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'm not denying she might also have an eating disorder ..

She’s five! She doesn’t have an eating disorder! She’s tiny and trying to feed herself as she’s been left for twelve or Thirteen hours wirh no food.

Set an alarm for six am , take it in turns with your dh to go downstairs before your dd. Maybe don’t using grinning faces emojis if you don’t find all this amusing. Your child was obese before she started school. Stop buying crap like sugary yogurts and processed cheese. Make nutritious healthy food for the whole family.
Your posts are mostly just excuses.

...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

It would certainly raise an eyebrow.

If something were to happen to your child on a weekend morning during the two and a half hours when you are asleep and neither you nor her father are supervising her, someone might recall her remark about lack of supervision.

Two and a half hours is a long, long time for a child of five, and a kitchen is a treasure trove of dangerous items.

You seem very touchy about this, and have posted in Child Mental health - obv you are convinced you are doing nothing wrong and the problem lies with your child.

I know it seems counterproductive if you are already concerned about her weight OP but supper before bed would help with the hunger and she might sleep later as well.

My Dc always had main meal at 5 and to be honest, as adults we still do, but we all have something in the early evening as well.

Why not try setting your alarm for 6.30/7 tomorrow and get up regardless of whether she is up or not? I know it's a pain getting up early at the weekend but that's part and parcel of having kids tbh.

You might be able to make it later if she starts getting up later and if she stops binging on stuff in the morning you may be able to allow her to be down for a while by herself, but not as long as she is at the moment.

[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]
No. That isn’t what triggers a safeguarding issue.

What triggers a safeguarding issue is ‘I am 5 years old and unsupervised for 2.5 hours in the morning at weekends’.

Yes, that can come out at school. Yes, a teacher would be expected to report that as a safeguarding issue. No, it isn’t Victoria Climbie levels of neglect. Yes, it is still considered ‘child neglect’.

Get up and parent your child.

You and her DF are failing her. You say both you and her dad are overweight, and she already is at five.

As yesterday was Friday, she was obviously also alone for long enough to overeat on a weekday, and again this morning.

You don't let a five year old get up alone and amuse themselves for two hours. At best really shocking parenting. At worst neglect.

OP, this might be the shove you need for you all to make good food choices?

If your DD is not a fussy eater then fill her with plenty of veg and protein and whole foods and I'm sure it will do wonders.

I know its a different age but this is what my 3yr old has and it seems to work well:

6/6.30am- get in bed with me I put on his programme and he has a beaker of milk and an apple

8/8.30am- raisins and weetabix/banana or two peices of toast with peanut butter on and more milk if he wants. If it's a day when I'm not working I'm happy for.him to try a boiler egg etc

12/1- main hot meal. Normally leftovers of something homecooked followed by dessert of a yogurt or jelly.

5- sandwich or a ploughman's type plate - bread sticks cheese tomatoes pickle, or scrambled egg and beans on toast, or omelette etc

6/7- full fat beaker of milk or milkshake

Good luck op. Fingers crossed you get it sorted.

It sounds like your bpd is unmanaged. Go see your gp about this. You don’t NEED to get angry about what strangers on the internet think about you.

I am sorry but I always got up with my children until they were several years older than yours, you need to get up instead of leaving her to her own devices.

Ask for a medication and psychiatric review op, check everything is at its optimal

@RickySpanishhh no I don’t need to. But I do because I care

Also, any good, filling supper ideas I can jot down for next weeks shopping?

Fruit chopped up in Greek yoghurt
Pitta bread & hummus
Home made smoothie and pancake (you can make pancake and store leftovers)

Wow that was a drip feed and a half

@EspressoDoubleShot Would frozen fruit be ok in the Greek yog?

Where I work leaving a 10 year old unsupervised for that long would be a safeguarding issue. A five year old shouldn’t be alone for more than a couple of minutes. Not sure if you mean bipolar or borderline personality by bpd but either way you need more support and your child needs to be supervised.

I'd be very concerned as I'm sure that if a child is overweight, it's totally the parents' fault. Wake up before her and strictly control what she eats in the morning and throughout the day. No sweets ever. Offer her fruit when she says she's hungry.

You sound like you care very much about your daughter.

I'd ditch the cereal/mini packets of cereal.

I'd try breakfasts like egg on toast, beans on toast, etc.

Try to get her getting up later(different techniques you can try). One of you get up with her (think you said you're doing that).

Don't buy those little yoghurts, just buy normal yoghurt (greek or natural or plain yoghurt).

I'd also look at portion size. We kind of get used to what we eat, so if she's having a large tea that could mean her stomach stretches and she gets used to that, so then needs large portions at all meals to satisfy her. The evening meals you listed all sounded good but I guess we can't see the size so we have no idea!

For supper I'd look at things like a small can of baked beans (one of the mini cans) and a piece of toast.

Again, that can vary though - there are pieces of bread that are literally double other pieces of bread. I buy the small warburtons orange loaf.

I think if you have a small supper, get up with her to have a different kind of breakfast and don't buy any more of the snack foods things will really change. Good luck.

Boiled egg mashed in a cup with a Little butter and some granary soldiers
Hovis biscuits with cheese / protein and grapes
Weetabix or porridge
Mashed banana sandwich (nicer than it sounds!)

If you really need the extra sleep you’re going to need to buy a tablet and some good earphones and get used to DD watching screen in bed with you.

Frozen fruit in yoghurt Yes but put it in overnight as it’ll be cold and hard

Toast and nut butter

you can make a mini omelette in a cup in a microwave. Small bit of butter melted in a cup, add an egg beaten with a little milk and seasoning and a little bit of grated cheese or whatever and microwave for a minute or so (as far as I remember).

We used to get a soft boiled egg mashed in a cup with butter and milk

Banana pancakes

sliced banana on toast

small bowl of porridge with soft fruit, lovely with blueberries

Plus a nice cup of milk.

Caring about what hate-filled people like winemewhynot think of you isn’t worth your time and effort. They were just looking for someone to stick the boot into.

Maybe porridge or crumpets for supper. Or peanut butter on a bagel. Or Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit (not a fruit pouch)

I use frozen fruit it’s v cost effective & easy
make your own little yoghurt pots put in fridge overnight
Porridge oats, add milk,add Greek yoghurt ,add frozen fruit

Frozen fruit is fine and it's actually good for cooling porridge if you pop it in still frozen. Weetabix made with hot milk and added fruit is also a good supper or breakfast