Lock the house down?

I have a child strap on my refrigerator because I toddler like to play with the eggs. I personally don’t see a problem with doing so

Maybe she genuinely is still hungry, try a bigger portioned meal for dinner time and allow her to have a snack or two a couple hours before bed

She might be hungry, she might also just want to have a little midnight adventure, maybe adding in some sneaky activities might be fun for her. We used to do “secret” good deeds as brownies in girl scouts and leave little paper signs behind, or secret good deeds for neighbors at Christmas.

Maybe send her to bed with some snack she can eat in the middle of the night? Around that age kids are pretty much constantly eating

i mean it's normal to like a midnight snack as adults so i don't see why kids shouldn't be able to. she could be going through a growth spurt. i don't think putting locks or restrictions on food/fridge/kitchen will do anything besides create a negative association with food + a possible ED in the future. maybe just tell her if she wants a snack in the middle of the night to just ask so you can make her one :)

@Leah I guess my main thing is I don't mind if she eats, but it's the cookies and candy that she sneaks in the middle of the night, and that just makes me worried about her teeth, but now that I think about it you do have a really good point about it creating a negative association with food and I dont want that.

@Lexi this gives me an amazing idea to make a snack box for her that has healthier options in it for her to have with her.

Id say give her healthier options and maybe put the candy type snack up where she can't get then late at night so it's not a temptation. I remember when I was little we had a drawer in pur kitchen that had granola bars fruit snack and a few other healthy snacks that my parents let me and my sisters get into in the night if we woke up hungry also had a bowl on the counter and in the fridge of fruit also

Growing up my mom had a candy drawer that she alarmed. I learned after the first time not to break into it. I understand the sneaking though. I've had a couple who have done that. I did do something similar. I made a fancy decorated box of nothing but healthy treats that they could eat from whenever. It did stop the nightly stealing after a while. Best of luck.

Ah my parents used to put an alarm on the house at night so any movement in the hall or opening of doors downstairs would trigger it.

I used to turn the alarm off, get a chair in the kitchen to get into a high cupboard and eat golden syrup from the tin with a spoon. Then I’d casually put it all away and put the alarm on. Always ensuring I was carrying a glass of water incase I got caught 😂.

all that for golden syrup. Must have been delicious for all that effort. I say Well done. Kids rule. 😂

yeh cuz I loved it and it was a massive treat to have a little when mum baked with it (rarely). It was worth it.

the great thing about being an adult is you can eat it whenever and wherever now. No more sneaking. 😂

when I first had my own place, I used to keep a tin in the cupboard, just for those cravings 😄

you gotta set up an alarm system around it for old times sake. Don't want to lose your ninja skills. 😋