OP, I hear you about snacks in the bedroom and I’ve also done this to make it easier for my 12 year old DS to eat more. I was worried about bugs and ended up getting a Dustbuster to keep near his room…so far this is working (knock on wood) and makes it easy to pick up crumbs. In terms of snacks I also like chocolate bars- maybe not the healthiest but high calorie.

I have a super skinny teen who needs to gain weight but has zero hunger cues. He could go all day without eating and be his normal cheerful self. He feels nauseated easily, has a hair trigger gag reflex, and food aversions. I think a lifetime of that has just made his body go “eh. I’ll just not.”

He is an athlete and desperately wants to gain weight, so we’ve gone to doctors. He’s healthy, had all the work ups. The recommendation is to simply feed him - whatever hyper-palatable food he can eat the most of, that’s what we provide. We ALSO eat balanced healthy meals that two pudgy middle aged parents can eat. But any meal my son eats separately, or additional snacks, are not what would be healthy for me.

We make him milkshakes and mango lassis and mix in a goo called Benecalorie, which is 250 calories of fat and protein. He gets two goo packs a day, plus the calories in the shakes. For snacks we buy him either protein bars or candy bars with nuts and chocolate. He prefers candy like gummy worms, but they don’t have many calories, so we nudge him toward things that are more calorie dense when he eats treats.

He takes Ensure or Boost shakes to school but he says he doesn’t like them anymore and can’t force himself to drink them, so we are looking for another alternative.

Perfect bars are good room temp.

You might look at getting one of those "skincare" fridges. They are small and perfect for keeping snacks in. My daughter who lives in the basement has one and she keeps drinks in hers.

No food in the bedroom. Gross.

I would keep an eye on the snacks, One of my sons can do snacks plus meals and eats all day. My other son if he snacks he barely touches the food/meal.

My sons drink Protein shakes: https://www.premierprotein.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-bXwxtni-QIVmIXICh2dLQcBEAAYASAAEgIswPD_BwE

But maybe start him with Ensure. https://ensure.com/nutrition-products/ensure-complete-shake/strawberry

My DS was underweight due to a naturally high, high metabolism plus his ADHD medication (which we monitored with his ped and lowered at DS's request).

The key for DS was going to the gym. It jumpstarted his appetite and he craves more protein. Plus he likes the way he is starting to look so is motivated to keep good eating and exercise habits.

The other thing is, I hate to say, bending over backwards to make healthy, high calorie breakfast and dinners and put together a great lunch for him to take to school every day. The biggest issue was that, like a lot of kids on ADHD medication, DS would skip lunch then eat a bunch of junk food late at night. He would burn through the junk food calories due to his charged up metabolism, deal with sugar crashes, and be unmotivated toward exercise.

Once we switched our thinking to healthier habits altogether, he started gaining weight and muscle. Yes, he eats plenty of ice cream and cookies too, but the bulk of his calories come from meat, whole milk dairy, protein smoothies, big plates of ragu, etc. plus I try to make sure he gets decent fiber/nutrition with as many fruits and veggies as possible.

Anonymous wrote:When. was a kid I was super skinny. I just chose not to eat. It was the 80s, people called me "The Ethiopian." Went to nutritionists, etc and nothing worked. Not even 2-3 spoonfuls of peanut butter every day , which you might want to try.
Eventually in my 20s and 30s and are whatever I wanted and I was glad I was thin.
Then 40 I gained enough weight that no one ever believes me when I tell them i was skinny my whole life.

I’m the PP and this was too. Rude People would ask if I ate I was so skinny. Now, 40s hit and I am overweight (according to the charts), it’s unbelievable. Size 12-14 now. But I am also a woman. Not sure about age/hormone related weight gain for men.

I would not keep food in his room as his is healthy and can walk to the kitchen. I was a “failure to thrive” child and teen. Sounds like you andDH may have been as well. Try Nutriment shakes. I loved them. I don’t know how to add pictures on dcum but this is a link.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nutrament-Vanilla-Nutrition-Drink-Energy-Drink-with-Vitamins-Minerals-and-Protein-12-FL-OZ-Can/548349517?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=5936&adid=22222222277548349517_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-293946777986&wl5=9061285&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=548349517&wl13=5936&veh=sem_LIA&gclid=CjwKCAjwu5yYBhAjEiwAKXk_ePdM0hr-Jjafa3M9bdi3xS1K_6SeFo1gOJmteTeO7wxV5PliwDL2wxoC_OAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

When I did the training for foster care, we were told that some
kids (for various reasons) benefit from having a small, personal refrigerator in their room. They make some that are less than 2ft square. Something like this may be good for a kid who is not terribly motivated to get up and seek the options he needs. String cheese, premixed protein drinks, grapes, etc. may be good to have on hand for your kid? Few crumbs but good # calories.

When. was a kid I was super skinny. I just chose not to eat. It was the 80s, people called me "The Ethiopian." Went to nutritionists, etc and nothing worked. Not even 2-3 spoonfuls of peanut butter every day , which you might want to try.
Eventually in my 20s and 30s and are whatever I wanted and I was glad I was thin.
Then 40 I gained enough weight that no one ever believes me when I tell them i was skinny my whole life.

Anonymous wrote:OP's child's eating sounds completely reasonable. He's just not gaining weight which does happen to some children and a lot of times it's just genetic. DC, early teens, has two sets of fraternal twin friends - one set of girls and one set of boys. In each set there's one child who is much smaller and one who is much larger and when we see them they are basically eating the same thing.

Oh yey! The resident eating disorder pp is here! yes, he is JUST not gaining weight, which does happen and kids end up with stunned growth, and huge health problems. You know exactly what fraternal twin friends of you child eat or don't eat, cause you are raising them!

OP's child's eating sounds completely reasonable. He's just not gaining weight which does happen to some children and a lot of times it's just genetic. DC, early teens, has two sets of fraternal twin friends - one set of girls and one set of boys. In each set there's one child who is much smaller and one who is much larger and when we see them they are basically eating the same thing.