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Pre-School and Daycare
Pelusa214
member
Does anyone's LO have blood sugar problems?
Pelusa214
member
For months now, my 4 y/o has been having Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, violent tantrums, screaming, uncontrollable crying. Like a 13 year old hormonal girl. She has eczema and the doctors kept telling us it was the eczema bothering her & making her irritible, and others just keep saying "she's a 4-year-old, she throws tantrums", or telling us that she's not handling having a new baby sister well.
We're really consistent with following through, giving consequences, etc., and it's just not helping. Other times, she's as sweet and gentle as anything. It's just not "her" when she acts this way.
Well, DH and I just this week (after months & months) have figured out that if she eats every 2 hours all day long - no tantrums. As soon as 3 hours go by without eating something=giant meltdown.
We are going to talk to the pediatrician about this. I'm worried for when she starts preschool in September and especially when she's in school all day the year after and can't eat every 2 hours.
Has anyone had their LO's blood sugar tested? She's not excessively thirsty or peeing frequently....I don't really think she's diabetic, but she turns into a complete monster within 2.5-3 hours of eating. I'm not sure what the pedi is going to do or say, but without something from a doctor, I don't really see the school allowing her to eat whenever she wants during the school day (preschool, maybe...it's only 4 hours, but not public school)
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Re: Does anyone's LO have blood sugar problems?
Can you post an example of what a day of eating looks like for her?
This sounds so familiar to me. My 4 year old son has to have something to eat most days by the 2.5 hr mark. And he eats a lot!
On a normal day he eats breakfast at 7, snack by 9:30, lunch by 11:30 or 12 and then snack by 2:30. (I try to hold this off until 3 when his brother gets up from nap, but it doesn't always work.)
Dinner by 5:30 and that is sometimes too late. Some days I have to feed him something while I'm cooking. I think he just has a really high metabolism or something because my 1 year old can go longer between snacks/meals than the 4 yr old for sure!
I have to take something in the car for him to eat on the way home from preschool usually or he has a meltdown on the ride home. At 2.5 it was not a problem....seems like this started sometime between 3 and 4 yrs old. But as long as he has something to eat, he's fine. I just try to keep healthy stuff available. I keep fruit chopped up in the fridge along with cheese sticks or slices,yogurt, carrot sticks, etc. Also I give whole wheat crackers with peanut butter spread on them. I try to give a protein with snack a lot of the time to keep him full longer.
He gets some processed stuff like goldfish and graham crackers, but I do try to limit that. It burns off way too quickly and we have meltdowns and tantrums. It is hard some days, but he'll hopefully eventually grow out of it!
Yes, she wasn't like this either until maybe 6-9 months ago. In fact, if I gave her ANY snacks in between meals, she usually wouldn't eat the next meal. For months, I've been beside myself with her behavior, because my sweet, caring child (who definitely could be cheeky at times but overall was a really good kid) suddenly was turning into this disrespectful, nasty, aggressive, sometimes violent, extremely emotional ball of tears and screaming. Because it started around the same time I had the new baby, at first we thought it was that. After a few months, we started thinking it was the eczema the poor thing had developed on her diaper region (even though she doesn't wear diapers) and around her mouth. Then, we started questioning food allergies because of the eczema paired with the behavior. It's been almost a year going around in circles, and only this week have we figured out that if we make her eat something every 2 hours, she stays even-keeled all day.
In fact, if I wait much longer than 2 hours, she will actually REFUSE to eat. That started about 3-4 weeks ago when we sent her to a week of summer camp at the preschool she will be starting next month. Camp was from 9-1. She said they give them a snack, but after the 2nd day, she was hardly eating any of her lunch. I packed her a pb&j sandwich, a 100-calorie cookie pack or an apple, and a cheese stick. By day 3, her lunchbox still had the apple/cookies AND the cheese stick and 1/2 a sandwich, all uneaten. She said they gave them pretzels and apple juice each day for snack.
On a typical day, she has cheerios for breakfast. She used to often have eggs and a Van's waffle, but she has been refusing to eat eggs the past few months. Sometimes she'll have oatmeal with raisins. If she eats oatmeal, she won't eat again until lunch. With cheerios (which is what she ALWAYS wants), she needs a snack before lunch. I've tried to buy a variety of snacks, so I pick from string cheese, banana, apple, almonds, granola bar, yogurt, graham crackers, goldfish, grapes.....
For lunch, for 3 years, she has insisted on a pb&j sandwich every.single.day. She had a milk protein intolerance until age 3, so it was the only way we got protein in her at lunchtime. Sometimes we would give her hummus & pita chips or a tuna sandwich instead. But lately, she's been refusing pb&j (I guess she's tired of it - finally!). So, tuna sandwich, yogurt & 1/2 pb&j, that's pretty much all she'll eat. She gets a snack between lunch & dinner now, but up until recently I wasn't giving her one because she would NEVER eat her dinner. Now with this new issue, she's getting a snack before dinner.
She eats whatever I make for dinner (although she's REALLY pokey and is often eating for a full 30 minutes after we are done, which has become a big issue now with the baby, especially with dinner so close to bedtime/meltdown time for the baby) - I always have some sort of protein, carb and veggie at dinner.
She's never been like this before, so I'm alarmed at the sudden intense mood swings if she doesn't eat every 2 hours. Once she eats something, she's like a completely different kid. The difference is dramatic.
I can handle this at home, but I'm going back to work full-time in a few weeks, and she'll be in preschool 8:45-12:45 three days a week. DH/my mom will be home with her while I'm working & she's not in school, but I just don't think pretzels is going to cut it as a snack. I can always talk to the director & explain & tell her to make sure she eats the snack I send with her. But we have full-day kindergarten in my town. Those kids only have 1 snack and lunch in a 6-7 hour day. I'm a teacher and from experience I really doubt that any teacher is going to let her eat whenever she wants without a doctor's note.
But at least it makes me feel better to see others have the same issues. Maybe she's just growing. I just want to be sure she doesn't have a problem with her blood sugar.
It seems to me that you already see the pattern that has formed. She eats cheerios and is hungry 2 hours later so she needs a snack, then she isn't quite hungry for lunch so she doesn't eat a lot. Because she doesn't eat a lot for lunch, she needs a snack before dinner. Then she slowly picks at her dinner.
There could be more going on with the behavior than just food, but why not start there and see if that is the issue? If it were me, I would not want to support a habit of constant snacking unless it was medically necessary.
I would focus on getting her to eat a good breakfast. I find the better I do at breakfast with my girls, the better the rest of the day goes. Getting plenty of protein and healthy fat and keeping the carbs/sugar on the lower side will help keep her blood sugar even in the morning. I know you said she has been refusing eggs, but have you tried preparing them differently? Fried vs scrambled vs hardboiled? quiche or scrambled topped with cheese? I also make protein waffles or pancakes sometimes (you can google/pinterest different recipes). Sausage or bacon with some fruit would be good too. If you do oatmeal, add extra or butter or cream and maybe mix in some whey powder or peanut butter for protein. I wouldn't recommend just having a smoothie for breakfast, but it is a good way to get in some extra calories (I use canned coconut in mine) and sneak in some veggies (add kale or spinach). Would she eat dinner leftovers?
Just another thought, if it really is something else (like the new baby), she will probably have great days at preschool regardless of what she eats
Thanks for these, I was just telling DH today that we will have to be careful with DS' lunches this year since he will be going to Kindergarten in the afternoon.
Just to let you know. Our pedi does say that most preschoolers need 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. We're encouraged to give a lite morning snack and an afternoon snack as well. Just make sure it's healthy and you'll be fine.
Kids go through so many phases. And so many preschoolers cannot sit still for long to eat a lot. They also are growing and burning food off so quickly. I'd just feed her and eventually it will change. She'll adapt to school fine. Things always go differently away from home anyhow! Sometimes I think my son saves all his best behavior for his teacher and all the not so fun stuff for home!