underweight | ADHD Information

from what i've read here there are other kids including my son who are underweight. josh is a skeleton, he will be 9 and he weighs 47 lbs. josh has been labeled as failure to thrive since 9mths old. i try everything for him to gain weight ensure extra calorie shakes with instant breakfast and whole milk or half and half yet he still does'nt gain any.

Have you taken him to the supermarket with you? I did that with my son. I made into a special trip, just for him. I let him pick out what ever he wanted (in mederation. that is). He picked out pop tarts, cereal, corn dogs, ice cream, soups, easy mac, pizza. I realized that he is more likely to eat when he has choices. I also started packing his lunch for school and he also has a say in what he'll eat. I also bought a wide mouth food thermos, which broadens the lunch options. Truthfully, I let him eat when ever he wants now....if he wakes up and decided that he is hungry, i will feed him. I know that children are supposed to have a healthy nutritious diet, but at this point, I will feed my son what ever he is willing to eat.

My son will be 8 in May and weighs 45 lbs (he's 4ft, 1in). I looked up his BMI and according to that he is undernourished. (my poor baby!) I cant tell you if it has helped yet because truthfully, i just started this week.

Please update us on what you've tried, and what has worked since alot of us are going through similar things.

 

I don't have any great advice for you, but I just wanted to let you know I am in the same boat.  My son just turned 12 and weighs 63 pounds. He looks anorexic.   He has been considered underweight since he was about 6 months old.  Then in 3rd grade he was diagnosed adhd and put on meds.  He has just never had an appetite.  He never really lost on adhd meds (probably because he was already hardly eating anything before he started) but I feel he has hit a plateau. 

My father in law is 6'3'' and weighs 140 pounds so I think he takes after him.  I was sent to a nutritionist when he was 2- but since I had already asked everyone I knew for suggestions, she didn't really have anything to tell me.  what I've tried:

1) pediasure, etc.- my son won't eat them, but they are great for nutrition and calories

2) carnation instant breakfast shakes

3) I try to have more variety on the table- when there is more things to pick from he eats more.  (I know that it is discouraging though to cook so much when so little is eaten.)

4) Remind him to eat snacks- he just doesn't have enough appetite to get enough calories at meals. 

5) Try to have food available at all times.  When he gets hungry, if he waits a little while before eating, the hunger often goes away.  We always have refried beans to make burritoes around.

6) I make bread in the bread machine and make lots of homemade banana bread, etc.  This is on the premise that what tempts me will tempt him.

7) I've been trying to get my son to snack on nuts, since they are high calorie but also nutritious.  He doesn't really eat them.  I bought some Wasabi coated almonds because he and his dad have this thing going about eating hot stuff being cool- he of course didn't like them and I ate the whole thing!  Someone recently suggested to me that Trader Joe's has all kinds of spicey flavorings on their nuts so I am going to try there.  I also just had a new idea to try- I'm going to try grinding up the nuts (in small portions) and including them in muffins.  Will this help?  I don't know but I haven't had any other new ideas in a while so I am going to try.

8)  Power bars are good and have extra protein.  (My son won't eat them, but my daughter does.)

My 5 year old daughter is also very skinny, but she is a little less frustrating because she does at least eat a good variety of food, including fruits and vegetables, and when I try things with her, they sometimes work!  She is very prone to constipation, so we really have to keep on top of that because when they are constipated, the appetite goes right out the window.  We do honey bran muffins a lot.  fruits and veggies.  Also Fiber One bars taste great with lots of chocolate chips, but have 9 grams of fiber per bar.  With her, I have to deal with the constipation first because otherwise it is impossible to get her to eat. 

I am guessing when you go through my list, you are probably saying to yourself- yes, I have tried that, nothing new here.  I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone, someone else deals with this frustration on a daily basis.  I know the pain of watching the boys at a birthday party all scarf down 2 or 3 pieces of pizza while my son only finishes a half of one.  Hugs to you and vent anytime you want!

 

I'm going through something similar right now. Trent has been on adhd meds since sept of 07. When we registered him for kindergarten he was a big boy. He weighed right under 70lbs and he was the tallest kid in his class. Then he started having all of his problems he's having with his bowels & everything else and when they weighed him at the dr yesterday he weighed 52 lbs. Back in Nov he was 58. So he's actually dropped almost 20 lbs in under 6 months. I told the last pediatrician we saw yesterday that I was very concerned about that. I understand he was actually over weight for a 5 yr old, but he wasn't big at all. I'll post a picture in here if I can find one. Then i'll post a recent one as well to show the difference.

Here is now.

 

this one was taken jan of this year.

 

 

brtsqd339508.8595949074

he is the one on the far right in the front i forgot to add, this was taken last year in july or august.

 

 

oops if it doesn't show you can go here   http://brtsqd3.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName =album06&id=misc_pictures_including_2nd_football_game_20 07033

Hopefully that will work.

brtsqd339508.8758217593for me its been a struggle since he was 8 mths old, he did'nt want to eat, baby food still not wanting to eat. its really hard to buy food for him because he will eat something ok for a day or two and i'll think ok finally i know what he'll eat, then he'll no longer touch it.this is often. i looked at the average weight for a 9 yr old and josh is like 22 lbs underweight. he says the kids call him names about being skinny. today was a no medicine day,so we were going to an all you can eat buffet so i figured he would actually eat some, he about ate less than when he takes his adderall. he has such a problem going to the bathroom recently, i give him miralax and i have to give him other meds for him to be able to go to the bathroom. and he is always cold to the touch, even in the summer he will have socks on all day and you take them off and he feels like ice.

wow, have you talked to his dr about it? I have a 9 yr old who is the pickiest eater i've ever seen. from age 2 he decided he didn't like meat. his intake of food consists of mac n cheese, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, chicken strips, corn dogs, french fries, cheese pizza, potatoes, corn, cheese lasagna, things like that. other then chicken in the form of  a nugget or a strip he wont touch it, and if you put any other form of meat on his plate he'll leave the table without eating. he strongly sticks to not eating meat. i don't know where he gets it from. neither of our families are like that. up until a year ago, he was way under weight. he weighed about 50-60 lbs till he hit 2nd grade then all the sudden he started to thicken up and his food didn't change at all. he's in 3rd now and the other day at the dr he was 92 lbs.

I would definitely talk to the dr's, maybe they need to be running some tests to see why he doesn't wanna eat, and why he isn't gaining, especially if he is always so cold.

Trent my younger was on adderall and i did NOT like the way it made him. It honestly made his behavior worse then with nothing.

i'm sorry i don't have much advice, but i wish you lots of luck finding out whats going on. and big hugs to both of you.

one thing i would suggest pediasure, i started buying it for trent and i noticed the vanilla actually comes with fiber. so that might help him with going to the bathroom. just a thought. lots of hugs.

ya, i'll tell any dr who will listen to me. i've been giving him the instant breakfast with whole milk or half and half and the ensure extra calorie shakes, i forgot that the pediasure has fiber so ill look into that. i feel josh seems more angry and depressed since hes been on adderall xr, but he eats better on it than he has on the previous adhd meds he's had.

My daughter is 9 (Jan) and is old 47-48 pounds, and a bit shorter then most of her classmates.