5 year old always hungry!

I have a 5 year old daughter who is ALWAYS hungry. She drives me crazy! She'll eat supper and then 10 minutes later telling me "I'm hungry!!!" I often answer "Hello hungry! I'm mommy!" We try to laugh at it. I only allow reasonably healthy foods: vegetables, whole wheat sandwiches, fruits, etc. Ever night before bed "I'm hungry" I never give in to that one - I tell her she can have a big breakfast. Go to bed. She often goes to be crying.

I know some of it is that it is her instinctual response to boredom. (Sorry! I have 4 kids - read a book!)

It's not like she's overweight - she is skinny as a rail. She is very tall and the doctor says she is perfectly proportional. (Always the tallest in her class - girls and boys.) But she LOVES sugar and carbs - and I fear the long term consequences if I were to give in to her sugar drive. I rarely (only at bedtime) flatly refuse her food - she can ALWAYS eat raw broccoli and carrots. Even right before supper. I will often allow a banana as well most times. She will most times refuse broccoli and carrots, which she doesn't hate - this makes me think she's not actually hungry.

Have you ever dealt with this?

 

maybe up the protein rich foods and see if it doesn't help. maybe add a stick of lowfat cheese or PB or cream cheese to dip the carrots and veggies in. she probably has a esp. high metabolism and while the carbs fill her up for a little while she probably burns them off quickly, as 5yo tend to be high energy I imagine it is harder for her.

 

I might offer high protein, high fat foods and see if that helps -- scrambled eggs with cheese, peanut butter, meats, etc.

If she's hungry before bed, maybe a glass of milk with some protein powder shaken in? Honestly, I probably wouldn't eat raw broccoli and carrots either, unless I was absolutely starving to death -- and carrots are high on the glycemic index, and go right through you....

We have the opposite problem -- I also have a very tall and skinny girl, but she's NEVER hungry. I could make her favorite food on the planet, and she will take three bites and be full. And, if I try to get breakfast into her before school, she literally gags and throws up -- she is just NOT hungry. So I would love it if she actually told me she was hungry!

 

My oldest is like that. He comes home from school famished (that's when I allow the kids to take a small piece or two from their still-huge Halloween stash) and is often asking for fruits and veggies 30 minutes after that. Last night, I had just finished cleaning up from supper when he told me he was hungry again. He ate well at supper, so I let him have a pear. After that, while doing his homework, he put a ridiculous amount of trail mix in a bowl for himself (I put half of it back!). And then, just like every night, he ate an apple while watching TV for a few minutes before bed. Oh, and he also grabbed a plain piece of bread (??) and a big cup of apple cider somewhere between the trail mix and the apple. The kid is so tall and skinny, you can see his ribs, so I usually let him eat what he wants, unless I think it will spoil his supper. I do allow candy and chips in small quantities, but typically he's asking for filling foods, and they just don't fill him up.

 

Did I write that about my youngest?! He is EXACTLY like what you decribed. I have noticed that his eating is sometimes triggered by boredom or routine (comfort). I am trying to give him good choices and I am also trying to break that pattern.

For example, I will dop off the oldest two at school at 8:30 As soon as he gets in the car heading home he starts "I am hungry" AT first I gave ina nd made breakfast #2 for him. He had just eaten with them 45 minutes earlier but now feels he HAS TO have it. I think that was just routine for him. I have tried to be better about sticking to a time to eat like now when we get home from drop off we play and snack time is at 9: 30am. Sometimes he will be so into things that he will not ask for a snack until 10:30am. So that told me it is not hunger but rather a routine.

I will be curious to hear what others say. I have offered protien rich choices like cheese sticks, yogurt or healthy choices like carrots, raw red peppers, apples and bananas. He is not over weight and he is very active. Food consumes his thoughts many times a day. He is also REALLY into cooking, grocery shopping and restaurants. When we grocery shop he will request a yogurt smoothly as a drink on the way home before his lunch. I often joke with DH and say maybe he will be a chef when he grows up and we can tell him how he LOVED food at an early age - lol

 

My niece is like that, but she has Cystic Fibrosis so my sister feeds, feeds, feeds her. It's a good thing for her. She's tall and lean, but doing very well. You would never ever know she has C.F.

 

What is she wanting to eat? She may be lacking something in her diet that she is trying to make up for, i.e. sugars, protein, carbs, etc. Cody eats me out of the house, an example of his eating: This was yesterday and he was not feeling well... Breakfast: Oatmeal bar; Lunch; peanut/jelly sandwich; snack after the eye dr. appt.(around 3:00): 2 taco's from taco bell and cinn. twists (yes he ate it all); Late dinner because of mid-afternoon snack (around 7PM): 4 - yes I said 4 hotdogs, without buns...... She may also have a very fast metabolism, something to think about if she is eating alot and not gaining a lot of weight! Is she "VERY" active on top of this? If so, she will need to eat more to make up for the calories she is burning.... Hope that this helps.

 

I would up the protein as well. if she's craving carbs/sugar then the protein will help regulate her blood sugar. Feed her some beans.

 

QUOTE(jxnsmama @ Dec 4 2007, 11:36 AM) [snapback]520259[/snapback]
so I usually let him eat what he wants, unless I think it will spoil his supper. I do allow candy and chips in small quantities, but typically he's asking for filling foods, and they just don't fill him up.


This is my girls. They are always asking for something to eat. I just said this past weekend that they were driving me nuts constantly asking for food and it's been going on for months. I do always let them have a bedtime snack. It's either a bowl of cereal or ice cream, but they can only have it if they finish their supper, which they always do. (I don't really worry about them being overweight - everyone in my family and DH's is skinny and my girls are skinny.) I just figure they are going through a growth spurt and plus, they are so active!

 

My almost 8 year old is the same way. She is very tall and very skinny. She love meat though. The child has eaten a 14 oz Sirloin steak by herself at dinner before!! I say up the protein. I also do not allow snacks after 8Pm. I think you are doing things right with the healthy snacks. If she is still eating all her meals I think she is really hungry when she says so.

 

I allow and actually make sure they eat something before bed. Unless we have gone out to eat or had a special treat after dinner (in the summer we sometimes go out for ice cream) then I make sure they eat a yogurt before bed. It is probably more out of habit for us now than anything else but once we were done with bottles we switched to yogurt before bed and have continued this as part of the bedtime routine for 5+ years. I like the idea of knowing they have eaten something before bed (they often times sleep 11-12 hours and I think that is an awfully long time) and have no problem at all with that something being a yogurt. Their bedtime snack is totally unrelated to dinner, they get it no matter how much or what they ate at dinner, two totally different entities.

 

QUOTE(kj2racing @ Dec 4 2007, 08:54 PM) [snapback]520685[/snapback]
I allow and actually make sure they eat something before bed. Unless we have gone out to eat or had a special treat after dinner (in the summer we sometimes go out for ice cream) then I make sure they eat a yogurt before bed. It is probably more out of habit for us now than anything else but once we were done with bottles we switched to yogurt before bed and have continued this as part of the bedtime routine for 5+ years. I like the idea of knowing they have eaten something before bed (they often times sleep 11-12 hours and I think that is an awfully long time) and have no problem at all with that something being a yogurt. Their bedtime snack is totally unrelated to dinner, they get it no matter how much or what they ate at dinner, two totally different entities.



I am very much like this too. My kids can all eat before bed - something good for them of course. If she is eating a well balanced diet, including snacks will not hurt her.

I cannot imagine sending my 6 yr old to bed crying because he is hungry Mine ate a full balanced dinner tonight and then an hour later had 2 (small) mandarin oranges and a banana. He was just plain hungry. Some days they seem to have a hollow leg.

ETA - more comments