My daughter is 17 months old. She’s always been in the lower percentile on the weight charts…and doesn’t seem to be making progress. She hasn’t really put on significant weight the last month.
We went to see the ped for an ear infection problem…and the ped wants to have us give her PediaSure. Guessing by the price of this product…I’m guessing that it’s pure cavier.
Anyway…we got some of that (there does not seem to be a store brand alternative). Any other doper mommies or daddies have ideas for putting weight on thier little ones? Maeve has never really been a huge eater…she does eat…just not a lot. We do try to feed her a balanced diet…but apparently we need to load her up on the calories.
Having her drink whole milk can make a difference (if she’s not already doing so)-- it’s as good for the body as any other form of milk, but has extra creaminess (calories!) that make it tasty to young ones as well as fattening.
You can also try adding calories to the things she’s already eating-- put peanut butter on crackers or cream on her cereal, eat croissants with breakfast, make homemade macaroni and cheese, stuff like that. Keep her balanced diet, just sorta fancy it up a little with things you’d normally avoid with someone trying to slim down.
I always thought pedia-sure was just a supplement to prevent dehydration in sick kids–so I’m surprised that was your doc’s suggestion. Learn something new every day, it seems.
Anyway, Beadalin’s full of good suggestions. Peanut butter, nuts, ice cream, cheeses, breads, even chocolate–anything high-calorie but still relatively nutrient rich should be good. Is there any food in particular that Maeve (love the name, BTW) really enjoys and almost always eats? If so, I’d load her up on it. As long as you’re sure she’s getting a balanced diet overall, it shouldn’t matter that she’s eating four or five cheese sandwhiches a day for example. I’d try not to stress over it too much though. All kids are different, and pushing her to eat, eat, eat when that goes against her nature might do more harm than good. Did the doc seem to think that she was at an unhealthy weight, or just borderline low?
Good luck! My lil’ guy won’t stop eating usually, so I’m on the other end of this dilemma. He was in the 93 percentile for weight at his last checkup, and the only thing keeping him from looking like a total butterball is the fact that he’s at 88th for height. It takes all kinds, I guess.
Does she seems happy, healthy and active? If so, I wouldn’t worry about it. Give her the whole milk, maybe some vitamins and let her eat whatever she wants. Some children are just naturally slim. My daughter stopped making any large weight gains at about 18 months, she’s 5 now, and perfectly healthy. Her weight creeps up bit by bit, but’s she’s kept the same ratio since. Apart from having to buy her ‘slim’ pants, she’s energetic and just like every other child.
We are going through the same thing with my 2 year old son. He has mild CP and respiratory problems and was hospitalized for most of the first year of his life. On top of all that, he’s also an extremely picky eater. He’s been off the growth chart since he was born.
He’s been on Pediasure for about 6 months now. I don’t think there is a store brand of Pediasure, unfortunately. It is not cheap.
His pediatrician gave me the suggestion to just load him up on his favorite foods. She said any calories are “good” calories for him right now.
Luckily, his favorite food of the moment is mashed potatoes and gravy which is pretty fattening.
The last time he had a checkup, he was finally back on the growth chart and hasn’t been sick in over 6 months, so maybe he’s on an upward swing as far as weight goes.
My suggestions would be just keep food in front of her all the time. My son eats almost constantly these days–he’s always snacking on apple slices, cereal bars, peanut butter crackers, and his all-time favorite, Goldfish.
Give her a lot of different choices at mealtimes. If she’s anything like my son, she’ll get stuck on one or two particular foods for days at a time, which can be a good thing depending on the food.
And if she won’t eat any of her favorite foods anymore, try something “new”. My son tried brocholi a few months ago and absolutely hated it. I gave it to him again a couple of weeks ago and now he loves it.
I wouldn’t worry too much. I was 19 pounds at two years old, and now I’m 16 and 100 pounds (at 5’4").
Of course, I did have Crohn’s disease, which is very unusual in small children, so it’s unlikely that your daughter has it.
And Belladonna, Pedia-lyte is the anti-dehydration drink. Pedia-sure is like a shake, it’s got calories and vitamins and stuff (we had to give it to my younger brother in an attempt to fatten him up. He’s almost nine, but looks like your average six year old. A skinny six year old. He drank it for a while, but then refused any more. He’s still skinny. He had Crohn’s, too.)
We went through this with my son, although we didn’t have to do Pediasure. I know a professor whose daughter had to be on it, and she needed a special kind that had added fiber or something which was impossible to find!
We did a couple things. First, we encouraged food over milk. The doctor thought that our son was drowning his appetite with fluids.
Second, we increased the number of meals he was offered. He was eating about five meals a day, sometimes six.
Third, a nurse told us to make milkshakes for him using half and half. We didn’t actually ever do this, but I’m sure this would have packed on some weight in a hurry. Ice cream and cream! Whoa!
At the time we were going through this, I was doing weight watchers. My grocery basket was something else–a bunch of high-calorie, plentiful-fat things for the toddler, and a bunch of high-fibre low-fat things for me.
Remember not to fret over fat at this age. They need fat and cholesterol for healthy brain development.
Is she progressing on the growth chart? She may be in the 25th percentile, but if she’s still progressing along the 25th percentile there’s nothing to worry about.
Are there other health problems? Is she progressing in other areas (walking, talking, etc?)
I’d be a little wary of “fattening her up” if she’s progressing fine elsewhere. If you’re concerned speak to a nutritionist. As long as she’s eating healthy foods and not a lot of junk she may just have a high metabolism.
my son was 9 pounds 5 ounces when he was born, and at three months he weighed 18 pounds…he is a big boy. my wife breast fed him up until thre months and started him on enfamil(prosobee). I also have a 6 year old daughter. I’m not quite sure what to tell except that at least she isn’t overweight like so many kids are…if her iron levels are good and the doctors aren’t complaining let it be…i wish her well…
You have to be careful when fattening kids up. If your eyesight isn’t so good, they will often try to fool you by poking a chicken bone through their cage’s bars instead of their finger. Next thing you know, you’re in the oven.
Thanks for the input. She seems to be developing fine otherwise…walking and blabbering. She weighs 22 pounds now at 17 months. I guess the peds main concern that she doesn’t have a lot of weight to “lose” at this point (and shes been sick off and on for awhile…now has another ear infection).
She didn’t see her normal ped today…saw a different one. It’s hard to get a sense of whether she is just tracking along just fine at this weight situation…or whether we need to make other efforts. She drinks whole milk…we even give her YoBaby yogurt…she apparently loves vegetables (I know I didn’t contribute that particular gene) …We do do the peanut butter on crackers thing and other tricks. It’s not like she doesn’t eat…she doesn’t eat a lot.
Our kids like pasta, but will generally refuse to eat it if it’s in sauce, so I toss it in butter or oil to get a few more calories into them. Cakes are good nutrition too; some carrot cake recipes are loaded with calories.
I was a preemie, and always small for my age. Mom tried guacamole in an attempt to fatten me up, and apparently it worked like a charm…avocados are very high fat, but have lots of good vitamins, too. Plus guacamole goes great with refried beans and sour cream, and melted cheese!
