Niksik

Someone was asking me for any known non-prescription appetite stimulators for kids aged 1-7. Any suggestions?

Mirch

MY TODDLER WON'T EAT!: parenting strategies by Dr. Marilyn Heins

My Child Won't Eat and other expert advice - FamilyEducation.com

How Do I Get My Child to Eat? - Children Card #7

Niksik

Thank you sir ji!

I will forward these links. The 3rd one is very good, clear and easy.

Mirch

You are welcome.

AnGeL EyEs

exercise! yes even for kids!

i promise you that if you make them run around outside (ie riding a bike, rollerblading, playing on the swing set, playing sports) ....they'll be hungry afterwards. works everytime for my sisters kids!

Adrasteia

AE, not mine, they'll be dead starving and refuse to eat salan.

Niksik

So what kind of food do they like Adra?

My kids also starve after their rounds outdoors!

kali billi

u know wat nikki

leave the kids alone

seriously

they will ask u for food wen they wil get extremely hunger really!

dont push them

or if u really want them to eat just make interesting food

make them curious dont push!!

and those medicines .....................plz satay away from them

i have seen poor kids suffer alot cuz of them

my own brother was forced to eat and wen my parents thought it was getting out of hands they got a medicine

which caused him nausea and made him sick!!!

he got sum breathing problems too

and i have seen kids getting asthma and getting extremely obese cuz of these medicines

so medicine it isnt gonna help at all!!!

Dushwari

dear Niksik,

brown bread and grape jam-jelly or fried egg sanwiches.
milk shakes with cream.
french toasts and cereals.
decorated foods: kids love smiley faces on baked cakes and cookies.
a pizza with all the morzerella cheese and broccoli trees, as my nephew calls it, wll be great too.

milk with honey and almond slivers in it, finely puree'd at night will be great.

of course i am not a pediatrician or Mom so i dont know based on kids' health or individual dietary needs, but what worked for me and from my niece and nephew, i am sharing here.

best,
Dushwari

Dushwari

powder of anar dana will help too. it activates metabolism.

Adrasteia

My both are opposittes to food likings.

Anam loves to have rice with any kind of salan with meat. She's into desi food as long as its not daal or any cooked vegies.

Anha hates desi food, she refuses to eat rice or salan or vegetables or cheese and tomatoes.

I make pies, kebabs of assorted kinds and freeze 'em.
I get chicken sausages and freeze 'em then cook 'em sometimes on their own or sometimes i chop 'em up and make rice with 'em.

Its challenging coming up with food ideas and frustrating when i want to eat daal and vegetables and they refuse to eat.

For that I have two minute noodles

eastern11

Try pediasure. Its does stimulate the appetite. You can get it in Pakistan as well as the States. Though do remember that desi kids have different genes than caucasians, so they look thinner and eat lesser at an average than other kids around them.

PhatBalongri

I was watching food network the other day and the rachel ray said if you make the kids help you out in the kitchen when you are cooking they are a lot more likely to eat it cuz they think they made it.

Mamaof3

There are appetite stimulant medications but they are all prescription meds. They say that pepper is an appetite stimulant but it didnt work for my son. I mean, it probanly takes an awful lot of it to have that effect.

The prescriptions that I know of are Periactin - an antihistamine that also causes a huge hunger reponse. Downside is that it makes little ones extremely sleepy.

Megase I think this is a steroid. Used often for cancer patients to help keep up their weight while undergoing chemo. Worked wonders for my dad. Not typically prescribed for little ones.

Marinol - a marijuana-based appetite stimulant.

Pediasure is a good bet for increasing weight but not really appetite. Its a liquid "meal", packed with calories so best to use that after a meal. It tastes awful so I use Carnation Instant Breakfast instead. It tastes so much better and is very close in content/calories to Pediasure.

Benecalorie is a great thing to add to oatmeal, mashed potatoes or really any soft food. Its a "medical food concentrate", very high in calories (330 calories in each 1.5 ounce cup). It looks like cornstarch/water mixture and is very packed in "good" calories and protein. I get this online at walgreens.

When a little one doesnt eat enough, its always best to have a thorough check-up done by a pediatric GI specialist. Most times, when a child doesnt like to eat, its due to an underlying medical condition like reflux or delayed gastric emptying.

Hope this helps!

ConservativeGirl

hmmmmm, will the kids be high?????

does Benecalorie has a taste???? with my very active kids the issue is they will eat normal for two to three days and will eat very little for the rest of the week...now i am aware of growth spurts and all but i don't think it's a cycle suppose to happen every week. I had bad experience with Pediasure and Carnation Breakfast (no matter what flavor).. my kids didn't like those. I am looking for something that has no flavor but is packed with calories and protein.. something that i can slip in their food and they won't get a hint of some 'unusual' flavor. So does Benecalorie has a taste????

Ask99

Have u seen the doctor about it.Let him/her test your kids.If everything turns out fine then Periactin is a good medicine which actually is an antihistamine with a side effect of appetite increase.Otherwise another I have heard not used is from Pakistan called Mosighar( I dont know the exact spelling but most people there know abt it)

Mamaof3

No, Benecalorie doesnt have a taste at all. Its a bit greasy though. Its easy to hide it in oatmeal or mashed potatoes. Or any kind of stews. Its a white fluid, about the consistency of heavy cream.

As far as marinol...I have to make a guess but I imagine there could be a side-effect of getting high.

Adrasteia

Wait hold on, arent kids supposed to be moody and picky when it comes to eating.

Why pollute their bodies with drugs of all sorts.

My mum always says, they'll eat as much as their tummies need.

Mamaof3

When a child doesnt eat enough to stay on their growth chart, if their weight percentile falls far below their height percentile the child is considered "failure to thrive" which means malnourished. And young brains are developing, they are affected by poor nutrition. When faced with this heartbreaking situation, specialists will first try hi-calorie supplements like benecalorie and instant breakfast. If that doesnt work and the child is still failure to thrive, medication is used. If this fails too then typically the answer is to tube feed.

Theres a big difference between piciky eaters and malnourished children! And sadly, not all children eat as much as they need. These are the kids who have an underlying medical condition that causes eating to be a painful experience for them. Food allergy, reflux, constipation, delayed gastric emptying. All of these can be mild enough not to show apparent symptoms - other than causing pain to the little one upon eating. And once they have learned that eating causes pain, its the toughest thing to overcome - even after the underlying medical condition is treated and under control. Thats why a FTT child should be seen by a pediatric GI specialist who can figure out what is causing the eating and weight trouble and work with the parents to help the little one overcome fear of eating.