I need my child to eat. | ADHD Information

I recently started making shakes with Wieder weight gain powder, whole milk, crushed ice and 1 spoonful of cookies & cream ice cream, I know the ice cream sounds bad but he LOVES them and is the king of picky! He asks for and thanks me for these. Has grown 3 inches since Jan., some of this is age I am sure, but he is finally in the "average Height". What ever works! Hope this helps

*sigh* I see many others have our same food struggles here. I tell ya, it sucks. I am at a loss here as well.

The idea of giving my son whatever he wants and then he will figure out he is hungry and eat - that soooooo does NOT work here. He never gets hungry - period. He never asks for anything to eat, and he never says he is hungry. I know that is hard to believe, but it is true. I tried that stuff about letting him have whatever he wants, and let him eat when he is hungry. He will go DAYS without eating a thing if left to his own devices. And he already looks like a concentration camp victim without his shirt on (and I am NOT exaggerating). He loses one more pound - and he is going to have to go off all meds - and none of us will survive that. My son's drs say he has one of the most advanced cases of ADHD they have seen - so no meds is NOT an option if any of us want to retain our sanity.

What works for us is not pretty or ideal, but the food goes down. I make him whatever he wants to eat, and then when he refuses to eat the very thing he just asked me to fix, I force him to eat it. Basically, I had to put my foot down and just make him do it. I also add lots of calories in any way possible to everything he eats or drinks. He gets shakes with CIB for dessert, his "strawberry quick" is actually strawberry CIB and whole milk. And all the snacks and meals I can get down him. We battle, but this is a fight I am determined to win. I don't back down and he knows I mean business. He still fights me, but in the end - he eats.

Hi,

I know this might be a little too late as far as advice (because summer is ending)but I have been giving my DS (during the summer) two short acting Ritalin. This has increased his eating because by noon it has worn off and he is hungry. I feed him a good lunch and if we need the additional Ritalin because of behavior or activities I give him another short acting dose after he has eaten. If we have a lazy day at home I might not give him another dose and he is really hungry for dinner.

We are trying to ramp up Straterra to the correct dose so I have been using this method with the Ritalin and it has worked well. He starts back to school next week so we will go back to Ritalin LA. I am noticing with the Straterra he needs less of the stimulant which is good. He needs to gain weight. Currently, he is about 5 ft tall and 84 pounds. I would say he is very lean almost skinny.

As a mom, I worry by giving him the high fat food (which I do all the time) that I am conditioning his eating habits to want these foods which may not serve him later in life. What if he goes off the stimulants later in life and now only has a taste and the habits for only high fat full flavor foods??? Just a thought that bugs me from time to time. It's a constant balancing act.

We are giving my DS 3 CIB's a day with whole milk, the only way he will drink them. He is also eating 3 supervised meals, high calorie, but we have to sit with him every bite of the way and it takes a long time to get a meal down. My biggest concern is in a week when school starts. I am thinking of bringing the CIB to school to pick him up with a snack. I don't think he will eat much at school. this concerns me and I doubt I can do anything about it school wise. Thanks for all your responses and suggestions. keep em comingHello all! I am new to these forums but I have been reading posts for the last hours and I have been balling since the first word. My son was diagnosed almost a year ago and it is so encouraging to hear everyone going thru the same thing.

As far as the CIB, I started mixing it with half milk and half heavy whipping cream. He really likes it and it adds ALOT more calories.[QUOTE=Jessica N]

My son was a picky breakfast eater, so I don't give him breakfast foods. I just give him what he is willing to eat. That might be spagetti, mac n cheese, burrito, soup, etc.

This actually just sounds like a power struggle. Why not just make something that you think he'll eat, and tell him that because of the morning schedule with school starting, there's only 20 minutes for eating. Set the timer. When the 20 minutes are up, take the food away, acting like it does not bother you a bit -- you are only concerned with the schedule. Then tell him it's time to brush his teeth. You a bring a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. Just keep serving and then taking away calorie-packed foods after a reasonable amount of time has passed, with a smile on your face. Eventually he'll stop focusing on the power struggle and realize that he's hungry.

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my son has been in that mode for 1 year and 8 lbs later........

my son eats almost nothing, I have offered him p-nut butter and nuggets for brekfast he says they are not for breakfast. we have been having my husband to sit and eat with him the past few days but that won't be lasting long as my husband is having shoulder replacement in a couple of weeks. For some reason he pulls all the crap with me. it took 1 hours for him to eat dinner last night I don't even stay awake past 7:30 and he is still eating dinner. when Mark is not here he just ignores me and doesn't eat a thing. I have tried the carnation instant breakfast, he hates it(of course) said he won't let me put icecream in it which I am sure would help the taste.spamula39677.2400925926

My son was a picky breakfast eater, so I don't give him breakfast foods. I just give him what he is willing to eat. That might be spagetti, mac n cheese, burrito, soup, etc.

At my ds's last checkup, our ped. gave me a prescription for
Cyproheptadine. It is supposed to induce hunger/appetite. He said it is sort
of like an antihistimine so it might make him drowsy. We have not tried it
yet, but you may want to look into it if you are really concerned. I also agree
with above post about the power struggle. The more you make it an issue
with him, the harder it will get to make him eat.

We are having the weight issues. too. I agree with the advice - to let your child eat anything... Our dd will make it a power struggle if we force her to eat at breakfast, so we let her have what she wants. We tried the carnation instant breakfast and that lasted for about 2 weeks, until she realized we wanted her to eat it.

This last week, we did leftover pork chops with Poptarts one morning, and left over pasta with sausage and spaghetti sauce another- she had seconds of this! Left over pizza is also a favorite. Also- she loves the frozen pancakes and sausage on a stick and sausage biscuits. She can make those in the microwave herself (control!!!). Occasionally, my dh will mix up a batch of biscuits and gravy and freeze them into serving size portions.

I keep telling myself I will get healthy and make up my own whole wheat pancakes with healthy turkey suasage on a stick, but it has not happened yet. But - she has gained a pound - yeah!

By the way - We finished her first semi-drug altered regimen weekend (babysteps to a drug holiday) and I will NEVER do it again, unless I am medicated. Not worth it... Had the short acting ritalin timed to to be out of her system at meal times and she spent half of every meal in time out, which defeats the purpose. It was amazing how "stupid, fat, and ugly" I became (in the eyes of my dd) as meal time approached. Plus - dh got so pissed he put two holes in the doors and broke the remote, in an "attempt not to let her know how pissed he was getting. " Better the remote than her...I guess he will need to be medicated, too.

spamula, does he eat ANYTHING? It doesnt have to be "breakfast food" becasue it's morning. If he likes peanut butter and jelly, give him that, if he likes chicken nuggests and fried, give him that.......who cares? I agree wiht inspired that doing a control battle will probably backfire, but I also know the feeling of having that kid who just WON'T eat, and it consumes you.

My daughter is now almost 14, eats all her meals and snacks, but is still 5'2" and only 80 pounds........obviously she doesn't eat what other teens eat, she should be about 30 pounds heavier..........................

thank you all for your tips, I bought the carnation instant breakfast already and he is refusing to try my mikshake he only like's McD's but there is a Wendy's hust aroung the block. what other high protien /carb/higher fat items are you gals doing for your picky eaters.Carnation Instant Breakfast is something we use as well. We also do any type
of protein bar. Cliff bars for kids come in chocolate brownie, chocolate chip
and peanut butter. They sell them at Target and they are organic. Really,
any type of protein bar you can get him to eat. My ds has even eaten slim
fast bars (chocolate peanut butter or something like that). They are great for
a quick breakfast. Look in the cereal aisle. There are those Quaker oatmeal
to go bars. One flavor is rasberry streusal (spelling is wrong). You can eat
them as is or heat them up. I once put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of
it warmed up for a dessert. Let me know what works and I can help with
more ideas. My ds does well with breakfast foods, grilled cheese, chicken
strips, fish sticks and pb&J (no crusts of course), cheese sticks, crackers,
bananas, strawberries and oranges sometimes.This morning it took over 1 hour for him to eat his waffles and carnation instant breakfast. we do not have that time every meal especially when school starts. he is sooo picky he won't eat anything unless my hubby is sitting there saying take another bite NOW or else. No computer or tv games unless he eats. school mornings are going to be hard maybe he could take his shake with him on the way to school? i don't know.Wow, that sounds tough.
This is just my two cents, but I have a feeling that "making" him eat, with someone sitting there ordering him to take a bite, turns eating into a power struggle. I think I would back off and not force him to eat. Just try to offer high-calorie nutritious food and let him eat when he's hungry. Having said that, I can't stand to see a kid go off to school without breakfast, and I know you can't have him losing weight and looking like a skeleton. Maybe just make a rule that he has to eat SOMETHING before he goes to school, but leave the what and how much up to him (?) I do think forcing kids to eat backfires.
Again, just my 2 cents. I know it's not easy. Good luck.
How about muffins in the morning? I have a friend with a 9 year old, ADHD,
very picky, etc. She give him Boost drinks to take to school with a pizza
lunchable. I have also bought yoplait yogurt drinks/smoothies (with yogurt
in supermarket) for my ds. He seems to like them. You can also try just
letting him have some peanut butter with crackers for breakfast, or gogurt
squeezable yogurt.My son was doing well on Adderall but he stopped eating and even drinking! It was scary. And, he lost 2 pounds in about 2 months. The psychiatrist and we agreed that was not acceptable so we pulled him off that. In fact, with all the side effects of others that we tried, we figured we'd not put him on anything for awhile. Our son doesn't have any extra weight on him and is not a good eater in the first place so I know what you mean.

We did, and still do, give him SlimFast. Sounds crazy, I know, but my stepdad is a physician and he says that it has all kinds of vitamins and fiber and is a good meal replacement. The psychiatrist had suggested mixing it in a blender with ice cream to make a shake, but we never got around to that. He loves SlimFast, and if I buy a different brand, he notices the taste difference. Maybe SlimFast is something to try - with any food he might eat.

I really think you'll have to look at changing his meds though. When they even stop drinking, it's scary - especially in the desert where we live.

Good luck.
We has ds"s yearly this year and he has lost 8 pounds since on the vyvanse. I knew it would be a couple of lbs, but I didn't realize how many He is 5'.25 and 53lbs. he hates to eat even before meds and now we have to force him to eat the right things to gain weight. he looked like a little sketleton up top.

Carnation instant breakfast with fattening ice cream added.

Wendys frosties (they are made from potato), and offer fries to dip in the frostie.

I have been making shakes for ds. I combine soy vanilla milk (or reg. milk),
peanut butter, one banana and a scoop of chocolate whey protein powder.
It packs alot of calories in. My son is very picky, but loves these shakes.