Very slender 11year old so looking at ways to help him gain weight

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My ds is 11 weighs 31kg and height is 146cm. (4stone 11 and 4’9” in old money), which is just in the healthy range on the NHS calculator, but it is at the 3rd percentile and in the amber area.

He doesn't eat much, has certain things he just won't eat and if he doesn't like something he won't eat it, he would rather not eat than eat something he doesn't like.

Anyone any suggestions of tips to get him to eat more, nutritionally good food, but still calorie rich. So should I be going with full fat milk/yoghurts.

At this height/weight would I be better going to see the doctor and get more advice that way? I don't want to make a big deal of it for my ds and worried seeing a doctor might do that.

What percentile has he grown up on?

Are you and your husband slim?

If he’s meant to be on 50th but is on 3rd then yes I’d book a gp’s Appointment. If he’s always been skinny then I’d leave it.

Best foods for weight gain are peanut butter and cheese. And fats - put oils into his food like olive oil and butter on everything. Lots of pasta and potatoes too.

And yes to full fat everything

Sorry. Just so I am clear. He is in the healthy range. Just right at the bottom? In which case, had is fine?

Ds is a bit different as he’s a big eater but has a super active hobby that he does a lot of so struggles to eat enough to keep his weight up. He has half a protein shake a day which helps. He also always has milk at breakfast and before bed. Tbh I let him eat lots of chocolate too!

Banana smoothies with oats, full fat milk, Porridge with nutmeg,

Maybe look at what people weight training might eat, for a couple of meal ideas.

I should imagine something like grilled chicken, homemade coleslaw & jacket potatoes? I dont know!

milk, cream, cheese, any dairy you can put in things, do. butter in mash etc. my DS is 13, 5ft2 and just over 5.5st. he's always been skinny, but this high cal diet keeps him from disappearing!

Nut butters (peanut, almond, cashew etc), homemade humous; homemade guacamole, all fatty but nutritious. I would have thought that he should have full fat dairy products, real Greek yoghurt (not the 'Greek style' yoghurt) has more protein in it than normal yoghurt.

On ds's centile chart that height and weight is 25th centile for weight and between 50th and 75th for height.

Is he a similar build/height to family?

Does he seem to be growing?

How is is health, energy etc?

A diet for weight gain is high in fats and carbs , however i would not worry too much because once he hits the teen years he will grow very fast and eat you out of house and home , aslong as hes eating regular meals and theres no sign of an eating disorder i would leave him be

I remember letters home with both of my sons as they registered as underweight when boys. They are now young adult men and still skeletal despite eating everything and anything going. They are healthy, active and perfectly fine ....just exceptionally skinny. I am left with the conclusion that it is how they are...even though I still worry.

DS was always 91st for height and 50th for weight until he hit 12 and was a fussy eater. He is now 13 and his appetite is insatiable, he will eat anything put in front of him and often has craving for specific foods. When he’s about to grow he can’t get enough meat, whilst growing he goes off food and in between is a carbaholic.

Ds1 is same age, same weight and actually a bit taller. He eats constantly and very nutritious food (has at least 3 eggs a day!), he just moves a lot.

We have everything full fat, and he eats 5-6 times a day.

Some children are like this, so long as his energy level is fine I wouldn't worry too much.

Having nuts available as a snack which can be eaten at all times is a way to make nutritious food easily available.

My DS struggles to gain weight too, he’s a bit younger than yours but was on the 0.4th centile for BMI.
We switched back to whole milk, and started to put butter and cream in foods (like rice pudding etc). We changed snacks from being fruit to being things like cheese, ham, peperami. I would add an egg into meals as well, fortunately he likes poached and scrambled eggs so that was easy enough. He’s filled out a bit now but is still very thin, just not quite as much as before. He’s always eaten loads though
. I know of a couple of other boys who struggled with weight but both have had problems with chronic constipation too, and nothing worked until that was sorted out. Have you ruled out things like that affecting him?

I wouldnt worry too much you know because some children are just like this!
My ex bf was always very slender and sadly his family seemed to be obsessed with it which had a bad effect on his self esteem. They used to do things like constantly try and get him to eat more and give him weight gain powder and stuff. Was awful to see. Some people are naturally very slender. Some people eat to live and dont live to eat... they dont take too much interest in food and wont eat just for the sake of eating if they dont like something.
As your son is not actually underweight I really wouldnt do anything like take him to the doctors about it as it may end up making him feel inadequate. Its akin to taking a child to the doctors because you feel they are chubby when they are in fact a healthy BMI. Its not really good for self esteem at all.

My DS was like that, I just started cooking his favourite foods a lot (pasta, cheese toasties), nutritious smoothies (with mango, banana and full fat yoghurt) and also by letting him eat before-bed snacks of whatever he fancies (pot noodle, crisps, biscuits, bread and butter, chunks of cheese, pints of milk)

He is now 15, 6ft2, and an average weight.

Still not an ounce of fat on him though

But a basis on normal "healthy" home-cooked stuff (incl fresh veg every day) supplemented by "junk food " and lots of glasses of milk seems to have done the trick

Thanks all,in answer to some of the questions. Myself and husband are not dh is a bit below average height and I’m bang on both have healthy normal bmi etc...

He has always been on the smaller side but normally bumbles along around the 7th percentile, though looks tiny compared to a lot of his friends and buying clothes is hard, especially trousers and he has no bum at all. This is the first time he has gone into the orange range on the NHS dodah.

He has ADHD so burns a lot of energy bouncing around, he is on medication Stratera, which isn't the one that can reduce appetite. He was on that for a little while and it was a really struggle to get him to eat anything except breakfast before he took it.

He loves smoothies so I will be making some more, using full fat yogurt and possibly sneaking in some chia seeds or oats to boost it up a bit. (Just not drink too much of it myself)

I have an underweight DS (0.4th centile weight, 25th centile height) who is a very fussy eater so I have lots of tricks up my sleeve! I used to stress a lot until we saw the dietitian who said eating anything (even junk) is better than eating nothing and wasting away- some kids don't feel hunger!

Have regular meals and make sure there's plenty of what he likes. Mine won't eat much meat so we make sure he has enough of the sides and maybe an egg too. Always have a small pudding- full fat yoghurt, mini trifles, small portion of ice cream, pot of custard, angel delight with full fat milk.

Then have high fat high protein snacks. Nuts, cheese, malt loaf with plenty of butter and a milkshake, hot chocolate with added milk powder or peanut butter and a couple of biscuits, hummus or guacamole with crackers (not that mine would eat that!), boiled eggs, fig rolls, scotch eggs, mini sausage rolls, fruit and nut bars (Naked bars are good or make your own by blitzing dates, nuts and cocoa powder), homemade cakes or flapjacks.

Lots of things that other people might see as unhealthy but all good for people needing to put on weight. We've had to see a dietitian and these were all suggested- if they are fussy and underweight you need to get food in there so go with what they will eat.

Just saw your update. Mine has adhd too (I always said he was too busy to eat! We spend most meal times telling him to sit back down rather than keep getting up!) and takes Equasym.

He has it after a big breakfast and I don't think he eats much at school at all. He 'forgets' to eat any snack I give him even if I put it in his blazer pocket 🙄.

Medication has mostly worn off by Home time so I take a big snack and then tea. Hot chocolate and biscuits before bed. He always says he's starving at about 9 so we give him a bowl of nuts and cheese plus a boiled egg if I have any ready.