I had a similar problem with my son. Then I modified his eating schedule and diet. At first I decided to limit snacks to just 3 cookies each day. In the morning, the first time he asked for one, we’d count them out in a container. He could have them all at once, two or just one, it was his call. When the cookies ran out, that was it until the next day.
This worked pretty good, but I still wondered why he would want to snack. I looked closely at what foods he was eating for breakfast. We started him on cereals, milk and fruit such as a banana. What we didn’t realize was he was basically just eating sugar. The cereal is a carbohydrate and so is the banana. The milk has some fat and protein, but not a lot. I tried an experiment and gave him some egg for breakfast over a week and noticed his desire for snacks (crackers, cookies, etc.) dropped dramatically. After a few months of introducing proteins and fats for breakfast along with carbohydrates his snacking diminished significantly. After a while, he barely even asked for any treats despite us being willing to give them to him.
My theory is that kids grow accustomed to the sugar highs and lows from eating carbs. In fact, do you know of any treats kids ask for that aren’t loaded with sugars? Think of fruit drinks too, cookies and crackers, chips, cereal, cereal bars, etc. They are all loaded with sugar. This puts kids into sugar, sugar, sugar all day long. It also puts them at risk for childhood obesity and also for diabetes later in life.
I’m not a nutritionist but do study diet carefully for my own sake. Changing my eating habits has also helped me last longer between meals. So now instead of just eating toast and cereal (basically the same exact thing), I eat an egg with cheese with cereal, or even a baked potato (in the microwave) with an egg. I’ve also introduced beans into my diet as well and won’t hesitate to eat a “dinner-like meal” for breakfast consisting of left-overs so long as it includes meat. I was talking to a family member who’s undergone a bit weight change for the better, she has dropped carbohydrates from her breakfast menu and has added instead protein shakes. She says it lasts a lot longer to fill her up so she doesn’t feel hungry. It makes sense to me. I’d add that we should be looking at inclusion of fats too.
Many cultures eat much differently than ours and it’s not much of a surprise that when the American diet takes over, these other cultures tend to gain weight fast. Try to explore your diet a bit more and think about the sugar, sugar, sugar you and your baby eat all day long. Try to come up with some alternatives and see if it doesn’t help you.