If your child is "hungry" at night, should he eat? Some people say that "eating too much" is not good, and some people say that "hungry" can't sleep. After all, if children eat too much food, the spleen and stomach will have to "work overtime" at night, which may lead to unstable sleep; But if you are too hungry, you will have trouble sleeping.
Children are in a stage of rapid growth and development, and their needs for energy and nutrients are relatively high.
On the one hand, if your child eats dinner earlier or less, it can lead to hunger before bedtime.
On the other hand, children are active during the day and consume a lot of energy, and at night, they will also feel hungry if they lack energy.
In addition, it may also be psychological factors at work. For example, some children have a habit of drinking milk or eating small snacks before bed, causing hunger feedback before bedtime.
1. Increase the risk of obesity.
At night, the level of metabolism in the body decreases. Eating at night, especially high-calorie foods, can lead to the conversion of energy into fat storage, increasing the risk of childhood obesity.
2. Increase the burden on the spleen and stomach.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that children have "spleen insufficiency", that is, the spleen and stomach function is not yet perfect, which is easy to cause problems such as spleen and stomach dysfunction. Under normal conditions, the body's spleen and stomach function needs to rest at night, and if you eat at night, it will force the spleen and stomach that have entered a resting state to "start work" again, and it is easy to have uncomfortable symptoms such as indigestion, food accumulation, and constipation.
3. Affect sleep quality.
If your child eats before bedtime, especially if he eats a large amount of food or eats food that is difficult to digest, the spleen and stomach will continue to work and disturb the mind, making it difficult to fall asleep or lie restless at night. Eating at night can also lead to excessive gastric acid secretion, causing stomach pain or heartburn discomfort, causing your child to salivate unconsciously and toss and turn while sleeping.
In fact, many times children are not really hungry at night, but are greedy, and parents have to judge this.
If your child eats a reasonable and balanced dinner, they may just be hungry. If the child is active and does study for a long time after meals, and is really hungry, then parents can provide some healthy snacks, such as a small portion of fruit.
Of course, to deal with children's "bedtime hunger", parents can also try the following methods.
Shangguan News
Editor: Xiang Yanhong