Question about my daughter's large appetite

[iwrbnd]

My 9 yo is like that exactly. She especially loves the carbs and wants to eat her sisters leftovers. She has always been a "solid girl" (always off the charts for height and weight) but no means overweight even though she wears a size 12 in pants. She is very active and the doctor said as long as her height and weight both were in sync no need to worry. I try not to make a big deal about it because I don't want her to get a complex. I just tell her she's had enough when she asks for a 4th roll. I wouldn't be too concerned, if she doesn't have any other unusual symptoms.

Has she ever said she's full? That's what concerns me about my daughter. I've never witnessed her stop eating on her own. She even licks the plate clean at the table! Who does that?

 

[Liberty Belle]

My seven year old son is like that. Or, he was like that until he was diagnosed with ADHD and put on medication. The medication curbs his appetite. Without it, he's constantly hungry.

I asked his ped. to check his thyroid. He never gave me the exact numbers, but said it was normal. He said he thought it was a simple case of too many calories (but he's very old school and really doesn't try to delve into things). My son is overweight and we try to keep him as physically active as possible. That seems to help curb his appetite a little, too.

And he is an extremely picky eater. He gags and throws up when trying most new food. He has sensory issues, too, which brings me to this idea...you say you have kids on the autism spectrum. Is it possible your DD has Aspergers? Or even just sensory issues? The reason I ask is I've read that not feeling full can be a symptom of Sensory Integration Disorder. We've got a sensory evaluation scheduled for my son.

 

[tiff211]

Has she ever said she's full? That's what concerns me about my daughter. I've never witnessed her stop eating on her own. She even licks the plate clean at the table! Who does that?

hmmm, come to think of it...I don't think I have ever heard her say she's full. I know she always asks for seconds and usually thirds. But I have never been concerned.

 

[buckler]

For the next 2 weeks until your appointment maybe you should keep a diary detailing what your daughter eats, when, her reaction and your response (like you had to cut her off from eating more) and anything else you can think of that might be useful to the doctor. It might show some sort of pattern. Plus it provides more detail than just saying "she eats all the time".

Edited to add: I was looking to see if there is something other than Prader Willi that would explain things (I saw that tv special too). I found a holistic site that mentions things like food allergies causing a food addiction (craving the food you are allergic to) among other ideas. The person that put together the site is not an MD, but maybe keeping a food diary would help if an allergy is causing things.

 

[puffkin]

My son is a really good eater to the envy of all my friends, but nothing like this. It definitely sounds like SOMETHING is up. So glad you were able to get an appointment.

I think the food journal is an excellent idea. I would also do a little experiment each day. Give her a generous serving. If she eats it all and asks for more, give her a glass of water. If she drinks the water and still wants more, give her another small serving. If she asks for more again, give her another glass of water. Repeat. I would stop at 3 servings (getting smaller and smaller each time).

The water will help break up the rhythm of eating and also should fill her up. If confusing hunger and thirst, the water should help that as well.

It will be interesting to see what her results turn out to be. Hang in there

 

[joyah]

hi didn't finish reading all the post but I thought I'd let you all know there is another side of PWS called angelmans. they apperantly are very closely related just 1 comes from the mom genes and PWS is from the Dads genes. i had a second cousin with Angelmans her's was server.

Good luck hopefully it's an easy answer.

 

[Gwendolyn]

My youngest son (3,5) is always hungry too, and he was quite heavy.

Ive put him on a diet since a year and its having good results. His weight is pretty steady and he is getting taller.

This is how he eats now:
7:30 am 1 sandwich with a small amount of butter and 2 slices of ham + carrot
9:30 am 1 appel with skin!
11:30 am 1 sandwich with peanut butter and 3 slices of ham on the side + 150 grams of vegetables (tomato, paprika, carrot, raddish etc.)
2:30 pm a cookie or an appel (depends on whether he is at school or not)
5:00 pm dinner: 100 grams of rice, pasta or potatoes, 75 grams of meat, 100 grams of vegetables.

He is still asking for more food once in a while. But he is gotten used to it. The moment when he is loosing weight instead of having a steady weight, I up his food a tiny bit. Because a child that is growing and learning should loose weight, only stay steady untill its weight is normal.

 

[buckler]

If you decide to keep a food diary, you might try entering the data into the Spark People website. You can print nutrition reports that show calories, protein, fat etc. I don't use the site much, but my husband has.

Spark People

Someone else might have a better suggestion for keeping track of things.

 

[bookgirl]

I have a question about my daughter and wondered if anybody has experienced this. This is long but please hang in there because I would really like some advice!

My daughter is 7 yrs old and has NEVER said she feels full. She will eat until I tell her she's had enough. Somewhere around 18 months the doctor said she was off the charts on her weight and to watch her. I knew she was chubby and liked her food but it was at that moment I started to limit her portions and found she always wanted more. She still is heavier than her peers but not much since I'm so careful and make sure she gets physical exercise. I have also changed how our whole family eats so I don't single her out. I only buy healthy foods and we rarely eat out. When she's away (like a weekend with grandma) I notice she gains enough weight to make her pants not snap. I'm getting really worried about her. Has anyone ever heard of a child that doesn't feel full?

One story to put it in perspective. When she was 2 we went to a baseball party for her brother at a pizza place. Since she cried a lot I let her sit and eat pizza the whole time so I could hear the awards. She ate lots of pizza, way more than me and I was full! I wanted her to walk some of that pizza off so before we even went in the house I tried taking her on a fun walk. She said she didn't want to go because she was hungry! I tried my best to make the walk fun but she cried the entire time because she was hungry! I got home and said "This is not normal!" I keep mentioning it to her doctor but he doesn't seem to have an answer. Sooo I was thinking maybe somebody out there in the internet world has experienced this!

Oh, when she was 5 I took her to an endocrinologist for it and they were super concerned because she had all the symptoms of diabetes. (Changing skin on joints and some other things) but her blood work was normal. I haven't taken her back because the only thing they were concerned about was diabetes. I wanted a full workup like thyroid, hormones or something! I actually don't even know what. Maybe there just isn't anything out there that makes you not feel full.

Any insights? Sorry this is long.

Oh, and being heavy isn't on either side of the family history. I am 5'4" and have been 105 pounds my whole life. My oldest is over 6 ft and 115 lbs...waaaay too thin! (He doesn't feel hungry...could that be related?) But, mostly we're all average weight.

Maybe I should just forget about it and accept that she has a large appetite? What would you do?

You know maybe for a day or two let her eat all she wants and log it in a book. Maybe what you say is a lot isn't registering with Dad or her Doctor. Maybe they need to see it in black and white.

 

[iwrbnd]

My 9 yo is like that exactly. She especially loves the carbs and wants to eat her sisters leftovers. She has always been a "solid girl" (always off the charts for height and weight) but no means overweight even though she wears a size 12 in pants. She is very active and the doctor said as long as her height and weight both were in sync no need to worry. I try not to make a big deal about it because I don't want her to get a complex. I just tell her she's had enough when she asks for a 4th roll. I wouldn't be too concerned, if she doesn't have any other unusual symptoms.

Oops, I answered you and just saw you answered my question!

 

[iwrbnd]

Thank you everybody for all your great input! I think a food diary is a great idea and I'm going to try that link for logging it in! I knew I could count on my disfriends!

You know, the post about sensory integration being the issue really made me think! That may be it especially since 2 of of my other kids had therapy for that. I know my daughter has some sensory issues but since she's doing well in school and the issues aren't interfering with her life I've just ignored it. But, maybe she's not getting the sense that she's full! I never heard of that with sensory issues but it makes sense! I'm going to do some research on that!!! Thanks! And I have thought of aspergers with her but it would be really, really mild...which is what 2 of her brothers are. We say "In the pool of Autism they got splashed"! Which means they have traits but aren't necessarily noticable right away. She maybe got barely splashed. When I compare her to her peers I see some immaturity but when I compare her to a real asperger case she appears normal. Parenting is hard, isn't it? Thanks, again and keep the ideas coming!

 

[Coops1mom]

Oh my gosh, I have been searching the web for the last six months to see if I could find anyone else like my three year old daughter. Something is not right with her appetite. She will eat enormous amounts of food and then will say she's hungry a few minutes afterwards. Her belly gets so distended that she looks disfigured. At parties, instead of playing with the other children, she won't leave the food table.

I am going to start keeping a food journal also - good idea.

 

[golfgal]

When my thyroid was way off one of the things I noticed was never feeling full. Get her back into a doctor, a pediatric endo, and have tests done like mentioned before.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

In the meantime (while you are waiting for the endo appointment, and while you are working out what the matter is with the endo) keep ALL high fructuose corn syrup out of her diet. It has a component that prevents the neurotransmitter in the brain from working to "tell us we are full." So you don't need that garbage complicating things.

There is something definitely, physiologically off with the situation your daughter is experiencing. Push hard for specialists (and it's great that you have an appointment in two weeks) and then push the specialists hard. What you are describing (appetite wise and ability to eat the volume of food she is ingesting) is not within the normal parameters of eating for her age (or anyone's age actually).

Good luck to you and your family.

 

[iwrbnd]

Thanks everybody for your input and also people's personal stories. It makes me feel good that I'm not alone in this. I'll let you all know what the doctor says! In the meantime I'm still open to suggestions and what others are going through that are similiar!

 

[iwrbnd]

We went to the doctor today. He did nothing. He said there were some signs of high insulin (skin pigment changes) but didn't even take blood. Since she looks good on the charts (I'm diligent with what/how much she eats) he's not concerned and thinks it's behavioral and just continue teaching healthy eating habits. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back!

 

[buckler]

We went to the doctor today. He did nothing. He said there were some signs of high insulin (skin pigment changes) but didn't even take blood. Since she looks good on the charts (I'm diligent with what/how much she eats) he's not concerned and thinks it's behavioral and just continue teaching healthy eating habits. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back!

Signs of high insulin and they didn't take blood?

Was this your PCP?

 

[honugirl]

If that was a pediatric endo that didn't draw blood, don't walk, RUN from them. Find someone else. You need to find out why she has high insulin levels. Cortisol issues can affect appetite, cause many body changes, and mess with insulin levels. Good luck!

 

[iwrbnd]

I know. I was surprised they didn't even take blood to check. I went to the best pediatric endo in the area (at Children's hospital) so maybe I'm just bonkers!

 

[IDoDis]

Did you get a weight and height during the doctor's visit? If so, what is her weight and height and percentile on the growth chart? Has her percentile changed much over the year? I understand you are holding back on what she wants to eat, but kids do find a way to take in extra at school -- I see it often. They eat what the other kids don't want to eat at lunch.