Well we must have found something that sort of works for us, because he is up to 33.5 pounds. He still seems hungry all the time- as soon as he finishes lunch he asks if it's time for snack, as soon as he finishes dinner, he asks if it's time for dessert. If he really seems hungry, then I go ahead and find a small healthy snack. If I think he's just bored, I try to distract him for a little bit to see if he is really hungry. It's a little bit of struggle some days, but I think we are doing well overall. He's learned to love the little 100 calorie snack packs of mine, and I think it's really helped me shop smarter for all of us because I really have to look at labels, calories, fat, serving sizes, etc. ~Jenn A.
A_GROVE84 3/19/07 10:41 P
My son is 2 and he weighs 27lbs....having just gained a few pounds in the last few months...the doctor told us the same thing...to limit his snacks so that he would eat better at meals, but that didn't work, and I felt like i was depriving him...he litterally would eat only a few bites of something ALL DAY! We had a food journal, and the one day he had one potato chip, one bite of melon and milk...thats IT! all day!
I think that in the end you have to use your own judgement on somethings...the doctor doesn't know your child as well as you do, and if snacking helps him gain weight, whats the problem , i say, anyways...
CAERYL 3/1/07 11:11 A
You are so right in that each child is different...
I know for us, we had to have grazing.. and it was all healthy...
I was thinking.. My oldest sister was a premie.. and she was the tiniest girl in her class until she went into middle school. At which point she grew and grew and grew.. Now she is 5'8..
Caeryl
SUPERMOMX 2/28/07 6:50 P
I haven't been overly concerned about his size, because there are two other little boys in his preschool class that wear the same size shoes and clothes- and weren't preemies.
We had been letting him graze for awhile, but the doctor suggested trying to limit his snacks to one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. That would make him eat better at meal time when he would be more likely to have healthy, more filling and more nutritious foods. It's actually helped- the two pounds he has gained have been since we switched to limited snacks. He said that all the small snacks were helping keep his body used to eating small meals, therefore he would eat only a few bites at dinner and say he was full.
I know everybody is different- and I know it takes a lot of experimenting to figure out what works for your family. I feel like we're on the right track for Xavier... and I just need to figure out a way to make it work better for me. Last night I tried eating a huge salad while I was cooking dinner, so I wasn't as hungry once we sat down to eat our meal. It did help- I didn't feel the need to keep eating beyond the portion of food I had on my plate.
Baby steps! ~Jenn A.
CUDA440 2/28/07 2:33 P
Jenn, well that (premie) does explain a bit. My son is just under 3 and has been over 34 LBS for a while and I just measured him the other day and he is 39" tall. I would think maybe he could have some added snacks throughout the day. These are something that would not add to your intake. I like the grazing idea.
Caeryl - 14 LB loss in a week and already being so small is so sad. I am glad you have found a way to work it in for both of you.
Beckie
CAERYL 2/28/07 1:54 P
You are not alone in this issue.
I have a 15 year old who has to eat a high calorie diet due to a medical condition... she has to consume close to 3000 calories a day in order to maintain her 85 pounds and 4'9 frame... She is done growing...
I have had those same problems as you.. how do you eat healthy and low fat when you have a child that requires high calories...
We have incorporated grazing in our household .. This way she can eat at any time in the day... We have apples that she dips in Natural peanutbutter... What I have done is give her butter... Her cholestral is very low so we can do this. .. I use something else for myself....
I make smoothies in the morning.. this helps so that I can get her more proteins and other added nutrtions into her diet...
My daughter spent a week with my dad who is on a low fat diet.. She lost 14 pounds while there...
I hope you can figure out what is going on with your child... Please let us know...
Caeryl
SUPERMOMX 2/28/07 1:25 P
Thanks for the suggestions... Yes, he does perhaps have a medical condition that would require more calories. We are looking into it right now. He was a preemie (28 weeks, 2 lb 5 oz) and now at age 5 he is still at below 5th percentile on the charts, and not staying consistant with his growth. At his checkup he was 31 pounds and I think 38 inches tall. We did extra blood tests, bone age tests etc. to see if there is a medical reason he is still so small. He should have caught up to kids his age by about 3 years old. So far the tests aren't showing anything too out of the ordinary. We have a follow-up with an endocrinologist (sp) next week to make sure. Until then, the doc just suggested we need to really make sure he's getting plenty of calories- in healthy ways of course. He's a good eater- not picky at all- and has a decent appetite, which made the doc wonder if there was something else going on. I'm tempted to think something is going right because in the past month since that appointment he's gained two pounds...
~Jenn A.
CUDA440 2/28/07 9:01 A
I just went to the Drsears web site and found a link to www.funtasticfoodtracker.com It's a little magnetic board that lists all the food groupings, a few suggested servings portion sizes. The kids can put magnets on each section when they eat a food from that group. This may give you some help as well.
Beckie
CUDA440 2/28/07 8:48 A
Is there a reason the Dr. is insisting on the high calories? Is there a medical problem that he needs this? Check out some other web sites like www.askdrsears.com there is a bunch of great info on there. or something like www.kidsnutrition.org which will give serving sizes and other kid nutrtion information for you. Of coarse my Dr. suggested Whole milk at 1 year old. But I honestly don't think they need that. So I gave my son 2%. and after he turned 2 I put him on our milk which is skim. I am still trying to get him to try new foods and eat what we do, but it is a struggle right now, but we will get there. I have also tried and used soy Silk Chocolate milk, which he LOVES and calls it his favorite chocolate milk. But I have stopped that as well. I have limited his chocolate consumption. (he is a chocoholic already. I think he gets it from both sides)
Beckie
KITTYSMOM 2/27/07 11:18 P
Maybe you could still eat the same foods, but have different proportions of the foods on your plate. In other words, you could both eat grilled chicken, and you could put only a very small serving of mashed potatoes on your plate, then fill the rest of your plate with a big salad. I tend to do that when we eat foods that aren't very low fat, like creamy pastas or homemade pizza.
SUPERMOMX 2/27/07 5:09 P
I have browsed this topic a bit and haven't seen any subjects that really address this question. I have a 5 year old that is on a high calorie diet. His doctor recommends whole milk, high calorie everything, adding cream to his mashed potatoes, adding butter to things, adding protein powder to his smoothies, etc. Not eating junk food and things, just packing in as many calories as we can in healthy foods. This obviously creates a problem when my diet is the exact opposite! I pride myself on my family sitting down to the dinner table each night together, but I'm having a tough time with my menus. Does anybody have any suggestions of ways to make food that will work for both of us, short of making two seperate meals? I've done a few things like make mashed potatoes and then mix in cream to just his portion, buying different types of milk for regular drinking, buying two different types of cottage cheese, etc. I guess it's just hard for me to try to push extra calories that way and keep extra calories away from me!
