherwise it would be just a late dessert.

So if the dinner was eaten at 6 and the table was cleared and the
dishes were taken care of, and then at 7 they had ice cream - that
would still just be the dessert after dinner.

3-year-olds generally eat dinner around 6:00 or 6:30, and they don't go
to sleep until around 10:30. That's a long time, and sometimes they
want some pretty substantial food in that interval, which seems
reasonable to me.

Yes but the OPs children are 10 and 7+ IIRC. So a different eating
pattern and schedule. School age children are generally in bed before
10:30 IME.


grandma Rosalie

Scott Lindstrom wrote:

I'm just being curious. DS almost always has 3 scoops of mint
chocolate chip ice cream, sometimes followed by a bowl
of wheaties or cheerios. (I have *no* clue where he puts
it all). DD is all over the place, sometimes ice cream --
one scoop -- sometimes an apple or banana, sometimes
cookies.


Scott DD 10.3 and DS 7.6


Does your son eat like that at all his meals? awestruck

Usually my girls have a cookie or two or ice cream and a
glass of milk.

Lesley

"Scott Lindstrom" wrote in message
...

I'm just being curious. DS almost always has 3 scoops of mint
chocolate chip ice cream, sometimes followed by a bowl
of wheaties or cheerios. (I have *no* clue where he puts
it all). DD is all over the place, sometimes ice cream --
one scoop -- sometimes an apple or banana, sometimes
cookies.


We vary from popcorn from the microwave to fruit, to yogurt to frozen fruit
juice, to crackers to the occassional icecream. DS can put it away and
often ask for more, but we are trying to encourage more intake earlier in
the day and less in the evenings.

-Aula

x-no-archive: yes

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
news

I took it to mean immediately before bedtime. So dinner at 6, and
bedtime at 9, the bedtime snack would be about 8:30 to 8:45.
Otherwise it would be just a late dessert.

I took it the same way.

My daughter is 8-3/4, and I try to avoid giving her a last-minute
bedtime snack. For her, requesting something to eat that late is less
about hunger and more about wanting an excuse to drag out her bedtime. A
snack or dessert earlier in the evening is fine -- if it's not *always*
a dessert-y dessert (e.g., cookies, ice cream). I don't want her to grow
up thinking that eating dessert is mandatory; I'd rather she think of it
as a small-scale special occasion. (I don't think this is working,
though!)

beeswing

wrote:

*I* can eat anything any time, and still sleep just fine.
Is that really a problem with children - that carbs disrupt their
sleep patterns? In what way does this manifest itself. I have been
totally unaware of this possibility for my whole life. I mean it
never even occurred to me.

With me, if I've eaten too much too close to bedtime, I always wake up
overheated. I think it probably has something to do with processing the
calories. I don't know that it's a question of carbs necessarily. But then, I'm
firmly in the camp that if your pancreas is in good working order, carbs are
fine any time.

I had a pretty iron digestion when I was a kid -- don't remember anything
bothering my stomach except actual illness or being severely upset emotionally.

I do eat bedtime snacks myself, but it's a bad habit and I really shouldn't. My
kids don't, but generally they're in bed only a couple of hours after dinner is
over. It would never have occurred to me to even offer them a bedtime snack,
probably because of their schedule.

--Helen

Scott Lindstrom wrote in :


I'm just being curious. DS almost always has 3 scoops of mint
chocolate chip ice cream, sometimes followed by a bowl
of wheaties or cheerios. (I have *no* clue where he puts
it all). DD is all over the place, sometimes ice cream --
one scoop -- sometimes an apple or banana, sometimes
cookies.

If they are hungry at bedtime, they are allowed rice cakes.
Sometimes they have hot chocolate to drink.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

Never occurred to me to give them one and they never asked. Now, at ages 12,
14 and 16, they take what they want if they're hungry.

Marijke

"Scott Lindstrom" wrote in message
...

I'm just being curious. DS almost always has 3 scoops of mint
chocolate chip ice cream, sometimes followed by a bowl
of wheaties or cheerios. (I have *no* clue where he puts
it all). DD is all over the place, sometimes ice cream --
one scoop -- sometimes an apple or banana, sometimes
cookies.


Scott DD 10.3 and DS 7.6

Scott Lindstrom wrote in message . ..
I'm just being curious. DS almost always has 3 scoops of mint
chocolate chip ice cream, sometimes followed by a bowl
of wheaties or cheerios. (I have *no* clue where he puts
it all). DD is all over the place, sometimes ice cream --
one scoop -- sometimes an apple or banana, sometimes
cookies.


Our kids usually have some kind of snack after dinner. Most often it
is popcorn or pretzels and cheese, they aren't too big on ice cream.
They do like italian ice or klondike bars in the summer. A bowl of
cereal was popular when they were younger, now they are more apt to
just eat dry cereal. We never serve dessert with dinner and don't
often have "dessert" items around. Sometimes I'll bake cookies,
brownies or the occassional cake. I grew up with "bedtime snacks" and
have continued the practice as part of our bedtime routine--snack,
bath, brush, book, bed!


Chris

Scott Lindstrom wrote in message . ..
I'm just being curious. DS almost always has 3 scoops of mint
chocolate chip ice cream, sometimes followed by a bowl
of wheaties or cheerios. (I have *no* clue where he puts
it all). DD is all over the place, sometimes ice cream --
one scoop -- sometimes an apple or banana, sometimes
cookies.


Scott DD 10.3 and DS 7.6


We've never been bedtime snackers in our house. My nutritionist limits
all my food intake to before 7:30 pm, so that kind of leaves my
snacking out of the picture. DD eats a decent dinner and rarely wants
anything more. But DS has entered the "hollow leg" part of puberty and
he eats a meal, then a second meal, and mostly a third meal before
bedtime. And he's infamous for sneaking a big box of HoneyNut Cheereos
(I buy 3 of the biggest boxes every week) and eating that at night. He
can pack in a half box easy sometime around 2am. He's on meds during
the day that inhibit eating, so almost all his food intake is at
night, and it's astonishing to watch. He inhales food.

Both kids have a piece of fruit sometime between dinner and around 8
pm. Boy is an apple eater, girl only likes exotics like kiwi, melon,
pineapple, nectarines, and plums. Thank goodness for our good farmers
market.

Marjorie

Scott Lindstrom wrote in message . ..
I'm just being curious. DS almost always has 3 scoops of mint
chocolate chip ice cream, sometimes followed by a bowl
of wheaties or cheerios. (I have *no* clue where he puts
it all). DD is all over the place, sometimes ice cream --
one scoop -- sometimes an apple or banana, sometimes
cookies.


Scott DD 10.3 and DS 7.6

Just a tip on what a nutritional snack would be, I think peanut butter
toast and a glass of milk is a good snack.Kids seem to sleep better on
a full stomach than an empty one.My kids are all grown and I am now a
grandmother, I still use the peanut butter toast and milk for a snack
and it is a hit at grandmas house.