how do you know..

[BabyMamma93]

when a non talking toddler is hungry if they show no signs?

M talks a little but not enough to tell me when hes hungry or wants food, on a morning he will point to his cereal, lunch time he knows when i get home from work, its time to eat, and he knows when tea is almost done and he will get in his chair to eat. but in between meals he doesnt show signs hes hungry.
we offer him small snacks and sometimes he wont want them, but when i think about his food routine (just commented on a thread) i realise he has big gaps in between meals, breakfast usually 8 ish then lunch around 12 ish, sometimes he wont have a snack before lunch as he will have milk and nap, then tea is about 5 ish and again doesnt usually have snacks in between, they are pretty big gaps, but he doesnt show signs of wanting anything to eat and he wont eat anything unless its like a yoghurt obv if someone gives him crisps (quavers) or some other sweet snacks he will eat them, but if i give him apple for example he wont eat much.
The protions he has for lunch and dinner are quite big so maybe he actually really isnt hungry in between meals?

 

[MindUtopia]

If he's not eating what you offer between meals, I would assume he's not hungry. My daughter speaks in complete sentences and is very verbal, but she doesn't normally ever say that she's hungry. We have meals together whenever we have them, so breakfast/lunch/dinner is just whatever time we all eat, regardless of whether she says she's hungry or not. And I almost always offer a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon (which is the same as what they do at nursery, so I keep it the same even when she's home). If she wants it, she'll eat it. If she doesn't, she won't. I would consider a cup of milk to be a snack though, so if he's having milk between meals, I'd assume that might be enough to fill him up anyway. If he doesn't have any interest in snacks you offer, I'd just assume he ate plenty at mealtime. Sometimes they do get grizzly and grumpy ("hangry" lol) between meals and that's an obvious sign, but I try to head it off before it gets to that.

 

[BabyMamma93]

Yeah there are times that he is hungry and i know it but thats very rare, OH says he has a big appetite for meals & no room left for snacks.

 

[Button#]

My DS has never really been into snacks. He prefers to eat big meals and carry on playing in between. He doesn't snack at pre school either.