https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 10 May 2026 06:09:19 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2132363 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 16:44:44 +0000 sarac 2132363@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yeah, I get feeding children when they're hungry, but not a lot of junk. Nope. My daughter has access to a fruit bowl and can have fruit or veggies just about whenever she wants them. It works out to her eating 5-8 servings of them per day, with smaller amounts of protein, healthy fats, and grains. Stuff like cookies and goldfish are an extra sometimes treat. </p> <p>I'm all for feeding a child when they're hungry - I'm not a 'wait until the next meal' person at all. Cheese and (to an extent) graham crackers I would give often. But not a bunch of processed junky food. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2132329 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 16:00:04 +0000 wonderstruck 2132329@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@californiadreams: My toddler actually wants healthy things! But at some point I have to draw the line, because he will want a snack every 5 minutes and then wants nothing to do with his dinner because he is so full from snacking. He gets plenty of food and is not asking because he's hungry, he just wants a snack. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2132320 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 15:49:32 +0000 jedeve 2132320@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@californiadreams: I'm kinda the same, although I totally get the tantrums being a PITA. I try to find a middle ground. Did you just finish breakfast and now you want a Graham cracker? No dice, go play. Did I get dinner started late and you are just really hungry? Yeah, have some Cheerios. </p> <p>I get hungry throughout the day and I don't like limiting my kid's access to food. But that doesn't mean he gets unlimited Graham crackers either! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2132268 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 15:00:50 +0000 catlady 2132268@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@californiadreams: I guess the food isn't really the issue, it's the demanding and then the subsequent tantrums. I've been seeing this behavior creep into other areas (she will demand to play a certain game with me and won't want to wait, or she will demand to be picked up, or get a pacifier, etc.). The snacks just seems to be the worst case. I don't want her to think she can just get everything she wants by screaming and rolling around on the floor. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2132247 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 14:38:36 +0000 californiadreams 2132247@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>am i the only one who doesn't think this is a problem? I have no issue giving my toddler snacks/food when he wants it. i try to mostly offer "healthy" stuff, but he has occasionally gone through phases where he wants muffins or cookies all the time and i don't mind because i know it is a phase and ultimately he gets all the nutrients he needs, even if it is not the way i might have otherwise planned it to happen. He doesn't tantrum for them either, but maybe that's because i feed him when he asks? I assume he is asking because he is hungry.</p> <p>@Anagram: we are going through too the past few days and i am hoping he gets over it soon. I am exhausted! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2132225 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 14:12:49 +0000 lady grey 2132225@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catlady: we do what @wonderstruck and @blackbird do, either withhold the food or only give it at scheduled times. I would also suggested Ellyn Satter's books about feeding kids: How to Get Your Kid to Eat: But Not Too Much and Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense</p> <p>Here is some info from her website to check out as well:<br /> <a href="http://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/hte/howtoeat.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/hte/howtoeat.php</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131970 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 10:35:44 +0000 ShootingStar 2131970@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My toddler's been doing this, except instead of snacks he's constantly asking to feed the dog. He's constantly signing "eat" which at first was cute. But he asks like 10 times a day and then has a meltdown if I say no. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131965 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 10:33:41 +0000 edelweiss 2131965@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>it's really hard. i try to calmly and succinctly explain that he gets a little but can't eat them all the time. then i let him tantrum for a few minutes and eventually try to distract him. i just read a parenting book that had a good perspective, in that it's basically a toddler's job to test the rules to see where they are, and just because they're really upset doesn't mean we should give in. if anything it's more reason to be firm about the rule. but i try not to sit there and convince him that he should be okay with the rule--if he's upset, he's upset, but i don't belabor the point. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131946 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 10:22:04 +0000 Anagram 2131946@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have been having this problem with milk. In the middle of the night. :crying: </p> <p>Suddenly, LO is waking up and screaming, Milk! Milk! Milk! and I have to go lay her back down and say "no milk" because I don't want to start bad habits, but it makes for screaming fits (long ones) in the middle of the night. I tried giving her a sippy of water, but she threw that to the floor.</p> <p>It suuuucks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131872 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 09:17:46 +0000 2PeasinaPod 2131872@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@blackbird: We do the same!</p> <p>When we give in, it only reinforces to him that if he acts that way, he'll get what he wants. 18 months was just about the time he started it as well, and it was hard for him to understand why we were saying no. We don't ever give in, and if he's hungry, he'll eat his dinner or the snack we gave him eventually. It's very tough, but the more consistent you are, the more that she'll start to understand that acting that way doesn't get what she's looking for. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131869 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 09:17:35 +0000 autumnlove 2131869@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO 2 wants fishies when we get home from daycare and I tune her out while she tantrums for a few (long) minutes while I get dinner ready! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131863 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 09:05:50 +0000 blackbird 2131863@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yep. We go through these stages. I cut her off from those foods, honestly, and it works great. Then i can re-introduce them slowly. For us, it's stuff like hot dogs and mac and cheese for dinner. She'll start refusing her dinner and want only that. So she just...goes hungry. I don't give in because it does reinforce the behavior. And then I just stop serving the items completely (which trust me, it sucks because sometimes i need something easy to serve her). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131836 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 08:43:11 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 2131836@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our LO'S are around the same age. Mine won't drink milk so she usually gets a good helping of yogurt after both breakfast and dinner every night and has recently started screaming "yogurt!" at dinner time. Yesterday she pushed her plate away and was refusing to eat anything, attempted to climb from her seat and was overall losing It. I just ignored her and after about 10 minutes she ate some of her dinner and was then allowed her yogurt. As for other times, can you just institute a designated snack time so if she asks when it isn't time to eat, you just tell her it's not time right now but she can have some later? I know that won't work for every LO but that's what I would do with mine. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131823 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 08:38:09 +0000 wonderstruck 2131823@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We've been dealing with the exact same thing it started around that age, and now 4 months later it has only gotten worse - he asks for snacks CONSTANTLY. This week I finally put my foot down and set certain times for his snacks - he gets one between breakfast/lunch and another between lunch/dinner. When that time rolls around I put him in his high chair and will give him some snack choices. But other than that he does not get any snacks. There has been a LOT of screaming and tantrums, but I'm holding firm. We're on day 5 and the frequency with which he asks for a snack is finally decreasing - I think he's finally getting the picture that we're done giving him snacks whenever he asks for them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/young-toddler-demanding-snacks-tips#post-2131810 Fri, 03 Apr 2015 08:31:53 +0000 catlady 2131810@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My 18 month old has recently learned how to ask for some of her favorite snacks (cheese and graham crackers). It was cute at first and we would give her the foods because she asked nicely, but within only a few days she started demanding those foods pretty much all the time (if we tried to give her another snack, during meals, etc). So we had to start saying no and now she will become absolutely hysterical if we deny her. It's gotten to the point where she will roll around on the ground screaming for a full 15 minutes if we don't give her a cheese stick, and it's driving us nuts. When this happens at meal time, she will also refuse to eat anything else until she gets her snack first. </p> <p>Has anyone gone through something like this and have tips? We don't want to cut her off completely from her favorite foods, but we also don't want her demanding them constantly. DH is also worried that if we give her what she wants when she tantrums, it will only reinforce that behavior (I've been known to give in to stop the screaming...oops). </p>