Eating at Night - Portland,OR

My FIL is a sleep walker... my husband is a sleep walker... his 2 little brothers are sleepwalkers... $20 says our son is a sleep walker! And coincidently, my middle child (from a previous relationship)... is a sleepwalker!

Point is, there's a very good chance, I'd say, of your kiddo possibly picking up the habit. Do you remember when you started doing this? Bring it up next time you're at the pediatrician, and keep track of what happened during the DAY before it happens, see if there's any sort of pattern (like if my daughter goes to bed 30 minutes later than normal, she WILL sleepwalk).

Best wishes :)

I wouldn't stress about it. If it turns out to be a one time thing then forget about it, but if it occurs one or more times, I would bring it to the pediatrician's attention. Other than that, no suggestions sorry!

Well, I suppose being that YOU'RE a night eater, any child of yours would be genetically predisposed towards such behavior as well. Same as all you POSITIVE traits, and I'm sure there are MANY more positives!

But since you're talking about ONE (explainable) incident, why fret? And frankly, even though you do not like this particular behavior of yours, you are still able to have a full, wonderful, substantial life, right?

You can certainly research how to prevent this behavior in your children too. But I'm guessing you already know how. And I'm guessing you understand that it's possible no matter WHAT you do now, they'll grow up to be who they are anyway!

(I do the same thing. I hate it too. It's like I'm stealing food. I've done it my entire life. It's a long story. I don't see it happening with my kids (19, 17, 14), but really, compared to all the psychological defects I COULD have, this one is pretty mild!)

Give yourself a break Jennifer!

:)

The thing I find the most weird is why you would close the door completely to your son's room ? He is in a crib, you should have the door cracked open always. I would never shut the door completely like that, its not good for kids to feel locked in their rooms and unable to get out to their parents like that. He could have an emergency while in his crib and you would never know with the door locked shut. Keep it open.

I don't know much about sleep eating but I do know that a snack in the middle of the night (if unnecessary) will become a habit just like a child who stalls with a drink of water, having to go to the potty 3 times etc has a habit of delaying bedtime.
I know from experience. My oldest boy had woke up hungry in the middle of the night. I took him to the kitchen for crackers and milk and then put him back to bed because he didn't eat a good dinner and I wanted him to sleep well. The next night he came into the bedroom to ask to eat because he was hungry. I took him in and gave him a snack. By the third night I made sure we had a meal he loved and he ate alot for dinner. He came into my room in the night again and said he was hungry. So I knew I had started a bad habit. I told him that he had plenty of dinner and he needed to go back to bed. The following day he didn't eat much for dinner so I had to warn him that there would be no getting out of bed for snacks in the night. He did wander in my room but I tucked him back in.
My point is that even if they are not starving if you do this once they may try to get you to do it again. My advice, if you know he doesn't eat a good dinner, offer him a protein packed snack before bed. I offer a hard boiled egg (I usually have 2-3 in the fridge ready to go), cheese and some fruit, peanut butter toast etc.

Just don't make a habit out of it, only offer when you know he doesn't eat well.

My daughter did this right after she had an immunization shot and continued nightly for about 3 months after. She didn't want to eat, just sleep walked and acted like a zombie. Just a thought in case he had a shot recently. Good luck!

I have had my daughter wake up and be hungry in the middle of the night when she was little. If it is random, like this might be, I would let him have something. They are growing and sometimes it could really be hunger. I would worry more if this was a regular thing. I can understand your worry, since you have this habit. If it starts occurring more regularly, contact his DR.
Try to have a high protein snack before bedtime, like peanut butter toast.
Good luck!