encouraging someone to eat

keem88

what foods does she eat at your house? whatever those are, make sure they are the full fat, full sugar versions to ensure she is getting more calories in.
i agree with those saying speak to the doc before you do anything. if the doc isn't too concerned, keep an eye on her and make those changes so she gets some more calories in.
and yeah maybe take her out for a girls day and get sundaes or milkshakes (although not friendly for someone on a diet, but if you plan ahead of when you will take her you can make it fit in your weekly allowance).
you definitely don't want to force her to eat more if she isn't hungry, but even small changes like full fat dairy and maybe adding extra pb to a sandwich or something can definitely bulk up those calories.

MissJay75

My daughter also struggles to get enough calories in a day. We buy skim milk for the adults and whole milk for her.

Also, we supplement her diet with Ensure. My daughter has about half of one in the evening about 2 hours after dinner. It adds a little over 100 calories extra in a day, and doesn't interfere with her appetite the rest of the day because it's after her other food. (this adds up to 3000 calories in a month, which is nearly a pound) If she's had a really light day calorie-wise we might give her a whole one. Also they are super portable, we bring them with us everywhere.

Message me if you want to talk more about this, or about the struggles of having super calorie dense foods in the house for your daughter while trying to avoid them yourself.

Amandawith3kids

some good ideas everybody, thanks. i'll call her dr in the morning and get the lowdown on if he is worried. i'd call now but he wont call till tomorrow anyway, and shes at her fathers house till after school friday anyway.

jerseyjenus

Is her doctor worried? She's at an age where slimming out into her adult body is actually normal. And some people aren't big eaters. I never was and was very clim until my late 20s.

I dropped from a size 9 to a size 3 between 7th and 10th grades just from my hormones regulating.

I think if her doctor isn't worried and you don't think she's deliberately trying to lose weight then you might not want to do anything.

not sure. her father took her to her last appt, i was sick and couldnt go. and her father is an *kitten* and wont tell me anything.

Call the office and ask questions.

Definitely call the office. They are legally obligated to share the information with you.

parselysage

My daughter has a lung condition that makes it hard for her to gain weight and we too face this struggle every day... but we finally got her BMI in the normal range woo hoo.... here's how...

I made my daughter a "special" chocolate milk mix... protein powder, pudding, and dried milk, she adds it to her milk and drinks it at every meal (that we let her...) some days we managed to sneak in an extra 500 calories this way.

Stuff like ketchup, Nutella, jam (butter the bread first), any high calorie condiment we put it at the table and let her go gang busters on it. She has been know to put ketchup on everything on her plate... gross but hey it's calories...

Also my child loves pancakes, so I serve breakfast for dinner about once a week, (Bacon lots of bacon...) she often eats 10 - 12 pancakes in one sitting.

canadjineh

pb, yes, nutella even more. not sure on the avocado. i dont like them and tend to not buy them. i can get one for this weekend when she'l be home.

You won't be doing her a favour by putting straight white sugar into her ie ketchup or nutella (which has 5 1/2 packets of sugar in 2 tablespoons, BTW). Give her healthier foods like fresh fruits such as pineapple, mango and banana, raw nuts, hemp seeds in a smoothie, or 9% greek yogourt (Liberte Mediteranee brand), or full fat cheeses like gouda or aged cheddar or even creme cheese. You don't want to just put fat pounds on her, you want her to build healthy muscle, bone, and brain. Avocado is great - make it into guacamole and serve beef enchiladas topped with it and full fat sour creme and cheese.

Remember it's not just the weight of the body itself, it's the composition that counts.

parselysage

Of course the greek yogurt, hemp seed, berry shakes my hubby makes her end up in the sink very nasty 4 hours later not drunk just icky clean up, because she hid it and told me she drank it... I'm not joking either, we tried this route we still occasional try this route... In the "chocolate" Shake mix we made her it has Kids Super food as it's base (chocolate flavor), as well as one "whole food" powdered multi vitamin I took out of it's gel cap When your kid won't touch a hemp seed and can taste them in her food some times you have to sneak it in... while still making her eat salad... shake comes after salad. :-)

JoRocka

2 lbs is a pretty normal flux in a day- so unless the scale is showing a down ward decline- and the doctor expresses concern... just keep upping the density of food you put in front of her and go with it.

impyimpyaj

I would maybe talk to her doctor about possibly giving her an appetite stimulant. My nephews weren't eating (not because of meds, I don't know what the issue was) and my sister found an appetite stimulant at GNC. I think it was like a powder. It helped them get back to a healthy weight. It's not something I would try without a doctor's advice, but it's an option.

Lofteren

I have a stepson that couldn't gain weight so I started giving him the same weight gainer shakes that I drink for breakfast and post training (although his are much smaller, of course). His shake has 8oz of whole milk, 3 eggs, 1 scoops of protein powder, 1/2 cup of oatmeal, a banana and 2 tbsp of peanut butter. The protein powder is chocolate flavored so it tastes like drinking a reese's peanut butter cup and packs around 1,000 calories, lots of protein and healthy fats.

Amandawith3kids

ok so to update, her father finally pulled his out of his you know what and gave me some answers. he said the dr was not too worried, just ht t we need to keep an eye on it.

MissJay75

Glad to hear her doc isn't worried. I'm sure you guys will figure out a good balance for her.

parselysage

So glad to hear that :-)