How to help 6 year old with cmpi gain weight

[Mrsalwaysworried]

My son is 6 and still not grown out of cows milk protein intolerance, he can handle cooked milk to a certain tipping point then gets bellyache & constipation.
The trouble is he is borderline underweight on the bmi calculator and all recipes for weight gain in children include tons of dairy. Another problem is he doesn’t really like meat either, so I worry a lot that he’s not getting enough protein. Have made a docs appointment for dietician referral but any tips in the meantime would be greatly appreciated.

Will he eat nuts/nut butters - cashew nuts and cashew butter is very sweet. And high calories- you could have on toast or in milkshakes (make with oat milk/oat based ice cream and banana. Avocados are high in calories. Then dinners based on beans and lentils e.g lentil shepherds pie, dahl, pasta with a white bean sauce.

What is his daily food intake like? We are a vegan family and all a healthy/ borderline overweight size.

Also roasted chickpeas are a great snack! Plenty of olive oil (healthy fat). Can also use chickpeas in a curry - use coconut milk in the curry as that’s high calorie

Thanks so much for your response, his food intake isn’t great, but good suggestion with the nut butters and avocado. I guess I could look into healthy vegan diets as I think this would suit his issues quite well.

I have had the same problem with my DS who is now a teenager.
Peanut butter on toast and a glass.of soy milk for supper.
The only way I got him to add weight was an extra meal

can he eat eggs? That’s another excellent source of protein and healthy fats.
as an idea, here’s ours (including 3 year old daughters) menu plan for the week as an idea:

• breakfast is rye bread with nut butter (cashew, almond, peanut), or homemade muesli (oats, rye flakes, chopped or ground nuts and seeds - currently almonds, Brazils, and pecans, with sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and sometimes dried fruit such as apricots or raisins. With some fruit.
• lunch is snacky type - crackers, roasted chickpeas, cashew nuts, cucumber, pepper, celery, humous, fruit.
• dinner (now my daughter is currently off hot food so will have a second snacky dinner but with cold cooked kale/green beans/broccoli and she will sometimes eat cheese and boiled egg)
• dinners - lentil shepherds pie, chickpea curry with coconut milk, jacket potato’s with beans, roasted veg sprinkled with seeds and a slice of rye toast, lentil dahl, lentil and vegetable soup with rye toast or homemade potato wedges. All has green veg on the side. Followed by a banana with coconut yoghurt.

plenty of calories, healthy, and dairy free (aside from the bit of cheese my daughter has)

That’s a really good idea @imayhavelostmymarbles I think he would eat an extra tea as a beadtime avoidance technique!

Thanks for the ideas @SupposeItDoesnt they’re really useful. I will definitely try some of the suggestions. Can’t beat a good snacky plate!

DS was a skinny thing, who was dairy free until around d 18 months, when he started tolerating it.
We basically did continuous (well, that's what it felt like!) food and snacks.
Breakfast 1 (about 6am - Yawn) bread based.
Breakfast 2 (about 8am) cereal and milk substitute
10 am - snack. Banana or veg sticks with dip or biscuits.
12 - lunch
3 snack (see above)
5 - dinner plus pudding
7.30 - supper

Milk and butter were about the only thing we bought substitutes for. He didn't have cheese, yoghurts etc. I did make custard with birds powder (tub) and milk substitute to eat with stewed fruit. I also made quite a lot of cake with the spread.

@LionessesRules interesting, seems to be a common theme to squeeze more meals in including a tea at bedtime. Definitely gonna try this, thanks