Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

DD is in daycare 3 days a week and her teachers all say she eats well with the spoon, fork, drinks out of a cup, etc. Whatever they give her for lunch, I will give her for lunch on the days she is home, but all she will ever eat at home is PB&J, grilled cheese or yogurt. I told daycare I've tried all that at home and she just has no interest in eating it. They rave about how well she eats and what she eats. How could this be? DH thinks we may baby her too much. I don't feed her. I let her eat by herself.

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

I truly believe that at daycare it's like a mob mentality or peer pressure.
DD does things at daycare that she would NEVER do at home.
Eats things she would never eat.
Naps (she hasn't napped at home in over a year but takes a nap every day she is at daycare)
I think they see the others doing it and they just go along.
Plus it's more structured then at home.
I swear to you, I credit daycare with potty training her too.
They totally did it for me.
It was great!

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

This is a total perk of daycare. I think its having all of the other kids doing it as well, and they are just used to routines one way at one time and another way at another time. Sometimes I wish I put DD in daycare just to have better routines with her!

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

yup!!! my son will eat his entire lunch (or almost his entire lunch) at preschool every single day.. meanwhile at home i have to fight bites into his mouth lol

Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

Yes! I think kids in general act different in different environments and with different people. Just this morning when I dropped off DS his teacher gave him Kix cereal. And he gobbled it up. I told the teacher I had bought some Kix recently and he wouldn't touch it at home. I think he's highly suspicious of anything I give him, even if it's a cookie he assumes Mommy hid brocolli in it or something lol.

Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

My twins eat great for my mother in law & refuse to eat most days for me. I think they are testing the mommys

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

My kids eat better at daycare as well.

Part of it is peer pressure and part of it is that they know they won't get a different choice if they don't eat what is being served.

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

my ds eats things at daycare he wouldn't ever eat at home... like tacos, fish sticks, and veggies...

its amazing!!

Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

Same as all above. My dd eats better and naps at daycare. At home she is stubborn and only eats some foods. As pp said I think its a mob mentality. Everyone else is doing it so she wants to do it.

Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

I thought they were lying to me lol. I kept saying there was no way. It makes sense that she sees other kids doing all this stuff so she wants to do that too.

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

Posted by NervousNell

I truly believe that at daycare it's like a mob mentality or peer pressure.
DD does things at daycare that she would NEVER do at home.
Eats things she would never eat.
Naps (she hasn't napped at home in over a year but takes a nap every day she is at daycare)
I think they see the others doing it and they just go along.
Plus it's more structured then at home.
I swear to you, I credit daycare with potty training her too.
They totally did it for me.
It was great!

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

My daughter eats better at daycare, and is happy all day long. For me, her eating is really up and down, and she is soooo whiny!

Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

DD eats so much better at daycare than at home. Every meal at home is a fight but at daycare its no problem and she will eat anything!

I will also credit daycare for potty training DD. They did it and I just followed through with it at night and on the weekend. I am so grateful for her daycare.

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

Yep I swear my child only eats on the days he is at his home daycare. At my house I'm lucky if he eats some pasta or rice, he rarely touches protein. At daycare he eats nuggets, roast chicken, hotdogs, etc or basically whatever I send with him. He also refuses to eat for my MIL as well most days so I tend to think it is seeing the other kids eat that inspires him. It is so frustrating!!!

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

This is the reason I don't stress out about what DS2 eats for dinner. He loves everything at daycare and eats whatever they give him for breakfast and lunch. He's impossible when we feed him dinner.

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

Posted by petvet

Yep I swear my child only eats on the days he is at his home daycare. At my house I'm lucky if he eats some pasta or rice, he rarely touches protein. At daycare he eats nuggets, roast chicken, hotdogs, etc or basically whatever I send with him. He also refuses to eat for my MIL as well most days so I tend to think it is seeing the other kids eat that inspires him. It is so frustrating!!!

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

My kids eat better for the babysitter than me. Still not a great variety but more volume.

Re: Does your toddler eat differently at home vs. in daycare?

I feel like my DC is a different child at daycare. They say she eats so much and enjoys it. I believe it's peer pressure lol