7 yr old dd threw up because she had eaten so much food...this was like 2 wks ago. We thought it was because we were moving back to Tennessee from Colorado and dd was stressed. Well, we went to my sister's house and stayed there before we left Colorado and dd went with my sister to a bbq. My sister said that she ate so much food that they had to tell her to stop eating...not just my sister, but her husband, her best friend, and others. Then she went with my sister to her friends house, went into the bathroom and was in there for over a half hour...why...it all came out the other end and everywhere and smelled up the woman's house. It was so bad that my sister's husband sent her into the bathroom to find out what was taking her so long and why she smelled so bad.

After she used the bathroom she ate more. Then came home and was in tears begging me to let her sit with her cousins for the last time together before we moved and have some icecream. She balled that she was starving. Now that we've moved back to Tennessee she is still eating...she is now signed up for Daycamp for the next 6 weeks in which excerises but she is constantly begging me to feed her and she keeps overeating. She ate a whole roll of crackers yesterday and the cheese in the can-(no not nutritious but as a snack I didn't see it as harmful, I am low carbing myself and didn't want to put her on it but I'm thinking about it!!!), I told her she could have 7 crackers...but she ate the whole thing!!! She wants junk food mainly but I don't buy it but she will eat a cucumber just as fast and she is gaining more and more weight. Just in the last few weeks I've seen her change to where she was overweight but didn't look plump, just stocky to looking like a chunky kid. She is starting to sit around alot too even when I've sent her to the playground...she's sitting down. She wants me to give her money so she can eat while she waits for the food truck-(for the daycamp)-to come for lunch and then she says she's starving from the moment I pick her up until she goes to bed.

I keep telling her that she can't keep eating like this and she burst out into tears telling me that she is hungry and I don't believe her. She acts like if she doesn't eat every half an hour she'll kill over and die!

How do I start her on Low Carbing, is it different for kids? What can I do???

Leasmom...wow...you've got a rough road ahead of you. My first suggestion is to get your daughter in to see a pediatrician to rule out any medical problems. Is your daughter also constantly thirsty? Constant hunger, real or imagined, needs to be looked into. If the doctor rules out any obvious medical problems for your daughter's constant hunger, the next step may be to consider counseling. It sounds very much like your daughter may be developing some emotional eating problems (eating to sooth bad/uncomfortable emotions) if there are no physical reasons for her to say that she is constantly hungry. A good counselor can work with her to help her see the difference between eating from hunger and eating out of emotional distress. If she is emotionally stressed, the counselor can help her work on those issues as well. IMHO, you are not going to be able to address the constant hunger/eating until you find out what is causing that hunger/desire.
I have one daughter who has eaten candy on two occasions until it made her vomit (all night one time), but we helped her see the connection between eating too much candy and getting physically sick and she hasn't had the urge to do that since. In her case, she ate so much candy simply because she has a huge "sweet tooth" and didn't have enough sense to know when to stop when she had an unlimited amount available (at a school party both times).
I hope you get to the bottom of what's causing this so that the two of you can begin addressing and working through whatever it is. Good luck to both of you!

she may be just going through a growth spurt- i wouldnt be too hard on her. my son is LCing with me, but where i am at approx 20 carbs a day, he's at like 100-150. i let him eat pretty much all he wants whenever he wants, but just healthy stuff. he eats alot more fruit than me... LC pb&j, which i would never- sf popsicles, etc.

Poor Mom, poor kiddo.

Do you remember your youth when you started to overeat and gain weight? What some of your triggers were? I swear daughters are often clones of Mom and we don't know how to break the mold. I think your instinct is right about the move bothering her-that is a big big deal to a kid.

IMHO, it sounds like a bigger problem than you can deal with on your own. I am sorry you are going through this.

I second Lisa in suggesting that you immediately get a complete physical for your daughter and if there is no physical reason for the hunger, consult a professional counselor. If you can't afford a private one, and don't have insurance that will pay for it, many religious groups offer counseling on a sliding scale and you don't have to be a member of the religion to take advantage of it. Catholic Charities are all over the place and Lutherans, Jews, Quakers, etc. have counseling services as well in many places across the country.

If it were my daughter, I wouldn't try to start her on low carbing without first having a complete physical and consulting with some professionals, unless she is asking to lowcarb. IMHO, getting into a battle with your daughter about food is not a good idea, and forcing her into low carbing when it is not her idea may well turn into a battle. My parents tried to control my eating when I was that age and what I learned was how to sneak around and get food behind their backs. I'm still dealing with the ramifications of that.

Also, and please don't take this the wrong way, look at the title you gave this thread, "This is the last straw." To me, that title seems to imply that you see yourself as fighting against your daughter, rather than working with her. I think you need to find some way to work with your daughter to solve this problem, instead of trying to impose a solution on her. I say that from hard experience -- I fought my oldest child for a long time (not over food, but over other issues) and it took a lot of counseling for me to learn to work with him as a team instead of trying to fight him and mold him to be the way I wanted him to be rather than letting him be himself, faults and all. If you are feeling that way about your daughter, she probably senses it, and that could lead her to be even more stubborn about the eating.

I'll second what Liz said. Parents who get into a battle of wills over food with their children inevitably lose. The two of you need to work together on this instead of being at odds over it. It may even be a good bonding experience since you are both struggling with food and weight issues; you can work on them together and encourage each other.

I'm not trying to battle with her...I said it was the last straw because I am fed up with seeing her overeat not that we argue over her overeating. This was saying this is it for me I have to do something, that's what I meant.

Well..got some apples, some healthy fruit bars-(the oatmeal kind), got some yogurt yesterday so that she can snack on good things. Since we just moved here we don't have a doctor just yet-(only been here a week)-but I'll try and find one as soon as possible. Her old doctor is 35 miles away and we would have to drive there and back. I have to see if he has an opening.

How are things going? Have you been able to talk to her?

I have to agree with those who advocate working with your daughter to help her. When I was a young teen, and was about 30 lbs. overweight, I had an experience that shaped my attitude forever about losing weight. My father, thinking he was encouraging me, told me that he would give me $10 for every pound I lost. From that moment forward, I looked at losing weight as a means to an end. I should want to eat right because it makes me feel good, not because I want to achieve a goal.

The things our parents do when we are kids shape our attitudes for the rest of our lives. Consider how you address this problem carefully.

I agree with all of the above - your daughter needs to see a doctor. I was almost in tears when I read your post - it must be very frustrating for you and your daughter.

I wish you both well. Keep us posted.

Thanks everyone. I talked to her several times but she's still overeating. Her cousins came and for 2 days dd didn't hardly speak because she's an only child and not used to having to share attention. Well, her cousins don't live with their mom, they haven't seen her in a year, and live with their aunt who doesn't treat them fairly, and their dad, my brother, only calls every few months...they haven't seen him in 4 yrs. So, they were needing someone to talk too and they did talk, so dd's way of feeling left out, that they were taking over her mom, and feeling like she wasn't getting enough attention was to sneak a piece of pizza out of the house and I caught her. She did overeat today as well, another day in which she felt she wasn't getting enough attention though all the kids were out playing as I cooked, but for the last week mainly they have had fruit etc. to eat for snacks and so she has eaten two plums, one huge grapefruit, things like that which I'm fine with. I think providing healthy foods has helped with my feeling that she is overeating and out of control because now I see her reaching for healthy foods so I'm not AS worried.

I am still trying to find a doctor for her, dd has two doctors she has to see...there could be two reasons for her weight gain...one could be that she is an emotional eater and the other could be due to her medicine's which may cause her to gain, but so far it seems its emotional.

Please keep us posted!
What about a school councellor? Have you had a chance to speak with them?
Maybe there 's something your not seeing or aware of?

Well, had to take her to the hospital today because of her bipolar disorder. They asked me if she was eating good, I told them that she was overeating and that it seemed to be emotional eating either that or her meds and they said they'll work on it with her so she'll have therapy again...we've tried therapy for the bp disorder but it didn't work, maybe this program will, we'll have to see.

Dd isn't in school right now, she goes back on July 14th, her old school counselor never really saw her. Dd did say that kids were calling her fat this is before she even looked heavy. She tried dieting when she was 6 and 7...I found a note describing her diet plan a few months ago. Most bp kids/adults have eating disorders as well. Her dad who was bp would also stop eating at times and look anorexic.

I'm trying to sort out which reason is creating this problem or trying to determine if its both...sometimes its hard too.

I guess your only choice in teh meantime is to continue to keep the junk away and let her eat her fill of healthy things. It would be really difficult for a growing kid to get into trouble with an array of veggies and fruits, dairy, meat and whole grains. Maybe "not worrying" will take the pressure off and the eating itself will let up. If not, at least she's not eating empty calories.

what kind of meds is she on? It is very common for the psych meds used in treating bp to cause weight gain, especially the new breed of drugs they are trying now on kids (the low doses of anti-psychotics). My son just started on one a couple of months ago and has been eating like crazy, and while I don't keep candy in the house, will binge if he gets his hands on it. There are other meds out there that can work for bp and do not cause weight gain or cravings.

eta: in my opinion and experience (my son is 14 1/2 bp, diagnosed at 5 1/2 for severe bp) therapy can help with behavior modification after the meds are straightened out as it is a biochemical imbalance in the brain that has to be handled first. If you pm me, I have a lot of information and websites I can send you if you want.