Fattening, Nutritious Foods

Have you tried scrambling egg yolks? You could even cut up some veges really small and sneak them in there. Also whole grain bread or carbs will bulk him up. Good luck.

My son was a skinny one. He didn't make it on the growth chart until he was 3 years old!! One staple we used was olive oil. We put it on EVERYTHNG! We used it like butter to cook in, on toast with jelly, on pastas just about anything we could put it on. Good luck with the weight chart and try not to stress about it.
J.

Hi L.---How tall is your son? My youngest barely made the charts for weight but was off of the charts for height. Of course he's going to look underweight.

Does your son get sick alot? If not, I wouldn't worry about his weight. Kids know how to stop eating when they are full. They won't starve themselves. I would not start feeding him a high fat diet, either, or else he will develop tastes for those foods and then likely will have problems with them later.

I do not think pediasure is a good idea, either. Those drinks are mostly sugar water, which of course will put weight on anyone. Offer a varaiety of nutritious foods, and he will achieve a weight that he is meant to be.

Drs William, a pediatrician, and Jim Sears (of the ABC show, the Doctors) have a great website, www.askdrsears.com. They are likely to have info about weight and you can also ask questions as well. I have a great DVD that they recorded and one of their suggestions is to leave a grazing tray on the table at all times for the kids. He showed one in a muffin/cupcake pan with an assortment of fruits and veggies, along with a veggie dip. The fat in the salad dressing helps with the absorption of the fat soluble vitamins. Nuts are another great source of healthy fats and nutrients.

I like the smoothie idea. You can put all kinds of nutritious foods in those. You can put that olive or flax oil in there, better yet is ground flax seeds. I've put wheat bulgar in them (add extra fluid), leftover hot cereal, veggies, full fat goats milk yogurt (less allergenic proteins than cows milk), nut butters. etc.

But mostly I would say that if he's not sick alot, he's probably fine and that he's just going to be small for now.

Good luck and try not to worry. It's hard for some doctors to realize that not everyone is the same, and therefore they shouldn't try to make everyone fit those charts. You have to know what is right for your family, and if you don't like what this doc is telling you, you should get another.

If you'd like, feel free to call for more info about Dr. Sears. I am taking a series of wellness classes and I have access to lots of great health information. It is my honor to help other people learn how to optimize their health.

Take care, D. ###-###-####

It sounds terrible to say, but you might be creating problems for yourself later on. This was hard on me also, but my husband made me do it and all of our three boys eat anything I have ever put in front of them. To solve this problem: IF THE CHILD GETS HUNGRY ENOUGH, THEY WILL EAT WHATEVER YOU PUT IN FRONT OF THEM. They are smart kids even at a young age and will manipulate their parents and start out young doing it.

It would be helpful to know how big he is.

Dr.'s are bound to their little graphs and charts and have forgotten how to asses a child's health.

Are his finger nails growing at a normal rate?
Is his skin soft and supple (no drynesss no cracking no red patches)
Is his hair (if he has any) silky and is it growing.

If any of these things are a NO then you'll want to look into nutrition a bit more. However if these things are yes's your son is probably just fine.

Talk to your Mom and your hubby's Mom and find out what the two of YOU looked like at that age. Chances are one of you was a stick.

However if he IS suffering some sort of malnutrition...it really sounds like you have the fats and proteins down if he's eating dairy avocado pasta etc You can try upping his protein with beans. I wouldn't worry to much about meat at his age as long as he's getting enough iron through his other foods. You can also start a Omega 3 Oil supplement with him...either fish oil or flax seed oil.

My girlfriend had the same problem. She would slip butter into anything she could - baby food veggies, pasta, etc. She also fed a lot of avocado. What about peanut butter on bananas? My daughter loves that, although it is messy. Good luck!

A lot of babies/toddlers are picky. I wouldn't make a big deal out of it with him, and I'd drop the baby foods entirely. Make mealtime fun. Eat together at meals and snacks if you can. You can make smoothies with full-fat yogurt etc. You can hide veggies in juices in a blender. Finger foods like cheese and blueberries and tiny meatballs are fun. The avocadoes are a great idea. You can cut little sandwiches up small, even use cooky cutters. I used to make bunnies with cottage cheese and fruit - banana ears, raisin eyes, smiles out of peach or mandarin oranges, whiskers out of cheese or carrot. Peanut butter can be used in many ways if he's not allergic to peanuts. Rich soups are good if he likes them but sometimes little ones do best if they can feed themselves and, at this age, that means things he can pick up with his fingers. Good luck!

Hi L.,

Welcome to Michigan. My first suggestion is to look at the World Health Organization's weight charts. Especially if you've been breastfeeding your baby. Our country seems to want babies heavier than other countries, but later complain that children are overweight.

Also, you might want to begin offering simple foods that you're serving everyone for dinner. Some examples, cooked veggies, fruit, pasta, small pieces of meat. Don't push it, let him sample without pressure. If you find he truly won't eat food with textures, you might want to talk with your Dr. about having him evaluated by a physical therapist. They'll show you little mouth exercise to help him become more comfortable with different textures in his mouth. Please let us know how this works out. S.

Hi L. - try giving him pretty much the same food you're eating at meal times so he sees you're sharing food and enjoy eating the same things. If you make roast chicken and mashed potatoes he can eat exactly the same thing cut into very small pieces etc. What about eggs - scrambled, french toast, fried, omelettes with little pieces of vegetables in....grilled cheese cut up small....cottage cheese....oatmeal....hope this is a ltttle help - hope you start to enjoy Michigan. If you are lonely, go to the park with your little boy, it's a great way to make friends - good luck - ALison

I have three grown girls. They were all on different places on those charts when they were little. One was way under, one way over and one right on. It's funny because they came in that order...#1 born 2 wks early and a bit underweight til she was 4, #2 two weeks late 16# 4oz at 10 weeks (wow) and #3 was just regular. Toddlers are always picky. Sometimes it seems they don't eat enough to survive. Unless his mental growth and motor skills are behind...no worries. Maybe he'll be one of those lucky people that stays trim no matter what. As long as what he's eating is good for him, his metabolism could just be different, using everything instead of storing fat....not a bad thing!

I had the same issue. I remember knowing which of the baby foods had the most fat and calories. The pureed chicken has the most. More than the beef, which is surprising. I would give him that if he'll eat it! Also, my doctor said that if our daughter wouldn't drink milk, give her ice cream once a day! I wish my dr. would say that. We looked into brands, and Breyer's vanilla ice cream is just cream and milk, so it's very natural, but more appealing than milk? You could try smoothie/milkshakes (maybe he would take banana in that) with ice cream or yogurt and berries. I also looked into fruits and veggies that have more calories. Berries have more calories than other fruits. Melon does NOT have many. Peas have the a lot of calories, compared to other veggies. My daughter loves cottage cheese. Pudding is another option, and potatos are good too. i would make mashed potatoes with a little butter, sour cream, and cheese (i was so jealous!).

I think that i realized that i was feeding my daughter "too healthy"! It's hard to go from giving her only breastmilk and then to pure healthy veggies, and then suddenly you're having to go to "normal" foods that aren't as natural. I just try to give her stuff that doesn't contain a lot of "bad stuff" like hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup. If your son needs to gain weight, sugar and fats like butter won't hurt him, because they are natural. we are so used to avoiding them or thinking of them as bad, because WE don't want to gain weight, but for kids who are underweight, they aren't so bad... I do still try to limit these things now that my daughter is 2 and a little higher on the growth chart so she doesn't get too used to them...

Hi L., Welcome to Michigan. THis is a bad summer to be in MI and be from Texas... last year was HOT (for a michigander that is). Have you looked into a momsclub.org group?

Now onto your question, if he is active, not losing weight (although he probably will for a while if he jsut started walking), he is busy and happy and talking, and hitting all the other markers for his age, he is probably jsut on the small side. My daughter was very small, 19 lbs at 18 mos, but she was all muscle and very active, when she ate, she ate well and when she didn't she just didn't. Keep the faith, you are doing a good job, it's easy to tell because you are taking him for appts and asking for help.

My son is underweight, too (about 17 pounds at 1 year). He eats well and likes most everything, he's just always been small. He's still nursing, but my doctor recommend we also give him some Pediasure -- it's higher in calories than baby formula. I think you need a doc. recommendation under a certain age, so maybe ask. And it's kind of expensive. But I at least feel good knowing that on top of everything else, he's getting that extra boost!

hi
like some of the others are saying if he is healthy and active i wouldnt worry about his weight. my daughter was 17lb when she was one and spent most of two at 21lb, she never eats all that much but is very active and bouncy. children are born with an inborn sence of hunger and full. there is a cook book called the sneaky chef that has lot of way to sneak veggies and fruit into thing like brownies and milk....

Homemade mac and cheese with whole wheat pasta; try pediasure or keep him on the toddler formula if he really needs to gain more weight;

Hi. My son is little as well. He has been in thr 5th percentile, but my peditrician said to just keep trying, and as long as he doesn't loose weight, we are doing ok. Finally now, at almost 14 months, he is eating a bunch of new things. He just started eating organic beef. Ground beef. Totally random, but he wanted my hamburger, so I gave him some and he loved it. I thought it was so strange, but I was so happy. He doesn't like juice, he doesn't like milk. I am still nursing. At 12 1/2 months he started loving bananas, and eats them all the time now. So i just keep trying. I hope that it works for you! Until 2 weeks ago, all he ate was stage 2 meat as well, and yogurt and cheese, and fruit with the cereals. It will happen as he is ready. I hope Michigan is treating you well!

Just keep trying to feed your child healthy foods. If you get into the habit of giving processed junk food at this stage that could be all he would like later and end up with a weight issue.

Also please try to remember that the doctor is telling you that your son is low on the growth chart, a comparison of 100 children. If you were to be compared to 100 of your peers how would you stack up? If he is eating regularly then don't worry about it.

Hello L.,

don't do pediasure...I tried that with my son and it was a nightmare to get him off. that got him so full that it was the only thing he wanted and wouldn't eat anything else. he might have a texture issue if he doesn't want to try anything beyond the 2nd stage baby food meat. if he eats bananas mixed with something else... then mix it. my son ate his last banana at 14 months...I even happen to get it on video. he's 9 now and won't touch a banana. avocados have great fats in it. see what you can sneak into the yogurt and the pasta. good luck and keep trying. ~Carmen~

One of my daycare children had the same issue. They recommended giving him a pedisure shake/drink everyday. It really helped plus gave him extra vitamins instead of just bad carbs. Good luck!