Ideas on sneaking calories into SS10's diet?
SS just had his yearly physical and he is too skinny again. He has always had issues with eating and now has to be on a medication that suppresses his appitite. He's not malnourished, but the Dr want us to try and get another 8-10 pound on him.
I already (for the past year) try to give him a bigger portion at meals, I add butter to his plate only, and I try and buy foods that he likes more than sd.
The reason I have to say "sneak" him calories is because of sd. She has the opposite issue. She is a glutton for food. Her natural tendancy is to be overweight, rather than his tendency to be underweight. I have to work really hard to keep her calorie consumption at appropriate levels. So its really hard to maximize his calorie intake, while trying to restrict hers..... All under the radar. She is currently at in the "normal" range for her height, but just barely.
SS is now drinking a boost plus every night before bed, but I need more ideas on how to get him to gain weight. It can't just be 'let him eat more junk food's though, cause sd will run wild with that, and it will just make it harder to get SS to eat his meals. They are super competitive (esp sd) about things being fair, that I can't just let ss eat extra snacks and say no to SD.
Pick calorie dense foods for
Pick calorie dense foods for SS. Give him all whole milk dairy products. Peanut and other nut butters on his sandwiches. For snacks, nuts. Avocados. Cheese. Dried fruit. Drinking more whole milk and juice instead of water. Mashed potatoes with cream and butter. Fruit smoothies mad with ice cream (or whole milk yogurt).
If you are making grilled pork chops the rest of the family, fry SS's in oil or butter. If you are making baked fish, fry or bake SS's in butter.
There are ways to do this without buying a bunch of junk foods. The trans fats in those junk foods are terrible for you. There are ways to do this that emphasize whole foods and natural fats, which are much better for you. Try some of these ideas, look at some resources online, and, if you are still having trouble, ask your pedi for a referral to a nutritionist.
Do you cook? Maybe you can
Do you cook? Maybe you can make things differently for each child? A healthy version for the SD and a full fat version for SS. Im sure SD wouldn't know the difference if something like a brownie looked the same except hers is made from yogurt, like the no pudge brownies for example. Also, when making there lunches for school, make you SS a bigger portion and her's less, if they don't have lunch together SD wont know. Could you just explain to SD that she is healthy but her brother needs to put on some weight in order to be healthy too?
I do cook. But I don't really
I do cook. But I don't really bake anymore. More often than not ss would turn down the offer of a brownie all together, but once Ive.made the offer to him, I can't really tell her "oh well your brother didn't eat it, so now you can't have yours either."
I cook very healthily, my dhs family has a lot of weight and health issues (diabetes, high blood pressure ect) I work really hard to instill good habits into the kids.
It's so weird that he's like this... Both his dad and his biomom have weight issues (bm is actually morbidly obese), and his three half siblings (minus my bioson) all have weight issues too..... and somehow he came out as the stringbean.
Did you ever stop to think
Did you ever stop to think that maybe he's afraid of getting fat? He may be refusing food to avoid ending up like all the other people in his life. Is he super hyper? If he's not and he's just very thin, he's probably either starving on purpose (anorexia) or he has an underlying issue like a thyroid problem.
I don't think that's the
I don't think that's the case. We have had these eating issues with him long before he would have been old enough to pick up on fat (bad) vs skinny (good) and which foods are fattening vs which are low calorie.
As early as 3, when I met him, he been a very light eater. We were taking him to a nutritionist by 4. She found nothing physically wrong with him or the variety of what he ate and said to just keep encouraging him to eat.
At 3-6 years old he'd go through periods where if you left it up to him he would eat two bites of food a day. I can't imagine that at 3 yrs old, he had a concept of not wanting to be fat, and having the will power to not eat. He just wasn't hungry.
But in more general terms, we don't ever talk about fat/skinny in our house. We just talk about healthy choices. We have never once mentioned sd's weight problems to her, or told her she couldn't eat something because it was fattening.... I just regulate it all "behind the scenes" so that no one gets self conscious or fixated on weight.
Well, then maybe you should
Well, then maybe you should stock up on that heavy cream! That stuff will pack it on like nothing else. Or maybe get him in the kitchen cooking with you? Does he have any food aversions?
My nephew has had severe aversions to some foods since he was two. He would eat something and then just throw up. He is still so skinny. At 25 years old and six foot three, he's barely 165.
I'm going to try the heavy
I'm going to try the heavy cream.....ill make his oatmeal with it instead of with milk not sure what else I could sneak it into though..... I'll have to think on that.
He seemed to have food aversions when he was smaller, but he will eat pretty much anyhting now. It's more of a quantity problem. He only eats certain things because he knows he has to.... And he only eats as much as he does because he knows is has to. But other than spicy foods, he will eat whatever I put on his plate.
So I am pretty sure about 75% of his lunch goes in the garbage at school. And I can only "make" him eat so much at each meal. So I need to make every bite count calorie-wise
I used to buy whole milk for
I used to buy whole milk for him, and 1% for the rest of the family, but ss would consistantly pick the lower fat milk, and SD would gorge on the whole milk.... No matter what I said to either of them. I was driving me so insane that I just buy 2% for everyone now.
The battling diets of the two of them is really the problem. He chooses healthy things, and she chooses the unhealthy. Given the choice, he would eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast, where she would eat eggs, and a pound of bacon. She chooses candy for dessert, and he chooses an Orange.
I can't exactly force him to eat a snack he doesn't want, and then say no to his sister who actually wants it.
Since the girl is overweight
Since the girl is overweight and constantly comparing herself to brother, is there a sports activity she could join every day? Getting her out of the house and active MIT solve some of the problem.
Also, I don't think there's a way to introduce the foods the boy needs to eat to gain a significant amount of weight and not have the girl notice and/or be upset that she cannot eat the same.
I speak from the experience of I needed to gain weight when I was a kid, and no matter how sneaky my mom was about it, my sister always noticed. I think getting her out of the house and less fixated on me and food was about the only thing my parents could have done...and even that would not have worked 100%
They both go to the same
They both go to the same after school program, which does sports/ outdoor activities after school. So its not a matter of her being lazy.... It's her fixation on food (every single one of Dh's relatives are obese, so I think it is genetic). I know she sneaks junk food at school, and eats all her friends leftovers. There have been times where I left her eat what she wants (like a party for example), and she will literally eat her self sick, to the point of vomitting, andthen go right back to the dessert table to keep eating.
It's just really hard trying to balance of the two of them so that they are both healthy.
sounds like the kid needs a
sounds like the kid needs a new dr.
He is about ten pounds
He is about ten pounds underweight for his height. He does look skinny. The pedi is mostly concerned that his weight has flatlined for two years, yet he's gained 4 inches in height.
So its not that he is malnourished or starving..... But he's heading that way if he keeps this pattern up.
Could you try smoothies for
Could you try smoothies for breakfast? SD gets fruit, ice, amd light yugurt while SS gets fruit, whole fat frozen yugurt, cream, and a scoop of protein powder. Good quality whey powders usually have little or no taste and don't affect the texture either. Soy is ok, but will alter both flavor and texture. Avoid cassien (sp?), it tastes horrible and has a cinsistency like tiny tapiocas.
I may try adding smoothies to
I may try adding smoothies to breakfast. Ss loves fruit and would probably really like it.... And SD would probaby turn her nose up at it (the only fruit she will willingly eat is bananas and sometimes watermelon).
Timewise that would probably only work on the weekend, but should help.
I was always super skinny
I was always super skinny growing up. My parents tried everything to put weight on me, to no avail. It did not help that I swam 2 hours everyday, but eventually my coach and parents figured out I wasn't supposed to be bulky because I was a distance swimmer. My kids are skinny, too. But both are very active, in a sport constantly, so I don't worry.
Here is something that will help both children in your family. Almost ALL children do not get enough vitamins/minerals, even if they eat healthy, home cooked meals everyday. If you supplement with a (high quality) nutritional supplement, you have a better chance of leveling out the sd's weight and increasing your ss's appetite. My kids were 3 yrs and 18 months when we all started taking these. Had we not, my son would still be sick all the time, and asthmatic. He was developing asthma when we started, and had already had years of croup and a bout of pneumonia. And we ate well! But something I noticed is that our appetites improved and I started craving healthier food. Weird, I know. There is a children's chewable:
http://shop.usana.com/shop/cart/ProductDetails?ProductID=105.010102
And one for teens; this is what I give both my 9 and 10 yr olds (just once a day rather than 3x):
http://shop.usana.com/shop/cart/ProductDetails?ProductID=104.010101
It amazes me that doctors will still tell parents that kids don't need vitamins if they eat well. If they eat any sweets at all, or drink ONE pop in a day, they are missing out on nutrients. They have accepted things like allergies, asthma, ADD/ADHD, without even considering the children's diets. It's crazy!
At GNC, and other vitamin
At GNC, and other vitamin retailers - they sell weight gainer supplements, I have a few friends that have to use that as adults because they are just naturally suuuuper skinny