Need specific advice regarding sleep and nutrition

[helpmeplease]

I have found that my daughter feels and behaves better when she is sleeping and eating normally. Sometimes though she wants to stay up all night and sleep all day or stay up all night then go to school and by the time she gets home she's a nightmare.

Also, eating is an issue. She wants nothing but junk food. If we have some in the house, she steals it and takes it to her room and I find empty packages later. If I don't have it, she doesn't eat and throws tantrums about me not buying "good" food. I ask her to give me a list of healthful foods that she considers to be good and she can't come up with anything.

Can someone give me some tips on getting a kid to sleep normal hours and also eat healthier? I feel like if I can accomplish these things, then everything else will be easier to handle.

 

[Wiped Out]

I think it is fairly typical teen to want to stay up late and sleep all day at least with my daughter it is. Drives me nuts! I was worried but then I checked with some other parents and it seems fairly typical.

The food sounds more like my difficult child. He does'nt steal food anymore but used to. My daughter is trying to eat healthier right now. She wants things like bananas, honeynut cheerios, whole grain breads, bagels with cream chees (of course, she is trying to gain weight not lose it).

Maybe you could go on line together and get some ideas of things you could both live with?

 

[guest3]

well Bi-polars crave carbs, at least this is what I've been told. I have been removing all junk from the menu over the past 2 weeks, & difficult child II is having some major withdrawel issues. I bought him almonds, he ate the whole can in one day. The other "healthy" snacks he has deemed as disgusting (some of them I agree with him on I must admitt) He is a compulsive snacker and is addicted to sugar. I know sleep is eesential, luckily with the medications he is on, that is never a problem. A small dose of melatonin can help get your daughter to sleep at night. I know my difficult child I is prone to staying up all night then sleeping through school, his diet is less then desirable, but at 16 there's not much I can do about that other then to not buy junk.

Best of luck to you, I know it's a battle

 

[TerryJ2]

Just a thought... I'm hypoglycemic and addicted to carbs... the mood swings can mimic bipolar.

You have to take the junk food completely out of the house and let her go hungry, just like you would do for a dog or cat. Sounds cruel, but when she gets hungry enough, she'll eat!

We are still having problems with-our difficult child, who is allergic to wheat and dairy. It's very, very hard. It means I have to cook a lot more and plan a lot more, neither of which I like to do.
Luckily, we all like Japanese and Chinese foods, which have very little gluten (they use rice products, mostly) but they are high in sugar.
I take it one thing at a time.

At one point, I hated to throw stuff away, so I hid all the crackers and cookies in my ofc and locked the door with-a key. :smile: I finally split the bags--one for me to eat, one to throw away, and one to give to friends. They are all gone now but it was a tough process. (For me, too. I can be a bad girl!) :wink:

It's a "whole family" process. My easy child wants to bring in junk food (ice cream, which I love) and Pop Tarts, but we're trying to hook her on the idea of eating those things on her own, somewhere else. When difficult child is older and more mature, he will be able to cut those things out of his own diet but he's WAY too immature and impulsive at this point.
We have been able to get him completely off of red dyes. For some reason, he's afraid of them... maybe the articles he's seen about cancer.

I also removed the purple and pink Peeps from their Easter baskets. They whined but there was other stuff (Reeses Peanut butter bunnies) so they got enough junk food that day.
In that same vein... generally, if I give them one piece of junk food, another has to go. They cannot have both. They'll pile stuff in the grocery basket at the store and I'll make them choose one but not the whole pile. If they can't choose, the entire cart gets returned. We've had some bad scenes at the store but you really only have to do it once or twice and they know you mean it!
Some days they can't have anything, and especially with-difficult child, I tell him it's because his behavior has been bad and he cannot have any junk food until he cleans up his act.

Good luck!
:warrior: