Are snacks necessary?

Question

Do you really need to feed your toddler snacks everyday?
Katie Ferraro, a registered dietician who specializes in BLW, posted a podcast not along ago about the next steps for babies who turn 12 months. She shared that she has a NO SNACK policy in her home (of 8 children) and that snacking can sabotage a toddler’s diet and lead to negative habits starting at 2+ years old. This has started to make me think.. 
I’ve also been seeing that a large number of Moms serve cow’s milk WITH meals instead of between meals. As milk can be pretty filling, does this not risk the child eating less food - the source of the bulk of their nutrition?  Also, iron is needed for babies and toddlers to thrive. Milk inhibits iron absorption. If milk is being served with EVERY meal, then is there a risk of the child not getting enough iron?
I’m not here to judge as we are all doing what we think is best for our babes. I’m just genuinely curious about what you all think. I have a very small window where my child will eat basically whatever I put in front of her whenever I choose to and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.

Answer

We do healthy snacks, like smaller meals. 2-3 a day. It doesn’t affect their meals. They’re just getting all of their nutrition over the course of the whole day. And they don’t get hungry and cranky. We serve cows milk/a milk alternative at the morning snack time and with dinner. 
This is from healthychildren.org

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Child and family services where I live require daycares to offer breakfast lunch and 2 snacks a day (depending on their hours) for kids that eat table food. Both my kids go to daycare and get healthy foods and appropriate portions for their ages based on the guidelines set in place that the daycare has to follow. When we get home I usually give them something simple like cheese and crackers or yogurt while I get dinner ready. Also depending on the day of the week they may get a small treat after dinner

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We do 3 meals a day and milk usually in between

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We do breakfast with almond milk, snack of a fruit and water around 10 after nap, lunch with almond milk , snack after second nap with water and then dinner and almond milk and then he still gets a bedtime bottle. He’s my fourth kid. All my other kids are healthy and thriving based on this same schedule but they only drink water now and almond with cereal is about it. Milk and dairy arent a thing in our home.

Answer

I always give snacks between meals, but I never give junk food. Snacks for my children are fruits, vegetables, yogurt, and sometimes crackers. My 4 y/o doesn't eat much and he'd probably be okay without snacks during the day, but my 2 y/o and my 1 y/o both demolish every meal, even with having snacks in between. They'd be absolutely starving by meal time if they didn't get healthy snacks in between meal times. 
As for drinking milk, my baby drinks rice milk during breakfast and in bed after dinner. He always eats a ton even drinking his milk along with it. If he drank his milk and didn't eat much food, I would replace the milk with water. 
I don't have much experience with cow milk because it constipated the living hell out of my older two, even just having a glass a day. But before we stopped their milk, it didn't inhibit their appetite and they never tested low for iron during pediatric iron checks, even though I, myself, have always been anemic and am on iron supplements. 
I'm pretty sure a child who already struggles with low iron will probably be told by the pediatrician to avoid milk. Or I would assume so since my doctor tells me to avoid milk (which I don't even like) at the three times a day that I take iron supplements.

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I do snacks between meals and if we happen to do an earlier than usual dinner, I may do a snack before bed...but it’s generally fruit, or a punch, or  something like that.

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We do scheduled snacks (there’s no constantly asking for snacks throughout the day, my oldest is 7 and also a 2 year old), one around 9 and one around 3. And we don’t do milk at all

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Our paediatrician said to wait an hour or so after a meal to offer milk for the same reasons you said. Lowering the risk of anemia by not displacing iron rich food consumption with milk. And also the poor iron absorption with dairy. I’m not sure where you are from but we are from Canada so it could be that the recommendations are just different.
As for snacks, I think you just want to make sure you don’t let baby graze throughout the day.  Personally we don’t do snacks. Not because we chose to but because our girl just isn’t hungry between meals. She eats really well at mealtimes though so I wonder if that would change if we offered snacks between meals 🤷‍♀️. I would for sure talk to your paediatrician  😊

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It’s recommended to give milk with the meals because if you give it to them between meals it will likely fill them up and they won’t have an appetite for their next meal!

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My son doesn’t usually get a snack unless I let him eat something I’m eating. If he doesn’t have a snack, it’s usually a fruit & veggie pouch.  My 2 year old typically only eats one snack a day as well.  I give mine milk with each meal & it hasn’t led to a decrease in how much he eats & hasn’t affected his iron levels.  Honestly, these are questions to maybe bring up with your pediatrician. Each child is different & may require different nutritional needs.  Normally they have bloodwork done when they are one to check their iron & lead levels.