kid friendly weight gain recipes / products / ideas?

My 10 y.o. is taking ADHD stimulants, causing her to lose weight. We need to get her weight up pronto, or the doctor is going to reduce her dose below the effective minimum.
We have tried Ensure and similar, but daughter does not like the taste. She also resists anything gritty like protein powder (although she will tolerate chocolate hemp powder).
Are there any pre-made shakes that are really delicious that you would recommend? Or recipes that a kid would find irresistible?
(Ironically I am here on MFP trying to LOSE weight, but that's a story for another thread!!).
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Replies

  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,416 Member
    edited November 2019
    I'd ask the pediatrician to help you sort out the target number of calories/day for your child to eat, and show your child how to count calories with you to meet them. That way, they can learn the relative caloric values of different foods, and have some latitude to make their own choices.

    I'm always after mine to eat enough protein. What she's eating frequently changes, but she knows what her protein options are, and can have peanut butter and brussels sprouts for dinner if she wants to. Tweens have weird tastes (REALLY, REALLY WEIRD. - which is why I'm not offering any fool-proof recipes. My kid eats things I wouldn't even THINK about combining, and routinely rejects things I think are really good.), but they're pretty smart, so give them the tools they need and let them get down with their experimental phase.

    Also, the appetite suppressing tendency of adderall et al seems to fade off after about 3 months, so make sure the doctor is giving your child adequate time to acclimate before moving on to something else.
  • Devonanne
    Devonanne Posts: 102 Member
    I use a lot of peanut butter for my always borderline underweight 5 year old. He eats a lot of peanut butter chocolate chip larabars and peanut butter on bagels. We try to go full fat wherever possible - full fat yogurt, homo milk, anywhere we can add extra calories. I find it easier to add more calories throughout the day than try to get him to drink shakes or smoothies since he's not really a fan of drinking much except water.
  • hotpepr2018
    hotpepr2018 Posts: 23 Member
    Great ideas, thanks! That is so funny about the peanut butter and brussels sprouts for dinner. My daughter would totally eat that.
    I am always laughing inside when I offer her a bunch of delicious, buttery, creamy options and she just wants cherry tomatoes, and her favorite snack is those little crunchy seaweed snacks that are paper thin and I find them distasteful. They probably have NEGATIVE calories for crying out loud!
    Her brother is very allergic to peanut butter, but we're just going to have to get past our feelings and have it around more. He's very safe around it, but daughter will need to be careful with utensils, countertops, etc.
  • Would she eat double cream? That’s highly calorific. You could add it to hot chocolate with some sugar.

    The other thing you could try is butter and sugar mixed together and covered in coco piw
  • Powder. Sorry fat fingers here.
    Hope some of he suggestions work.
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,416 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Great ideas, thanks! That is so funny about the peanut butter and brussels sprouts for dinner. My daughter would totally eat that.
    I am always laughing inside when I offer her a bunch of delicious, buttery, creamy options and she just wants cherry tomatoes, and her favorite snack is those little crunchy seaweed snacks that are paper thin and I find them distasteful. They probably have NEGATIVE calories for crying out loud!
    Her brother is very allergic to peanut butter, but we're just going to have to get past our feelings and have it around more. He's very safe around it, but daughter will need to be careful with utensils, countertops, etc.

    How about almond butter? My youngest is allergic to peanuts, but he can have almonds and other tree nuts.

    I also give my kids whole milk and other full fat dairy and they eat lots of cheese to keep their calories up.

    ^^ This. Also hazel nut butter (with or without chocolate) and sunflower seed butter. My nephews are both allergic to peanuts, so we switch things up while they're around.

    Avocados and coconut milk have a fair amount of fats in them for veggies, too, and you can roast almost any veggie in olive oil or butter for a bit of extra calorie kick. Just teach your kiddo strategies for boosting calories, stress the importance of boosting their calories to hit a range sufficient to power growth, and let them puzzle things out as their taste buds demand.

    Oh, and full fat ranch dressing... Leave that lying around for veggies as well...
  • angmarie28
    angmarie28 Posts: 2,778 Member
    my 10 year old is the same, he is the size of about an average 7 or 8 year old, he was already very thin, He was put on ADHD meds 6 months ago and of course lost more weight. His doctor told him to eat lots of peanut butter. and he does, he eats peanut butter toast most mornings, sometimes for snack. I also dish a little more dinner than normal on his plate. I also used to give him breakfast essentials mixed with whole milk
  • jo_nz
    jo_nz Posts: 548 Member
    If she likes tomatoes, does she also like vege sticks? Could be served with a creamy or cheesy dip.
    Maybe dried fruit?

    My miss 9 is a slim wee thing (not related to meds, she just has other priorities than eating, apparently), so I try and add higher cal spreads to crackers, and have dips for a lot of things.
    Baking little treats can work well (bliss balls, muesli bars...) though mine enjoys the first few and says they're great, but as soon as I make a second batch, she stops eating them!

    We go through phases of making a lot of smoothies - banana, berries, cocoa (or choc smoothie/meal-replacement powder), milk...even ice cream if we have it. We've tried blitzing oats too, but she doesn't like the texture.

    Even though we have a really good large blender, we have recently bought a drink bottle blender which has made her more keen to make smoothies for herself.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1

    This can help. Also, not all protein powders are created equal. If you can, I would recommend ordering some samples of PEScience and Quest. They not only taste really good, but don't have any grit to them. And if you like chocolate, add their chocolate flavor to chocolate milk and add some heavy cream.
  • hotpepr2018
    hotpepr2018 Posts: 23 Member

    ^^ This. Also hazel nut butter (with or without chocolate) and sunflower seed butter. My nephews are both allergic to peanuts, so we switch things up while they're around.

    That is a great idea!! Not sure why, but I had totally forgotten about Nutella. If she takes after me, she'll have trouble stopping.
  • hotpepr2018
    hotpepr2018 Posts: 23 Member
    jo_nz wrote: »

    Even though we have a really good large blender, we have recently bought a drink bottle blender which has made her more keen to make smoothies for herself.
    Super smart idea. I think she would enjoy having a blender "just for her" that she can play with. And I roast veggies every week ... I'll start making hers separately with butter.

    I just googled "bliss balls" ... goodness, there is a whole world out there! Thanks!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    On top of what I posted above, you can google fat bombs. Those should make it real easy to get more calories.
  • hotpepr2018
    hotpepr2018 Posts: 23 Member

    The other thing you could try is butter and sugar mixed together and covered in coco

    She does like butter, so that might actually work.

  • wiigelec
    wiigelec Posts: 503 Member
    My kids eat breakfast cereal like there’s no tomorrow...
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    A lot of good ideas already mentioned. Does she like cheese? Any variety? Many cheeses have a ton of calories, and if it’s already cut into squares and sitting next to the cherry tomatoes in the fridge it might be a handier snack.
  • hotpepr2018
    hotpepr2018 Posts: 23 Member
    A lot of good ideas already mentioned. Does she like cheese? Any variety? Many cheeses have a ton of calories, and if it’s already cut into squares and sitting next to the cherry tomatoes in the fridge it might be a handier snack.

    She blows hot and cold re: cheese. A while back she was on a Manchego kick (seriously, this kid has some interesting taste), but not anymore. If I shell out for the fresh mozzarella balls, she will eat them, but only if I pack them in her lunch. Guess I need to keep trying different kinds.
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,913 Member
    My kid sucks at eating and is very very skinny. I make banana bread/muffins and will chuck some protein powder in there for extra protein, use lots of eggs, use butter. Not "diet" banana bread LOL. I have put collagen protein in her Milo in the morning too. She not only sucks at eating but is also a self-proclaimed vegetarian so I need to keep on top of her protein intake.

    Chocolate muffins/cookies/oatmeal cookies - just use full fat everything in the ingredients. I opt for dark brown sugar instead of refined and I use way less than most recipes prescribe, but the other stuff like eggs and butter and milk so on I keep the same. And I also oftentimes swap out the white flour for other types such as buckwheat or wholemeal flour or oat flour or a mixture of all of the above.

    And on the weekends I let her eat 'crap' - ice-cream when we go to the beach, hot chips when we go swimming, donut when we go grocery shopping - whatever crap she wants. Not during the week though, I aim to stick to nutritional foodstuffs during the week.

    I also second the breakfast cereal thing - chuck Cheerios (or whatever) in a bowl and stick it next to the kid and she will just graze on it mindlessly.
  • chriscolh
    chriscolh Posts: 127 Member
    We are in the same boat! It is so hard to try to lose weight when you're trying to get someone to gain weight! My cute son is on the autism spectrum and takes adhd medication to help with impulse control issues which kills his appetite. He would go all day without eating if I didn't remind him. It doesn't help that his favorite snacks are steamed shrimp and watermelon. My first thought was: Instead of reducing medication dosage so it's not effective (I mean, really, what's the point?), is there something you can add? We use an antihistamine that helps to increase his appetite (also helps with his seasonal allergies). Maybe something like that can work for you. Also, there are a lot of ways to add calories to food. I make chocolate milk with whole milk, and add a little protein powder and cream. He loves egg nog, so I buy that whenever it's available. Drizzle oil over pasta before adding sauce. Butter toast while it's warm and it melts into the toast - you can add a lot of fat that way! I make caramel sauce to dip apples and pears (his favorite fruit) in, and homemade hot fudge to drizzle over bananas for snacks. He has a bit of a sweet tooth, so even little things like mixing a little bit of maple syrup into peanut butter and using it for a dip with celery works for us. For dinners, he loves creamy soups, so I add a block of cream cheese to the roux for thickening when we make potato soup or chicken noodle soup. It's a little hard to introduce new foods (adapting to change isn't his forte), so I try to bulk up calories in his favorites. And when it's cold out, he loves "butterscotch milk" - whole milk with a pat of butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar in it.

    Lastly, we take medication breaks when he's not in school. He's more willing to eat and hungrier. I can handle the constant motion and talking in exchange for getting him to consume more calories. Good luck!