Dd8 is starving all the time, even wakes up hungry in the night

[Normalornotidunno]

I have older dc, but none have ever done this.

She is a sporty girl, sports clubs every day, and she eats well, she's pretty much the perfect weight, she is tall though.

The last month or so she is starving all the time, and has taken to getting up at 2/3am telling me she is too hungry to sleep.

She eats well, there's a constant source of fruit and veg and homemade flapjacks that she has access to, I'm even giving her an extra meal not long before bedtime, and it's still not enough.

My older ds went through a hell of a growth spurt at her age (had a consultant to keep an eye on it as the pain was so bad and he was growing so fast) and he's now 6ft 5, and he was a bit hungrier at that point, but with dd it's a whole other level.

She is growing a lot at the minute (the pains are fairly minimal thankfully) but what should I be doing about her appetite? Is this totally outwith the realms of normal?

Threadworms wouldn’t cause an increase in appetite I wouldn’t think.

If she's on school dinners then size of them is pretty questionable, my child was given 3 Quorn dippers as a portion today (with some oven chips and beans). My toddler could easily eat 3 dippers. I would add a spoonful of peanut butter to her porridge, and as others have suggested try to add protein in other areas too , but I'd definitely be getting a check up for her from the GP as well. Hope all is well

It's very carb heavy. Increase her protein - good snacks are yoghurt, babybel, boiled eggs etc.

If there’s any suspicion of diabetes I’d be going to A&E tonight, it can come on very quickly.
But once all medical problems are excluded, if she has eaten once or twice in the night her hormones will start getting ready for food at the same time. If she can get back to sleep despite the hunger a few times she may find it goes away.
If you look at what your blood sugar does overnight, it is normal to be absolutely ravenous if you wake up at the wrong moment, and it is better to go back to sleep if at all possible rather than to disrupt the normal processes by eating.

and at her age... one of mine had trouble sleeping after a school mate told campfire type scary stories...took us ages to figure out as dc was asking for a drink of water in the middle of the night rather than telling us.

I don't think it's to do with her illness a few years back, she got strep A in her lung, and then sepsis off the back of that which triggered her liver starting to shut down, they have been keeping an eye on her and she was signed off last year as her liver had repaired itself almost back to 100% again. She does use inhalers, but that's been since the strep A so not new, that's the only medication she's on.

I have an appointment on Wednesday with the doctor, so I'm going to keep feeding her as I have been until then, I don't want to change anything before she gets checked out.

Assuming all is well then I'll be changing things up, more proteins and less carbs, and I'll change her to more milk, smoothies and protein based milkshakes rather than water and juice.

School dinners are things like mac and cheese, sausages and mash, chicken and rice, fish etc, she definitely eats it all at school, but maybe I'll switch to packed lunch too.

My dad has type 2 diabetes, but that's the only one in my family, and she hasn't been unwell since Xmas when she got covid (only got tested because she was so unwell she was hallucinating), she rarely gets ill actually, before xmas it has been over a year since she even had as much as cold.

Thanks for all the advice. Hopefully she gets checked out and she is just having a growth spurt and eating more.

Definitely more protein I would say.

I'd caution against the food in the bedroom in the night though - horrible choking hazard to have a child eating while half asleep, alone, potentially lying down etc. Not a good idea.

Yes. They can be tiny portions

She needs more fat in her diet to fill her up. A full milk hot choc at bed time, scrambled eggs made with butter on buttered toast for supper - that sort of thing. Often sporty youngsters just burn thru carbs and get hungry v quick - add fat!

Good idea to get her checked out by the GP. Hope all is well and it's just a growth spurt 💐

Christ on a bike at Christmas! My 9yr old eats half that. Less than half sometimes

What exactly is the alternative you think?

@Normalornotidunno I would make a diary of what she eats over a few days/a week before your appointment OP. Otherwise the GP will send you away to do one! Then you'll have to go back yet again

Middle of the night foods - consider lunch box items like snack cheeses that will be fine out overnight and which won't be too bad on the teeth, but high protein. We have a mini fridge in ds5 room - he still has calorie fortified milk overnight (underweight, wont eat enough), but at least we can stay in bed now...

I’d be deworming as pp suggests / whack some ovex into her :)

Many children have developed diabetes after having Covid.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66054946

Oooo do let us know what gp thinks. Good luck xxx

peanut and jam is a good way go to bed .i was 5'7 and i ate everything in sight at 14 , mom gave pjb and ice cream and banana/ am 66 yrs old and i still eat that way protein powder is your friend put in yogurt,milk shake i make a milkshake almost daily lot of fruit but protein is important for a growing body i am 6ft now and still have fight with doctors about not getting over 128 lbs .same dr for years cant understand that my bmi i normal. everyone else is overweight no female is fat in my family
you said you son is very tall/girl dont use nutrition the same way boys do
my boys 6'4 at 16 and them ,dad ate 300dollars a week that was 90s groceries
recieved meal noon at school and pappa had food from food truck so that money was for weekend breakfast and night meal snacks

see what dr says and figure it out from there good luck

10pm and making mac and cheese or will get up in the night.

Threadworms don’t make children hungry all the time. 🙄

She had covid in the last 12 months? Please see the GP about diabetes, there is some evidence that covid can trigger/unmask Type 1 diabetes in some people.

Certainly worth checking out, even if only to eliminate as a possibility.

See for instance:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36950864/#:~:text=Convincing%20evidence%20indicates%20that%20viruses,trigger%20for%20or%20unmask%20T1D.

"Convincing evidence indicates that viruses are associated with T1D development and progression. During the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of hyperglycemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, and new diabetes increased, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 may be a trigger for or unmask T1D. "

Agree - more protein. Cheese, eggs, meat. I give mine peanut butter and milk before bed or a chunk of cheese and an apple. School dinners can be inadequate.

Please keep a very close eye on her until the appointment, a child with suspected T1 is an emergency.

I think more healthy fat and protein. She's eating lots of fruit and carbs by the sound of it. Also make sure she is well hydrated, especially if she is active and sporty.

@Normalornotidunno how did the appointment go yesterday?

Hope all went well yesterday