Coeliac daughter needs to gain weight

[Tomorrowiscoming]

Looking to try to put a bit of weight on my dd10 who's coeliac. She was diagnosed years ago but is still the smallest and quite light- consultant asked us to try to 'bulk' her up.
She eats most things but not milk and pieces of red meat although will eat spag bol, lasagne etc.

Anyone had experience of this? Any recipes help?

Usual day-
Waffles & cheese, ham abd cheese toasty or egg on toast fir breakfast
Takes pepperami or fruit for snack.
Lunch- usually pasta bake, left overs, occasionally the usual sandwich. Then crisps, fruit, cake/ biscuit.
Snack- tortilla and dips/ fruit,
Dinners- loves pasta dishes, eats stitfry, chicken fried rice, roast , breaded chicken veg and wedges.
Often has a pudding- biscuit, fruit, mince pie!

She's got quite a lot of gf carbs in there. I'm not sure gf stuff is necessarily the very best for you, so I'd maybe look to switch away from those and towards stuff that's naturally gf.

Nuts and cheese are good for putting weight on kids. Mine like a selection of nuts, cheese and fruit for snack time. Boiled eggs are also a good, protein heavy snack.

Could you make a smoothie (or milkshake if she'll drink that) with peanut butter in (and other goodies).

Add cheese to everything.

If she's hungry enough a little supper before she goes to bed could add some calories in.

Could also just increase portion size a little bit.

Hot chocolate before bed
Full fat yoghurt
Peanut on apple slices as an afternoon snack
Nuts for snacks

Agree.. Carbs are not nutrient-dense. She needs more protein and fruit and veg. I would also recommend a decent paediatric multivitamin and mineral supplement. Coeliacs are often nutrient-deficient anyway - especially iron and calcium. If they have enough energy from nutrients they tend to want to eat more.

Thank you both! Yes I'll try the nuts- she's not a fan but will eat a few, and yes she does tolerate milk in milkshakes and hot choc so I'll fo those and a supper is a great idea thanks

@NeunundneunzigHorseBallonz she has well.kid multivitamin but I'm wondering if she's getting enough calcium. Do you have any recommendations ?

Could to just be how she’s made? We aren’t all meant to be fat lumps.

I have the same issue with vegetarian, coeliac Dd who is too small for even a size 4. She’s 22yo and we struggle to find clothes for her, most brands don’t make stuff small enough.

I’ve started her on shakes because she struggles eating actual food. So I make them up myself, milk, Greek yogurt, banana, honey, peanut butter, some protein powder. She likes them and it seems easier for her than eating.

can you ask gp for a referral to a dietician?

nut butters (with and without chocolate) might be more palatable than plain nuts.

does she like eggs? omlette with butter & cheese.

wrt calcium, if she eats cheese, bony fish (anchovies), then she most likely gets enough.

I have Coeliac disease. Is your dd eating all her meals? Maybe increase the portion size - adult size rather than young child size. Also add a couple of Ensure Plus drinks in as snacks during the day.

@Tomorrowiscoming I live in Aus, so can’t recommend UK brands, but I am a nurse and a coeliac. I would recommend speaking to your pharmacist or GP for recommendations. It is the iron and B12 I would be most concerned about, first. *You probably know this already, but iron is best absorbed with vitamin c. It is undoubtedly in the multivitamin, but being swallows with OJ or some tomato, etc helps too.

I'm a little older than her and used to be smaller than a size 4. I have a baby now so I'm a size 4-6. However, I used to be afraid to eat due to Coeliac disease. I caused long term damage due to not eating enough calories in my teens and early 20s. I was told I wouldn't be able to have a baby because I didn't ovulate. It's just luck that I conceived (and I gained enough weight to get to bmi 18).

I'd be concerned that your dd has an eating disorder if she under eats. It's worth speaking to a medical professional and a dietician. She risks her fertility and osteoporosis if she continues to under eat.

Her day seems like she eats well, could it just be portion sizes too op?

Thanks she is a good eater, ill up portion sizes abd throw in nuts/ nut butter and some smoothies I think.

Does she exercise?

You can bulk up through diet, but without exercise it's unlikely to be healthy bulk. And exercise stimulates appetite. As a coeliac (with other complications) I'm also aware that weight gains/losses can play havoc with joints (hips and knees). So combining a programme of weight gain with exercise would help avoid that too. If she's still with her gastrology consultant, can they refer you to an NHS dietitian for support?

My dd isn't coeliac but is gluten intolerant like me and was way too thin at one point. We had to literally add calories to her meal eg adding olive or sesame oil, cheese etc to ordinary meals. She vegetarian. Coaxing her to eat little and often was key because she didn't eat enough.

Meals are mostly naturally gluten free rather than using substitutes eg we eat rice, potatoes and rice noodles. To make it harder, we are overweight hence added calories to her portion. I also bought her things like creme caramels which she liked, empty calories but she needs them

@SunshineYay i do wonder about an eating disorder but genuinely don’t think so. She’ll snack on chocolate, etc no problem and definitely isn’t making herself sick. She has another illness which affects her digestive system and says she’s in pain if she eats and feels badly bloated after small amounts.

I have been to the gp with her on numerous occasions to try and advocate for her. I’ve asked for gastro referrals, dietician referrals, referral to a specialist elhers danlos clinic, asked for help with her stomach pains, talked about concerns regarding her weight, asked for referral to a haematologist (she had pulmonary embolisms last year), she feels her blood thinners are giving her internal bleeding, her Hb is at such a low level the GP rang up and asked her if she’d been in an accident and lost a load of blood. But then doesn’t want to investigate and just prescribes her iron tablets. She asked to change blood thinner to a different one due to side effects and the GP refused.

They don’t give a shit. And her being seriously underweight is the least of their worries. They weighed her once and told her to come back in 4 weeks to be checked again and then just told her to eat more and haven’t seen her since. I said to the GP I was concerned she’s got gastroparesis due to her connective tissue disorder but GP said no, said she’d feel sick a lot of she had it. I said she does feel sick all the time and GP just shrugged. They’re totally incompetent.

Can you add some more puddings like cake and custard and rice pudding. I struggle to get dairy into DD so try this way as well.

When I was super skinny (quite dangerous really) I had tummy ache and bloating when I ate because my stomach had shrunk. You have to force yourself to eat more so your stomach goes back to a normal size. It's uncomfortable feeling bloated but it's the only way to heal.

I've known a couple of anorexic girls and they eat chocolate or cake etc to make it look like they're not restricting but then they'll make excuses not to eat later. They'll skip meals that they don't have with family and then only a bit of their meal they eat with family.

She feels sick and bloated because she doesn't eat enough. I'd get her some Ensure Plus shakes and make her drink 2 a day as snacks. Then add a generous amount of oil to her food when cooking and peanut butter and full fat milk or yoghurt to smoothies etc.

An autoimmune disease that affects absorption of both calories and nutrients is not something to blithely dismiss with a 'isn't it great you're not a fat lump? Never mind the pain, skin issues, malnutrition, restricted growth, osteoporosis, anxiety and eating disorders, stomach cancer and general increased incidence of multiple life ending complications, at least you're skinny, eh?'.

@NeverDropYourMooncup it was just a question. Not everybody carries a lot of weight, I said nothing about it being a good thing, just really is she underweight or not tracking the 50+ centile 🙄

Thanks @SunshineYay , I’ll try those shakes. Makes sense about her feeling bloated as her stomach is so small.

@DogInATent yes she very athletic and does after school clubs cross country etc. I think I'll contact the gastroenterologist and get refered to dietician- we did see one but it was when first diagnosed which was 5 years ago.

@frenchfries111 yes I will, best get baking as the gf range of puddings isn't great!

I make cupcakes and just freeze them. Can defrost one and serve with custard.
I used to cook her ground rice (like you would with semolina) when she was little but she says she doesn’t like it (it’s lovely!) but it can be hard to find GF ground rice.

When your first diagnosed it sometimes feels like the dietitian is a chocolate teapot - regurgitating all the information you've been Googling like a demon ever since first hearing the words Coeliac Disease.

But when you've got a definite issue/goal, their input can be invaluable. If you're lucky you're near Sheffield, where the dietitian-led support for coeliacs is supposed to be first class. If you're on Twitter/X there's a really strong coeliac dietitian network - genuine professionals, not the ones with an overnight correspondence course in "functional nutrition" that you find on the Facebook groups.