Ovaltine???

my kids love ovaltine, it is chocolate milk so thats out. I just prefer ovaltine when I give my kids chocolate milk because it does have a few more additional vitamins over regular nesquick. Why not continue the pouches? If they are working and he likes them I would do those. If you are wanting some extra good calories can you add chia seeds to some things he does like? It throws in an easy additonal 100+ calories plus a lot of other goodness.

Ovaltine contains sugar, carrageenan and other additives. It does contain minimal vitamins, but it's not the best method of supplying extra nutrition for a child.

Pediasure is one option, but again, real food is the best.

The best ways to encourage a picky eater are: small servings on small plates, getting a kids' cookbook (Sesame Street C is for Cookie is a good one), and getting the child involved in the cooking process.

Sure, a 4 year old can't use a sharp knife or stir boiling pots on the stove, but they can tear lettuce, count cherry tomatoes, learn to measure or help count as you measure. They can look through cookbooks at Barnes and Noble, or the library, and choose things to cook with you or favorite books to take home. They can stir (away from the stove) and drop fruit into pancake batter.

Try not to use processed or canned or boxed mixes in your dinners. Food that is constantly disguised can't really be tasted, and processed, artificial ingredients mask the real tastes. Make a fruit salad of real fruits (not canned) and let your son see you enjoy it. Slice an apple and put some natural peanut butter on it. Make applesauce by just cooking peeled apple slices in a crockpot. Did you know that you can freeze banana slices, and throw them in a blender and blend them until they're smooth and then you have homemade banana "ice cream"? Try making peanut butter, or salad dressings, or simple cornbread with fresh corn in it (that would be easy for your son to help stir). Make your own french fries from real potatoes. In other words, real food, served in its pure state, and lead by example.

He actually eats more healthy than any kids I know. The foods you're "getting in him" in those pouches is way more than other kids eat.

He just had a growth spurt.

Kids eat and eat and eat and they chub out. Then one morning they wake up and they're taller and super skinny. They stay skinny for a while and gain muscle and weight then they start eating and eating and eating then chub out again. It's a growth cycle.

Is he drastically underweight? If not don't worry so much. He's eating a lot of healthy stuff.

Kids seem to either put on weight and then height or grown in height and then put on weight. They rarely do both at the same rate so as long as your son is growing well then I wouldn't worry about the weight. Keep offering a variety of veggies with his meals or make a rule that he eats say 2 baby carrots and then anything he wants. Or 2 lettuce leaves. My oldest daughter makes her kids eat veggies with every meal. She offers a choice of 2 and they pick the one they want. But it cucumber slices, sliced green pepper, etc at least they have some.

Carnation Instant breakfast drinks... as a supplement, not a replacement breakfast of course.

We had a nutritionist give us some advice for one of our tiny daughters around that same age. She suggested those (and I think Pedialyte makes a supplement shake) and also using dips, toppings, spreads on everything to fatten a kid up. Slather the butter on waffles, heavy PB on toast, lots of ranch to dip veggies in... the stuff we adults try to hold back on for ourselves.

If he likes bland things- I found my daughter liked hard boiled egg white with salt, and I think that really helped her bulk up.

Sometimes we get too focused on veggies... they don't put weight on a kid. Kids need healthy doses of protein, fat, and carbs. A lot of what you get outta veggies you also can get from a multi-vitamin... just sayin' (I myself love all vegetables, and want my kids to appreciate them as well, but let's face it, few kids are naturally drawn to a vast array of them).

Read the Jessica Seinfeld cookbooks Deceptively Delicious and Doubly Delicious & then adapt the concepts. Since he doesn't seem to mind the purees, try adding sweet potato, butternut squash, or cauliflower to mac & chesse or as a spread inside grilled cheese sandwiches. Try adding red/yellow bell pepper puree to tomato soup & make grilled cheese dippers (fun for 4-year-olds). Make banana bread with 1/2 the sugar, cauliflower puree, and apple for 1/2 the fat. Make pumpkin bread with 1/2 the sugar.
It might be fun, too, for your son to pick out a new fruit each week to try - star fruit, lychees, pineapple might be a fun adventure for a 4-year old. And maybe if he gets to choose a veggie, he can try it in fun ways (bugs on a log celery, sweet potato fries (baked?), zucchini spaghetti?)
You could also keep your fruit smoothie/purees going - those all sound like great treats. If you get a really good blender, you could make them at home too, even adding in spinach, beets - really anything - as long as the fiber gets ground up well, and you have enough yogurt/fruit to cover up the bitter.
Also, know that these things change over time. I was extremely picky growing up - would pretty much only eat noodles with butter/parm, plain chicken or steak; I think my only fruit was apples with peanut butter, and my only veggie was celery, carrots, green beans or corn. Once I started high school, I started trying other foods that my friends were eating that seemed "grown up". I can't believe it, but I didn't even eat tacos, hamburgers, salads, until high school or college. Now I'm a really healthy eater, and am trying to instill in my kids a sense of adventure when it comes to food. Growing up, it was such a battle that I want to avoid. My parents would always force me to try everything on my plate. I wish they hadn't done this, because in my mind, I hated the way veggies smelled, and the texture of fruit grossed me out. And for me, once I had convinced myself I didn't like something, no amount of forcing me was going to change my mind. It was much later, when I thought - wow, pineapple smells good. Why don't I give it a try? THAT'S when my tastes expanded. I think it would have been better if my parents had said - OK. we'll keep serving it, and when you get a chance, maybe you'll want to try it.

How is his protein intake? Some kids do chunk up and then get a growth spurt and get a bit skinny again. Just how some kids grow.

I have a relatively picky eater. I go for whole grain carbs when possible, offer veggies, ploughman's plates a lot (a variety of fats: olives, cheese; proteins: nuts, hard boiled egg or lunchmeat; carrot, celery and pickle... not hard to throw together as well as bread, a nut butter or butter and honey)... I try to offer a variety of choices so that the portions of each choice are small and palatable.

Ovaline should not be used as a replacement for fruits and veggies. It isn't a nutritional drink. A multivitamin and a smoothie with some good protein powder would be better.

ovaltine is not too healthy. read the ingredients. i think you're not doing too bad. as far as sallow skin color, I believe this indicates iron deficiencies from a nutritional standpoint.

"While iron is better absorbed from heme (meat) sources, non-heme (plant) iron is better regulated causing less damage to the body. High iron foods include clams, liver, sunflower seeds, nuts, beef, lamb, beans, whole grains, dark leafy greens (spinach), dark chocolate, and tofu."

Good luck!

Ovaltine has vitamins and minerals, but it's chocolate flavoured, so if he won't drink chocolate milk, that's out. One trick I use is to add powdered skim milk to whole milk. It gives more protein and calories, yet tastes like plain milk. My extremely picky and skinny 10 yr old drinks it right down.

Ovaltine is just like chocolate milk. So he's not going to drink it.

I'll bet he's doing fine. Get him outside to play and make sure he's getting enough protein. Have him help you to make cheese and crackers, or chicken salad, or boil up some eggs and make egg boats. Getting him to help make it means he's more likely to eat it.

I use to LOVE Ovaltine growing up!
It's the only way they could get me to drink milk.
To this day I'm not a milk drinker.
Don't worry about his weight.
As he gets into school more and is sitting more and more - the weight will come on.
Our son at 4 was 42 inches tall and 42 lbs and he was growing like a weed..
He seemed skinny to me.
At 6 he'd certainly filled out.
Now we have to watch his weight to make sure it doesn't go too high.

I didn't know they still made Ovaltine.

I would check a health food store for something with less sugar and some protein in it instead. I think at 4 I wouldn't worry so much about his weight or height unless the doctor has mentioned it. As long as he is getting good nutrients he will be fine.

My daughter does not drink milk, she hasn't had much of it since she stopped the bottle years ago. I give her other foods with calcium in it. I never bothered with any supplement drinks.

If he were eating McD's and junk foods only then that might effect how he is growing.

my son drinks pedia sure because he literally only eats like 10 things and it doesn't include any veggies or carbs. He is a skinny little guy. Was at the dr with him yesterday and he is only 46 pounds and he is 7 years old. Pedia sure has different flavors but it is expensive. Olvatine is just chocolate milk

My son, who is about to turn 5, is also picky. We make smoothies out of fruits/vegs such as mixed berries, banana, juice, ice. For different drink options...organic milk (which he prefers over regular milk), green juice (the ones that are sold in stores like Costco), carrot juice, Veg/fruit blended juice, chocolate almond milk, coconut milk. For snacks...Dried apple chips, the kale cheesy snack from Trader Joe's. I buy the chips that are made of different seeds like chia, flax, quinoa from Trader Joe's. Seaweed snacks. Squeezees...various fruit blends. Yogurt...mix with different fruits...find ones with less sugar. Sides...braised carrot slices, make veggie patties out of various veggies with some potato blended together...let me know if you need more ideas :) Hope this helps!