Best way to get weight back on fussy Dd after illness?

[Ostryga]

Dd has had horrific tonsillitis and is finally now able to eat again. She lost almost a kilo and she was a tiny thing anyway, meaning she’s dropped down to off the scale on the centile chart. I have a phone appointment with her dr on Friday but in the meantime what’s the best way?

I don’t want to stuff her full of junk after she’s been so unwell, but she’s still sore and is already quite fussy - won’t drink fortifying milkshakes etc so I feel a bit stuck.

She’s 6, sorry should have said

I wouldn't worry about 'junk' things like cake, ice cream and biscuits are brilliant for condensed calories.

Add double cream to milk, cook everything in butter, milkshakes made with cream and ff milk.

Porridge can be made with cream, you can add cream to scrambled eggs, soups and mash potatoes.

I found custard, ice cream and adding cream when my husband needed to put on weight (after cancer.)

Don't worry about junk for now she just needs calories. I've had several dr's recommend Ben and Jerry's.

Otherwise look for low volume, high density food. Nuts and cheese are great for this. Add wherever possible, things like nut butters on toast or as a dip with apples. You can also add ground nuts to dishes with a sauce like curries, they are undetectable once stirred in. Also really good for adding to porridge.
Add cheese and or butter to everything. Roast veg or serve steamed veg with a big knob of butter.
If she eats sandwiches look at doubling up the filling, cheese, ham and mayo, chicken and avocado, Brie and bacon. Add butter or Olive oil to cooked pasta.
Read labels! If you look at something like crisps, you can range from about 70 calories to 160 quite easily. The same with bread.

Definitely let her eat junk, especially whatever she fancies. She needs the calories.

Will she drink hot chocolate? You can add double cream to it. Rice with melted butter in it. Pancakes fried in butter. Nice ice-cream, biscuits, nuts etc. You can also get some decent kids vitamins to help. Chewy ones that taste like sweets are good if her throat is still sore.

I sympathize I have an underweight teen DD who is fussy and has a tiny appetite. At a recent dietitian appointment (which was a 6 month wait) I was told to add olive oil, butter, double cream or cheese to whatever she is eating.

One of my children has UC, and can lose 2stone in a month, easily.
I never worry about the weight going back on, it will over time. As mentioned above, adding extra calories and some junk is fine. Those high calorie shakes/drinks aren’t very appetising.

This is all so helpful thank you! She’s had a heavy on the butter ham sandwich, ice cream and yogurt for breakfast. Honestly just anything she fancies eating atm and I’ll worry about nutrition when she’s better!

3 balanced meals a day, with junk snacks and fruit offered in between.

Double cream added to mashed potato. Buttered toast. These are two of the things I added to my micro preemies diet on the recommendation of her paediatrician.

Cheese on toast too

Dc2 was under a dietian for low weight (combination of ill health and afrid). Things they advised were 3 meals and two snacks a day, a hot chocolate with cream or full fat milk everyday, adding spreads liberally, increase portion size where possible but don't do to much as it can put them off.
Breakfast is rice crispies and toast with lots of jam and butter,
Cereal bar and fruit at snack,
Cooked school lunch and pudding,
Cooked evening meal with a side eg garlic bread with spaghetti bolognaise, and fruit,
Supper can be rice pudding, fruit and custard, crackers, rice cake etc.
We were also advised to give a-z vitamins (not chewy ones), calcium and vitamin d.
It's been hard work but we've got to a good weight.

my friend'd dd had a medical condition which meant she struggled ot eat much, so everythig had to be high calorie.

They did as others have suggested, adding cream to things and putting things like cream in hot chocolate and thick cream cheese. Make sure everythign is full fat.

Make homemade milkshakes loaded with ice cream, double cream, whole milk and whatever flavours and toppings she fancies.

I would be wary of giving her ultra processed food as that can mess with her body regulating hunger queues. As pp have said, best things are homemade milkshakes, heavy on the spreads and healthy oils, nuts, granola, butter etc. It's quite easy to bump up calories with those.

Just do this full fat stuff isn't going to harm her.

I had a non eater and it's brutal trying to get the weight on them at 1 point they were having ice cream milk shakes just to sustain weight.

Thankfully an adult now and eats fine.

We have a low weight gain child and doctors said to stir in full cream / butter / milk to anything possible. Lots of healthy oils and we did chocolate too.

Scrambled eggs with butter and butter on toast. Milk is a good way to up calories. Offer milk at dinner times.

For your doctors app, work out what her BMI was and weight (the nhs has an online version). What weight and bmi percentile she was on and what she’s dropped. Our doctor asked for the red book even though they are 7, so maybe dig it out.

Will she drink McDonald's milkshakes or one of the Starbucks Frappuccino things? Great for sore throats and calorie heavy

The consultant at the hospital actually said to give her high sugar food (add sugar to cereal, honey to smoothies jam on toast etc) as this will trigger her hunger cues. Something about the sugar spikes and crashes.

Yh sugar is fine, that's not a UPF. Ultra processed food is things like frozen and ready meals, a lot of the desserts in supermarkets etc. There's lots of studies being done on them and they're so damaging. Hugh calorie homemade food is brilliant. I'd also maybe do full fat yoghurt mixed with jam and granola. My DD loved that.

Definitely check labels on everything. I am on a calorie controlled diet whereas DH is underweight and always trying to put it on. His butter has 3x the calories mine does and you wouldn’t know by taste at all. Same with crisps and cereal bars etc. I actually find it really hard to buy food for him because everything nowadays is marketed as low calorie!

Op please ignore the UPF posts it's the "new thing" that's being Inserted into food post to gather opinions and views.

What new thing? Why should she ignore it? There's tons of very calorie dense foods ops child can eat that aren't UPF. I'm not some almond mum and I've been where op is. My child went from being so low on the centile to being absolutely addicted to UPF and becoming overweight. It's not healthy. I'm not saying avoid at all costs but there has to be a balance.

The "medical" fortified high calorie drinks aren't very nice, but the more commercial protein/bulking shake ones aimed at bodybuilders and exercise keeners tend to be nicer, and are often sweet flavours like chocolate and caramel. Good way to get protein into her if she'll tolerate those.

Malt loaf is an incredibly energy dense food. Malt loaf with a thick spread of butter - mmm! Eggy bread/French toast? Can do sweet or savoury versions. Drinking calories is easier to do if she likes milkshakes and smoothies and hot chocolate. If she likes porridge then porridge with some cream and honey in would be amazing and hopefully slip down easily.

Home made brownies! Full of chocolate, butter, sugar and eggs. My DD loved them during her recovery from anorexia.

I lost a lot of weight when I was very ill, but could only eat fruit purées. I supplemented with yoghurts, dairy puddings and double cream and easily gained weight. I hope your daughter is much better soon, it must be so worrying for you.