I mostly lurk over here but need some advice/insight. DS was a preemie and so one of our main goals medically has been to pack in the calories as much as possible to help him gain weight. He's been in less than the 3rd percentile the whole time until today--he creeped up onto the growth chart at right around the 3rd percentile. Yay! but also likely only b/c we don't let him go more than about 3 hours during the day w/out eating either a meal or a snack. We average 3 meals a day with 2-3 snacks.
He just moved up from the infant room into the 1 year old room at daycare. The handout they gave us welcoming us to the toddler room and explaining how they do things said they do morning snack at 8:30/9am, lunch at 11am, afternoon snack at 2:30pm, and a late afternoon snack at 5pm. Well apparently they don't do a 5 pm snack--I won't go into the whole story but bottom line they don't do it anymore.
I talked with them about my concerns about DS going from 2:30pm until dinner without getting any food/calories--explained the whole preemie thing and trying to help him gain weight. We pick him up at 5:30ish and by the time we get home and get dinner prepared it's somewhere in the 6:30 to 6:45pm range for dinner. *I* don't go from 2:30pm until dinner without eating anything! lol!
They agreed to give him a 5pm snack if we provided. Fine, sure--not a problem! Well, it's been hit or miss with DS actually getting it and it hasn't been well communicated to us on his take home sheet. We've addressed it twice but still not much improvement.
Questions for you: is it unreasonable for us to expect them to do a 5pm snack for DS? I do realize they have to pull him from the room since no other kids are getting a snack then (which seems bizarre to me anyway but that's another issue). What is your DC's schedule for snacks in the afternoon? Other thoughts?
Re: WWYD--late snack issue (a bit long)
She eats breakfast at 7:45, lunch at 11 and her snack is at 2:30/2:45.
She is pretty hungry when we pick her up. Although, not a preemie, she has stayed in the 5-10% for weight, so a little munchkin. Whoever is picking her up (around 5:30) takes a snack and sippy cup to work with us and then we give her the snack on our way home in the car. So she gets a snack about 5:30 in the car, we get home around 6 and dinner is around 6:30.
ETA: We have done the snack in the car deal since she moved to the toddler room. Might be worth a try for you.
My DD wasn't a preemie but has never been on the charts. She's pint-size.
Couldn't YOU bring a snack when you pick up your DS and he can eat it in the car?
I do think it's asking a lot, considering they have to separate him from his classmates. It probably means they need an extra staff member in the room for everyone else.
I agree - take a snack in the car.
If he is hungry he will not throw it. If he does throw it then maybe he just doesn't need it right then.