Yesterday I bought a BIG bag of whole wheat mini bagels. After everyone had bkf, there were 8 bagels left. When I got up this morning there were NO bagels. I was mad but decided i would have an open face egg beaters sandwich. NO BREAD. I just bought the loaf yesterday. So at this point I was marching down the hall yelling at the kids for eating all the food. Now this is not the first time I have had problems with them binging at night.

I was curious if any of you have children that have severe binging problems and what can I do about it? I have taken the teenager (who i think is the real culprit) to the doctor about it and all the doc did was send us to a nutritionist. Well my son knows what he should and shouldnt be eating, so i dont need a nutritionist. I need to find out what to do about my teenage sons hollow leg that he must be filling at night.

It has gotten so bad in the past month or so, that i have started locking the fridge at night. If i dont lock it, i end up with NOTHING in it in the morning. Apparently he has outsmarted me and he gets stuff out of the fridge BEFORE i lock it now, in preparation of his binge during the night. I am not kidding. I mean he can clear out a fridge over night leaving nothing but condiments. It may be cruel to lock him out of the fridge, but i honestly cannot afford to keep buying bulk food for it to just disappear over night. i mean he can eat food that was supposed to last a week....he can eat it over night.

My other child is 7 and has ADHD, she is on medication that keeps her from being hungry, a side effect of the Adderal she is on for adhd. But when her meds wear off, she does get hungry. But i hardly think a 7 year old could eat 8 bagels, a tub of whipped cream cheese, a whole loaf of bread, a whole package of roasted turkey meat, and a package of strawberries in one night. That is what disappeared last night. All i found was the strawberry tops and a couple of peices of bread left in HIS room. Which he said "she ate" in his room. They both deny it.

The night before last, someone ate 3 full boxes of cereal. I am not kidding. I bought 3 boxes of cereal to last at least a week, when i got up yesterday morning there was only half of one of the boxes left. I am at my wits end.

Does anyone else have a teen that does this? Or does anyone have ANY advise on what to do?

Please help me. They both eat a normal dinner. So why the night binging? I am going broke and hungry. This is insane. I think i am going to have to lock all the cabinets and the fridge ALL DAY and ALL night. Just nuts. But i cant afford the binging and he doesnt need to gain any more weight. he is already 50 pounds over weight. I am afraid one of them will choke to death too, eating like that with no one around.

Yes, there might be something physically wrong with your son, but you brought him to the doctor and it seems he couldn't find anything. You can always get a second opinion. Have you tried bringing your son to a mental help professional? He son may be binging due to emotional issues or stress. It is probably best to find out the reason.

As for your daughter... my brother-in-law (who is 17) has been on ADHD meds since before I met him (met him when he was 9). He definitely eats more when he is off his meds and has a supressed appetite when he is on them. The only thing I can offer there is to have a sit down talk with your daughter and talk to her about how eating too much food when she is off of her medication can be bad for her health.

I wish you luck!

You said your soon is a teenager...How old?

Maybe he could use someone to teach him how to record his food and watch what he eats? If he records it and the calories then he would see what exactly he is putting into his body. I hate to ask this....but it's so common these days...Is there a possibility he could be smoking pot? This could cause a **** of an appetite in anyone.

I would puts locks on cupboards and fridges...I think it's smart, and then you could keep track of what is eaten and what HE is eating. I don't think it's the daughter. My brother was on that medication when he was younger and he looked like a ghost he was so thin from not being hungry and not eating.

There are so many things it could be. I would get a second opinion from another Doc.

Yes, pot will give you the munchies, for sure! Every pothead I know is either quite overweight or rail thin. I second BabyBrownEyes in the fact that he may be smoking pot.

I also suggest a shrink. He could have some emotional issues tied to his night binges. One of my friends has a brother who does the same thing, and he was diagnosed with a clinical overeating syndrome - basically, he never feels full and has the compulsive need to eat all the time.

ya never know...take him to a shrink enough and he might just get sick of it and admit he's smokin it up. I truely hope that's not the case and I don't mean to joke but this is what I used to do all the time. I'd come home from a friends'...wait till the folks went to bed and raid the fridge and cupboards..it didn't even have to really taste good *such as a loaf of bread*....I just wanted to eat.

My brother also used to do this when he wa living at home and smoking.

Again, good luck finding out what it is. I know none of us ever wants to think our kids could be unhappy

Hey!

You don't need a nutritionist, but your kids do! Take them! This is a bigger problem than you can handle by yourself.

Jay

Hi there,
Is your teenager overweight?
If he does not have a weight problem, some teenage boys can really just pack it in. they have HUGE appetites.

It might not be a binge disorder, he might be eating after you go to bed becasue he knows you are not happy with his "rate of consumption" LOL and he might not want to feel judged.

If I was him, and I was hungry, I would do the same thing (wait until you were out or in bed) ..it might also be that he's a true night owl (like me) and really gets the munchies at night.

I don't think you should have to lock the fridge or the pantry, he will find a way around it as you said and I think it would just make things worse.

Do you allow him snacks during the day? Maybe he feels restricted and is binging because of it. Teenagers ARE growing and need fuel, but definitely not a loaf of carbs. Does he have any male role models who are in good shape? Maybe they can take him to the gym with them and explain how we fuel our bodies if we want them to be strong, etc.

Does your son have a weight problem? I am just asking b/c many of the items (strawberries, turkey, and even the bread/cereal items & cream cheese if you're buying the low-cal versions for your dieting) aren't all that high-calorie, and teenage boys, esp. if they are active, can need a LOT of food. If he's eating what seems to be tons of food, but it's all the sugar-free, fat-free, low-cal stuff, he could simply be HUNGRY.

Hey guys..she quoted above that her son is "50 lbs overweight already"....my guess is she's feeding her son what he needs....but something else is wrong here.

It sounds like he has an eating disorder steamed from some emotional problems. I would take him to a doctor that will refer him a therapist, nutritionist, and possible a physiologist. You said that he don’t need a nutritionist because he knows how to eat but if he is binging like you describe at night then he doesn’t know how to eat.

As for your daughter, I’m willing to be that it is not her that it is actually him. However, if she gets hungry when her meds wear off you might want to consider keeping healthy snacks around and plan for her to have an evening snack (when it sounds like the medicine wears off).

I would tend to think he needs some counseling because of the binge eating and the hiding it. But, as for your question, Yes, I have a 15 yr. old SD that is living with us and she binge eats. She does not hide it, but she definitely feels a need to constantly be eating. It is also causing a great increase in my food bill. So, I can feel for you on that one. Not to the same extent, but since she's been living with us (about a month) she drinks a gallon of skim milk per day. She eats a half loaf of wheat bread a day. She eats 3 bananas at each snack. My DH bought a big box of 100 popsicles for our grandkids. This SD has eaten 75 of them in less than 4 days. She is a little overweight but not obese. She is very atheletic, plays softball, basketball and is on the swim team. She walks 3 miles daily with me. I haven't said or done anything about her eating because I still wonder if she is just greatly Hungry from all the activity she does and the fact that usually all the food in our house is low-fat/low cal. I also think she may be stress-eating due to the change in her home situation and moving from living with her mom to living with us and that this may normalize after a while.

Have you had any big changes in your life lately. Death in the family, divorce, moved or anything like that? Is this NEW for your son to be eating so much? Could he be having a Growth Spurt? Just some things to consider.

I had a concern yesterday when I found several South Beach breakfast bars and 100 calorie snack packs in my 15 yr. old DD's bedroom. I thought she was hiding food. So, I asked her about it. Come to find out, they were food that I had packed in her school lunch bag that she didn't eat and she had never put them back in the panty. I felt relieved. Maybe having a good sit down talk with your son could help.

I hope others will offer some insight with this.

He knows you're dieting, doesn't he?

Maybe he is eating less around you so that you don't say anything. Maybe you don't do this, but he might think you will, so he might be eating less...causing him to get really hungry at night and so he binges because he knows he has to go over the same routine of "acting not-so-hungry" the next day.

Does he eat a lot at meals? I feel your concern....these have been my concerns with having children because my father was Bulimic as a child and I was through some of my teenage years and have struggled with weigh/emotional issues. I'm scared to pass those issues on.

Just my humble opinion -- the more you make a deal out of it, the more he will hide it. Have a chat, set some limitations on what is acceptable at night. I binged from the time I was probably 7 or 8 and struggle with it to this day. Feeling like my parent's/husband were watching what I was eating made me hide more. So, now I'm a "recovering night eater". I swear the minute I hear everyones bedroom door's close at night, my body takes the cue to eat like mad!! And, knowing certain foods are off limits makes the cravings for that unbearable.

I really think counseling would help a lot if he is willing to go. A nutritionist is great if you can control your urges, but not much good when you don't understand why you are eating.

Good luck!!!

I completely understand when you say a nutritionist isn't helpful. Personally, I've ben to more than one nutritionist, but they don't help me AT ALL--if you have a binge eating disorder, it doesn't matter how much information someone spews at you about nutrition or portions or anything. I feel I know almost as much about nutrition as the nutritionists I've been referred to, and yet I still binge frequently.

I don't think knowledge of healthful eating is the problem here. Getting to the WHY of the bingeing should be the primary focus. I really think some sort of counseling might be needed (I think I need the same thing to deal with my binge eating as well). If he is stocking up the food ahead of time (taking it to his room before you lock it up), then he's obviously not just eating out of actual hunger--he's planning to binge. I've done this many times in my life--an insanely unhealthy habit to get into. At already 50 pounds overweight, I truly believe the next step (assuming you've already tried to talk to him about this yourself, but you said he denies it) is a professional counselor, preferably one who specializes in eating disorders.