Does your child help themselves to food from the refrigerator?

I have a 4 year old boy. For about the last 3 months he has learned how to get in to the food in the refrigerator. He likes to take chesse and butter out of it. SO If you have any good advice about how to keep the kids out of the refrigerator please let me know.I am about ready to put a lock on it lol. He gets 3 meals a day and 2 snacks a day. And most of the time he won't finsh his food but an hour later he is wanting something else.

I have my kids ASK when they want a drink or a snack, this way I can gear them towards what sort of drink or snack would be appropriate at that time. If it is just close to dinner time I tell them to just drink water until dinner. They will occasionally help themselves, but I discourage that because I don't want them to help themselves to something they shouldn't have. During the school year I keep particular foods that are just for school, and I don't want them to have that at home, otherwise I'll have nothing to send to school.

Hello dear beauty queen. My son helps himself to get any food he likes from the fridge ever since he was little. We do not stop him from getting the food he wants for himself. He enjoys complete freedom at home.

My two year old son does this he is always helping himself to food or drink out of the fridge. We are at the moment trying to teach him to ask for things before he helps himself. The only problem is that he trys to pour out his own drinks which usually ends up with the cup overflowing and milk all over the floor. We have tryed to get a fridge lock but can not find one anywhere. We now hide the food as alot of the stuff he takes out the fridge he ends up wasting. Just this past week he has poured out the entire contents of four bottles of juice over the floor when doing himself a drink so we now put the juice up in the cupboard out of his way.

Milk for children is not a bad thing, depending on their age I guess. My daughter is 2 and she still drinks a lot of milk so her appetite although not poor is not overlarge. My daughter recently went through the stage of going in the fridge and helping herself to whatever she fancied, I just told her she was not to go in there without asking. It took a while to get the message through but it got through eventually. You just have to set the rules and she has to follow.

Well I don't have kids but my sister will help herself to foods in the fridge every now and then. She is 7 almost 8. We really don't mind as long as she is eating healthy and don't eat too many sweets and junk food. For the last couple of days she was barely eating anything and both me and my mom tried to get her to eat. We were starting to wonder why she wouldn't eat but then yesterday she ate and ate. I don't know if she just goes in spurts with eating or what. I really doubt she is sneaking food because someone is usually with her or in the kitchen so it would be hard for her to do. Although anything is possible. Also when she wasn't eating we even tried to get her to eat something sweet just to get her to eat and she wouldn't. I think it might have been something to do with my sister being outside and having friends to play with. I have noticed that she will come inside and eat if she wants to go outside and play so sometimes I let her take her food out there but then all of the kids ask her for some of it and are even asking when she doesn't have any food. The kids bring food around her all of the time and hardly ever share. The kids also live in the neighborhood so they can go home and eat. We don't really care if she eats sweets as long as she doesn't eat too many and eats pretty healthy. The other day when she ate and ate she had a couple of oranges. She loves fruits and I am glad she eats them because they are healthy for her. Sometimes she will eat so much fruit that no one will get any. I don't think I would take milk away, I think I would just try talking to her and explaining that milk is good for her but that to drink it in moderation and to make sure she eats real food. At least she is getting something good and not sneaking cakes and cookies all of the time.

We had a rule that my step daughters could not help them selves to what ever they wanted. We had a problem with them stealing food because there father would not let them eat so they horded food when they could. But we had to make the rule to break them of the habit. We would hear the refrigerator door open at night because it was right next to our bedroom and we would take the food away from them and send them back to their bed. Now if they asked for something they usually got it but they were not supposed to just help themselves. Thank good ness they grew out of that.

Oh my youngest did this all the time. He would take food out of the fridge and hide it. A few days later hed open a toy and eat away and yes they went bad. His fav was cheese it was so gross. I had to serch all over every morning if he woke before me to make sure he didnt hide food. He has stopped now all i can tell you is lock it up they have child safety locks for fridges.

Elliott loves getting his own stuff out of the fridge. Every night after he goes to bed, I go through one of the drawers in our fridge, and put one single serving of applesauce, one serving of yogurt, 2 slices of cheese, some carrots, some broccoli, an apple, a nectarine, and a banana. I also make sure there are two cups of water and a cup of milk, with lids and straws in there, right next to the drawer. Elliott knows that if he is hungry, he can have whatever he wants from that drawer, and that the water and milk are his as well. He does know that when I'm in the kitchen cooking, he can only have water, unless I give him permission to grab a snack. He also knows that if he doesn't eat at least 3 bites of each thing on his plate at meal times, the only snack he can have is veggies until the next meal time. It works for us. He loves getting his own snacks, and setting up the way I have it set up, I know he can't have too much of any one thing.

What you might do is get a couple of smaller bottles and put them where she can reach them. Let her know that when those are gone than just for that day she can not have any more milk. Have plenty of juices and drinks there also in the size bottle that is just right for her. Don't take the milk away as you already mentioned that it is important for her. Or what one of my friends did is designated a shelf in the fridge that was just for her daughter. She had all kinds of good food on it including the milk in smaller bottles. That worked for her. Any time her daughter wanted something all she had to do is open the fridge and pick something. My friend even put smaller portions of left overs on the shelf and some fruit. Her little girl loved that she could get her own things and ate quite a bit.

I still have the child safety band on my refrigerator. I had it in the beginning because my son was pulling himself up by the handle as he was learning to walk and would often open the door. Next it became necessary because he liked the bottles of dressing and such that I keep in the door and wanted to play with them. Now it is still there because without it he would be helping himself to slices of individually wrapped American cheese. It won't be long before he figures out how to operate the safety band. Then I'll have to change some of our habits I guess.

My youngest has just leant how to open the fridge, and keeps helping himself to the condiments. We found him eating mustard with a spoon!!! I'm guessing your daughter is a little older that my son, so perhaps you could just make it a rule that she asks before helping herself. That's my rule with my older child, and although I rarely say no it does mean I can keep an eye both on his consumption and on what needs replacing.

hi, BQ.. Maybe you should talk to her if you havent done it yet and tell her that too much milk can make her tummy full and she won't be able to eat other foods that her body needs too.. Explain also that you will let her get her milk but only at proper times..Also say that if she doesn't obey and continue doing that, you will have to put it on a higher shelf.. My eldest knows that he can get whatever he wants in the ref when it's not near proper meal time yet...besides, i keep the treats in a separate container where he can't reach it, so as to prevent any sneaking up when I'm not around or when i'm not looking.. What I put in the ref are fruits, milk, yogurt, healthy cookies etc...The unhealthy ones are hidden somewhere..i give him treats from time to time as rewards..

I have 3 kids and no nanny and I let them do whatever they want (as long as its not bothering me or their siblings, or not hurting themselves) that included helping themselves on the food cabinet. I used to let them open the refrigerator but now with electricity bill are higher I told them not to. They still eat a lot during mealtimes and snacks 3 to 5 times in between.

Try keeping the milk on a higher shelf. My older son helps himself to food from the refrigerator...but I don't mind because he eats healthy. My younger one is too young to open the refrigerator on his own. But his tooth is breaking in too and he had a very bad infection last week. So, he stopped eating and wasn't even drinking milk. But he loves eggs. I scramble two eggs for him every day....but he still pushes me to the refrigerator, makes me open the door and points to the egg tray to make him more eggs. My mother and husband indulged him two days in a row and I didn't too many eggs was good for the baby....however nutritious it is...and so have taken off and now home trying to get back to eating healthy and we have been successful the past two days. I kept the eggs on another shelf and showed him the egg tray was empty when he asked...and he was quiet after that.

I would limit the milk. Yes I would put it on a higher shelf, and I would explain to her that she can have a cup of milk with a meal or a cup of milk with a snack, but not milk all day, whenever she was thirsty. Either way, nobody should be having more than 3 glasses of milk a day. You're right that it fills her up and then she won't eat food - that's the problem with milk. If you're thirsty, have something else, water, juice, crystal light or something like that if you don't like juice. My daughter is four and occasionally she gets into something she shouldn't. For the most part she eats well though, meaning she eats veggies and fruits and finishes what is served for dinner without turning her nose up at it, so I don't mind as much if she has snacks or treats as long as she is eating her meals. I don't let her drink a ton of milk, maybe like I said, 2 or 3 glasses. She normally only has one or maybe two.

First off yes all of my kids tried this at one time. I put a stop to it fast. They now know to ask before getting something because I can't have them filling up on junk or what have you and then not eat their food. Second I would for sure move the milk. It is not only going to keep her full but too much milk can make it hard for the body to absorb iron. Other than that just sit down and talk to her. Find a set of rules that works for your family and stick to them. Kids are smart, if you explain the rules and why they are there then it should help a lot. Good luck.