struggling to keep ds weight up

[LittleMarshmallow]

ds has reactions to wheat, gluten and lactose. recently he had something and reacted really badly for around a week, but lost some weight, although based on the weight charts he is fine, he seems a little thin especially around his rib cage.

Anyone have any ideas for some fattening meals to give him a little boast, as I have realised his diet doesnt really contain much in the way of good fat or fat in general

How old is he? What centile is he on?

If he needs to gain weight add a dollop of extra butter to all his usual meals. My DS really struggled to gain weight and this is what I did. Things like baked potato with butter, beans and sausages would be an excellent meal.

he is 3.5 the problem is all his soya based stuff has very little fat or calories in it.

he eats really healthily but just not enough bad stuff i suppose, he easily eats 5/8 portions of fruit veg a day, just cant get anything to stick.

Avocado has a high calorific value.

Avocado is good, but also actively add fats to his food - e.g. roast/stir fried veg with oil rather than just steamed etc. Nuts (and pinenuts) are also high fat/protein if he is not allergic to them as well - things like pesto (you can get or make non-diary versions) might work. My DD also loves olive paste either with pasta, spread on bread or on a baked potato.

If you want to have more guidance, it might be worth getting referred to a paedatric dietician - they will review your DS diet with you and make some suggestions.

All seems terribly terribly counter-intuitive compared to adult diets, but they do need (healthy) fats.

It's so frustrating isn't it? DS didn't have allergies as such (although certain foods made his reflux worse) - getting him to gain is still a bit of a nightmare but I don't really care anymore so long as he eats properly.

yeah thanks for that, i hadnt thought about the oil on toast as ds eats loads of that

he has been referred to a dietitian because my hv was worried about the gp prescribing his food, someone suggested that i should try getting soya baby milk as there is more calories in that.

it is turning into an nightmare, as before when he had something he shouldnt his body would over eat to compensate but this last week he lost weight instead, i just want to be prepared for the dietitian as i dont think he is going to out grow this now as he is still reacting and now falls into the last 10% but fingers crossed for anyting

Poor you, I've a little skinny guy as well - I agree on the fats thing: mayonaise in all (gluten free bread) sarnies and with chips (a bit of dutch never goes amiss), lots of oil added to things and dare I say it CRISPS!!!! Works a treat - as long as low salt and low saturated fats. fruitbars - I know sugar is the wrong way forward but the calorie intake is good. Smoothies ...
Also we hook on an extra quick something before bedtime ... jam sandwiches etc.
good luck!

I feel for you. I have an allergic skinny little DD.

I cook everything in olive oil, and add extra olive oil on top! So for example cottage pie, cooked with 20% fat content beef mince, which I fry off in olive oil. Once savoury mince and mash done I add extra olive oil to the mash, then once pie is assembled, another drizzle on top for good measure!

Agree re avocado. Hummus another good one, especially if you make your own as you can add extra tahini and olive oil to make it more calorific.

Meat with a higher fat content is also really good - lamb/beef esp. Will he eat haggis? DD loves it, with mixed mash and (of course) olive oil .

Whenever I cook veg for her I coat it in her soya spread or olive oil too.

I roast or fry when cooking for her - rarely steam or grill.

She also loves a mild chicken and vegetable curry made with coconut milk which is very calorie dense.

Problem is, I've put on pounds and pounds cooking all this food. Am starting to have to do separate meals for us all the time now which is very tiresome!

yes the seperate meals are tiresome. I know it sounds daft it never crossed my mind to fry / add olive oil to his food but that would help
thank you for the suggestions I will try and see what happens

roasting is brilliant too. good luck, it's not easy is it!

not really, i dont eat meat but i cook it for ds so roasting could well prove interesting. but at least i have ideas so when i see this dietitian i can say i am trying i just wish he would out grow one of them would make life slightly easier but thats life

LittleMarshmallow, I am also in the same position. DS2 is severely dairy allergic and only on the 0.4th centile at 22 months (at just 9.4 kg ).

We use Neocate (milk subsitute, which although designed for dairy allergy, is also suitable for children with multiple allergies) and the dietician has told us to concentrate it, so we currently are giving him something which has 125 cals per 100 mls (about double the cals of full fat milk).

Also you can try to ask for duocal which is a calorie supplement though they generally prefer that you have tried the olive oil/fry/roast everything first.

Just remember that although a healthy adult diet is lots of fruit and veg, they actually don't need so much at this age. Favorites in our house include korma make with extra rich coconut milk, strogonoff (mushroom or beef), roast dinner or shepherds pie with extra fatty lamb plus soya cream cheese/soya cream mixed in.

I am also veggie, but tolerate making meat dishes for the ds's due to allergies and my only sticking point is that I will only buy organic (Abel and Cole make a fortune out of my meat purchases). Separate meals are tiresom, but I get around that by having things in house which are easy to cook for me so I can spend more time on the ds's food. For example the Clive's products you can buy from goodness direct are pretty good. I also insist that at least one time per week everyone eats veggie and another time per week we eat fish (which I recently conceded and included in my diet after 20+ years).

HTH

Hi, I know how you feel my dd1 has allergies to wheat and dairy and has a growth hormone deficency. We have struggled with her weight and she has always been way below the 0.4 centile.
She is now 6 I have done all the things suggested like adding oil, soya dream cream to meals etc. Our dietican prescrided Calogen which is added to her soya milk to make it the equavilent fat content to gold top milk and she also has 'provide extra drinks' which contain about 300 calories each.
She is still very skinny and weighs about 33lb, she eats a good healthy diet and all the added calories. I think its just her build and am happy as long as her weight goes up - which it is slowly.
I feel for you I hate cooking and having the added hassel of having to think about allergies and calories is just a big pain. I would love to just chuck a frozen pizza in the oven, but I think that my children eat alot healthier because their food is cooked from scratch.