5 year old secret eating?!

[Frozenheart]

My lovely 5 year old DD has always been a very good eater ever since she was weaned.
The last couple of months, I have come downstairs to find my fridge and cupboards raided. All of this is being eaten before I wake up in the mornings.
Yesterday, her morning raid consisted of:

6x small petits filos yoghurts, 1x dairylea dunker, 1x apple and 1x satsuma.

This morning, she ate 6x more small yogurts, 1x packet of wotsits and 3x plain tortilla wraps

We always make sure we have filling, healthy meals during the day, but the words ”im still hungry still come out after finishing her meals and when we put her to bed!
In reception class last year, she was weighed and measured and it later came back to us that she is overweight. This wasn’t a surprise to us, as she has always been ahead of ages in clothes for her age. and her dad and I aren’t the slimmest of people!

So my main question is, would any see this as a cause for concern and to contact the gp? Is there anything we could change?

I would ignore all the vile comments about your child being downstairs. You know your own child and whether or not they are safe, mine were always very safe!

But she's not safe if she can go into the kitchen and get into the drawers where the knives are kept and eat that much food without her parents noticing for two hours.

so, 13hrs or so without food.
of course she'll be ravenous and eat whatever she likes, if she can.
it might be better to get up with her so you can supervise her choices.

Just get up and feed your kid a proper breakfast and you’ll probably find she won’t want to snack and binge as much during the day. If she does mention being left unsupervised downstairs for two hours every weekend morning to her teacher it would be considered a safeguarding issue. What if she choked on the fruit you leave out? Or accidentally switches the hob on or picks up a knife? You’re being irresponsible and lazy not getting up with her.

Mine are 7, 5 and 2. Doesn’t matter which one gets up first, either DH or I gets up with them. We take it in turns at weekends so we get a lie in each.
I think if your 5 year old was just watching TV quietly then fine, letting her get up before you wouldn’t be an issue. But she’s not, so it is an issue. The best way to stop her doing what she’s doing is to get up with her and make her a proper breakfast.
My 7 and 5 year olds would be lonely if they were on their own for that amount of time.

But Op you describe her as having eaten
6x small petits filos yoghurts, 1x dairylea dunker, 1x apple and 1x satsuma.
on a friday morning, so before school? So her binge eating is on a school day? Thats why i dont get the thread? How long is she actually left for on a school day?
Also to be fair to you I wonder if there is a reason you and/or her dad cant get up? Are you working nights or something which might make it make more sense?

[quote Frozenheart]@Carboncheque really? DD wakes up between 6am and 7am on weekends, I wake up around 8.30am on weekends, unless it’s a school day.[/quote]
So she’s possibly up for 2.5 hours before you? I’m another one who would be very worried about leaving a 5 year old on her own that long.

Don't know if this will help you but mine eat at 5pm but then have a bit of supper before they go to bed at 7:30. Something savoury - weetabix, a crumpet or toast maybe. It seems to help them sleep better. They still wake up quite early and are ready for their breakfast straight away but not as early as your little girl. I'd supervise her eating too.

Mine also have a snack before bed (they eat dinner at 5pm as they’re ravenous after school). Usually something like cheese and crackers and a glass of milk. They’re not hungry for breakfast as soon as they wake up so it must help.

@hairymorag I never said I find it amusing? Wtf?

You’re feeling attacked and are understandably defensive op.
This is a here and now problem,your child is learning bad habits
Her health is affected She is overweight and unsupervised at weekend 2.5hr. She’s v hungry because you’re not adequately managing her diet

Could it progress to safeguarding?potentially, it certainly is an omission a lack of adequate care. If your child tells school yes I’d expect them to escalate. Safeguarding is initiated when there is an act or an omission that can lead to impairment of children's health or development. Your child health is already impacted she’s overweight. School have told you this

sorry but you can't lie in til 8:30 if your DC up an hour and a half earlier

I am flabbergasted that you need to be told this

I think the pearl clutchers have taken over the thread OP, so just for some balance my son always goes down on his own in the morning for an hour before we get up - he loves it as he gets his tablet/tv in peace without us nagging him about screen time. He's done this since he started school. He's certainly not filling a "me-shaped hole" with food or or feeling neglected, so I would hazard a guess that something else is going on with your daughter.

He goes to bed around 8:00 and normally has his last thing to eat before bed at 7:00 (some sort of cheese, or some strawberries usually with milk) and he generally doesn't have breakfast until 7:30. So I'm thinking that a later snack like toast and milk before bed may help see her through.

I do think it's worth a visit to the GP if she is constantly hungry throughout the day. Leptin resistance can occur in overweight children and you might need support from a dietician to get her on track with weight loss. There are also other conditions like diabetes that can cause extreme hunger. Not to worry you, but best to rule these things out.

I have always got up when my children got up and were ready to go downstairs. I could never have let them go down on their own and fend for themselves that young.

Easy solution to your problem: get up with her, make her a healthy breakfast (lots of good advice here), and stop having processed food in the house, which may benefit all of you. It would be very sad for your 5 year old to develop a weight issue so young. That to me is more neglectful than leaving her while you sleep. I'm sorry I really hope you don't feel everyone posting here is being mean, it's just concern. You have time to turn this around for your daughter, please do.

Yep sorry it’s not okay for her to be unsupervised. You can rearrange her bedtime for later so she gets up later possibly, or have her in your bedroom playing for an hour, or even watching tv, but not on her own. Too accident prone at that age. And getting her own breakfast. You can’t do anything about the eating if you aren’t with her.

@Blufandango

I can't help you with the eating thing but just wanted to say, I was always up alone for at least an hour on a weekend, often longer, from about the age of four (I didn't sleep and was usually up by half four). I just got up and watched TV or read a book. Nothing happened and I've grown up to be a normal human being. You know your child and you know she'll be fine

But she’s not fine, she’s over weight and having to try to find her own breakfast as she’s hungry, by the ops own admission she won’t have eaten for twelve hours or more. She’s forced to fend for herself at five and try to feed herself

[quote Frozenheart]@Carboncheque really? DD wakes up between 6am and 7am on weekends, I wake up around 8.30am on weekends, unless it’s a school day.[/quote]
Is anyone with her during that gap?
5pm is early for dinner. Can you push it back to a bit later?

I think I’m a pretty relaxed parent but would never let DD almost 6 downstairs alone for that length of time. She wakes up and might play in her room for a while if we are lucky but she gets us when she wants to go downstairs and have breakfast. You need to get up with her, feed her breakfast and supervise her. DD is left alone long enough for portions of the day to grab an apple but she would never raid the fridge, you have a supervision issue not a DD issue.

@TartanJumper she goes to bed at 7pm x

At what age do people let their kids downstairs before them?
Once a week my 5 and 7 year old watch tv downstairs from 7-8ish while I stay in bed. I’ve never seen an issue with it. But maybe others d9nt do this until older.

[quote Frozenheart]@Orangejuicemarathoner what, so if my daughter goes to school saying “I go downstairs and watch tv while mummy sleeps” it’ll trigger a safeguarding issue? I know for a fact there are children at her school who actually have safeguarding against their names / social services involved with their families for more serious things than a child being downstairs watching tv while I am asleep, but okay…..[/quote]
I'm getting cross with you now, because you seem to be minimising people's genuine concerns.

YOU SHOULD NOT LEAVE A CHILD UPSUPERVISED FOR HOURS. SOMETHING REALLY BAD COULD HAPPEN TO THEM.

are you getting this at all, from the very many people on this thread who've told you?

@MyDarlingWhatIfYouFly. Curiously advising ignore advice based on op posts and instead pathologise and speculate that it may be illness and not poor parenting. Yes that’s the answer. Any initial consultation will ask about dd pattern & habituation, and when it’s revealed that the child is left alone for 2.5 hours every weekend that’ll pique professional curiosity and probably trigger the safeguarding referral

By all means if after establishing a routine and good diet there are still issues go to gp for consultation . However right now, this needs good habits,adequate diet and supervision

@MyDarlingWhatIfYouFly

I think the pearl clutchers have taken over the thread OP, so just for some balance my son always goes down on his own in the morning for an hour before we get up - he loves it as he gets his tablet/tv in peace without us nagging him about screen time. He's done this since he started school. He's certainly not filling a "me-shaped hole" with food or or feeling neglected, so I would hazard a guess that something else is going on with your daughter.

He goes to bed around 8:00 and normally has his last thing to eat before bed at 7:00 (some sort of cheese, or some strawberries usually with milk) and he generally doesn't have breakfast until 7:30. So I'm thinking that a later snack like toast and milk before bed may help see her through.

I do think it's worth a visit to the GP if she is constantly hungry throughout the day. Leptin resistance can occur in overweight children and you might need support from a dietician to get her on track with weight loss. There are also other conditions like diabetes that can cause extreme hunger. Not to worry you, but best to rule these things out.

Firstly, that’s an hour rather than 2.5 hours. Secondly, just because being on his own for an hour isn’t a problem for him, doesn’t mean it’s not a problem for the OP’s DD. It’s nothing to do with ‘pearl clutching’. The OP has a problem that she’s asked for support with. If a child is overweight and eating vast amounts of food while unsupervised for a large amount of time, surely the easiest thing to implement is to not allow your child to be unsupervised for a large amount of time?

@Whatinthelord

At what age do people let their kids downstairs before them? Once a week my 5 and 7 year old watch tv downstairs from 7-8ish while I stay in bed. I’ve never seen an issue with it. But maybe others d9nt do this until older.

But your children aren't raiding the cupboards. So it's irrelevant. This isn't about your children

@MyDarlingWhatIfYouFly

I think the pearl clutchers have taken over the thread OP, so just for some balance my son always goes down on his own in the morning for an hour before we get up - he loves it as he gets his tablet/tv in peace without us nagging him about screen time. He's done this since he started school. He's certainly not filling a "me-shaped hole" with food or or feeling neglected, so I would hazard a guess that something else is going on with your daughter.

He goes to bed around 8:00 and normally has his last thing to eat before bed at 7:00 (some sort of cheese, or some strawberries usually with milk) and he generally doesn't have breakfast until 7:30. So I'm thinking that a later snack like toast and milk before bed may help see her through.

I do think it's worth a visit to the GP if she is constantly hungry throughout the day. Leptin resistance can occur in overweight children and you might need support from a dietician to get her on track with weight loss. There are also other conditions like diabetes that can cause extreme hunger. Not to worry you, but best to rule these things out.

But your son isn't binging on food.

There's a huge difference in what you describe and what is happening in OP's home.

OP it’s really very simple.

1. Get up with her, whatever time she wakes up, and make her some nutritious food.
2. Give her porridge or similar for supper, just before bed.
3. Feed frequent filling meals in between - she’ll need more than just breakfast lunch and dinner if she’s up so early.

You really need to change your routine, as many others have said, leaving a 5 year old child unaccompanied for up to 2.5 hours is absolutely not acceptable.