Skinny ds dropped four lbs with the stomach flu -- how can I help him get the weight back?

[LynnS6]

Ds is slender to begin with -- he's the 95th percentile for height and usually hovers about the 50th percentile for weight.

This last week he had the stomach flu. He's recovered, and his energy is back (he's an active kid), but he's not eating as much and he lost 4 lbs in 4 days. He went from 71 lbs. to 67. This is a child who's nearly 5 feet tall. He weighs less than my 7 year old right now and I'm kind of freaking out.

I'm concerned because he looks really thin. Really thin. He's normally slender, but now, there's no longer any reserve of fat on him. I'm afraid if he gets sick again, he's not going to have the energy to fight it, and there are a number of nasty illnesses going around school.

Can I get some weight back on him so he has a bit of a reserve? I He doesn't eat much dairy (cheese only on pizza, no milk, except on cereal). He doesn't eat much for lunch at school, and at home often has a bit of soup and an apple for dinner. He's very picky with veggies (won't touch avocado, for example). He won't eat hummus or salad dressing. We had tacos for dinner today, and he had 2/3 of a soft taco (meat, a bit of cheese, tomato and corn) and was done.

[Geofizz]

My DS recently did the same thing.  His appetite came back very slowly - over 4-5 days, but remarkably the weight came back within 2 days. I think it was mostly water weight, despite the fact that he ate nearly nothing for over a week.  I had him carry around a water bottle.

[mrskingred]

DS had flu in mid March. I don't know exactly how much weight he lost but now he weighs the same as he did in Nov. I had it as well and lost 2kg. His appetite has just about returned now, although he has had a bad cold/chest infection in between. (He's generally 80% H and 25%W). We just offer his normal food, but try to offer things that he eats that are more calorie dense. He won't eat yoghurt - I think this is because he doesn't like the spanish yoghurt they have at school. (He also won't eat natilla or flan at school which means they keep asking me if he eats dairy products). He does drink milk, still nurses at bed-time and eats cheese and ice-cream. He loves veg so we try to get him to eat avocado on a regular basis. He won't touch nut butters, nutealla or anything similar. He eats olives by the plateful. He loves soup - I add small pasta pieces to it, and a drop of cream if we have it in the house. We add parmesan cheese to his risotto.

We just let him eat what he wants - we can't make him eat so don't try. He still has eggs left over from easter, but ate 3 sausages, sweetcorn, tomatoes and potatoes for dinner last night when he came back from his school trip.

[mistymama]

My ds is like this - he's naturally so thin that if he gets sick and quits eating, he looks just awful.

My ds is the same way - he wont touch dressings or sauces of any kind, nor avocado. He does like whole milk and cheese though.

Would your ds tolerate a smoothie made with fresh fruit and whole fat yogurt?  I know with my ds, he loves plain ground beef - so I will buy good, grass fed beef and make patties. He'll eat hamburgers or meatballs over brown rice better than anything.  And there is lots of good protein and fat in grass fed ground beef.

What about nut butters? Ds is pretty good about eating natural pb with local honey on wheat bread.

I try to feed him high fat/high calorie foods as much as possible because his favorite snacks are raw carrots, celery, edamame and things with very few calories.

[CarrieMF]

I wouldn't do anything. The weight will come back on.

[Masel]

My DD did this too. She looked so frail for a while. She reisted all efforts to feed her just after her illness but her appitite returned in full force after about a week. I managed to get her to eat a couple of smoothies. I added soy protein powder so it would have more umph. (She's allergic to milk). I practiced not saying no right off the bat to food that was less than ideal. I'm not talking straight sugar but maybe something that was mostly carb. 

One of her favorites is German Potato Salad. That's the one with the bacon and a touch of vinegar among other things. I became adept at making it in the microwave with a little extra olive oil and bacon bits. 

[MsFortune]

Ice cream

[mistymama]

Mmmmm, German potato salad. May have to make that this weekend, good stuff.

[LynnS6]

Alright, I'll calm down and let him eat normally. He just looks like a strong breeze would blow him over.

Nutella is one of his major food groups, so I suspect it will come back. (I'm still amazed how he can eat the quantity of Nutella that he eats and still have a 23 inch waist!) Milkshakes and smoothies are a good idea. He likes those, and they're easy to make. Maybe I can make one with ice cream for him and one without for me (I do not need to put on any weight, sigh).