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[casper123]

I am new to this but going to try this out. My 5 yesr old son has ADHD and i am having a very hard time trying to get him to eat. I would love to find a good book or online site that I can start making good food and that he would like. I am a single mom of three kids and we just found out about his ADHD and I would love to get a little help maybe even just talk about what i am stessing about. Thanks so much for everyones time

[misty]

Hi Casper! Welcome to the group!

Not sure of what kind of site or book you're looking for but then again, its after 1 am here & my brain is already asleep. LOL My daughter was never a picky eater, but my 5 year old (non-adhd) nephew is an EXTREMELY picky eater. One thing my sister found is that if he helps make it, or grows it in his little garden, he's more likely to try it. Also, if she's introducing a new food, she puts it on the table a few times that week so he gets used to the site & smell if it. I don't know why, but sometimes it helps.

You came to the right place! Lots of helpful members here, & I'm sure you'll get a ton of other ideas. Glad to have you aboard!

[aimee8305]

Welcomoe Casper!!! I am in the same boat as you are so I dont really have too much advise. If you find some thing that works please let me know!

I have a son that just turned 6 this month and he eats like a bird unless i let him eat junk food all day. He is a skinny thing....My son only weighs 41 lbs lol

[casper123]

Thanks, so much I hope I like this group I like to talk about what is going on with my son because I have no one to just say what am I going to do with him. He is going to be starting grade one soon and now that I know that he is ADHD I don't know if I should be feeding him just healthy food or if I should get the cookies that I get from the store out of the house. I got told that sugar is bad for kids that have ADHD but I don't know. There is so much sugar in everything how do you cut everything out.

[misty]

Casper, I found out a few months back that I have diabetes so I know the challenge of getting sugar out of your diet & in my case, also cutting back on carbs. I can send you some links if you decide to go the sugar free route. In the case of my ADHD daughter, I never really saw a difference in her behavior in response to foods she ate, but you can certainly experiment . Everyone is different.

Is your son on meds? some meds affect the appetite & in that case, many parents don't drastically alter their childs foods because you want them to get the calories they need. And add picky eating on top of that, it can be a real challenge! If he's on meds, you should see a pattern of times of the day when he is hungrier than others. At those times, maybe try giving him the most calories & also the most nutrition that you can. I know some parents do shakes at breakfast to boost up the calorie intake.

What kinds of foods will he eat? Maybe we can give you some ideas that will work with those foods.

[casper123]

Thanks so much, I would like to go the no sugar because that is what he likes the most is sugar so taking the sugar away is the best thing to do. He eats meat a little but not much and likes vegs a little to but what I make is what he needs to eat because I make three meals a day, I don't make a meal just for him. I have birthdays coming up and don't know how to make a cake without sugar and school coming up and what to put in his lunch. And should I go slow on taking the sugar away or just take it away all at once. And should he be having milk to. I just don't know.

[bugsmom]

Hi, Casper!! I'd like to welcome you to our group! I'm so glad you found us, and I hope we will be a great source of help to you on your road to learning about ADHD. A lot of us have older children and we would love to guide you through any questions you may have. We have all been in your shoes one way or another, so please, ask any questions that come to your head.

As for the picky eating, I didn't have to deal with that because of my son's severe food allergies. Whatever he could eat, which isn't a whole lot, he ate. But, I know lots of parents deal with this. As to the sugar, I know its the first thing you think to remove when your child is dx with ADHD. Personally, I think this is a myth. My son is EXTREMELY hyper, but it wasn't from sugar. It was from his ADHD. Like Misty, I never really seen a difference with or without the sugar. But with that being said, I do see a difference when my son has certain dyes in his food, particularly Red dye #40. It took us awhile to figure it out, but we finally did. He will bounce off the walls if he has it...lol.

If you do remove the sugar, I think I'd do it gradually. If its a party, let him have a small piece of cake. In the end he'll be happier and won't feel left out. I'm sure you can eliminate other things from his daily eating to see if it is effective. It's all a bit of trial and error. I know I tried many different diets when I was able to convert it into the foods he could eat.

Once again....WELCOME! I'm glad you found our little family.

[casper123]

Thanks, so much the group is making me feel so much better. I am going to maybe try little thing at a time like red dye and maybe take a little sugar away from him. So many things going in my mind about my son. Like I hope he is going to do fine in school and have friends. I do know one thing is that I have to be more into the school thing and maybe go more to it. So I do hope that I learn more and more about what I have to do with my son. I do know that it is going to be hard. Thanks so much for letting me come to this group and I am hoping I learn more. Is there any why that anybody would know if I should be taking things away from him when he is bad or should I just send him to timeout and tell him why he is in timeout . Because everything I am doing is not working. Just telling him he is not going to grandma house or his toys are going away for awhile does not work. He just gets mader. I have so many things to ask sorry.

[misty]

Don't be sorry...feel free to ask whatever you want. You might also browse the other sections. You might find some tips & if you post in those sections your more likely to get more members answering. You might want to ask your question about discipline in the behavior section, for instance. Not that its not OK to ask here (its fine) just that more people might notice it there.

As far as my experience goes, I always found that with my daughter the closer I could get to making the punishment relevant to the offense, the more it worked. Like if she threw a tantrum in a store because I wouldn't buy her a candy bar, we'd leave the store immediately. If she fought me about homework, she was allowed no TV until she complied. If she wouldn't put her toys away, I took them for a day. Well, now that she's a teenager its easier...I just unplug her internet. LOL

Oh & here's a site for sugar free desserts if you're interested:

www.recipe4living.com/articles/top_10_sugar_free_dessert_recipes.htm

and one for cookies:

www.easy-sugar-free-recipes.com/sugar-free-cookie-recipes.html

[charliegirl]

Welcome Casper!