Long-ish post:
Don't give him straight heavy cream, as it'll probably make him sick.
Weight gain shakes are very effective, but here's my advice on them: They're for dessert. Load him up on the heavy, high calorie, liquids after he's already had a good size meal and maybe some dessert. Combination of gradually stretching his stomach and loading him up on calories.
Don't push him too much. It's one thing to feel really full and maybe have a little bit of pain/discomfort, but it's just awful to get nauseous and throw up. It's also really counter-productive and might turn him off from future stuffings.
I think the types of food you have to watch out for when it comes to getting sick are anything greasy, extremely fatty (cream, oil), high in lactose (milk, cream, etc), or anything that can cause rapid expansion effects (soda... heavy cream can basically turn into butter in your stomach... really not a good feeling)... All of these foods are great for weight gain, but you don't want to push it with them.
I once had someone try to encourage me to drink a gallon (!) of heavy cream a day... a cup an hour for 16 hours... sounds easy, but even a cup of the stuff straight is kind of gross. But the calories accomplished by that feat would be immense, over 13000. Added to a normal diet, it would theoretically be close to 115 pounds of weight gain in a month. And probably kill you. Or at least make you violently sick. So no, a gallon a day, even spaced out, is not realistic, to those who encourage such absurdity.
Still, even a cup (~820cal) or a pint (~1600) a day would make him pack on some serious poundage if he's eating a good amount otherwise. The key is to really spread it out and dilute it into other foods/liquids. Keep him full, but not feeling sick. Might help to keep some Nauzene tablets on hand. I sometimes chew a couple if I feel queasy. It usually helps quite a bit.
9 years
