Underweight 13 year old boy

bulchy

My son is 13, 5'4 and weighs 6 stone. He was weighed and measured at the doctors last week, doc wants him back in 4 weeks to check up on him, I've had school ringing me up saying PE teachers are concerned about his weight, (DS doesnt know this bit)
Personally, I'm pretty certain this is just a phase he is going through, hes a teenage boy, eats like a horse, sleeps well, has the usual teenage mood swings, so what I'm looking for is ideas on what to feed him to help him put a little weight on his bones. He eats fairly healthy, likes his proper dinners, salads,fruit,pastas etc has a packed lunch 3 days a week and I give him money 2 days, as he doesnt like to carry packed lunch on PE days. If he gets hungry in between meals, he will snack on cereal/yogurt or fruit, his favourite fruit being bananas, we've gone through 3lb so far since tuesday, between him and his dad :eek: As a family, we dont eat junk food meals, everything is cooked from scratch, we have crisps/chocolate/biscuits in the house, and he consumes the majority of them, yet hes the slim one and the rest of us are overweight, its so unfair :rotfl:
He gets self concious of his appearance, kids in the changing rooms make comments about how slim he is, I told him being underweight gets you just as much unwanted attention as being overweight, and to ignore the comments. I would like to help him bulk up a bit, any suggestions on healthy meals that will help him slowly gain a little weight would be appreciated.
Sue

bulchy

Hmm after watching BBC news this morning, seeing obesity is a form of child abuse, maybe they would think we've taken it to the other extreme???
Sue

Justie

Increase the protein in his diet and you should see some improvement. Ideally he'd be having protein at each meal - it doesn't need to be loads but it will help his body build muscle which will weigh more and fill out his frame more. It's well worth the GP just checking him out though as well to make sure that he's not got any underlying health issue that's affecting his weight.

Kimitatsu

If he is eating then there is little wrong with him - that was the advice I was given when I enquired about DS1 (aka stick insect on a diet!)

Also the other advice I was given that all of his energy is going into growing upwards and he will fill outwards later on, and sure enough they were right. He is still naturally very slender but like yours eats like a horse and then burns it all off. At age 10 his meals are larger than mine!

I was also told that it is better to be a stone underweight than a pound overweight when they are children (which I thought was a bit of an exageration :eek: ) like you I dont eat any of the junk in the house and I am the one with the weight :rotfl:

Keep feeding him and monitor his height - if he is growing (and mine tend to grow more in the summer than the winter) then there is a likely explanation. If he is being checked up on by the doctor and he does not appear to have any concerns (as in just keeping an eye on him) then you should have no concerns either.

Just start saving for when his feet grow in proportion :eek: :rotfl:

bulchy

Thank you for the replies, Justie, I was discussing what to do about his diet with my OH and he mentioned increasing his protein yesterday, thanks, I'm going to actually do a meal plan, and make sure we all stick to it, so he doesnt feel any more concious than he already does.
Kimitatsu, thanks for the warning regarding shoe size, hes already talking about being clumsy at school in PE, and I remembered years ago, working with a teenager, and how clumsy he was while he was going through a growing phase, and his mam always used to tell him he would get better once his feet grew :rotfl: and he stopped falling over them.
Sue

ktb

my brother and I were both really slim as teenagers... my mum even gave us 'tonics' from the chemist to try and help us put on weight. We both ate like horses - school dinner, cooked meal in evening and I always had 2 or 3 helpings of a full roast dinner on sundays etc.. but as both my mum and dad had been very slim as young people too i'm guessing we just have super effective metabolisms... plus we are both quite tall... i'm almost 5ft9 & my brother is over 6ft4 so i'm guessing all our energy was probably going on growing upwards rather than outwards.

We are both very healthily sized adults... we both eat well and have ideal BMI's & weights for our heights...

The advice about protein is very good... If your son is eating properly and exercising and you arent worried about anything silly like drugs then I honestly think you have nothing to worry about. Please, please dont let him get a complex about this if at all possible... I know that is much easier said than done if kids are saying stuff in changing rooms etc.. but he isnt a freak or anything... we are just obsessed with weight and appearance in todays world.. and anything considered different is made a fuss of. But bodies change an awful lot during puberty... his weight will sort itself out i'm sure...

I remember seeing a programme in a sex education class that explained why boys get so clumsy in puberty too... something to do with bits growing before the brain learns how to control them. Maybe he is having a growth spurt and thats where all the food energy is going... like I said upwards rather than outwards

bulchy

Thanks Ktb, we are very careful around my son so as not to make him feel any worse than the kids at school try to. I encourage him to ignore the comments, and tell him he will fill out once hes stopped growing upwards. I remember being very slim when I was a teenager, his dad was too, but you wouldnt think it to look at him now :rotfl:
My son does look and acts a lot more mature than some of his friends, infact, at my daughters 16th birthday party, some of her male friends commented on how he looked older than some of them, so some of that skitting in the changing rooms is probably a touch of jealousy as well, as hes quite possibly developing a lot faster than some of the other boys, I may even suggest this next time he mentions someone making comments to him.
Sue

cupid_s

He'll probably grow outwards as he gets older. But he'll probably wish then that he could eat what he wanted and not worry about his weight. This is how I feel now. I spent so much time worrying about my weight when I was a teenager and now I'd give anything to be as slim as I was then!

Hopefully as he gets older he'll realise that it is just jealousy why people say these things and he'll become more comfortable with how he is regardless of his weight. As long as he's healthy that's all that matters.

You sound like you're doing well in encouraging him. All I ever heard from my mom and nan was 'you could do with putting weight on' which obviously made me feel a lot better about the horrible comments I got at school. Thank god for my dad lol

bulchy

Thanks cupid, and your so right, he will look back on this time in his life and wish he could still eat the same things and not put the weight on, like his dad does now :rolleyes:
Sue

Penny_Watcher

Any chance he has an over active thyroid?

DD1 had growth and weight problems (not growing) as a child, but she had food absorption problems due to Crohn's Disease. Your lad seems tall enough for his age, so he must be getting enough food to grow 'up', but maybe not 'out'.

bulchy

A few people have mentioned thyroid problems, including my sister and dad, tbh my dad is worrying more than me, and says I should be taking him back to the docs sooner than 4 weeks, he always left the worrying to my late mam, and its the first time I've known him to actually voice his worries, so was alarmed this morning when he said this :rolleyes: Personally I think its just a growth spurt, and he will start to fill out eventually.
Sue