Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

9 year old DD - just plain greedy!

255 replies

user1497545304 · 22/10/2018 16:19

Sorry... posting here for traffic Confused

DD has always had a big appetite... but recently she has become unbearable, always eating, throwing tantrums etc.

She’s always been on the ‘fuller’ side of healthy, but recently I’ve been noticing she’s looking quite overweight. I decided to step back and track what she ate yesterday:
2 slices of toast with generous amount of Nutella, a banana and small bowl of shreddies.

2 hours later was rolling about on the floor claiming she was ‘starving’ I gave her an apple. Checked up on her a minute later to see her munching on digestive biscuits from the cupboard! Shock

For lunch she insisted on making herself TWO wraps with lots of ham and cheese inside, a bag of salt and vinegar crisps. Said she was still hungry, I offered her carrot and houmous which she reluctantly accepted.

Mid afternoon... caught her raiding the fridge, getting herself a large chunk of cadbury, and a yoghurt.

Dinner was new potatoes, steamed fish and lots of veg. She ate all of it, demanding more which I gave her, and then proceeded to make herself another bowl of shreddies afterwards.

8pm, screaming she’s hungry, that we’re starving her (!!) she had a tall glass of orange juice and a marmite crumpet.

If you ask me, that’s ridiculous! I try to make her only eat healthy snacks etc, but frankly I sometimes need an easy life. Both DH and I are fit, healthy weight. For some comparison, I, 33 years old ate:

Scrambled egg on toast breakfast.

Apple mid morning.

Salad with falafel & quinoa lunch. Cappuccino.

Greek yoghurt & honey mid afternoon

Same dinner

Chunk of cadbury (less than DD) around 9pm.

Her brother, 11, also has a good appetite, eats less than her.

What do I do ?!

OP posts:
HellonHeels · 22/10/2018 16:23

Stop buying all the crap and junk food?

And stop judging her, you don't sound as if you like her.

Pinkgeorge · 22/10/2018 16:23

Has she got worms?

bellinisurge · 22/10/2018 16:24

Empty your house of biscuits and chocolate. Your dd may have a health issue that I can't identify but other posters may recognise.
Does your dd do any sports?

Aquamarine1029 · 22/10/2018 16:26

Stop allowing her to eat so much, for one. If she gets upset you'll just have to deal with it. It sounds as though any time she kicks off you immediately cave in and give her something to eat. Honestly, she has trained you very well. This all needs to stop. She is NOT starving, that's utterly ridiculous. If you need to send her to bed and she cries and whinges, let her. This horrible pattern must be broken.

As far as what she's eating, why are you buying her Nutella and allowing her to eat so much of it? It is nothing but sugar-loaded, fattening garbage. If she keeps sneaking treats and won't obey you, STOP buying them. She can't eat what isn't there.

The time to get serious is now before her weight really spirals out of control.

HighwayDragon1 · 22/10/2018 16:27

Tell her no?

pinkhorse · 22/10/2018 16:29

How much does she weigh? Is she bored and looking for food to stop the boredom?

Bluntness100 · 22/10/2018 16:30

She's probably due a growth spurt. They often get hungry and a bit of puppy fat then shoot up and you go from having a chubby kid to a verging on skinny one in a matter of weeks.

alligatorsmile · 22/10/2018 16:32

What's your daily diet got to do with it?

And if it bothers you her eating Nutella and biscuits, why have them in the house?

GrumpyOldBlonde · 22/10/2018 16:33

It doesn't sound excessive to me tbh, she's a growing girl heading for puberty and quite probably needs the calories especially if she's an active kind of child. If she is looking heavy then stop buying the biscuits.

alligatorsmile · 22/10/2018 16:33

Maybe she's eating to fill a void e.g. I dunno, feeling like her family are always judging her?

DOTLEYtheONEeyedDINO · 22/10/2018 16:34

Is she eating out of boredom?

MrsAJ27 · 22/10/2018 16:34

Could you perhaps give her more protein? Her breakfast and snacks are full of sugar and won't fill her up for long!

Oysterbabe · 22/10/2018 16:35

That's a whole lot of sugar. I'd be keeping all sugar locked away so she can't help herself. Only healthy snacks allowed.

Iliveinazoo · 22/10/2018 16:36

Op my 10 year old ds is terribly greedy, it actually disgusts me and I feel so embarrassed at times.

Somehow he's a healthy weight probably because he's so active, people just don't understand unless they have a child like this.

I can't have any sweet stuff in the house whatsoever or he eats the lot. If I buy so much as a packet of biccies for visitors he eats the whole packet, he takes them into the garden so that I don't know.

If we have no sweets then he eats slice after slice of bread.

I've asked for advice on here before and all I get told is to feed him scrambled eggs for breakfast - makes not a scrap of difference.

Christmas is he'll because people buy us mountains of food and ds wants to stuff his face night and day.

I've even caught him stealing food from other people houses.

He's not starved he gets 3 good home cooked meals a day, it is just greed. I bought some Nutella once for pancakes, before pancake day ds had dipped his finger in and eaten the whole jar.

I've tried everything I can and spoken to him about healthy eating, if I don't buy any junk food then other people give it to him.

Bluntness100 · 22/10/2018 16:37

I'd also say tread carefully. You don't want to cause an eating disorder.

Plus let's be honest. Steamed fish always leaves you hungry.

Yura · 22/10/2018 16:37

Get rid of all junk food in the house. Her food intake would be ok without nutella, crisps, digestives chocolade and yogurts. keep natural yoghurt and fruit and veg for snacks.

SinkGirl · 22/10/2018 16:37

If this is a recent thing it may be a growth spurt. If she’s always extremely hungry it’s worth a trip to the GP.

I agree that you should stop buying so many snacks and things like Nutella. Limit snacks between meals to fruit and veg if you can.

Timeforabiscuit · 22/10/2018 16:38

Is she thirsty? Bored? Is asking for food a way of getting attention?

Definately clear out the nutella, fruit juice, crisps and chocolate - plain yoghurt in the fridge, get out of the habit of snacking and have side salads and fruit salad available in the fridge.

If she just comes home from school ravenous, it might be better having something substantial but a small portion, like one piece of wholemeal toast and beans, rather than hitting the cereal.

TheViceOfReason · 22/10/2018 16:38

Sounds like classic over consumption of sugar.

If i started my day with 2 slices of toast, a load of nutella, a banana AND shreddies my blood sugars would be all over the place!

Other than her evening meal, the rest of the food is pretty poor. Scrambled eggs on a crumpet for breakfast, a piece of fruit mid-morning, maybe ham and houmous in the wrap for lunch, a boiled egg on the side? Small amount of cheese and crackers mid afternoon.

Dinner is fine - but portion size? Too small? Too much? And no sugar after dinner!

Yura · 22/10/2018 16:38

For background, my husband is like this. if its in the house, he’ll eat it. so we don’t have it in the house which has made MY diet a lot better as well. double win.

ElectricMonkey · 22/10/2018 16:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OpiningGambit · 22/10/2018 16:40

She's too young to be able to toddle off to the shops, so as pp have said simply not having the 'treats' in the house will be enough for a lot of it. And having healthier meals, too.

The way you talk about her is really nasty. Don't think she's not picking up on your attitude! It's a great way to make it even worse and lead to all sorts of issues, especially when it's probably just a growth spurt.

If you think she's overweight then go to the GP.

purplecorkheart · 22/10/2018 16:40

What is her water intake like? Some people mix up the feeling of being thirsty for being hungry.

Believeitornot · 22/10/2018 16:42

The lunch doesn’t sound particularly filling, the breakfast a bit pants but not surprised she’s hungry.

My ds has a bowl of full fat proper yoghurt with granola for breakfast. Then lunch we had homemade pizza (I make the dough and sauce), dinner will be fish and mashed potato and maybe a pudding.

For your dd I would increase more fillings foods eg a decent breakfast with yoghurt or eggs. Same for lunch (wraps and crisps isn’t a huge amount - I’m slim and that would not fill me) and dinner.

But don’t make a big deal about it otherwise you’ll give her food issues. If anything make sure she’s getting a couple of hours of activity a day - be it walking, running about... ditch short car journeys if you can. Also make sure she has enough water!!

Bluntness100 · 22/10/2018 16:42

And exactly it could be a growth spurt. My daughter went through a puppy fat phase up until about 13. . She was quite short at about five foot odds by that age. She then suddenly shot up, whilst her weight stayed static and is now a 21 year old five foot nine size eight. She probably reached her full height by about 15.

If I'd been controlling her food and insinuating she was greedy or over weight I'd likely have had an eating disorder on my hands.