Self Regulation With Food and Sleep - typical for adhd girl?
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Anonymous
| DD is 9 and is considered borderline for adhd. We have noticed she has trouble with self regulation especially with food. She sneaks food and snacks all day long if we let her. I have found entire boxes of chewy granola bars empty in the morning. I just found 8 fruit snacks wrappers (an entire box) behind her bed frame. And found four Reese’s wrappers behind the sofa. Is this typical ADHD behavior? She eats three full meals a day of healthy foods like salmon, avocado, cereal, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon or sausage. But then I will see her sneaking into the pantry eating Luna bars 30 Min after a meal. I’m concerned about this bc it’s not healthy! DH and I are about to put locks on the pantry doors bc she cannot seem to understand moderation. One granola bar is fine but an entire box? She started sneaking food to school (an entire bag of veggie straws went missing one day and she fessed up) and same with an entire bag of cashew nuts. The whole bag! Is this typical behavior? How have others handled? I don’t want to give her body image issues, but this behavior will catch up to her when she hits puberty. Do we lock the pantry? We are not health nuts and have never denied the kids desserts or snacks in moderation, but this is ridiculous. No idea what to do! |
Anonymous
| Maybe she just likes to snack. I have a 15 year old and she’s always been a stacker. She has mild ADD and is on medication. I don’t worry about the snacking as long as she stays physically active. She is an athlete and a good student. I just make sure her diet is balanced but otherwise she can snack on what she likes. |
Anonymous
| Snacker and not stacker. |
Anonymous
|
What does she say? When you ask her about the empty box of granola bars, what is her response?
If she says, “I was hungry,” then you need to look at increasing her meals and making sure she’s drinking enough water. |
Anonymous
| OP here She shrugs and doesn’t have an explanation. Right now I just saw her getting into the ice cream bars. Her third. She just came from a Pizza birthday party so there’s no way she is hungry! |
Anonymous
|
This is not behavior related specifically to ADHD. This is a family food issue. I would set some ground rules about what is a snack and what is dessert. Sit down together and go over it. Make her a part of generating a list of snacks and what an appropriate amount is. Post it on the fridge and include the times. For example, after lunch, but before dinner she can have unlimited fruits and vegetables and/or 2 cheese sticks or one baggie of pretzels...etc. Set rules that eating has to happen at the table. There is no eating in bedrooms or the family room. Only at the table.
Ice cream is not on the list of snacks. But after dinner, she can choose one of the items from the dessert list. |
Anonymous
Look, my kids do not have ADHD and there’s no way I would allow them to eat 3 ice cream bars in the middle of the afternoon. OP, shut that down. Does she get any consequences, ie loss of screen time? |
Anonymous
Op here. She sneaks it all. We certainly don’t approve and dont condone it, which is why I’m trying to get advice! I am not “allowing” This! My other two kids don’t have this issue at all. Tonight I caught her hiding handfuls of stuff again right before bed! I guess we will have to stop buying the desserts or Find somewhere she can’t get to them. It’s the sneaking binging that has me most concerned. |
Anonymous
| Not typical adhd behavior. I think she needs to see a psychologist if you can’t get a handle on the behavior. Let her have a list of things she can eat a lot of (fruit/veggies/cheese/nuts) and maybe portion out appropriate amounts of pretzels and other snack foods. |
Anonymous
| Eating disorder, especially bing eating, highly associated with impulsive ADHD. Vyvanse is prescribed and helpful |
Anonymous
| Both of my kids with ADHD binge eat sweets sometimes, which presents in different ways. I agree it has to do with self-regulation and sleep issues. One of them just eats a lot of sweets during the day, more than most. But it hasn't caused a weight issue and we just continue to stress healthy eating (they eat well at meals). The other one would sneak and binge eat at night and we have had to work with them to stop doing this, more because of the waking up and sneaking around rather than the eating. |
Anonymous
OP here. Thank you! Can you offer any tips on how you have handled it? This is precisely what my daughter does. She sneaks and binge eats at night, and I find all kinds of wrappers and entire snack boxes empty in the morning, usually hidden somewhere. What approaches have worked? Did you lock the pantry? She is ADHD combined, and I was thinking this may be akin to compulsive. |
Anonymous
Thank you for this. Right now my DD is not medicated, but I am concerned about the ADHD/eating disorder connection. Is Vyanese a medical food? |
Anonymous
| Agree that this can be associated with ADHD impulse control problems. It’s a huge problem for us—all the posters that say “allow sweets in moderation and you’ll be fine” have no idea how hard this is. I have no good solution. |
Anonymous
Vyvanse is a stimulant ADHD prescription medication. |