My daughter, 6 years old w/CF is driving me crazy. She's only 1.5 lbs lighter than her goal weight but its a daily battle for me to get her to eat. The CF Center nutritionist says that her daily calorie intake shoule be 2,560 calories. She has a normal appetite for a 6-year old but not the large appetite needed to consume 2,500 calories a day. She likes some fatty and high-cal foods but she also loves celery and carrots, etc for a snack. She won't go near a milkshake or scandishake or mac-n-cheese. I have started sneaking 2 tablespoons of heavy cream into her whole milk and that helps, but we're not coming close to the daily goal. If anyone has any suggestions, please help!Lucy (mom to Maya w/CF)
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Trying to get my child w/CF to eat!
- Thread starter anonymous
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Augustmoon
New member
I probably can't help too much (my son is only 10 months) but, does she like peanut butter? If she likes it and will eat it, she could eat it with the celery and carrots. Cook things with olive oil? I'm sure I will have this problem soon! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif" border="0">( I'll keep thinking...good luck!!!
NoDayButToday
New member
I know the feeling of needing to eat, but just not having a humongous appetite. Some tricks we were told over the years:Use heavy cream instead of regular milk in your cereal, or mix powdered milk into whole milk for extra caloriesCarnation Instant breakfast makes a pretty good shake- it doesn't taste like a high calorie type of drink nor is it thick, but it is higher in calories than the typical chocolate milk drinkButter everything!MCT Oil added to foods... ask your pharmacist about it. You can add it to drinks and foods you cook at home (ie scrambled eggs). Start slowly with it, or else you can get diarrhea.Good luck!
I know very well what you are going through. I try to sneak stuff in all the time. I do heavy whipping cream in whole milk with some powdered milk to boost the milk cals. My daughter loves ovaltine so I add that too. We also use a product caled duocal. we add it to milk, soup (once it has been cooked) dressings and some sauces. it is supposedly tasteless, but if you add too much it gets gritty. I always add extra butter to things too. Rachel loves carrots and corn. We add parmasian cheese to veggies to add cals. She would sit and eat parmasian cheese for days if I let her. also Rachel loves microwave popcorn, so I but the one with the highest fat content that I can find. Rachel doesn't like milkshakes or scandishakes either. but she will drink the carnation instant breakfast stuff in whole milk with cream. We are trying really hard right now to get her to eat more so she can get rid of her g-tube. She has had it since she was about 16 or 18 months old. it seems like she just can't get enough cals without it though. if you are interested, there is a group on MSN called cysticfibrosis2chat that has a cookbook section up. Maybe some of the recipes there could help. http://groups.msn.com/CysticFibrosis2chat is the addyAndrea
Thanks for your replies. I also wonder if I am trying too hard to get her to eat. I never force her but I do everything else, including bribery and blackmail to get in a few more calories. I'm starting to think that I should back off some. People, including my husband, say that she'll eat when she's hungry and not to try so hard. I can't help but feel like its my job to do what the doctors say, including making sure she consumes enough calories. Also, she's doing well otherwise and I don't want her to get a feeding tube. Yesterday she wanted spaghetti for dinner, which we made with butter and salt and a little scandical sneaked in. After 2 bites she said it wasn't good and kept doodling. Finally, I gave her 2 slices of toast with butter and jelly and fed it to her while we played a card game. I think that food has become a power thing with her. She knows that I will do anything to get her to eat. I even let her eat Nuttella sandwiches sometimes! Its a yummy chocolate hazelnut spread thats pretty fatty. Does anyone else have this food / power issue? Last night she asked for carrots for a bedtime snack and I suggested ice-cream instead!! Do you ever feel like you're doing the exact opposite of what other parents are doing? Do any of you have a problem with your own weight (gaining) as a result of having all this fatty, high-cal food around the house? I was trying to diet last week and it was so so hard. I decided that it wasn't worth it, I'll just be slightly overweight!Thanks for your responses. I have been reading this site for a year now but have just felt the need to vent and ask for help. I appreciate it!Lucy (mom to Maya w/ CF)
Yes, I know how you feel. My three-year old daughter sounds exactly the same. She has never enjoyed eating. We have been struggling with her weight. I play the bribery games too. I have to spoon feed her almost all of the food she eats. She knows that it is a power struggle too. We also have a ten-month old son with cf as well. He on the other hand loves to eat. It is so much fun to watch him shove the food in his mouth and scream for more. I do the same thing in regards to junk food. Do you want ice cream or chips???? I usually get a "no." I also really do like pushing food that is not healthy for her. I know it is what the nutritionist and cf doctor recommends, it just seems like her body would function better with healthier foods. My husband and I decided last week that we are going to speak to her doctor's seriously about a feeding tube. They haven't brought it up, but I know they are thinking about it. Sophia was on a feeding tube for three months when she was five-months old. She refused to eat and we later found out it was due a milk allergy. Anyway, I know the benefits. My husband and I want her to be as healthy as she can be. We have tried everything else to this point, but she is just too thin and not getting the nutrition (or fluids) that her body needs. I am not excited about having a button placed in my daughter but the payoff we get to watch her put a few pounds on her body and we can stop pushing food all day and hopefully watch her enjoy a meal without bribes and pressures.Sharon
There is definately the food=power issue going on with my daughter. with all the pleading that we have done over the years and all the bowing to what Rachel wants to eat, when she wants to eat it (Ranch dressing on a soft pretzel at 8 am? Sure, would you like some parmisian cheese with that?!) it's really no wonder! We actually had a "good" eating day today. she ate only slightly less than most kids her age and I was happy to let her eat my lunch instead of the one that she ordered at the restaurant. At least she was eating. of course all she ate at dinner time was corn with parmasian cheese and a few tater tots, but she DID eat breakfast and lunch like a normal kid as well as her snacks.One of the things that I do, is offer a healthy snack like carrots with a "dip" like ranch dressing or french dressing (the highest calorie stuff I can find) Rachel usually eats all the dip too, so at leat she is getting the nutients as well as the fat that way.......... she also likes to have that kind of stuff with potato chips too.Andrea
Hi, I don't know if I'll have any ideas that will help but wanted to say you are not alone. My girls are teenagers now 14 & 17 and we still have trouble. I think because they can eat whatever they want basically whenever they want they don't want it. My girls have never been ones to eat "junk food". They don't do hostess or little debbies, or chips and cokies. They will eat ice cream and have their ins and outs with milk shakes. At six, oh so long ago it seems, they liked chicken nuggets. You can only fit so much into their little bodies. Do the best you can and try not to feel quilty or like a bad mom because you can't cram in the 2600 or so calories that the nutritionist wants you to. My girls didn't and still don't like any of the supplimental stuff, they won't touch it with a ten foot pole. Some kids like it some don't. Here are some ideas of what is high in calories that she might like. Chicken nuggets or strips from just about any fast food joint. KFC, Sonic, Chick-fil-a (if you have them near you are the best) & Arbys. A Wendy's small frostee has like 360 calories. Most kids like those, it's like eating ice cream. Our kids liked eating raw carrots and cooked broccolli. Have your daughter eat them with ranch dressing from a bottle or the kind you make yourself. We added margarine to all vegetables, tons of it. I use only whole milk and some cream when making mashed potatos. If she likes soup try making your own cream of any vegitable soup. If you want the recipe let me know. It uses whole milk and butter and tastes great. (not that we need to be eating it) When I make hot chocolate in the winter I use the kind that you cook and put in our own marshmallows but when I run out I add some powdered milk to the packet kind then use half milk and half cream (table cream or half & half if you can't get table cream) instead of water. We like Swiss Miss best. Add melted velveeta cheese to steamed broccoli, grilled cheese sandwiches are a good snack too. String cheese, my girls still eat those. My youngest loves pepperoni, have you tried those?The kind you put on pizza or even the pepperoni stick and summer sausage and Slim Jims. Kudo bars is the closest my oldest daughter gets to "junk" food, not that that is supposed to really be a "junk food". They used to have more calories than they do today. They changed the oil they use in them and they don't even make Carnation Instant Breakfast bars anymore, those were great too. Anyhow, those are some things we have done over the the years. Oh, I almost forgot, Chef Boyardee! Any of them are super high in calories. My now 14yr old daughter will eat a whole can of spaghettios, beefaroni or ravioli. But be careful of burnout. That is our problem, they get on a kick and eat it like mad, then BOOM! all of a sudden they don't like it anymore, so try to mix it up. I hope some of these ideas help with your daughter. But remember, they can only eat so much, their tummies are little, just try to boost the calories without boosting the quantity. Let us know how it's working out. Liza
Hello! I have been reading all this information about trying to get your kids to eat. We have been through so many nutritionist that I want to scream. I have twin boys age six with cf. They eat like little pigs but, they never seem to put any weight on. They currently have PICC lines in because they have trouble getting a good lung function from them. They both had bronchs then the lines put in. They both cultured psdeumonas(I'm not sure I spelled that right). But the main reason they were checked was no weight gain. Our MD felt they were burning up all there calories fighting off infection. Each time they have had IV antibiotics they say they are going to take off in weight but they never do. We try all the same stuff you guys have been discussing but they never seem to gain. I am at my witts end trying to get weight on them to gain. I didn't know if any one had any special recipes that they try that has worked. I also read about the feeding tubes. I know several of you want the tube but that just frightens me to death. Our doctor has not mentioned this to use yet but I feel like that may come. The boys also take the drug peraction to increase their appetite. We don't really have trouble with them eating it's just they don't gain. I think they are to active and that's why they burn up so many calories. It's really hard to get them to sit still for a meal. I am going to go the that MSN webb site to check out those recipes. Thanks for that info. I just hope it's not all milkshake recipes. I think my boys are starting to hate icecream. If anyone has anymore info on the food issues I would be glad to hear it.Thanks for all the infoMomtotwinswithcf
Hi,i have to say my 18m old loves to eat and the weight gain is an issue not to much though what i started to do is mix milk, yogurt and some heavy cream about an 18oz cont a day and he will drink with his meals some days i just give him milk with a peanutbutter sandwich my son will eat 8 or 10 yogurts a day if i let him the issue i'm having is the juice how much should he have i feel like watered down everything is very boring so if there are any ideas i'd love to hear them..and good luck with the eating issues.
Reading your post tells me how my boyfriend must feel with me, and how my mom must have felt rasing me. Up until i was about 10 i had a HUGE appetite, and then all of a sudden it vanished. I am 19 and use food as a power thing still, especially with getting my own way. Maybe you should stop giving her toast if she doesn't like her food and give HER the option of eating what is in front of her or nothing. Stick to it for a week or so and see if she is willing to eat more of the food you set out for her. I know the docs tell you to give her X number of calories a day, but sometimes you need to take a break from that (for a few days, not long time) and drill in some parenting. I recently asked my doc (3 days ago) about the fact that i am just never hungry anymore (i got a feeding tube), and they said that if your body is only used to having a small amount of calories a day, your body can stop you form eating more than that, if that makes any sense. The other thing i should tell you is that ALL CF people seem to just not be hungry ever at some point in thier life, none of us can explain the feeling, and it feels like no one can understand it either, but we just cannot eat for some reason. I have talked to all my CF friends about this and every single one had the same reaction, a wide eyed and happy that someone else feels this "yeah". But yeah, maybe just toughen up on her and not let her be so picky, some tough love for a while might help ya. Just remember to make things her choice, if she chooses not to eat, don't feel guilty about it and give her toast, just let her have her way that way. She will come around if you do that, give it a week of trying that maybe. Or even threaten her with getting a feeding tube, if you would like i will send you a pic of my feeding tube (its UGLY) to show her what it is all about, that might help her out a bit. Explain to her that if she needs to be fed through a tube she won't be able to play with other kids, cause she will be stuck to a pump all the time in the house. Stuff like that. Thats what my mom did, even though once i moved out i needed to get a feeding tube. Email me at juliebowers007@hotmail.com if you would like to see the pics, or hear more of the story of how annoying/icky the feeding tube is to relay to your daughter. Make sure if you email that you put CF in your subject line.Julie
NoDayButToday
New member
I'm glad to hear someone else feels the same way as I do- sometimes just not having an appetite for a few days. I had very few problems with weight gain until I cultured pseudomonas- I was wondering if anyone else had the same experience? I also wanted to say that I got a feeding tube and am very happy with it. What kind of tube do you have thats 'UGLY'? Mine isn't beautiful, but its just a peg on my stomach- almost like the mouthpiece used to inflate pool toys. Just putting my two cents in <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">