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[quote=Anonymous]I’m 11:48 from the first day. I am quite short compared to my parents. I remember not liking the foods my mom served for dinner for many years. It was very basic, lean food. Guess what - she stayed slim all those years, and I was a short, skinny kid. When she went back to work and relied more on convenience cooking, I grew more.

My point is that just as some families overeat, and the entire family has a skewed idea of normal eating, some families undereat and have a skewed idea of normal eating. The foods that allow you to be a slim adult are NOT the foods that will get your child out of her malnourished state, ESPECIALLY if she has can only eat a small quantity at a time.

For starters, dinners should be closer to beef stroganoff, lasagna, enchiladas. The dinners you describe are for adults trying to lose 5 pounds. Next, consider actors who need to gain weight for a role. Are they eating fish and veggies? No?

Feed your daughter like she needs to gain 40 pounds. I hear you about constitutional growth delay, but you need to at least point yourself in the right direction. That would be 500-600 calories at breakfast, 700 calories at lunch, 300-400 calories after school, another 700 calories at dinner, and 300-400 calories for a bedtime snack. I bet if you counted up now, she’s eating a fraction of that, both due to quantity and lack of calorie density.

My daughter’s afternoon snack is 3 tablespoons of almond butter (which equals 300 calories) plus some grapes. She dips the grapes in the almond butter, sometimes using it as a utensil, so re-dipping the grapes and eating almond butter off it. We allow her to leave a few grapes. We do not allow her to leave any almond butter, no matter how much her stomach hurts.

By the way, some of the stomach pain/“lack of appetite” has turned out to be anxiety. Not anxiety because I’m being harsh and I need to lay off. Anxiety because she doesn’t WANT to eat more/gain weight. Hello anorexia and/or malnourished brain.

The only way out is through. The brain heals after if is nourished (months after, by the way). [/quote]

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