Anyone Have Any Suggestions on Why My 7YO Eats at Night?

My thought is to take the sweets out of the house. If there are none, he can't get to them. He's not going to starve by not having them. If he truly is hungry, he will find other, healthier alternatives.

HI H., here is a plan of action for you to consider:
1) take him to the dr. to make sure he doesn't have low blood sugar. If you give him a sugary/carb treat at night, that could contribute to the low blood sugar, as his blood sugar drops after the surge of sugar, he will feel hunger pangs.
2) Assuming he doesn't have the low blood sugar, he is programming himself to wake up every night and eat. That habit has to be broken. Start a reward chart for him to not get up in the middle of the night, and make the reward worthwhile. If he wakes up, he gets himself back to sleep without leaving his room except for the bathroom.
3) Watch his calorie intake during the day. Is he getting enough to eat? If he is skipping meals, he is making up for it at night.
4) Take the sweets out of the house, as the others have said. Good luck!

I think because you are giving in to him and giving him treats at night - you are reinforcing the habit. You may want to try giving him a glass of milk and letting him know that that is all he will get. Or maybe giving him the treat before he goes to bed and letting him know that because you gave it to him at that time that the next one he will have will be in the morning. Just a suggestion.

The crazy thing is that the later a person eats at night, the more the metabolism gets going. I have noticed that when I skip the nighttime snacks, myself or my kids don't get up for anything during the night. Try it. You'll be surprised. :) Just give a glass of milk at night to keep the blood sugar levels even through the night.

H.,
Hello :) My only thought after reading your request was this... have you looked into the possibility that he may have some sort of sleep disorder? I saw a show on tv once about this (Oprah or some other talk show - I can't quite remember). There are people who wake in the middle of the night and eat without even realizing that they are doing it. It's worth looking into! Hope this helps!

K. :)

Hi H., I agree with Faye. As far as watching the calorie intake, I would also ask him what he eats for lunch. Maybe he doesn't like his lunch at school and is not eating it. Do you forbid sweets during the day? Maybe this is his way of getting them, and a little rebelliun thrown in. Don't talk to him about it at all, just remove all of the sweets from the house, keep leaving out healthy snacks for him, and see what happens.

After a week or two, you will know if he is really hungry because he will start eating the healthy stuff, or you will know that this is a rebelliun thing. After that you will have a better idea of which way to go.

I tend to go for the sweet stuff if I have a choice.

I don't know your son or the extent of the situation, but there is an actual medical condition that causes ppl to get up and eat in the middle of the night. It's worth a mention at the doc.

~L.

get rid of the sweets or put them where he can't reach them, worse turns to worse, hide them so he doesn't know they are even there.

I just saw a show on Oprah about sleep disorders. Oprah had several guests who got up in the middle of the night and made themselves food while they were actually aleep ! They were sleep walking !! Has your son ever been evaluated for a sleep disorder ? I can't tell from your post, but could he be sleep walking ?
Oprah showed video of some of the guests while they made their food. You would have never known they were sleeping !!

I agree with the others - my guess is after a couple nights of getting up and not finding any food to get into, this bad habit will stop fast. Lock it up!

Hi, my 1st thought is blood sugar problems. I have a son who has diabetes + I have LOW sugar. When I was under weight and normal weight I would get up in the middle of the night STARVING. I actually could NOT fall asleep again as my belly HURT with hunger. Sweets were my choice too as they work faster than real food, This was as an adult, so I can imagine it is worse with kids. Milk is a quick sugar form that will do great if he likes milk. I am a bit overweight now and only "at that time of the month " I get the starving feeling. Good luck, J. mom to Vanessa 10 and Mark 16

Have you checked his blood sugar?? It sounds to me like he is actually craving sweets. I DO think it's odd. I would talk to a doctor about some blood-work. I hope this helps

He does it because you let him. I don't mean to be rude, but you're the adults. He does NOT need the food at night. You need to put it away where he can't get to it, and if he finds it, punish him. Eating in the night is not good for his digestive system or his teeth. Especially sweets, but unless its carrot sticks, he's probably going to have damage. It might take a week of him crying all night long, but he's a big boy and he needs to learn to sleep through the night without snacking. Think of how this behavior will be when he's 16, 40...

My guess is that he isn't eating well in the daytime - if indeed he needs the extra calories. He's used to this routine, but if you take it away, he'll wake up pretty hungry in the morning and eat a good breakfast and soon learn to get into gear.

My nephew doesn't like to eat food, he just wants to drink juice and milk, so is getting lots of empty calories and no fiber. Taking away the milk causes him to have a better appetite during meals.

Good luck, i know sometimes its hard to "deny" food to your children, but we have such an obesity crisis in this country and its based on that false guilt. I don't know if that's an issue for your son or not, but this bad habit could easily go in that direction, especially once he's independent and can hit fast food in the middle of the night. You can do this!

Put the snacks/sweets away where he cant get them. They have locks for stuff, unfortunately that may have to happen. We have to hide the snacks/sweets from my BF 13 yo son! I hate doing it but oh well......