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PR: Hunger as a stalling tool?

fancynewbeeslyfancynewbeesly member
in Parenting
So lately my three year old has been saying she is being hungry at the MOST inconvenient times--seriously, heading out to the store (even if she just ate about an hour ago) or to stall nap and bed. As soon as we tell her it is bedtime/naptime: "I am hungry! My tummy is rumbling. It is talking"---I know it is probably typically 3 year old stuff, but I need reassurances. The thing is she DOES eat when she says she is hungry. If we are heading somewhere I'll have her bring a baggie of dry cheerios. When she is stalling at bedtime she gets fruits and veggies (right now it is frozen blueberries and carrot sticks are her things she wants to eat.) I also cut out all distractions while she eats then too. TV goes off. No toys at the table. Eat and bed. 

In some ways, I do think she has a hard time falling asleep if she even has the slightest twinge of hunger. We were out last week at the boardwalk; and she ate dinner at 5pm (and nothing since then). We left, and then she started to say she was hungry (we were 30 minutes away and it was past 9 o'clock). We stopped at McDonalds--she seriously had a the thing of milk and one chicken nugget and fell right asleep. Up until she had food, she was wide awake in the car. 

I am just lost. I want her to eat as do her doctors, I wish it just wasn't at the worst times of the day. 
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Re: PR: Hunger as a stalling tool?

  • Soxgirl07Soxgirl07 member
    My kids eats nothing (healthy anyway) ever. So, when he does pull that kind of shit and then agrees to actually eat what I want him to eat, I'm thrilled. I think the food options you give sound reasonable and as long as she gets to business eating instead of trying to make it into play time, I would keep doing what you're doing. I like the, we're in the way out, here's a bag of something to eat in the car. She gets fed and you can move on with your day.
    I'm obviously biased by my kid's crappy diet.
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  • flyingsaucerflyingsaucer member
    My kids can eat dessert or fruit after dinner, but then the kitchen is closed. I don't want them getting in the habit of having to feel full before going to sleep. But if your DD needs the calories, it sounds like you are giving her good options. Maybe a growth spurt?
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  • katlizabethkatlizabeth member
    My kids love to eat before bed. I also view it as a stalling technique AND they are hungry. I've started asking 20 minutes before its time to get ready for bed if anyone needs any food-last chance for the evening. They always eat, so I'm assuming they're hungry,
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  • BluepointToastedBluepointToasted member
    Since she is willing to eat nutritious things, I say go for it. Could you head her off and offer her the snack 15 minutes before you intend to lay her down/leave the house?
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  • secretsoutsecretsout member
    Mine does this too. Often he won't eat dinner but when I say it's bed time he wants to eat. I just let him eat, but then it's straight to bed. When he does this it's either whatever dinner was or another healthy option.

    He hasn't gained any weight in 6 months though and the doctor was slightly concerned so I pretty much feed him whenever he says he's hungry.


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  • fancynewbeeslyfancynewbeesly member
    BluepointToasted said:
    Since she is willing to eat nutritious things, I say go for it. Could you head her off and offer her the snack 15 minutes before you intend to lay her down/leave the house?
    I do that often. LOL. My brother and his fiancee came over to babysit on Thursday--and right before DH and I left for dinner, I asked if she was hungry; about 7pm. She wanted "cold blueberries"-frozen ones. I gave them to her. I warned my brother that she will pull the I'm hungry crap right before bed. Well, right before bed she tad them she is hungry and wants blueberries. They pointed to her dish and said here you go. 
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  • SuperTreesaSuperTreesa member
    When DD1 was the same age she started the "I'm starving" stalling technique. We gave her a cracker or a carrot in bed. That lasted a couple of months. We ended it when we found the stash of uneaten carrots and crackers under her bed. Now we do a snack before bed. It's usually proportional to what DD1 and 2 ate for dinner. If they barely picked at dinner- snack is something healthy and big. If they ate all their dinner- they get a small sweet snack/treat. DD2 (2yrs) has been trying to use the hunger technique but I'm not falling for it again. On those nights I remind her she can drink water and when she wakes up in the morning she can have a good breakfast.
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  • littlemermaidlittlemermaid member
    I would incorporate in the routine a before bedtime snack like an hour before bedtime, not at bedtime.  So she has an opportunity to fulfill her hunger and not use it as a stalling technique at bedtime.
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  • lifesaverzlifesaverz member
    That's good she's willing to eat healthy options! I think needing to have a little snack before bed is normal (heck I have a snack before bed every night!), so I agree with PPs that I'd just make it part of the routine. I remember when I was little my mom used to let us eat a graham cracker before sleep.
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  • Spin313Spin313 member
    My kids do this, too. Our rule is once you've brushed your teeth, you are done...if you need a snack before bed, you have to do it before teeth time.
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