Need Ideas to Help Son Gain Some Weight

My sons (both have adhd, and on meds that decrease their appetites) have carnation instant breakfast in the AM along with their cereal. As far as they know it is just chocolate milk. They really like the chocolate malt flavored.

Oh, wow! Your 10 yo sounds very much like my 11 yo grandson except he also was diagnosed w/asthma and allergies. I call him my "AAA Kid". Because of the asthma, he can't drink whole milk (too much mucus making it more difficult for his breathing). I thought he was the only one with the worst diet on the continent.

If your son like shakes, I recommend what I've added to my little guy's - works really well and I know he's getting what his body needs. These are actually meal replacements. Chocolate shake: http://www.shaklee.net/thewrightplace/product/20322
or Vanilla shake: http://www.shaklee.net/thewrightplace/product/20321

Following are a couple of links for kids and teenagers you may find helpful:
Kids 4 - 12:
http://www.shaklee.net/thewrightplace/prodNutChildDiffere...
Teens: http://www.shaklee.net/thewrightplace/prodNutChildDiffere...

I became a Certified Nutrition Consultant due to the many health issues my grandchildren seem to have and have already seen a difference in those same issues. Feel free to contact me if you think I may be able to help.

God Bless,
~V~

When my step-son was started on ADD medication 16 years ago, he also lost his app. and lost weight. For him it was a good thing because he was overweight to begin with and a compulsive eater. As the weight came off and he was nearing to thin we started "sneaking" protien into his diet.

Now, I don't like to eat first thing in the morning which is a problem because my sugar gets to low. This brings me to a possible solution. Does he like smoothies? I found that if you use some weight lifter protien mix (van. works best) you can add fruit, ice-cream, what ever that he may like. This way no one will get any special treatment you can use for everyone either as a fast breakfast or when others are eating desert he can have a "milk shake" or everyone can. I hope this helps.

try ensure milkshakes just le him tink they are regular milkshakes also if he eats sandwichs you can add butter under his mayo this also helps

First thing is your son must get on to a good multi-vitamin if he is a picky eater. Most grocery store brands are copounded with copper,Iron,Manganese, and Zinc. These compounds only allow for less then 10% absorbtion, so read the labels. We use Melaleuca vitamins and are compounded with a oligofructose complex for over 85% absorbability. They also have great tasting protien shakes that have less calories and more nutrition than store brand shakes like carnation instant breakfast or ensure.
Second, get your son on a excersise routine, no weights or cardio, but muscle buiding. Things like jumping jacks, sit ups, pull-ups, push-ups, baseball, football, wrestaling, martial arts and hula-hoop are all safe ways for kids to gain muscle. Which is the healthiest weight you can have.

Make sure though that you eliminate the "picky eating". I was a picky eater as a child and as an adult I have paid for it big time. As a teenager it became an eating disorder. Then after entering cousuling I decided one day at 23 yrs old that I was going to start taking better care of my self. I changed my diet and started roller blading and working out with friends. However a lifetime of bad eating habits had not allowed my body to devlope properly and equally strong ligaments, bones, and muscles. Two weeks after making the change I sliped on the sidewalk in the rain after a work out and partially tore my ACL. I have since then had it replaced 5 times. My injury olny occoured because my ligamnet was weak.
My doctor explained to how long it takes for different parts of the body to rebuild itself. They rebilud at different rates and some parts take six months of good nutrition to regenerate.
With this new information I went back to the gastroentorologist and asked again about the abdomonal pain that we had been investigating. He told me yes, that malnutrition can cause the disegtive system to work improperly, causing pain. It took three years to correct most of that problem.
This "pahse" as the pediatrition called it has cost me 22,000 dollars. The same doctor told my mom that my little sister was going through the same pahse when she was 8yrs old. She is now a sophmore in collage and is nearly 100lbs over weight. She still refuses to eat anything but bread, cheese, bacon, and candy.
Picky eating should be taken very seriously if it lasts more then 6 months. It is almost always a physcological problem.
Also, did your doctor disscuss with you that ADD is often a problem that can be caused by malnutrition and thus can be corrected with proper nutrition? Check out this CBS News story "the benifits of giving your child vitamins and minerals" at wcco.com/video
Good Luck

Milk is awesome. Not only does he get the good dairy fat,calcium, etc. There are 8 grams of protein in a glass of milk. even skim. so way to go mom! I concur with the carnation instant breakfast. My dr. has used it with our thin man and mr dr. had me add it to my diet when I had cancer. Also, Milkshakes before bed. while I know you are concerned about being healthy and the fat. But dairy fat is a better fat for him AND it is really neccessasry for proper brain development. Make everything as rich as he will allow. Have him start eating small meals about every 2 hours. It is really the healthier way to eat and the way our body really needs fuel. I know the drugs really suppress his appetite.( have a couple of nephews on similar drugs). They are both starving in the evening, right before bed. LET HIM EAT!!. Even if he has to stay up later to do it. As you know, your the mom and if the others complain. Just this is what's best for your brother and not for you. I Love you all and do what is best for each of you. when you're the parent you decide. Peanut butter, on fruit, celery, carrots etc. Make fruit/creamcheese or caramel dip for his fruit. Use flavored creamcheese instead of mayo on a sandwich. yougurt is always a fan favorite at our house. and CHEESE. string, cubes, chunks what ever. just bring it on. (be sure to increase fiber if he increases cheese intake!) Good Luck it is a hard battle but worth it!@

My Niece never puts on the weight she needs to when she is PG. They Dr makes her drink a fruit smoothie each night with banana and fruit yogurt. IF you search on the net you will found a lot of recipes for them.

My son lost a lot of weight too, for a different reason, but my pediatrician had me add in Carnation Instant Breakfast to his milk each time he drank that. It has extra calories, plus vitamins and minerals, etc.

WOW - it sounds like I could have written this a few years ago!!! Well, the good news is, there are ways to help your child maintain a healthy weight and still have his medication. I gave my son a multi-vitamin and made sure he always had some Carnation Instant Breakfast mix and milk in the fridge. Also, whichever foods he will eat, make sure you always have some on hand so as to make sure he is never in the position of wanting to eat (for a change!) and can't find anything that he will eat.

You could try those "weight on" milk shakes. Maybe make plain shakes for the other kids so everyone gets one. My brother used them and they worked great

Try dairy and pasta. My mom has an over-active adrenal gland and since they finally got it under control, she is trying to put on a little bit of the weight she lost from it. The doctor told her the way to gain healthy weight is to eat good for you dairy, like yogurt and cottage cheese, and whole grain pasta's. Also, maybe try having him eat 5 small meals instead of 3 large meals throughout the day. The don't have to actually be a meal, maybe some granola and an apple with yogurt or something small like that for a couple of the meals, and the other three be breakfast, lunch and dinner. Good luck!!

We have been in the same boat for about 5 years. My son is now almost 13 and has been on stimulants for ADHD since he was 7. He is built like his father with a small frame and very thin naturally. Since starting stims, he runs around 5 percentile on the weight chart and 50% or better on the height chart. Our pediatrician was never concerned at all but now that we are seeing a child psych for his meds, she is at least not wanting him to lose anymore. We also have the problem that my dd does not nee to gain any weight. She is 9 and already overweight. Some of her issues have been becasue he eats at night and not always the right things and she doesn't understand why she can't eat when and what he does. So you are right to be concerned about the rest of the family.

We do let him eat differently because after fighting with this issue for so many years, we see that we have to entice him to eat and let him eat late when he is hungry. Some things I have tried with some good results are: extra peanut butter on a PB&J sandwhich ( his favorite), a bigger breakfast than I would normally get up and make ( he likes fried eggs so I get up and make 3 for him with toast and butter and a sausage patty every school morning ...ugh), I have bought snacks he likes that are relatively good like cheese sticks, fruit, pudding and pack those in his lunch with the peanut butter. He also likes peanut butter crackers so I keep those on hand. I have bought Boost high protein drinks in whatever flavor he would consider. I try to keep brekfast bars with the most calories I can find on hand. At lunch, if we are out or he buys his lunch, I let him buy pizza or french fried becasue he will eat that. It isn't good necessarily but it gives him carbs and it has calories. He has to eat better the other meals, though. If we go out to eat and he can't eat, we take it home in a box and he eats it about 9 o'clock when he gets hungry. It is really trial and error and you have to seee what will work for your son, but I do think you may have to give him a little more leeway than you do the others. Just what i have found.

I have explained to my 9 year old about how she ate her dinner at 6 and does not need to eat again, etc. but I do try to keep some snacks like carrots , celery ,and lean turkey slices on hand (which she likes) so if she ends up eatting again, it is nutrious and low cal. She also likes PB&J so I make them each a sandwhich. For him I use regular bread, extra peanut butter ( chunky if Ihave it) and jelly and for her, I use low cal bread, low fat peanut butter with much less on the bread and a little jelly. They are both happy but he gets way more calories which he needs.

It is really hard trying to manage things for everyone when they have different needs. It does take more work sometimes and can wreak havoc with your schedule. Sometimes a kid with different needs requires a little bit different schedule, though. I'm not sure how other kids are, but when my son says he is not hungery, he really cannot eat much if anything. It is more than a sensation of being full and pushing away it is a total lack of desire to eat. Sometimes, even if we put cheesecake ( his favorite food in the world), he just can't manage to take more than one bite. So, you can't often really make him eat. We just have to wait till he shows more interest. Sometimes we can try a little later, and though he still says he is not hungry, he can be enticed to eat a favorite food like a few ounces of steak or chicken. He also loves bread so we have to make him wait on it till after some meats and veggies get eaten but then we let him eat as much as he wants.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help but, I think, with trial and error, you will find what works. He still may lose some weight but it should slow down. My son at nearly 13 weighs 68 pounds and has for over 2 years. When he was younger we took him off the stims in the summer for a few weeks and he would gain about 10 pounds. You might consider this if he can do that. My son is very impulsive off his meds, so we had to stop taking the break. If i think of any other tips, I will let you know.

We struggle with our 4 yr old daughter not gaining weight enough. The one thing I've found that has really helped is changing her regular milk or chocolate milk to Carnation Instant Breakfast. We give her this about 3 times a day. She just thinks she's getting a treat but it adds a ton of calories to the milk she's drinking anyways. You should give that a shot. Its something you can give him without adding a bunch of calories to the rest of the family's diet. Hope this helps. Oh & I just wanted to tell you I have a ZOO at my house too!! LOL! Nothing better than a houseful of kids! Keep up the good work!

A. K

Hey A.,

I am not a huge fan of medications but 100% believe they should be used when needed. So my advice almost seems to go against my beliefs... but I would recommend asking your Doctor to add the medication Periactin to his mediation regimen. Of course discuss side effects and drug interactions with your physician.

I loved Periactin for the side effect of increased appetite. So what I can say about it that I know is that it is an antihistimine that I witnessed no adverse reactions in my infant and we used from about 8 months of age to 2 years old and I even still have it handy for the first sign of a runny nose. It dries her up quickly and of course increases her appetite again as she is not only a picky eater but when not feeling well she won't eat.
We were started on Periaction by my daughter's pediatric gastroenterologist as she had learned aversion to foods/eating as a baby due to severe acid reflux. Once it was added she began feeling hungry and would eat.

The nice thing about the increased appetite is not the desire for junk... just being hungry. So you should be able to get your son to eat more food that is still healthy and then he can maintain or gain weight.

So to sum it up. My husband is very thin and has ADHD. He was started on a medication to treat his ADHD and of course since the medication is a stimulant it supressed his appetite. We spoke to our General Practioner about adding Periactin or something like it his medication regimen for the benefit of increasing his appetite. He was familiar with Periactin and agreed it was a good choice so voila, it was added.

Another thing that I hope your physcian mentioned in regards to your son's treatment with medications is that meds that are stimulants suppress growth. It is important to take your son off those medications about twice a year and preferably during Winter break for the 1-2 weeks and then again during the Summer preferably for the entire Summer break. This allows his body to have the growth spurts he needs. Please make sure you speak to your doctor about this as for a male, being small in size and height can cause self esteem issues.

And as the anti med advocate until absolutely needed.... see if you can find a child pshychologist that specializes in ADHD. They can offer great insight and tools to help your son learn adaptive behaviors and skills that will make life easier along with the use of medications. And there is hope he will outgrow this and in adulthood just need the skills he learned. Of course if he doesn't no big deal.

PS.. Glad to hear the Focalin works and congrats on the
Honor Roll.

Best Wishes,
-MB

Try ensure shakes. Equate also makes the same exact shakes but they are a few buck cheaper. They even make one with extra calories. Of course, there are other brands as well. My son is a very picky eater and usually doesn't even care for anything sweet, but he loves these shakes. I always keep them on hand for times of low apetite or high activity. They are very nutrutious and packed full of calories. Best of luck.
Have a great day and god bless!!