Uh oh, I'm losing, but so is my special needs child
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skinnyforhi wrote: »Can you give him high calorie nutritional supplement shakes between meals? They typically sell that at drugstores and supermarkets. They are tasty enough, but I doubt you'd reach for that to satisfy any type of craving. I suspect they could be blended up with a banana or peanut butter.
Ah- I forgot to mention you'd have to look for lactose free ones. I thought they made them, but I haven't bought them. They could be sold on Amazon or a specialty store. Dried fruit can also be high calorie (though pricey). I can house a bag of dried mangos in one sitting.1 -
fluorescentdark wrote: »As someone on the autism spectrum I can attest that it was hard for me as a child (and now) to tell if I'm full or hungry
Thank you for this perspective. My Autistic son has been going through a no breakfast phase - even though I think he should be hungry, he refuses to eat. (He also will say he's hungry and full in one sentence, so now I understand a bit better that he may not be able to distinguish between the 2).
OP, my boy has eating troubles. For dinner, he gets a reward (fun sized candy bar) if he eats 1 protein, 1 carb, and 1 fruit or veg. I made a social story giving simple explanations of why we need each and he gets to choose what is on his plate.
We are going to begin working with a behavioral health professional to start introducing new foods.5 -
Give the boy sausage! LOL. And like you mentioned, more peanut butter. Coconut cream is one of the highest calorie things around, so make shakes out of that. Protein bars. Pure protein is really yummy. Lactose free full fat milk.1
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My daughter has cerebral palsy and she is typically underweight. I don't make my meals the same as hers because I try and cook everything she eats with full fat. So when I would eat light cheese, she eats full fat cheese. When I might drink skim milk, she drinks homo milk. If I buy 0% fat yogurt then I buy her the 2.5% etc. That is what her pediatrician recommended for her. She doesn't eat a lot of junk because that's no good. I try not to eat peanut butter because it is so high cal but why can't she eat tons of it? Also avocados (or avocado oil if he won't eat avocados), pasta, Ensure drinks...etc. Most of this stuff I can still eat but in smaller portions or like I said I just buy full fat and light of the same product.1
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You can make granola bars at home. Trader Joes has dark chocolate bars that have no milk. You could cut them into pieces and mix them in your granola/nut/honey mixture or melt it and drizzle on top.0
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coconut oil is high calorie nutritious and easy to hide in foods. my daughter couldn't swallow solid food until 14 months has many food allergies and I used to make chocolate cookies with vegan protein powder. I would put scoops of mixture onto baking paper and freeze. then just take out a couple to cook for her everyday.1
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You could try adding a bit more fat to his diet such as olive oil or coconut oil. They are fairly easy to hide if taste is an issue.1
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alphastarz wrote: »Need ideas of what type of foods any of you can suggest for helping an underweight ADHD/ASD/lactose intolerant child gain weight while not derailing my attempts to lose weight. Stocking the pantry with junk food (chips, soda, oven french fries) like we were accustomed to appease him before is too tempting for me in my own fight against obesity, and cooking double so he doesn't pitch a fit about the healthier foods we are trying is overwhelming. To be specific, he is underweight and Losing currently, enough that Dr. Is worried about the trend.
I would not worry about myself...only my child. Thats just me though.7 -
Ditto to the folks who are also on the autism spectrum that agree with your assessment of your son that he may have no idea when he's hungry or full. Is he currently in OT? That really helped me with that issue. It's not even "normal" but I can at least tell if I'm starving, stuffed, or somewhere in between. So yeah I wouldn't let him eat a million sausages. There are some great frozen pre-cooked sausages, or cook your own and freeze them. Use them as supplemental calories with breakfast or dinner since you know he'll eat them! For lunch, yes ok junk food is not the best way to manipulate weight, but maybe buy some individual serving packs of cookies or fruit snacks or whatever he likes to send in his lunch? Then count them with him every day so you're not tempted to steal a pack!!1
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Is he opposed to trying new foods? Does he have any food texture issues? Date bars may be an option. They are simple to make: dried fruits, dates and ground nuts in a food processor until it forms into a uniform ball then chill and cut.
If no new foods work I would just go back to how things are and disassociate yourself from the foods you used to stock thinking something like "It's his not mine".1 -
Bolthouse brand drinks are a go to for one of my lactose intolerant underweight friends. For the nutrition offered, they seem relatively calorie dense and are easy to digest.1
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I have found it easier to lose weight by keeping an eye on my carbs (not low carb, but I was eating much greater than 50% previously). Proteins and fats keep me fuller longer. So MY instinct would be to give him more carbs. Noodles for example, with butter perhaps. My husband is also lactose intolerant but he can handle cultured butter (we buy Lactantia) without any problems at all. He can also handle very aged cheese in small amounts (like parmesan). But back to the carbs, two granola bars instead of one, prepackaged cookies (so you are not tempted), small chip bags etc. Treats are a problem for me, so I sometimes give them to my husband to hide somewhere in the house. Were it me I would ask my husband to get me a week's worth for lunches every Sunday, and try to think of them like medicine. Harder, but better yet, would be to bake healthy treats (like carrot cake, zucchini loaf, banana bread etc) and freeze them.0
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UPDATE: after some of the great insights on here from another autistic person we had some very explicit conversations with him. We discovered he 1. Only can tell he is hungry when his stomach is actually growling 2. can only tell he's full if he vomits or feels like vomitting 3. Has been having diarrhea and GI troubles he hadn't told us about (and can't quite tell the difference between tummy pains from GI issues/hunger/fullness) 4. Thought if he lost weight he would run faster and in fact had desired to lose weight.
We're hopeful understanding him better will help us help him better. We are looping his OT, pedi, counselor, psych, behavior therapist all in to help with various parts as well, definitely starting to see why we failed when we just tried to get him to eat more on our own! Thanks to all those who responded, and I certainly hope the discussion can help others in similar situations.10 -
Besides dev ped, try a registered dietician, esp. one with peds experience. They'll have loads of ideas. But yeah, nut butters, avocado (guacamole), whole grain breads, dried fruits, oats, trail mix, coconut milk0
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My son is also on the spectrum. I am not and I was underweight virtually my whole life until I hit 20s. Then what I ate started catching up to me since I was also doing less activity
Maybe ensures or smoothies would be an option. I was a picky eater as a kid but carnation instant breakfast was something I would drink when I didn't feel like eating.0 -
Thanks for the update. It looks like he is going to be better with the whole team involved1
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I work in nutrition with kids under 5, some with issues concerning underweight/ADHD/chronic kidney/CP. Not sure how old he is, so that would make a difference. First off, is he doing any kind of feeding therapy? A lot of therapists recommend pairing a preferred food with a new food. The foods that you are eating that he likes can always be more calorie dense by adding oils, butter, avocado, dried fruit, or nut butters. For example, if you cook rice and he likes it, you could add butter or oil to it for him. There are also supplements such as Pediasure which is supposed to be used exclusively for underweight or failure to thrive children. I would recommend using the powdered form and adding it to his food, such as in his coconut yogurt with fruit, breakfast muffins, oatmeal, or in a lactose free smoothie made with banana and spinach. The website also has several recipes. I don't like the liquids, because if someone gave me a milkshake everyday, I would love it. I have seen way too many children become overweight on those.
Most importantly, the doctor should have given some recommendations. What were those?0 -
chastity0921 wrote: »I work in nutrition with kids under 5, some with issues concerning underweight/ADHD/chronic kidney/CP. Not sure how old he is, so that would make a difference. First off, is he doing any kind of feeding therapy? A lot of therapists recommend pairing a preferred food with a new food. The foods that you are eating that he likes can always be more calorie dense by adding oils, butter, avocado, dried fruit, or nut butters. For example, if you cook rice and he likes it, you could add butter or oil to it for him. There are also supplements such as Pediasure which is supposed to be used exclusively for underweight or failure to thrive children. I would recommend using the powdered form and adding it to his food, such as in his coconut yogurt with fruit, breakfast muffins, oatmeal, or in a lactose free smoothie made with banana and spinach. The website also has several recipes. I don't like the liquids, because if someone gave me a milkshake everyday, I would love it. I have seen way too many children become overweight on those.
Most importantly, the doctor should have given some recommendations. What were those?
not sure if u read her update but she said a big problem was him not being able to tell the difference between being full/too full or hungry/way under calories.0 -
I'm lactose intolerant. There are lots of lactase supplement options out there, if they work for him They were a godsend for me when I was younger. I'm sure you've probably heard of them before though.0
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My son is 8 and on spectrum. He is really into nutrition and we talk about how you need protein at every meal and veggies at lunch and dinner, and not too much sugar, etc. So even though he would prefer to live off sugar alone, luckily his "rule follower" personality works in our favor! He has developed a list of 10 veggies he will eat, and we try to offer one at every meal. He can pick his protein at lunch, and at dinner he gets the family meal. He is limited to 2 servings of cheese a day because he'd eat only cheese if I let him. For him, those clear rules help.
Sounds like you've figured out some of the issues. One other suggestion would be to include him in cooking or recipe selection if he is able to. This helps us a lot. I recently found 2 kids farm to table cookbooks at our library, which are great because all the recipes are fairly healthy and they all have pictures0
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