I have a 6yo autistic and adhd child. She is currently medicated for her adhd, which only started a few months ago. Prior to her starting medication she was eating at school, and always had a relatively good appetite despite some sensory issues with food.
She initially started on a short acting medication which severely impacted her appetite, and for that reason I kept her off it on weekends. When she changed to the longer acting one, I monitored her eating and due to her eating being pretty good I have kept her on it. However her eating at school has continued to be impacted, she will eat maybe a few bites of something here and there but for the most part she will eat nothing. I have tried asking her and she says that she is listening to her body but it doesn’t make sense that her appetite is still relatively normal on the weekends. I’m getting worried as she has lost about 2.5kg in the last 2 weeks, and it is getting noticeable that she is losing weight. But it seems the more pressure I put on her to eat the worse it seems to get. I honestly don’t know what else to do at this point. I would love her to not be on medication at all, but at this point that isn’t possible.
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6 Replies
Try feeding her breakfast and after school snack. It’s ok if she doesn’t feel hungry, especially if you know she’s eating ok on weekends, give her time to adjust.
That’s what I have been doing, but the fact she has lost so much weight in such a short time has me worried.
Will she drink up & go or sustagen? Not ideal but will still give her calories. My son had issues with weight gain when he was younger, so I would leave a carton of up & go poppers in the classroom, then he would drink one while working at his desk if he got hungry.
She drinks sustagen in the morning but it’s just the one you make yourself. She won’t drink pre-made sustagen or up and go.
If you’re able to keep it cold at school, then make up a couple of small bottles each day for school. It could also be worth talking to a dietitian about what you can add to get extra calories into her. I have no idea if it’s still available, but on the advice of my son’s dietitian I used to get a powder from the chemist that would add calories to drinks and meals without changing the taste.
I will definitely give it a go. Even her water intake at the moment is pretty poor especially at school as well