How can I feed him up?

[iloveblue]

Hello

DS2 (aged 4) has had tonsillitis followed by measles, so has been unwell for 2-3 weeks.
I was bathing him last night and noticed he is looking a bit ribby, and now have a desperate need to feed him up!

He is quite a fussy eater anyway - won't eat much veg, although better with fruit.

What can I give him to try and fill him out a bit?

Should I just concentrate on giving him a lot of the things that he loves (mash potato, gravy and sausages, yoghurts etc) for the next few weeks?

Or is there anything specific that would be helpful to give him?

Thanks

don't try to fill him up. he will regain weight at his own time. just give him a varied normal diet and let him lead how much he wants to eat.
hope he is much better soon!

My ds was very very skinny when he was smaller and the hv told me to feed toast that had full fat butter on it, let the butter melt in and then spread it again, then to add nutella.
She also told me to feed him chips, cheese, chocolate etc...all the things we would go easy on normally.
She is normally a very homeopathic, natural, incredibly gentle hv so it is not that she was a bit wayward.
It worked and hasn't affected ds diet as he still goes for healthy foods now that he has gained some weight.
I hope your ds feels better now.

My ds age 5 was ill in June and lost about half a stone. I was very worried but as he got better he regained weight quickly. The gp was not worried but just said fullfat everything eg milk. Ds not a fan of veg but grapes, bananas and raisins made into smiley face etc worked well. Also a little bit of what he fancies to eat won.t do any harm. Nothing wrong with sausages and mash!

I would stick with healthy foods to be honest. Healthy fats from avocados and nuts etc. I always avoid sugar when my boys are sick or convalescing. Measles depletes the body of vitamin A so try to include foods like carrots, squash, apples and mango if you can. Does he like smoothies? You can hide all sorts of things in them and feed them as extra 'meals' throughout the day. :)

Thank-you - very helpful.
We only buy semi-skimmed milk so will get some full-fat in.
He would definitely go for the nutella on toast so will try that.
We have some fruit in the freezer which would be perfect for smoothies so will try those too.
Thanks again

The 'fats' issue is not a big problem with children, they should be having full fat milk anyway. If he likes mash potatoes add unsalted butter, or mix cream cheese into similar foods. Its always possible to bulk up the calories in this way. Even cream and fromage frais mixed into bananas with a few blueberries makes a good fattening meal for children.

The fats to avoid as they are overall not healthy are the transfatty acids caused by the hydrogenation process. Unfortunately cakes, biscuits .