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#1
05-09-2009, 05:12 PM
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Help with high calorie food supplement for 5 yr old?
So, last summer when I took my daughter in for her four year check up, I found out that she is allergic to the following foods:
We eat good healthy foods so I'm not too terribly concerned about vitamins or protein - a staple base dish I cook each week is saffron rice with chickpeas, peas, onions, chopped salami & red beans that I add some sort of meat & veggie to for a quick dinner or lunch. She's great about eating her veggies and whatnot, but it's hard to get a 5 year old to sit still long during meal times. Plus the fact that she's in preschool/daycare from 8:30 - 6pm Mon - Friday, means I can't give her more mini-meals during the day. I've been looking for something like Pediasure (which only has milk and soy-based varieties) to give my daughter the calories and fat she needs but am coming up empty handed. Does anyone know of any product that would fit this situation or any ideas for high-calorie, healthy and tasty smoothie recipes? I'm just really drawing a blank and she's getting so thin. 
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#2
05-09-2009, 05:18 PM
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This thread https://www.mothering.com/discussion...d.php?t=945931 seemed to have some good ideas.
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#3
05-09-2009, 05:41 PM
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When my son was younger, it was a struggle to get him to consume sufficient daily calories. We eventually resorted to making an avocado-based smoothie for him each morning to drink on the way to school (to supplement his regular meals). I know it sounds odd, but it was actually really good. Avocado is high in healthy fat, full of fibre and is surprisingly well-suited to sweeter recipes like smoothies and shakes.
We didn't follow a set recipe, preferring to just use whatever we had around, but it usually included avocado, soy milk (you could use rice milk), assorted fruits (especially frozen bananas), and a scoop of protein powder. It's a highly adaptable concoction and can easily be flavoured to fit your daughter's tastes. The smoothie format was ideal because it took my son a lot less time to drink it than it would have taken him to eat the equivalent calories, which worked perfectly for his attention span. He eventually started to actually eat enough calories and no longer needs the morning smoothies, but they were lifesavers when we needed them.
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#4
05-10-2009, 03:54 AM
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Is she allergic to wheat or gluten intolerant? If she's gluten intolerant, that can cause weight loss. The gluten will damage her small intenestines, and she won't be able to absorb nutrients properly.
It's not unusual for someone who is gluten intolerant to be hospitalized and put on an IV because they simply can't absorb the nutrients they need any more. I would suggest keeping her on a really strict diet for a while. I understand how difficult this will be, I have multiple food allergies as well. Try to keep her from eating any of her allergens for a month or two, and see if she starts gaining weight.
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#5
05-10-2009, 09:09 AM
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Coconut milk and cream can be added to lots of food, both sweet and savoury. For example, a good breakfast would be oatmeal with brown sugar and coconut milk. (And you can give it to the older child with skimmed milk instead). Similarly, cream of rice with coconut milk and chocolate chips.
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#7
05-10-2009, 02:20 PM
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In any event, she's lost so much weight because I haven't found an adequate substitute for the milk which she used to drink all the time. I can't replace it with nuts and I don't want to replace it with unhealthy fats and sugar. spoike She does like avocado - especially guacomole. I'll have to try making a smoothie with it. Could you post a basic version of the ratios you used? I'm kinda bad at making up recipes and I haven't made that many smoothies in my life.  Filmgeek, I had done a google search and found a thread on that board, but not that thread - so thanks. One of the mothers mentions that kefir yogurt might be a good option for kids that tolerate yogurt since it predigests the milk protein. Has anyone ever tried drinking this in a smoothie or making it at home? Thanks Blue Mood for the idea - we use rice milk in oatmeal - but she's not a big fan of oatmeal unless it's used as a delivery system for strawberries and blueberries. Even then the ratio of oatmeal to fruit is like 1 grain of oat to 5 berries. Thanks for the warning dangermom.
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#8
05-11-2009, 05:13 PM
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grayhairedmomma, it's been a while since I had to make an avocado smoothie, so I'm kind of winging it in terms of ratios. It's highly adaptable, so if your daughter doesn't like it initially, keep tweaking.
1 avocado 2 frozen bananas 1 scoop protein powder 1 cup fruit of choice (berries, applesauce, whatever; frozen is fine) Blend with enough rice milk (any flavour is fine, but Rice Dream Enriched Chocolate is yummy) to make a drinkable consistency (about 1/2 cup?). The above concoction has around 800 calories, but we got 2 servings out of it. My son was older than your daughter, so you may get 3 servings. Either way, it can be stored in the fridge. It won't have the same frozen consistency as the first day, but, once stirred, it's still tasty. I googled "vegan protein powder" and found a number of options, but this one touts itself as a complete meal replacement, so I thought it might be perfect for your needs. We always used a whey-based protein powder, so I have no idea how the vegan one tastes, but I imagine the flavour will be hidden by the other ingredients anyway. It has about 175 calories per scoop. Depending on its flavour and texture, perhaps it could be added to some of your daughter's other foods to increase the calories. My final suggestion is the line of Rice Dream Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts and Supreme Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts. A half cup serving every night would give your daughter an additional 150 calories, and it tastes good, so it's a win either way. Good luck!
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#9
05-11-2009, 06:10 PM
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Yes, I know it's a struggle - I've had multiple food allergies all my life, for over four decades now. Please don't succumb to temptation. Your child will be MUCH healthier if you don't, and she needs to learn proper food discipline now, not that it's OK to cheat. Because it isn't. If she stays away from those foods she's allergic to then there is a chance she'll outgrow some or all of them. If you keep irritating her system she probably won't - pretty much guaranteeing a childhood problem becomes a life long one. Quote:
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Can she eat eggs? Eggs are excellent nutrition, and contain fats in the yolk. Does she have any taste for oily fish? Hamburgers? Sausage without fillers? Bacon? I was raised with these as snacks instead of cookies and sweets, along with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables available. Oil pack sardines or tuna on a "safe" cracker might be a good snack for her, and it's healthy. Sardines and salmon can also be a source of calcium for a child who shouldn't be eating any dairy at all (which is the case if she's allergic). I don't know if Qadgop the Mercotan has anything to contribute here, but he has some experience in raising a child requiring a non-typical diet although in the Mercotan family it wasn't allergies but another illness.
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#10
05-11-2009, 06:20 PM
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Anyhow - if she doesn't like oatmeal then she doesn't like oatmeal. Don't be afraid to keep trying to find things she likes. At one point in my life I was using cooked barley and cooked rice as a breakfast cereal, either hot or cold, with milk. Maybe she'd like one of those better?
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#12
05-11-2009, 07:15 PM
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It may be okay. There are differing types of food allergies. However. Most of the ones I'm familiar with -- and, live with -- are the kind that get a little worse with every exposure. I didn't know I was allergic to nuts for the first 30 years of my life, because the reaction was so mild each time, but the mystery illnesses and rashes and whatnot finally grew severe enough that I could connect it to an allergic reaction. My nephew got it even worse than me -- at 3, just brushing a nut against his skin caused itchy, puffy redness. IF an allergist has said it's okay to go for the reaction, then follow with Benadryl, then it's probably safe... but, damn, hope you got a good allergist. Quote:
They're not the same things. In addition to coconuts, if your daughter has a tree nut allergy be careful of pine nuts, too (no pesto). Your daughter might grow out of some of those allergies -- we're hopeful my 1 YO niece may grow out of her allergy to milk -- but with that long list I'd talk to an allergist about desensitization. My nurse SiL has looked into it for my 6 YO nephew in a few years... and I might too just out of solidarity for the kid. (frankly, my limited food allergies weren't a bother once I found them out; oddly enough, I never liked eating those things, anyway.)
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#13
05-11-2009, 10:54 PM
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I may be missing something, but what's the purpose of feeding the kid calories? Nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and protein are what's important, and low-calorie diets, if anything, seem to be the healthiest thing science has ever yet discovered.
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#14
05-12-2009, 02:13 AM
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The child is reportedly underweight. Being slim is one thing, being actually below a healthy weight, particularly in a growing child, is every bit as unhealthy as being obese. It's no longer a common problem in the western world, but for people who are underweight getting enough calories becomes just as important as getting enough vitamins. Young children also need a higher percentage of fat than older children and adults, both for the energy required for growth but also for proper development of things such as their nervous system.
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#15
05-12-2009, 02:33 AM
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that list of allergies is pretty damn scary in length. I have been slowly acquiring mine over the years and share a bit of that list. some foods to keep in mind. rice milk as already mentioned. Fruit Shakes (aka smoothies) the basics for this are orange juice, ice, and bananas, blend the crap out of this and is really really easy to get kids to drink (and adults) and the best part is you can add whatever other fruit/berry that will blend to it for more goodness. (note the orange juice/banana combo makes for a really foamy smoothy feel but you can do whatever you want with it. also here in Seattle we have a place called whole foods that carries a brand called Namaste, from the label "made in a dedicated facility free of Gluten, Wheat, Soy, Corn, Potatoe, Peanuts, Tree nuts, Dairy, Casein" they make a nice variety of baked style good mixes that come in brown bags you make yourself from the mix very easy to follow and as I turn it over I see my personal favorite the pizza crust has the following listed as ingredients "magical pixie dust" https://www.namastefoods.com/shoppin...?Category=Home Roasted Garlic is a treat some kids love and would go good with rice crackers as would just some jelly/jam, kids love simple things. also you can make flavored olive oils with Sweet type spices as well as more traditional stuff, I almost always have some Cinnamon olive oil around so you might keep that in mind as well. also check with your Allergist but Goat cheese is a fantastic substitute for cow. (pricey though)
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#16
05-12-2009, 02:33 AM
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@Boomstick: Do you know of any charts one can use to determine if a child is underweight? Because I have a friend who may be restricting the calories of her kids too much, at least, according to her grandparents and friends. I'd really like to know if the kids are underweight.
Last edited by BigT; 05-12-2009 at 02:34 AM.
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#17
05-12-2009, 02:43 AM
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BMI calculators. Although usually used to determine overweight they work on the other end of the spectrum, too. If I recall, a BMI under 19 is underweight.
But for children you also have to consider what height percentile they're in, as restricted calories can also result in stunted growth. An underweight child of normal height is one thing, if the child is also abnormally short for his/her age that can indicate a much more serious state of affairs.
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#18
05-12-2009, 08:47 AM
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#19
05-12-2009, 10:53 AM
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On the issue of unhealthy fats and sugars - if we get to the point where I have to feed her anything just to keep her alive then I'll do that. But I'm trying to keep her longterm health/eating habits & my other daughter's health/eating habits in mind as we struggle with this adjustment. It's a tough line to walk (and I know we're not the first family in the history of the world to deal with it) - I don't want her to grow up thinking that because she can't eat such & such foods, she can eat all the junk she wants. To her credit, my youngest daughter is very good about not eating any nuts, peanuts, milk, ice cream (she loves sherbert so that's easy), or anything she can easily identify as something she's allergic too. It's a little bit of a pain because I found Sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds) and she won't eat it because it looks/smells too much like peanut butter. spoike, thanks for the recipe & the vegan protein powder link- we'll give it a shot tonight. Critical1, thank you, thank, you, thank you, thank you - for that link to Namaste! It will be so much easier on all of us when don't have to say "no" so much.
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#20
05-12-2009, 11:20 AM
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Sherbet has milk- sorbet generally does not. My daughter had a milk protein allergy that she grew out of. Yogurt is can be ok for the lactose intolerant, as the bacteria breakdown the lactose. However, the protein itself is not broken down.
People use the term "milk allergy" very loosely, often when they mean lactose intolerant. I always needed to be very careful when getting advice that I knew specifically what they meant. My son has had similar issues with weight due to medication he is on. Boy I feel your struggle- he needs calories and nutrients. He's such a healthy eater that I struggle with feeding him junk just for the calories, but he needs the calories! Boy, it's hard!
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#21
05-12-2009, 12:34 PM
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Is sheep cheese available where you live? I know I've seen Manchego in several US locations, but you have to check that it is real manchego, not "manchego style made from cow's milk." Other kinds (Ronkari or Roncal, Idiazabal) are rarer and tend to be more expensive but I've seen them too.
Olive oil is more expensive than other kinds but one of its advantages is that it can be reusable: you can use the oil you've used to fry veal to make a stock, you can fry a couple of leaves of lettuce in oil used to fry fish to get rid of the fishy smell and use it to fry something else, you can use the same pan of oil to fry a dozen eggs one after another. Most people in Spain, Italy and Greece don't use dressings for salads (lettuce, tomato, hard-boiled egg, canned tuna are popular ingredients), we sprinkle a bit of salt, pour a twirl of olive oil, a tiny twirl of wine vinegar and stir it well.
__________________
Invalid is not someone who can't walk; invalid is someone who, being able to do something, can't be arsed to. - Rafa Botello, wheelchair marathon runner, interview published in La Vanguardia 2012-12-26 Last edited by Nava; 05-12-2009 at 12:36 PM.
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