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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
Wendy wrote:
My son's pediatrician suspects I might be starving him. Big sigh. I've got three children. I've got a normal sized 12 year old who has no health issues, has had menarche, stuff like that. She's slim but not skinny. She exercises regularly. I've got a 10 year old son who has a bit too much bodyfat for optimum health but only a health nut would notice - half his class is bulkier than him. I mentioned to his doctor once that I was concerned about the development of new belly fat and the doctor looked at me like I was nuts. (The doctor sees tons of obese children - no pun intended - and didn't think my kid's fat roll was worth commenting on.) In retrospect I wish I had never made that comment. It was soon after noticing my son's trend towards rotundness that I made my major lifestyle changes to lose my weight. My son's eating has not changed that much and we're handling his slight weight issues by increasing family activities. But my third child is very, very small. 28 pounds at four years old. He's gained 1.5 pounds in the past two years. There are reasons why he might be small - a critical illness last year where he lost a bunch of weight (that he's since regained), the fact that all his siblings were unusually small at his age, the fact that my kids are unusually active and eat unusually healthy foods in comparison to their peers... But the doctor knows I've lost 50+ pounds in the past year, and has started wondering if I've got some sort of eating disorder. What to do? I've got until Jan. 15th to fatten him up and then the doctor plans to start doing all sorts of tests that I don't want to put my kid through. (My kid is energetic and healthy - no colds, etc.) Here's what I do. I put peanutbutter on anything possible. I feed him spoonfuls of cod liver oil. I mix flaxseed into his oatmeal. I give him Balance bars or Myoplex shakes for snacks. He has a snack cupboard with a wide variety of choices available to him all the time (including pudding & those dreaded almonds.) He is fed five or six times a day. He doesn't have a huge appetite and is unpredictable in what he'll eat: tonight, for example, he ate cranberry relish and whole wheat bread but passed up the mashed potatoes and turkey and broccoli (which he usually loves.) I don't buy cookies or chips or pretty much any refined flour products - even the crackers are whole wheat ones. I only buy skim milk for the rest of the family but I buy flavored 2% milk for him (because he won't drink plain milk.) I'm thinking of mixing up infant formula for him again if he'll drink it! Any other ideas? He just came downstairs saying he's hungry for an orange so I'll go get him one (yes, it's after 9 pm and no, he's not sleepy.) Wendy Wendy: I have been reading some of the responses and people are making ridiculous comments. You need a new doctor. I have lost 70 lbs in the past 2 yrs and I have heard that one friend thinks I have AIDS! People are so content with being overweight .... while their health is destroyed. Keep an eye on your son's weight. Andy |
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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
I'm replying to a reply because I don't have the original post. I'm also
snipping cross posting. But my third child is very, very small. 28 pounds at four years old. He's gained 1.5 pounds in the past two years. There are reasons why he might be small - a critical illness last year where he lost a bunch of weight (that he's since regained), the fact that all his siblings were unusually small at his age, the fact that my kids are unusually active and eat unusually healthy foods in comparison to their peers... Here's what I do. I put peanutbutter on anything possible. I feed him spoonfuls of cod liver oil. I mix flaxseed into his oatmeal. I give him Balance bars or Myoplex shakes for snacks. He has a snack cupboard with a wide variety of choices available to him all the time (including pudding & those dreaded almonds.) He is fed five or six times a day. He doesn't have a huge appetite and is unpredictable in what he'll eat: tonight, for example, he ate cranberry relish and whole wheat bread but passed up the mashed potatoes and turkey and broccoli (which he usually loves.) My nearly 3 year old is also *very* tiny. He is all of 23 to 24 pounds fully dressed. He has gained weight since he was diagnosed with his metabolic disorder, but not as much as they would have liked to see. We talked to the dietician at Cincy Children's and she recommended giving Lucas more fat in his diet. We cook a lot of his food with butter -- his breakfast, on his veggies, etc. ( 4 tsp of butter gives you an extra 200 calories) and we give him olives, which he loves. 6 of those gives another 50 calories. The list we were given also recommended putting chocolate chips on pancakes or even as a snack. The trick as you've figured out is to make everything more calorically dense. I don't buy cookies or chips or pretty much any refined flour products - even the crackers are whole wheat ones. I only buy skim milk for the rest of the family but I buy flavored 2% milk for him (because he won't drink plain milk.) I'm thinking of mixing up infant formula for him again if he'll drink it! What about something like Pediasure? Do you think he'd like that? We can't do that (it has starch) but it might be an option for you. I think that they come in several flavors. Kate R. |
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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
In article ,
Ignoramus1904 wrote: In article , Kate Rambo wrote: My nearly 3 year old is also *very* tiny. He is all of 23 to 24 pounds fully dressed. He has gained weight since he was diagnosed with his metabolic disorder, but not as much as they would have liked to see. We talked to the dietician at Cincy Children's and she recommended giving Lucas more fat in his diet. We cook a lot of his food with butter -- his breakfast, on his veggies, etc. ( 4 tsp of butter gives you an extra 200 calories) and we give him olives, which he loves. 6 of those gives another 50 calories. The list we were given also recommended putting chocolate chips on pancakes or even as a snack. The trick as you've figured out is to make everything more calorically dense. What is the name of his disorder? i And how can I acquire it? (No, that's a joke -- I have a great deal of sympathy for how hard it must be to try to put weight ON, since I know how hard it is to keep it OFF. From my point of view, it just sounds more enjoyable. One of my brothers was a very skinny child, and I remember some of the things Mom had to go through to try to keep his diet calorically dense.) meh -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
"dragonlady" wrote in message ... In article , And how can I acquire it? It's really funny--I've cut out starches (almost completely) and have reduced my symptoms of IBS *and* lost 25 pounds since the end of August. But why I've been overweight since college if ( and this may be a big if) I can't use starches is a mystery to me. (No, that's a joke -- I have a great deal of sympathy for how hard it must be to try to put weight ON, since I know how hard it is to keep it OFF. From my point of view, it just sounds more enjoyable. One of my brothers was a very skinny child, and I remember some of the things Mom had to go through to try to keep his diet calorically dense.) The hardest part is knowing that you are feeding your child and he/she is still tiny. I had someone threaten to call family services on me because I was obviously starving my child (while he was sitting in his stroller and eating). I assume that your brother eventually grew. Even though I was very small (30 pounds at 4), I certainly seem to have caught up in college ( I grew 3.5 inches). Kate R. |
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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
Wendy wrote:
But my third child is very, very small. 28 pounds at four years old. He's gained 1.5 pounds in the past two years. There are reasons why he might be small - a critical illness last year where he lost a bunch of weight (that he's since regained), the fact that all his siblings were unusually small at his age, the fact that my kids are unusually active and eat unusually healthy foods in comparison to their peers... I've got a tiny one too, now 2.5yo. Like your son, his growth pattern is similar to that of his older siblings (and mine as a child), so we mostly figured it was probably just a familial growth patter, but because it was so pronounced in my third child, we didn't want to rule out any other potential causes, so did agree to some testing. We had a sweat test done to rule out cystic fibrosis, and some blood work and a fecal fat analysis. I've got until Jan. 15th to fatten him up and then the doctor plans to start doing all sorts of tests that I don't want to put my kid through. (My kid is energetic and healthy - no colds, etc.) You don't have to consent to testing you don't want your child to have, of course. But as I'm sure you know, this may lead them to suspect abuse/neglect. Unfortunately, sometimes "failure to thrive" is caused by either incompetent or neglectful parents, and so it casts an unkind suspicion on all parents of tiny children. I only buy skim milk for the rest of the family but I buy flavored 2% milk for him (because he won't drink plain milk.) I'm thinking of mixing up infant formula for him again if he'll drink it! Try Carnation Instant Breakfast in whole milk for more fat, calories, protein, calcium. We mix in some half-and-half as well for even more fat. We also use the half-and-half in place of milk on his cereal. It sounds like you're doing lots of things to help him get enough fat and calories. You might document what he eats for a few days to hopefully satisfy the "experts" that you are in fact feeding him enough (both quantity and quality). Good luck! --Robyn |
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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
In article ,
"Kate Rambo" wrote: "dragonlady" wrote in message ... In article , And how can I acquire it? It's really funny--I've cut out starches (almost completely) and have reduced my symptoms of IBS *and* lost 25 pounds since the end of August. But why I've been overweight since college if ( and this may be a big if) I can't use starches is a mystery to me. (No, that's a joke -- I have a great deal of sympathy for how hard it must be to try to put weight ON, since I know how hard it is to keep it OFF. From my point of view, it just sounds more enjoyable. One of my brothers was a very skinny child, and I remember some of the things Mom had to go through to try to keep his diet calorically dense.) The hardest part is knowing that you are feeding your child and he/she is still tiny. I had someone threaten to call family services on me because I was obviously starving my child (while he was sitting in his stroller and eating). I assume that your brother eventually grew. Even though I was very small (30 pounds at 4), I certainly seem to have caught up in college ( I grew 3.5 inches). Kate R. Yep -- over six feet, and struggles with being overweight. (He literally grew an inch a month for one year -- a full foot in 12 months.) All of us were on the underweight side until we hit adolescence -- since then, four of the six of us have struggled with being overweight. My Mom was the same. Dad jokes that when he met mom, she was a perfect 36 -- 12/12/12 -- and that he got her pregnant so she'd have SOME shape. (She was only 15 at the time.) I'm not sure how old she was when she started struggling with being overweight. meh -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
"Ignoramus1904" wrote in message ... Just curious, how did that happen? Was it a relative? No, a stranger. Some people like to make problems when none exists. I suppose it makes them feel important. I couldn't figure out why she'd even bother. It wasn't as if she knew our name or address or any other pertinent data. She couldn't have turned us in! All of the relatives had watched Lucas eat--they KNEW that we weren't starving him. I wish people who don't have any information would be careful about what they say. At the time, we were waiting for an appointment with a second gastroenterologist and getting flak from family about not leaving things well enough alone. I personally have learned that you shouldn't make comments on weight of kids you don't know. The child could have celiac disease, CF, or a myriad other problems. Kate R. P.S. Since one of my posts didn't go through: My son's pancreas does not produce amylase, the enzyme that breaks down starch. It triggered symptoms that had him tested for CF, celiac disease, and a lot of other possible problems. Luckily, it's a relatively easy problem to handle. |
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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
In misc.kids Andy Harmon wrote:
Wendy wrote: My son's pediatrician suspects I might be starving him. Big sigh. I just noticed that Andy "helpfully" cross-posted this to misc.kids and misc.kids.health. As it happens, I read and post in both places. I posted this in my diet group because it pertained more to the issues of having lost a lot of weight and the struggles of meeting the calorie needs of five very different individuals in one house than the issues associated with making my child be different than he is. I answered in alt.support.diet about the medical aspects of it. I guess I'm posting this to say that I'd prefer not to have my posts get cross-posted. I consider it an etiquette faux pas. It's also not terribly useful if I don't know to follow the threads in the other groups! Wendy |
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Children's weight issues for dieting Mum
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