Help my DS15 gain weight

[lshazzawazzavazz]

My DS is 15. He is very tall at 6'2 but only weighs 54kg. His is extremely skinny. Definitely doesn't have an eating disorder, but I think he is just one of those people that can forget to eat. He loves food and eats anything and everything but tends towards healthy snacks of fruit and veggies. I have to remind him it's time to eat at the weekends and I suspect his low weight is because he is not feeding himself properly during a long school day where he might be out of the house from 7am-5pm. Any suggestions of what I can do to help? I've known he was skinny but it's only just come to my notice how underweight he is. I send him to school with money and snacks - both just accumulate in his bag (hot lunch is provided by school).

Is he sporty? Does he eat breakfast? Greek yoghurt would be good for him. Would he snack on nuts? They’re a good way to increase calories. I’d be inclined to give him a protein bar too and see if he’ll eat that, in addition to meals, not to replace one.

That is extremely underweight. I'd be taking him to the gp for a check up to make sure there's nothing going on.

Peanut butter is very calorific and can be had on thick sliced toast as an extra snack.
Milkshakes made with full fat milk.
Nuts.
Add butter and cream and cheese into things like mashed potato.
Lots of pasta and creamy sauces.

Definitely doesn't have an eating disorder

I hope so too, but if he forgets to eat, then maybe he does.

Please bear it in mind as a possibility as sufferers are very good at disguising it (from personal experience).

Thanks for all your suggestions - many of which we're already doing. We have an appointment with the GP on Monday. I think the issue is that he doesn't eat much at all at school - protein bars and cash that I give him just come back home. He eats a good breakfast - couple of eggs and baked beans and decaf latte. And a good dinner in the evenings - for example if we have fish/meat , I will always give him two portions. He is fairly sporty - but he's not one of those kids who does sports every day. I'm concerned.

My Ds is 15 and 6ft, I think he is 57kg. He is autistic so has some sensory issues around food, he also has some mental health issues which mean sometimes he doesn't eat.

Our gp refereed Ds to a dietician for a one off advice appointment. Her suggestions were just to give him as much sugar as possible, especially when he was not eating. She also suggested putting milk powder into full fat milk.

Ds's bmi was 17 and he was just above the 9th centile. She told us he was just above being clinically underweight. That would suggest with your Ds's height and weight he would be lower than that. I think you have done the right thing booking a gp appointment just to rule out anything concerning.