Uh oh, I'm losing, but so is my special needs child

2»

Replies

  • courtneylykins5
    courtneylykins5 Posts: 168 Member
    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.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    edited May 2016
    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.
  • elgie3
    elgie3 Posts: 23 Member
    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 milk
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
    edited June 2016
    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.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Thanks for the update. It looks like he is going to be better with the whole team involved <3
  • chastity0921
    chastity0921 Posts: 209 Member
    edited June 2016
    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?
  • fishshark
    fishshark Posts: 1,886 Member
    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.
  • las148
    las148 Posts: 30 Member
    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.
  • suzan06
    suzan06 Posts: 218 Member
    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 pictures
  • pie_eyes
    pie_eyes Posts: 12,964 Member
    Why don't you just buy him/her treats that's just for him/her and not for you?
  • stephaniepredator137
    stephaniepredator137 Posts: 9 Member
    We were told with my daughter that high calorie things like butter and cream are NOT the things we should feed them-peanut butter is good-letting them choose their own snacks and groceries is a help sometimes and go online and research healthy recipes and boost shakes with added protein with her meals helped us tremendously although that was expensive-she was very underweight and has low muscle tone she has aspergers , adhd, o.d.d and a mood disorder with bipolar tendencies just in case u were wondering-I feel ur pain as I am down 81 pounds and trying to transition my family into this healthy eating and lifestyle is tough!!!
  • mommaesq
    mommaesq Posts: 7 Member
    I have exact same issue. Ivery been questioned about whether I even feed my son! Ugh... I keep Boost shakes in the house for him, cliff bars and I aim for high calorie stuff he loves and I don't like. I precook for the week and have alternatives. SF jello for me, regular for him. 100 calorie packs of oreos for me, family pack of oreos for him. Cashews for him, 100 calorie pack almonds n walnuts for me... Whole milk for him... you get the idea. So hard to keep weight on them. He used to throw his lunches away. We don't even pack them anymore. They'd all be at bottom of backpack at the end of the week -such a waste. We eat late (8pm)so meds have worn off. So he only eats twice a day. Long story short, keep alternatives for you, so he gets the calories he needs and you can beat cravings... good luck!
  • a_candler
    a_candler Posts: 209 Member
    How does he like smoothies or shakes? I recently tried a plant based protein drink (powder) and it tasted decent. Perhaps with almond milk, pb, banana maybe even dairy free ice cream. I worked at a hospital Kitchen and we put olive oil in the smoothies for those needing extra calories.
  • skinnyforhi
    skinnyforhi Posts: 340 Member
    alphastarz wrote: »
    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.

    What a wonderful outcome. Best of luck to you.

Categories