Anyone Using Duocal Supplements?

I actually use that for my daughter! I don't necessarily see the change - she's still about 30 pounds, 42 inches, 4.5 y/o. The dietician advised that we use it so that she can gain weight along w/ Carnation Instant Breakfast, but she's still tiny. At this point, the G.I. specialist is recommending 1 more round of blood test, and she's ready to say that because her father and I were both small when we were little, our child will be as well. Asians tend to be on the smaller side, as opposed to other races, but then again, our daughter is very active and full of energy! :) I mix the Duocal in her everyday food like spaghetti (sauce), soy milk, etc, anything where you can mix it! It's tasteless so I even put it in her water, not alot so she can see the difference, but she drinks enough to where it still counts. Go on line and check out prices! There are quite a few sites that offer it, I can't remember the one I got it from, but I believe Amazon.com has it too. I wasn't too sure on ebay, since I wouldn't know the shipper. Also, try Allegro.com (I think that's the site). But definitely, compare prices! The 4-pack is not cheap! :)

My son's feeding therapist recommended it to us and I use it on a daily basis. I calculate all my son's calories because of some feeding issues and definitely see it working. 1 tablespoon mixed into food is 42 calories. once in the food it is tasteless.

My daughter was born in the 35% percentile and started slipping off the charts once she started crawling. The Pediatric GI recommended Duocal, Pediasure/Carnation Instant Breakfast, and any high-calorie food we could get her to eat. We went through 4 cans and found that it helped somewhat. We added it to her formula only (she seemed to detect it when it was in her food). If you want to give it a try, you can get the best price by bidding on E-Bay...make sure you get the expiration date. I believe what really attributed to her getting back on the chart (5%) is Pediasure and an allergy medication (don't have the name on me at this moment) that was prescribed which increases the appetite (it's a trick many doctors use).

Hi K.,

My 26 month old daughter is 17 lbs 8 oz so she is not on the charts yet. She is a very picky eater due to severe reflux and feeding delays. We use Duocal in her water (2 scoops mixed with 8 oz water). I also add it to sauces , yogurt and pudding. We also use Resource Breeze juice which has 250 calories per box and 9 grams of protein. This is significantly higher in calories than regular juice. When grocery shopping, I pick the highest calories rather than low fat or "light" foods and I just monitor the portions for the rest of the family. For example, we give her Hagen Daas ice cream almost every night because it is very high in fat and calories. She eats about 2-3 tablespoons. We get the Duocal and Resource Breeze free from Alta Ca Regional Center. You can purchase the juice from Walgreens online. Check with doctor about getting a prescription and getting it from Alta regional. Good luck.

Hi K.,

I was in the same boat with my oldest daughter, who is now 28 months (she was born 5 weeks early and has always been on the "petite" side). The pedi got really "cold" and stern when she saw how much my daughter weighed and I swore up and down to her that my daughter ate all day long (which she did, thus her nickname "Munchie") ... she has her father's metabolism to top it off. So I had to fill out a form to write down everything she would eat in a typical day. Made me question whether I was feeding her enough!! She still insisted on giving me the Duocal sample and gave me an Rx for it.
I bought the darn thing with a $30 copay and didn't end up using even half of the container because my daughter ended up
bulking up on regular foods. I figured she was probably going through a growth sprut where she was getting taller faster than she was able to gain weight ... She ate more carbs: rice, breads, pasta and peanut butter and by her next appointment she was back on track, still on the lower side but enough to get the pedi off my back.
Sorry that probaby didn't help much but just to add that my pedi also recommended PediaSure (expensive too) but I found it too SWEET so I diluted it with 1/2 milk and half Pediasure. I didn't see too much of a difference with that either, except that she started liking sweets a lot more.
Good luck and keep us updated!

Didn't use duocal. My daughter was never "on the charts" (0% percentile); but her growth curve matched the average growth curve in shape & she always had plenty of energy. She is now 31/2 years old and still on the light side. None of our pediatricians has ever been overly concerned and we have had three of them. At our last growth check, the pediatrician asked if we could cook with more oils & warned us against trying to "make" her eat more. Her concern was that sometimes kids that are light in youth are trained to not recognize when they are not hungry and develop poor eating habits.

Not answering your question, just passing along my experience....