wwyd?

: If you had a grossly underweight child who doesnt really like to eat breakfast, would you resort to feeding her some less healthy stuff just so that she would have a full belly at school?

DD1 is 34lbs at age 6. The doc has actually been cool about it since she has always been small and is still gaining height. It just bothers me and i worry :(

She isnt s breakfast person but her lunch period at school isnt until 11:20. Shr leaves at 8:30 sometimes having only eaten a few bites of cereal. Then she has 20 mins to eat her lunch and then nothing until she gets home at 3 :(

I broke down and bought her toaster struddles which she licked the icing off of :eyeroll:

Wwyd? I havr tried making her all sorts of cool homemade stuff but she doesnt really eat it.

Pls excuse the typos i am posting from my kindle....

Would she drink something like a smoothie instead? You could put all sorts of good things with some high calorie things in there. But yes, I'd try to get her to eat something significant even if it isn't the best thing she could be eating.

If she's healthy and growing and no one else seems concerned I wouldn't. Let me correct that-I don't. DD1 is 7 and weighs 35-38 pounds (she plays tag with the same 3 pounds). She hasn't gained any weight in over 2 years but she's grown over a foot in height.

I feed her a lot of peanut butter. She eats GF so much of her diet is low in starches which means lower calorie to begin with many days. We do a lot of rice cakes with peanut butter, peanut butter to dip anything in-carrots, cucumbers, zuchinni slices, celery, etc-and also sour cream. Dip is our friend in getting fats into her. She'll eat dip with almost anything she can as long as it isn't even a little bit spicy. Smoothies are also our friend. I have taken to freezing them in 8oz freezer jam containers and sending them in her lunch, making them for breakfast, etc.

I just can't bring myself to ditch the healthy food for the sake of what really come down to empty calories. She's healthy, growing, hitting her milestones and handling school just fine so even if she only eats a slice of cheese and half an apple for breakfast and then doesn't eat until noon, I just have had to take a step back and look at her overall health and situation. If she were having a hard time in school that I felt could relate to her eating, or was losing weight consistenty, or looked generally unhealthy I might think differently.

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Originally Posted by DucksLikeRain

If she's healthy and growing and no one else seems concerned I wouldn't. Let me correct that-I don't. DD1 is 7 and weighs 35-38 pounds (she plays tag with the same 3 pounds). She hasn't gained any weight in over 2 years but she's grown over a foot in height.

I feed her a lot of peanut butter. She eats GF so much of her diet is low in starches which means lower calorie to begin with many days. We do a lot of rice cakes with peanut butter, peanut butter to dip anything in-carrots, cucumbers, zuchinni slices, celery, etc-and also sour cream. Dip is our friend in getting fats into her. She'll eat dip with almost anything she can as long as it isn't even a little bit spicy. Smoothies are also our friend. I have taken to freezing them in 8oz freezer jam containers and sending them in her lunch, making them for breakfast, etc.

I just can't bring myself to ditch the healthy food for the sake of what really come down to empty calories. She's healthy, growing, hitting her milestones and handling school just fine so even if she only eats a slice of cheese and half an apple for breakfast and then doesn't eat until noon, I just have had to take a step back and look at her overall health and situation. If she were having a hard time in school that I felt could relate to her eating, or was losing weight consistenty, or looked generally unhealthy I might think differently.

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Like that idea!

I had told her we would make shakes but shamefully I have dropped the ball. I also have another issue - DD2 who weighs just about the same and I am afraid she will end up overweight! She looks normal but has had some trouble fitting into clothes lately. I can tell she has a different body type and appetite and I am afraid if she eats her meals with DD1 she will be the one who ends up gaining :headbang: So I partly felt like shakes could be dangerous but I will give them a try and see.

I also realize she is who she is and she is just skinny. But it's really hard to look at her w/o clothes and not feel like she is just WAY too thin. Her ribs show, her back shoulder blades stick out, her arms and legs are like sticks - seriously! It doesn't help that DD2 has plenty of meat on her and the comparison is always there. I am not trying to get her to gain 10lbs...I know that wont happen. Maybe just a few. More than gaining I want to know she isn't LOSING and I want her to be eating enough.

I am so turning into my Italian grandmothers :laugh:

I totally feel you! Scharae is and always has been built so different. She weighs close to 50 pounds and yet she looks perfectly proportioned because of her bone structure. I've worried about her becoming overweight also, which is why I definitely do not push anything. Again, if keira was unhealthy I'd work harder to find a way to deal with it healthily for both of them, but since she's healthy, just small, I don't want to create more problems by honing in on it.

No, I wouldn't forsake healthy food just to get some weight on. That could just lead to a host of other problems. What I should say is that I wouldn't go to the extreme. I struggle with Kai on the growing worry and I will let him have a ton of maple syrup with his almond flour pancake because the pancake is healthy and the syrup could be worse, you know? I also would make frosting with cream cheese and maple syrup or honey (and have) to top his muffin because even though it's sweet and sugary, at least the sugary comes with some health benefits and the ingredients are wholesome, you know? I mean, earlier this week I made peach cobbler for dinner because it was fresh peaches, whole whipping cream, almond flour, coconut sugar.

Not that I haven't thought about it though, btw. I know it's hard to stop questioning if there is something more to do to help them grow.

I totally feel for you. My son has always had a slim build, even as a baby. He has never been a chubba. He is also a picky eater. When I find healthy food he likes, I jump all over the place to get him to eat more. He loves scrambled eggs and bacon. I try to feed him that once a day or every other day. I too like Tiff, will encourage him to eat peanut butter. When he asks for an apple or grapes, I give him peanut butter for dipping. He loves bagel & cream cheese. He will sit and eat 2 whole bagels. I used to tweak a little at how many carbs he's consuming, but I have let it go. Now my newest dilemma is like yours, getting him to eat brekkie before school and sending him a lunch that he will eat.

When he was younger I used to make homemade granola bars, now he won't touch them. It can be very frustrating. I too caved and got him the Simply Go Gurts for his lunch. I felt so guilty putting that in my grocery cart. But he liked it and asked for more. I should try making smoothies again. I used to make big smoothies and I was the only one who ate them.

I have 2 super skinny kids and 3 more normal (though still on the thin side) one of them is 15, so I can be more relaxed about my next super skinny one who is 8 and 40lbs.

Seriously, don't worry. If you are offering her a variety of healthy foods, she has opportunity to eat. My skinny kids and chubby kids are offered the same things. They are just wired for different body structures. I wouldn't (and don't) go out of my way to fix higher calorie food or junk food for the skinnier ones.

I would not do it. I was a very very skinny child. Doctor had my mom push food like extra cereal. I ended up having a gastric bypass eight years ago. I know my mom regrets taking that advice.

Ok thx all! I am feeling better. I will just try to be more creative :-)

I don't think I would do it either. But I would probably really try to encourage breakfast, even if it meant waking her up earlier so she has more time at home. I know my DD doesn't like to eat right away, so I need to give her some extra time in the morning.

These are awesome for sending smoothies to school: http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-431-4-P.../dp/B0036B9KHO

If you send them frozen with an ice pack, they thaw out in about 3 hours. A good way to get some higher calorie whole foods in her quickly.

Has she said it bothers her at school? I wouldn't be worried about her weight, but might worry like you about going so long until lunch. What about breakfast burritos with eggs and cheese?

It was the first week so its hard to tell if it bothers her. I am gonna make her a bacon, egg and cheese on a roll this week and see if she eats more of that. Also yes i bet if she got up earlier it would help. Trying to get bedtime back on track!

How about healthy muffins? You can make them on the weekend, leave a few out, and freeze the rest for later in the week. You can put PB, cream cheese, or even a dab of homemade frosting on top. Also, are you OK with her eating in the car? I know that my DS isn't hungry when he first wakes up, but by the time we get moving, he's ready to eat, so maybe she can have a muffin or smoothie on the go.

http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/20...ice-cream.html I was surfing the boards here and I saw your thread. The recipe above is vanilla, avocado, banana "ice cream". It looks like a natural healthy snack.

hotpinkmama revived that old thread but I keep wondering now: what did you end up doing? how is the breakfast issue now?