Why does my ADHD son steal food??? | ADHD Information

My 10 year old son has been stealing food non stop from the pantry.  It happens every morning before anyone wakes up and he denies taking anything until we show him the wrappers etc that we've found.

Most of the time its lunch box fillers that he would normally have for school but because he takes them all our other son misses out sometimes.  He isn't over weight, and eats more than what I do normally so he's also not being underfed.

What would be making him do this?  He is on stimulants (methylphenidate) so I know during the day it suppresses his appetite but he can sometimes get up at 2am, 3am etc just to take the food.

Any help would be much appreciated

We used to have issues with our older son (autistic/ADHD) doing this so we
put a lock on the fridge and we had a slide lock on the pantry door. Well,
he's old (and tall) enough now to know how to undo that one so we put a
doorknob with a lock on the INSIDE of the pantry and keep the key
accessible. He knows where that key is but doesn't have the dexterity to
open it himself.

My only suggestion would be to make sure he's eating a nice big healthy
dinner and then a before bedtime snack.

I hope this helps!Maybe you have to remove the stigma and it will go away. I mean, if he feels like he is welcome to anything he wants to eat at any time, maybe he won't feel compelled to take stuff without asking. If you can, buy two boxes of a snack and write their name on one each with a Sharpee. After he eats his box, he has to be done. Maybe a little more control like that will make him more aware. OR let him take a "morning snack" to bed with him so that it's there when he wakes up.

We use to have this problem with my step-son. What I did, has seemed to work. We bought pretzels and protein bars (low in carbs). They were place on my kitchen island throughout the night. These were his midnight snacks. If he ate something not approved for a midnight snack. He lost his snack money for school the next day. It took about 3 months of persistence, it paid off! Now he rarely snacks at night. Usually only if dinner is too early or something has him emotionally upset. He automatically grabs for the protein bar. It's chocolate and we found one that he likes.

Kids with abnormal food cravings due to food sensitivities/intolerences steal food.  Our son was absolutely obsessed with food non-stop ...the cravings and food stealing disappeared when we discoved his food issues and changed his diet.