ds complaining hes hungry before bed

[justalilmummy]

Need advice on my son as im stuck as to what to do
Every single night just before he goes to sleep he complains hes hungry, and I dont know whether he is or just doing it to stay awake
Today after school he had a packet of crisps
Dinner was at 5, he had chicken, new potatoes carrots and sweetcorn
Before bed he had a slice of toast and honey
Could he really be hungry, hes got a big appetite but it's the doing it just as I say goodnight that makes me wonder
Hes currently in bed eating rice cakes
I dont know!!! If I make him go to bed and he really is hungry well thats just cruel...but if hes not hes getting what he wants and not going to sleep
Its getting ridiculous it's 9pm and he should be asleep hes got school tomo

Hes now moaning for a drink aaaaaah

We had a phase of this too. It's difficult because they're (probably) just pushing it, but you don't want to send them to bed hungry.

I'd offer something boring (although we did give bananas / wraps), it'll pass.

Well I gave plain rice cakes which he ate with no complaint
Hes now asleep
I'm glad I'm not alone though other people have gone through it
Im gonna stuff him up tomo so he defo cannot be hungry!

How old is he? It could be just delaying tactics, but sometimes children can develop huge appetites when they are gearing up for a growth spurt.

It really could be a growth support, I'm sometimes amazed by how much DD eats.

Could you have dinner a bit later? Honey before bed might cause a sugar crash leaving him feeling hungry shortly after, maybe peanut butter instead?

Well its not always honey it could be a bowl of cereal, breadsticks, Toast and butter etc, we had dinner at 6:30 last night and he still did it
I'll give him a bigger dinner and bigger snack, maybe add some milk see if that helps
I just dont know whether he really is hungry
Just torn as obviously I dont want him to be going to sleep hungry
Hes 4 1/2

When we go to bed we have a story and then usually a little chat about the day, all good then as soon as I give him a kiss and say goodnight he says hes hungry
This is what makes me think it could be a delaying tactic
If it is its bloody working!

I would offer the same thing every night without deviation. Like weetabix.

I agree with savoy. My two boys do this too. I only offer a banana if they plead hunger right before bedtime. They don't mind bananas but wouldn't choose them iyswim. So if they are hungry they will eat one, if just delaying they will refuse and I know it's not hunger.

His tummy will be empty and he probably will therefore feel hungry, but I try to explain to mine that just before bed is simply not an eating time even though our tummies are now getting empty again and even though it might feel nice to eat food. The right thing to do is actually go to sleep and then the next food will be breakfast.

As a formerly overweight inveterate late night snacker this was a habit I had to break in myself - I really needed to learn that feeling a bit empty at bedtime was OK. If your ds knows this basically and is only sometimes hungry then look at whether earlier meals are big enough. But if he doesn't know this and just loves the idea of eating late at night, I'd really try to avoid giving in. Late night eating is not a great habit to get into - it can mess up sleep too, we're not really meant to be digesting food at that time of the night.