Helping a Toddler Gain Weight
Our daughter is underweight. She’s not horrendously underweight, but our pediatrician had some concerns; hence, we have some concerns as well.
If you have ever tried to get an extremely active one year old child to actually sit down long enough to finish a meal, let alone gain any weight, you understand how hard it is to get a toddler to gain some weight. We’ve tried several different methods, but these are what have worked for us thus far:
Counting calories. We’ve really started paying attention to the number of calories that go into her body by checking the calorie counts on her foods. No longer do we let her eat her favorite baby foods as often as before — after doing some research in the baby food aisle of the local grocery store, we discovered that those peas and pears don’t rank very high on the calorie content. So we came up with a list of fruits, vegetables and meats that do have high calorie contents, and give those to her the most. The other foods, such as the peas and pears, are second priority, after she has at least consumed a few of the others.
We are still careful, though, to make sure she eats a variety of fruits and veggies each day, as well as a serving or two of meat.
We also log her calorie intake, and make sure that it reaches a certain number each day. Talk to your pediatrician about your child’s calorie needs and for the number of calories he or she should be consuming each day.
More dairy to her diet. One serving of YoBaby yogurt per day (110 calories), plus a few ounces of whole milk, has allowed us to boost her calorie count. It also increases her protein and calcium consumption, another plus in our books.
Additional or different liquids. Our pediatrician suggested that we start replacing her formula bottles with Pediasure, one serving at a time. We started with one four-ounce bottle, and we’re now up to four four-ounce bottles per day.
We also looked at the juices we were feeding her. Now, instead of a 60-calorie bottle of juice, we’re giving her more bottles of the yogurt blend juices or the higher calorie juices, such as fruit and vegetable juice blends.
All in all, we seem to be doing a pretty good job on the weight front. She’s slowly gaining, and we’re hoping that by her next pediatrician appointment she will be back to where she should be in the percentiles.
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brit says...
I feel your pain! but thanks for the great tips, i’ll be trying them with my son.
I try to feed my son healthy snacks when he *has* to sit down – like when he’s in the stroller, or riding in the car, or waiting for an appointment. if there’s nothing else to do, he’ll usually have something to eat.
jovi says...
My daughter is the same way. She is 17 mos old and weighs 18.6. She eats everything that is given to her and then some. I guess I’ll have to really look into the nutritional facts.
krys says...
My daughter is 17 mos old and barely tips the scale at 17 lbs. She was a preemie born at 2 lbs 9 oz. I am trying all sorts of ways to increase her weight. She will eat, but nothing seems to add the pounds. Other than being small, she is a very happy baby and has met her other milestones (walking, development, etc.)
What are some of the fruits and meats you found that were high in calories. Also do you know of any reading materials that could assist me.
Thanks
Timi Lee says...
My daughter is 2 and still weighs 20 lbs! She’s beautiful, healthy, and happy–I’ve been told that is the best evidence she’s not lacking in anything. Still, it is very frustrating to prepare food for her that remains untouched. I have learned that, to accomodate her, placing finger foods in small bowls I leave around the room helps her to snack when she’s ready. Not too much of the sweets and I’ll make funny faces when I eat something crunchy to get her interested. Best of luck figuring out other methods!