Sneaking Food?

Question

I have a 6yr old that is waking up and taking food from the pantry or off the counter. We have locked the pantry and keep anything food wise put up. He does not take things from the refridgerator only the pantry and its normally sweets such as granola bars, cereal, candy, chips, crackers and so on. I cleaned behind his bed to find over the last couple months a whole grocery bag full of wrappers. We have threatened to lock him in his room, take snacks away and nothing has worked. He lies about taking foods as well. He will take food even after eating a full dinner and getting a 'dessert'. He is 52lbs and is big as most 8 yr olds in height. He has to have elastic taps in his pants to hold them up so he is not over weight and not overally skinny. If its a food he likes he will eat more then my husband and myself will of it. We are at our wits end as the waking at night has now resulted in bed wetting and over tired ADD/ADHD bad behavior.

Answer 1

well my brother does this 13 yrs old. he is not awake though. Its like sleep eating. My mom put bells on his door to wake him up. But I do not recommend locking his door in case of a fire. lock the doors on the pantry if you have them hide the sweet foods. if you pack his lunch only give him a treat if he didnt eat the night before. This is what my mom did and now he doesnt eat

Answer 2

Remove all sugary items (even granola bars are loaded with sugar) and cereals and greasy snacks from the house and get lots of fruit and veggies, whole grain crackers,etc. for him to snack on. Leave it out in view. Don't limit how much he eats, just what he eats and with all the fresh food he gets essential vitamins that will help him to focus better. This will mean that your favorite snacks will not be available to YOU, but sometimes we need to sacrafice what we like to teach others self control. Good luck.

Answer 3

This sounds like something that could require some counseling. Now is the time to find out what the root of this problem is before it gets worse and he becomes overweight!

In the meantime, he can't take what isn't there...

Answer 4

Have there been any major changes in his life? New school, new house, new baby on the way? Is it possible that he is being bullied at school? Usually when a new strange behavior has started unexpectedly, like bed wetting or night bingeing there is an underlying reason like emotional distress. I would hid a baby monitor in his room so that you can hear him if he wakes up. Then walk into the kitchen and see what exactly he is doing. Many people turn to food for comfort so maybe he is having nightmares that wake him up and so in order to comfort himself he goes into the kitchen and eats. I would definately get him in to see a counselor to find out what is bothering him. Based on his daytime eating habits it definately sounds like food is a comfort for him. There is a good chance that something is going on that is really bothering him and causing him to eat like that. You need to find out what that is before you can treat anything else.

Answer 5

He is in the habit of eating these things, and his blood sugar is probably shooting up and crashing each time; when it is low he craves it again. Don't buy this stuff for a while to break his habit. If he is drinking water excessively and/or urinating a lot, he may be hypoglycemic, hyperglycemic, or in the beginning stages of diabetes, which wouldn't help with his cravings.

Answer 6

What I would look into is the amount of sleep he is getting. At 6 he only need 9-11 hours of sleep.

He should also be getting a healthy breakfast, lunch, when he gets home from school a snack, dinner and then a light/healthy snack before bed. Six year olds are hyper/active children. They have a lot of energy and need their meals to be split up.

After reading this again- since you said he lies about taking the food though, maybe it is sleepwalking.. Because you don't remember doing that.. So it would all be put together.. Set up a camera.. like a nanny cam type of thing that you can still see well in the dark.. so you can see his actions..

Answer 7

have you talked to the doctor? some diseases, like diabetes, can cause a ravenous appetite.  is he on any medications? some medications can cause increased appetite, and others (i believe the ones i read about were for insomnia) have actually been linked with "sleep-eating" -- people sleepwalked, ate a lot, and went back to sleep with no memory of it the next day.

start with the pediatrician.  if everything's normal, move on to evaluating whether he's getting the nutrition he needs during the day (not just calories), and then make an agreement to put an apple or something next to his bed in case he wakes up hungry but make sure he knows everything else is off limits till morning.  it's pretty easy to keep candy, chips, crackers, and so on out of the house entirely, and that may help a lot.  if all that's in the kitchen are fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc., it's probably not that big a deal if he eats something ... and also probably not attractive enough to have him sneaking out of bed.  talk to him about health, not weight, so he doesn't become obsessed with weight but does learn about healthy eating.  beyond that, if it's really a repeat behavior, you can discipline him appropriately for leaving his room at night -- remove privileges, etc. -- or just put a bell or something on his doorknob so that you'll hear him wake up and go downstairs.

Answer 8

Have you taken him to a doctor? If he's eating and is still waking up hungry, he could have a medical problem (tapeworm?). Or, try splitting his meals up throughout the day - 5 to 6 smaller meals. He might be waking up as soon as he's done digesting and is too hungry to wait for breakfast. I might not think it's simple "bad" behavior deserving of punishment if he's really hungry - and since he's eating what he takes as opposed to just stashing it - I'd let him have it. Just leave out really filling, nonjunk snacks for the middle of the night - a bagel or peanut butter sandwich - and tell him, "if you wake up at night and are hungry, this is what you can have." Or better, leave it with a small glass of water on his nightstand. Just knowing it's there might let him sleep through the night. As for lying about it, if you hit the roof when you find out he's done it, of course he'll lie. It's kid instinct. "How do I NOT get in trouble here?" Good luck.

Answer 9

Exactly! If he's stealing unhealthy snacks, then you as the PARENT need to stop buying those unhealthy snacks! Would there be such a problem if he was stealing some raisins or an apple?

Answer 10

does he remember doing this? are you sure hes not sleepwalking. i don't think you should lock him in his room.that's scarey. maybe put up a baby gate that he cant get through. what is the main reason you don't want him to eat in the middle of the night? what time do you eat dinner? do you give him a snack right before bed? maybe that would help

what kind of rules do you have when it comes to food? we don't have any in my house. i guess that comes from my grandma and her coming from the south. always cooking and always feeding everybody.

my kids eat whenever they want and whatever they want so i just buy healthy snacks and food. this might just be a stage he is going through. if he isn't over weight then i don't think you have anything to worry about.

i also don't understand how a 6 year old can "steal" food from his own house