how late is too late in the day for chocolate?

[marykat2004]

DD (age 6) has a lot of trouble falling asleep at night.

I have made a decision not to let her have any chocolate after her supper in the evening. This is causing huge tantrums. I am offering yoghurt instead for her "pudding" but no chocolate or gummy bears or anything like that. She is screaming right now as I type this. I don't think I was letting her have chocolate often but now that it is a specific decision she is freaking out.

Is that reasonable? Not to allow chocolate past a certain time? And if so, what time exactly? 2 hours before bed? 3 hours? Does anyone give their children chocolate right before bed, or half an hour before? It seems to me that it can't be helping her sleep.

Thanks

[UniS]

Makes no difference to my lad. He can have a hand full of mini eggs 5 mins before bed and bedtime will be just as normal. Once in bed he stays there and falls asleep in a reasonable time.

[Tee2072]

My son, who is two, is not allowed sweets after about 3. He goes to bed around 7:30.

The one time he had cake after his tea he was up until about 10!

[Hulababy]

Sweets and chocolate make no difference to DD's behaviour, etc.

[marykat2004]

Interesting to hear what different people say. I only just read now that hyperactivity and sugar are not connected?! I always thought they were! DD goes totally nuts when having a lot of sugar. A small amount is ok, but when she goes to a party, she gets hyper, and then won't eat any real food. And after the party has more tantrums demanding more sweets. It frightens me really.

This is not the case today. Today she just wouldn't eat supper and I had to make her plain pasta and by the time she had that I figured it was way too late for chocolate as 'pudding'.

[Tee2072]

There have been many studies showing that sugar doesn't actually make kids hyper. I am not sure I believe them!

You know your daughter. If she's getting enough exercise and such during the day and still not sleeping well I absolutely would stop giving her sugar at night.

[Octaviapink]

What did you read marykat about sugar and hyperactivity? Even fruit juice sends my DD nuts, and I won't give it to her or any children I look after now.

I'd be interested to hear from those who say 'it makes no difference' whether they notice a difference if sweets, chocolate, fizzy drinks and fruit juice are cut out altogether.

[UniS]

no difference at all.
DS age 5 doesn't like fizz, rarely has juice, regularly has full sugar squash and drinks tea.
He has chocolate when its around, not if its not, doesn't bug me for sweets but does like them. So probably 4 out of 7 days he has no sweets.

His behaviour gets worse if he is very tired. He's a pretty active kid but the day after a 20 mile bike ride he will be grumpy. Of if he has been up late ( 1+ hour after normal bedtime) .

[peanutbutterkid]

caffeine in chocolate can keep me awake, so I can totally understand, OP.
I would think no chocolate after 3-4pm, assuming you put to bed 7-8pm. Other sweets okay, just not caffeine for those of us who are stupidly sensitive. I ban any food for DC 1-2 hours before bedtime (shock horror), it makes a noticeable difference.

[Choufleur]

Makes no difference to my DS.

[monkoray]

Octiviapink, this article suggests that there isn't a link. Not saying they are correct, it is just that you asked.
www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52516

[Seona1973]

makes no difference to mine either. I think it's the party that makes kids hyper rather than the sugar. I dont really limit sweets but then again neither of mine pester me for them either. We still have at least 6 eggs left over from Easter!

[WestYorkshirePudding]

Nope, no difference here either.

Mine sometimes have lemonade, crisps or chocolate as a Friday night treat and will still go up to bed as normal. Sometimes you can see them sleepily eating it (not admitting they're desperate to go to sleep) then swallowing the last mouthful and asking to be taken to bed

[Tgger]

Nope, they go to bed fine, although normally they would have pudding with tea at about 5/5.30 latest and then no more before bedtime. They sleep fine after parties/christmas when rather a lot of sugary stuff is consumed.

Yeah, it's the loads of kids, music, STIMULATION, that makes kids hyper, well that's the scientific thinking these days ;-)

[BsshBossh]

Sugar (including chocolate) makes no difference to my DD (3) either. Certainly doesn't make her hyper/act up.

[BsshBossh]

I think it's tiredness, party situations, stubborness ("I don't want to go to bed, waaah waaah waah!") and not enough exercise that make children hyper rather than sweets/cakes/chocolate.

[jellybelly75]

Makes no difference to my 2 (age 7 and 4) either. I agree with Tggr that it is the excitement and stimulation of a party that makes the kids hyper, not what they eat/drink. Even fruit shoots (or any other fruit juices/squashes etc) make no difference to my kids, even tho I know other mums who have banned then as they are convinced they make their kids bounce off the walls!

[marykat2004]

Thank you for all your replies. My internet was down for several days. It is interesting to read the varied responses.

My DD can appear very tired but as soon as 7:30 pm and bed time comes she goes into overdrive. It seems to be even without sugar or chocolate.

She takes HOURS to get to sleep, getting out of bed constantly. I don't want her to get problems around using the toilet so I always let her, but it does seem like she saves her poos for after bedtime so she has an excuse to get up.

Sometimes she is up so late (10 pm last night after being put to bed at 8) that I worry about her at school. She is exhausted when she gets home and slumps in front of the tv or even just lies on the sofa if the tv is off... and then, about 7:30 pm, bang, she goes into overdrive again.

I guess the better thing would be to force her to run around after school so that she is tired at bed time. But sometimes DH has to look after her, and he has a heart condition so he just lies around resting most of the time himself.