Healthy high calorie ideas?

[milkyrn]

Hi all,

You've all helped me in the past and thought I'd reach out again.

My girls were preemies and one is lagging behind in weight and I'm trying to think of healthy ways to get her to gain weight. My husband and I stay away from processed foods including sweets, etc and don't feel comfortable dumping empty sugar calories into her. Anyone have any recipes for high calorie shakes or something like it that wouldn't be full of sugar?

On an aside, I'm so sick of comments from people that we are depriving our children of the good stuff! We don't forbid them from eating candy and stuff once in a while, we just prefer them to eat healthy! We see the healthy stuff as the good stuff!

Thanks in advanace for any ideas!

[Caro2]

Why you want do your child to gain weight? Does she have a health problem? How much does she weight? How tall is she? Is she underweight, not because she is thin means she is underweight.

I have a thin child, she is on the 5 percentil on weight and on 65-70 percentile on height, she has always being on those curves. My DD's ped told me she was perfectly healhty, she eats very healthy, she just eats what she needs for her energy spending. And about those stats, it just indicates where she is compare to others (American kids) at same age it does not mean much anyway, and it is just to make sure she there is no drop in weight or slow in height on her own stats.

I just kept dd on whole milk, and keep feeding her normally.

If you want to increase calories, you can give her ice cream, cheese..force feed her?? I would not go there. To be honest, I would just respect her body type, unless there is a concern with her health.

The very few times, I had comments, I just said "Well the Dr. said she is perfectly healthy and happy thanks" I could careless about what people say anyway.

There has being a couple of post that moms fatten their child only to end up years later with the other problem being too big. I think when we don't respect a child appetite it ends up that they lose the ability to know when they are no longer hungry.

Caro

[milkyrn]

Thanks Caro- I totally agree with your thoughts!

Tori is only 20 lbs at 28 months. She is very healthy so I'm not too worried but her eating habits aren't as good as her sister's. She eats like a bird! There is a 5 pound weight difference between them which I know in and of itself isn't an issue but I'd like her to at least continue to gain. She's turned into the pickiest eater these days! She's never been on the curve but the pediatrician isn't worried because she's at least maintaining a curve- or at least she was up to her 2 yr appt. She does great with cheese, yogurt, etc. She's never been a great drinker...even when she was bfing!

I don't want to fatten her up and have her have a lifetime of eating issues- which is exactly why I'm against just dumping sugary stuff into her. Maybe I'll try some kind of milkshakes and see how that goes. It's a challenge getting toddlers to eat- couldn't imagine trying to "force feed"!

Guess I'll continue as is since she is healthy! Dh and I were both skinny little things in grade/high school and the pedi thinks she'll just follow in our footsteps!

[Caro2]

Originally Posted by milkyrn

Guess I'll continue as is since she is healthy! Dh and I were both skinny little things in grade/high school and the pedi thinks she'll just follow in our footsteps!

Same for us!

Cheers! Like they say "An apple never falls far from the tree!!"

Caro

[BC-Lulu_4]

I heard that avacados have a lot of calories and they are healthy. My ds actually went from the 50th percentile to the 23th percentile between his 6 and 9 month check up and i freaked. Someone then suggested avacados if I was really concerned.

Now at 33mths, i'm more worried that he is too heavy. But, I plan to keep him active and put him in sports when he is 3. My family is the opposite...dh and I are both overweight so I want to keep ds active.

[BC-Carolinamx]

If allergies are not a concern for your family, nuts are a great alternative for high-calorie, healthy eating.

My dd is also skinny and absolutely hates any meat/poultry product. I'm not a big meat-eater, either, so I don't push her. She has fish once in a while, but she's not very fond of it either. So, of course, I worry about her protein and calorie intake. She does eat dairy (cheese, yogurt, milk sometimes). And she loves almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, peanuts and hazelnuts, so I always have them at home for snacking or as sides with her meals.