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 think it ‘s too much unsupervised access to ‘treat’ food for a 5 year old. I’d also worry that she might be searching cupboards for food (climbing up on your counters) and fall.

I’d try swapping out some of the foods for a healthier choice, so out with the Petit filous and in with natural yoghurt. I’d also make sure that she’s drinking enough water. It’s easy, especially for children, to mistake thirst for hunger.

Some children aren’t as good at self limiting food or entertaining themselves as others. You’ve noticed that she’s overweight and you’re dealing with it before it becomes a bigger issue.

Maybe send her to bed with milk or a milkshake so if she gets hungry in the night that will fill her? FYI to the people that will now ready to moan about sugar intake, save it I don’t care

Please don't do this. Regardless of anything else, it will wreak her teeth. The only thing children should be drinking during the night is water.

@Frozenheart

Just a bit more background of her day to day eating for lunch and tea.

Lunch: ham sandwich, yoghurt, apple, fruit pouch, sometimes a dairylea dunker if no bread / ham etc.
Tea: all home cooked meals made by me or DH. Spag Bol, lasagna, chicken curry, meatballs and pasta, roast dinner, fish with veg and baked potato, sausage casserole etc are just some of the meals we may have during the week.
She will then usually have a small pot of jelly for dessert or a banana.

Snacks throughout the day might include (not all in one day) : box of raisins, cheese-string, fruit, fruit pouch, toast cut into squares with butter and jam on.

Hope this helps give an insight now.

Lunch: Cut out the ham and add in something like chicken. Cut out the fruit pouch and add more fruit - maybe a banana. Instead of a dairylee dunker have hummus + breadsticks.

Dinners: Are you getting veg into every single meal, even hidden veg or a bit of cucumber on the side is really important. Try some hidden veg sauces with the meatballs + pasta, or hiding mushrooms in lasagne

Snacks: Yeah these aren't great tbh. Think fruit, popcorn, greek yogurt with frozen berries. I make these AMAZING tofu bites marinade in tomatoey sauce as a snack - easy to make up for the week and healthy with veg included, and great for protein.

@Winemewhynot “poor kid?” Our little girl is so loved beyond belief and so looked after. Please leave me alone on my own post now; you’re clearly a vile person with nothing nice to say about anyone - I pity your children having to live with someone who gives them this view of the world snd to bully others.

@Winemewhynot
Why are you being so bloody horrible? OP came here for help.

My kids used to get up before us and watch cartoons, shoot me now.

What about something like overnight oats in the fridge that she can help herself to, OP? Then when you get up you can make her eggs or something? I’d get rid of the other stuff so she’s not tempted and tell her she’s only allowed what you leave for her.

Instead of focusing on @Winemewhynot please listen to the other posters who are posting with the same sentiment.

You can't leave a child that young unsupervised, hunting for food. Not only is it dangerous (she could choke), you're not fostering good eating habits, all sitting down to a healthy breakfast together at the table Instead she's foraging for junk and carbs.

And you really need to ditch the junk and I say this as a plump-y person! We certainly don't have dairylea, petit fillous or wotsits in the house and would never give them that anyway. And if you're eating all that home cooked stuff then great, but I suspect you're over eating with portions. And that will lead to her still feeling hungry as she's stretching her stomach each meal.

Lead by example. All of you need a health kick might be the excuse so you don't give her a complex?

Op, she could really hurt herself, she might try to use the toaster and stick a knife in it, or thr cooker, she could choke, you cannot leave a five year old for hours and let them get their own meals. It’s so dangerous, shes only five, if something happened to her, which is hugely possible you could be done for neglect unless you lied your way out of it.

[quote Frozenheart]@Winemewhynot lol whatever, you’re vile. Acting like you’ve never done anything wrong as a mother? Alright.[/quote]
I don't think you are hearing what is being said to you

This is serious neglect

This would trigger safeguarding procedures if your child talks about this at school

What makes you think you don't need to feed and supervise your child?

You need to get up give her a good breakfast.

I'm a single parent to 2 boys who are up with the lark. I'm a night owl. They are now 10 and 8 years old but I still hate it. It's something I've never got used to. They're up around 6am most mornings; that's the way they've been since toddler-hood. I just had to get up.

My youngest is an eater. With unsupervised access back at that age, he'd have been in the kitchen getting whatever food he could. But I never let them wander around the house while I lay in bed. I got up and they get a good breakfast.

Usually we have eggs or sausages with toast or pancakes alongside peaches or watermelon. We have a spinach and mangoes smoothie and they are nicely full up until lunch.

She needs a good breakfast. You need to get up when she gets up. You cant lie around in bed.

@Orangejuicemarathoner she is always left out some fruit in the mornings.

No, don’t buy locks. Address the behaviour without locks
You buy all the food,so you need to manage what she eats and what’s in house
As a family go out for walks and increase your activity level

Your DD sounds similar to mine OP, in that she always seems to be hungry!

Can you swap the petit filous for full fat greek yogurt with fresh or frozen fruit? My DD will have this (although she would pick the petit filous if we let her!) and with it being full fat is more satieting for her. I asked for dietary advice for my DD on mumsnet as I was also concerned about her weight and got some brilliant suggestions (along with some not so nice comments)

We also swapped white bread and wraps for wholemeal, banned chocolate spread on toast for breakfast and replaced with porridge, fruit and greek yogurt or scrambled eggs on toast. Snacks are limited to fruit or vegetables only and she normally has one "treat" per day.

We don't struggle with binge eating as DD knows she needs to ask before helping herself to food, but it was something I did as a child and as an adult I still struggle massively with binge eating. I ate the biscuits/yogurts/crisps simply because they were there and I could, I do think you or your DP need to get up when she does so she cannot sneak the food and when she says she is hungry inbetween meals offer fruit/veg or a drink until the next mealtime.

With the binging, all I can suggest having been that child myself is please don't tell your daughter off and make her feel ashamed. My mum did this to me, she noticed I was getting bigger and instead of trying to make healthier changes for the whole family she still bought the same food but just banned me from having any of it, so I started to sneak more and more.

I hope this is in some way helpful, I know how worrying it is to see your child struggle and worry they may end up with weight problems like you do

[quote Frozenheart]@nomoneytreehere is there really any need to add ‘ffs’ st the end of that?[/quote]
Yeah, I think there was.

I can't believe you think it's ok to let a 5 year old roam the house unsupervised for up to 2.5 hours.

@Orangejuicemarathoner also “serious neglect?” Well my goodness….

@TheChild thank you very much for the advice. For sure I will look into the Greek yogs!

It sounds like she has a great tea.

As someone else said, could she have something a bit later to keep her going overnight? I remember my mum giving us a late evening meal, such as pancakes or French toast, or just toast. Does her bedtime allow you to do this?

If the weekend breakfasts are a problem, then once you have staved off hunger from the day before, perhaps make porridge (you can actually make this overnight), or make a cooked breakfast. Proteins will keep her going until lunch.

I would get rid of anything processed, especially those things that are targeted to tug the middle class heart-strings - raisins, fromage frais, fruit pouches. Keep them as a genuine treat, for example, on picnics or road trips.

Good luck, OP.

@Winemewhynot her HV knows she is a much loved child thanks.

I have three kids. Two I need to wake up at 8am, one who gets up way early. He's now 13 but every night when he was younger I would leave a selection of food in a basket. Ie fruit, cereal, brekkie biscuits, fruit juice in cartons etc just in case he got up mega early and was hungry. All I asked was that he left the wrappers so I knew what he ate.
Now he's older he's still an early bird and most of the time I'm up but if I'm not he has porridge pots he can do as well as other basket foods for brekkie.

One thing I've noticed is if mine haven't drunk enough water they always seem to want more to eat.

[quote Frozenheart]@Orangejuicemarathoner also “serious neglect?” Well my goodness….[/quote]
The poster is correct. This little girl is left to get her own meal and unsupervised for hours. That’s neglect op. She’s five. You can’t do that. I can’t believe you even leave fruit out for her and leave her to fend for herself, it’s not ok,

You’re getting good constructive advice on this thread OP. Focus on that instead of one poster who has rubbed you up the wrong way.

There’s nothing wrong with being judged, if what you’re doing is wrong. It IS wrong to let your 5yo start her day by binge eating junk food, alone, while her parents are still wrong. The point of saying this isn’t to make you feel bad. It’s to point out what’s probably obvious to you, but what you’re not taking responsibility for.

Which is what this boils down to. Take responsibility. You’ve been told by third parties your child is overweight. Fix it. She’s your child. Your 5yo wakes earlier than you: get up with her, feed her, don’t ignore her. She’s your responsibility. Don’t deflect onto feeling judged, feeling attacked or whatever.

Just fix this. Plenty of ideas here and on the internet for how.

@Goldbar

Maybe send her to bed with milk or a milkshake so if she gets hungry in the night that will fill her? FYI to the people that will now ready to moan about sugar intake, save it I don’t care

Please don't do this. Regardless of anything else, it will wreak her teeth. The only thing children should be drinking during the night is water.

👍 well when I was kid that was what was given to me as a child and at 29 I’ve never had so much as a filling.

Also ignore the people giving it “don’t post it if you can’t take the backlash”…it’s a totally uncalled for and a reasonable question to ask…being a mum isn’t always the sunshine and rosies people post and there’s nothing wrong with that x

‘Serious neglect’ WOW

Google serious neglect cases and give your head a shake. The situation isn’t ideal but honestly