Getting desperate - can you recommend a good protein shake?

[Verbena17]

Hi,
I’m getting desperate for my son to eat and his ED nurse suggested this week that we buy some chocolate Ensure drink.

Our DS is 17 and has ARFID.
It’s currently worse than it’s ever been in his 17 years and today he’s literally only had 3/4 of a cheeseburger.

I don’t mind paying for anything but I know that he will most likely smell the Ensure and refuse it and it’s pretty pricey and I can’t buy only one bottle.

So I thought it would make more sense to ask on here if someone can suggest a high protein/calorific drink he might accept. Basically, it would have to be as much like drinking normal chocolate milk as possible - not like a fortified product that doesn’t quite taste right 😬.
I bought a bottle of Paediasure a few months back and even I thought it smelt rank!

I’ve got some Friji but he says no to that as well.

@Mollymaggiemoo thanks for those suggestions - I’ll look them up.

@Mollymaggiemoo sorry, pressed post too soon! Sorry to hear you’ve had cancer of the tongue. Traumatic events like illness and treatments etc can also trigger ARFID. Glad you’re recovering and finding food you can tolerate.

@CranberryPecan that sounds nice - I’ll look for some.

@Maranello I’ll pop that one on my list too - I’ve not heard of it before, no.

Yes, it’s incredibly hard for sure. Just have to keep waking up and taking the next day as it comes.

You sound like such a loving and committed mum.

Will DS drink orange or blackcurrant squash?

I'm wondering as you can get drinks made of protein that have the consistency and taste of squash so do not have the milky thick consistency of milkshakes.

They aren't high calorie in themselves as they don't have any fat or carbs, but they go down just like a normal glass of orange squash, but have 20g of protein in, so it might be a way for him to get lots of extra protein in when he doesn't feel he can cope with food.

You can get them ready to drink or in containers of powder you dilute with water.

Amazon sell ready made ones such as these which are a ten flavour sample pack in case he prefers some flavours over others.

I tend to buy from a company called My Protein who do about 20 different flavours of it. The Peach Tea, Bitter Lemon and Mojito ones are really nice. (They also do ones that are designed to taste like specific sweets, they had a refreshers limited edition recently, so might appeal to his sweet tooth).
You can buy individual powder sachets of each flavour to test them out, and if you find one he likes, its cheaper to buy a drum of the powder
(My protein seems to have some sort of perpetual sale on, so the drums are usually listed about £35 for 20 servings, but there is always some sort of buy one get one free or 40% off everything offer on, I've never paid more than about £22 so look at the top of the homepage for a discount code. )

@RelentlessForwardProgress that’s really sweet and kind of you to say.
I try my best but it’s not easy. He has been selectively eating since weaning between6-12 months old and so for us, it’s normal…although he eats far less now than as he was growing up. Sadly, gone are the days where he will clear a plate of sausages, potato, carrots and Yorkshire pudding.

Unfortunately, flavoured drinks like squash are a no-go and we actually don’t all eat round the dinner table anymore and haven’t for years because of his sensory difficulties around being to smell things he can’t tolerate. Blackcurrant is the worse than orange. However, he loves refresher sweets so I might look at betting one of those to try. Thanks so much 😊

He managed to eat a third of the maltesers he took upstairs and he is currently dipping a pack of Oreos into a huge glass of milk. If he manages it all, he will have around 1840 cals today in the end, so not bad at all.

@Verbena17 i have a small problem with food now but for a lot of reasons. If I eat now I mainly eat doughnuts and chocolate biscuits dipped in coffee, easy to eat high calorie and don’t turn my stomach. I see a dietitian and SLP who are brilliant. I won’t eat soups, creamy things a long list. She suggested I found something and tried to change one thing about it so that it’s the same but different so say I like mash and gravy use a curry sauce instead or sweet potato mash. Made with butter, cream or even olive oil.
Eating is the worst, I feel for you all.

@Mollymaggiemoo that must be very hard. It’s good that you’re getting support from the dietitian and SLP.

What you suggested is like food chaining and we try to do that - sometimes successfully, most often not. We are currently at a place where he is continuing to drop most foods so food chaining when that happens is a no-go sadly. When he’s receptive to new ideas, or enjoying some foods, we would then suggest chaining something similar.

@Mollymaggiemoo I’ve just seen you have a PEG. The ED nurse they prefer not to give them to children with ARFID but I guess they would if they had to.

Hi op anorexia is a biological brain illness and triggered by weight loss, it's caused by the fall out of the brain loosing its fatty protective coating and the symptoms are increased anxiety and irrational behaviours. The reasons for the weight loss can be a desire to look thinner but can also be loads of other reasons as well.

It definitely sounds like your Ds has tipped into anorexia if his anxiety is higher than usual.

It sounds like you're doing all the right things either way though! You're welcome to join us on the teens with ED thread if you wanted to, we're a friendly bunch 🙂

I find innermost shakes taste lovely… just like a normal vanilla or choc milkshake x

MyProtein do pancake mixes. Mars Bars have protein bars too and Snicker bars,, Amazon have variety packs of protein bars including M&M ones etc, may be worth trying if they may appeal to him.Aldi also have protein puddings, not at all like yogurts and chocolate mouses which don’t have the awful artificial sweetener taste.

Would Fortisip be any use? You can buy a selection pack on Amazon but they can be prescribed I think?
Sorry I don’t have experience of ED but my stepdad took them when he had cancer. Some flavours were nice and others weren’t so you’d need to try them. A small bottle has a few hundred calories in.

I recognise so much of this, thank you for sharing. Hang on to the fact that you know it's cyclical, and he will eat again when he is able.

You could buy SlimFast (it's got all the nutrients needed), make it up with full fat milk.

Proteinworks.com do some great flavours of you have a sweet tooth, the extreme vegan range is very good. The website tells you the texture of the drink/meal replacement. I’m sure you can can get a starter pack/trial pack of 3 flavours and a shaker thing before you buy a huge amount of powder.

Does he like pancakes or waffles?

Not quite the same, but my fussy toddler hardly eats anything atm after illness, but dh started making homemade waffles and he now eats for breakfast a few times a week better than anything else. We don’t . Add protein powder or nut flour due to allergies, but you could if you wanted.

I figure they have egg, butter and milk in so some kind of protein going in.

Hi - I’m not sure I understand.
In the DSM V, the classification doesn’t mention a physical reason (loss of myelin coating) for diagnosing.
He wouldn’t satisfy 2/3 points for diagnosis of anorexia but completely does for ARFID - and is diagnosed with ARFID.

He wants to be able to eat and wants to be a healthy weight. He isn’t restricting his intake on purpose. It’s not that he won’t eat….it’s that he can’t eat.

He does occasionally eat pancakes but they have to very very precisely made - and I apparently fail quite often at getting them ‘correct’!

So far today, he’s had
3/4 dbl cheeseburger
1 x large Coke
Pack of strawberry laces
Half a large glass of FF milk
6 Oreos
= 1190 calories.

Thanks I’ll look

@LeakyLoftHatch thank you 😊.
Yes, it’s really difficult but when I look back at what he used to eat, I just hope that at some point he will go back to those foods.

I offered him pork and rice tonight but he said no.
I have never actually felt quite as helpless as I currently feel. I think DH feels it too.

@1idea thank you 😊. I will look because protein versions of those foods might help.
However, after a day or so if sweet things, he starts rejecting them and feeling sick from too much sweetness.