LO has no appetite and is getting too thin--any advice?

perry7285 · October 2011

i am so worried about my LO. =( three weeks ago he got an ear infection, lost his appetite, and even though the infection healed his appetite never came back. he was kind of skinny to begin with, so now he's down to 3rd percentile for weight (he's 38th for height) and he's eating about 600-700 calories a day when the pedi says he needs 1200.

the pedi and i agreed today that i would come back in a month to weigh him and re-evaluate the situation--for now i'm just supposed to try to get him to eat as much as possible. we are limited to purees since he only has two teeth, and we also have to avoid anything with dairy because it upsets his stomach.

any suggestions for high-calorie foods, or ways to encourage a 12-month-old who isn't interested in food to eat? TIA for any advice.

cjsbdl · October 2011

There's no need to limit him to purees. Have you tried soft finger foods?

Eleanor hates purees but she loves baked sweet potato, banana, toast, etc...I just cube them up and let her have at it. She eats them much, much better than pureed foods.

eta: E has no teeth at all yet.

perry7285 · October 2011

cjsbdl:
There's no need to limit him to purees. Have you tried soft finger foods?
Eleanor hates purees but she loves baked sweet potato, banana, toast, etc...I just cube them up and let her have at it. She eats them much, much better than pureed foods.
eta: E has no teeth at all yet.

i can definitely give this a try--how do i keep it safe, though, in terms of choking hazard stuff? our pedi is pretty cautious which is why i was told that we basically have toss stick to purees. (he loves cheerios, but those also unfortunately upset his stomach!)

perry7285 · October 2011

cjsbdl:
There's no need to limit him to purees. Have you tried soft finger foods?
Eleanor hates purees but she loves baked sweet potato, banana, toast, etc...I just cube them up and let her have at it. She eats them much, much better than pureed foods.
eta: E has no teeth at all yet.

i can definitely give this a try--how do i keep it safe, though, in terms of choking hazard stuff? our pedi is pretty cautious which is why i was told that we basically have to stick to purees. (he loves cheerios, but those also unfortunately upset his stomach!)

kz's_girlygirl · October 2011

I'm just lurking, but thought I would throw in my 2 cents. Here is a link that I found after a quick google search and it seems to have easy things you can do to increase calories (healthily) even if he isn't necessarily interested in eating more.

GL- he is such a cutie!

cjsbdl · October 2011

Just cube them into pieces the size of your pinky fingernail. Make sure they're nice and soft, and he'll be fine. I've done this with both my babies before they had any teeth and neither of them have ever choked. Gagging, yes...choking, no.

Here are some of the foods we started with:

Banana
Avocado
Toast
Green beans (I use canned to begin with, because they're very soft)
Carrots (also canned)
Sweet potato (baked)
Butternut squash (baked)
Pancakes

hlsgrad · October 2011

Can you do a soy milk smoothie with bananas or other higher-calorie foods mixed in - you can puree anything in a food processor - granola, fruit, etc.?

When my friends' son did the same thing after a virus (a little older) we did lots of smoothies with milk, bananas, and even sunflower nut butter (worried about allergies). He's older now and no peanut allergy, but he is now a picky eater so she makes smoothies with regular peanut butter to try to fatten him up

firsttogo · October 2011

I would just give him foods he can gum, dissolve ect. Scrambled eggs? Hummus with even carrot sticks-he can not eat the carrots, but use them to scoop the hummus... my kids love it, and it had good fat. avocado pieces are mushy and high fat too!

hlsgrad · October 2011

and avocados too - good for him and easy to eat. i pureed that with breast milk for DD's first food at 5 months and it's still one for her favorite foods. Plus I LOVE avocados and they certainly help me gain weight

jenn2929 · October 2011

Both of our kids are below the 3rd percentile and DS gained no weight in 3 months. The pedi suggested we add olive oil or other healthy fats to his food. She also suggested pediasure and you could also do fruit smoothies with soy yogurt.

I hope this helps anf GL!

kbeach82 · October 2011

My niece has always been thin (but healthy) and is a very picky eater; however, she will eat just about anything with butter on it (a kid after my own heart!). She loves mashed potatoes and pasta (think small, like pastina) with butter. Those might be worth a try.

dana316 · October 2011

There is NO reason to limit him to purees! Gums are as hard as teeth...there are TONS of things he can eat now.

Soft baked foods, waffles, pancakes, bananas...the options are endless.

I have to say, I'm shocked that your pedi is limiting a one year old to purees. Most pedi's want babies on finger foods by 9 months or so.

schoolsoutbride · October 2011

I'd move on fro purees too.

My friend has a blog on packing the pounds on kids. Her DD was FTT and she's done a lot of work on packing calories into meals b/c her DD ate so little.

dusk42 · October 2011

Definitely finger foods - as long as they are soft and small and you are there to gauge how well he is doing, I wouldn't worry too much about choking (by the time a tiny piece of soft cooked carrot is gummed and held in their mouth for a while, it's basically pureed). I think DD had 4 teeth around 1 year old, but it's not like they can crush anything with the front teeth - it's not until they have molars that they do that. They gum and work it around in the mouth (even now she does this). I think we did purees for maybe months 7 and 8, and she was totally over them.

This is a blog from a mom on MM:

https://chunkymonkeymenus.blogspot.com/

schoolsoutbride · October 2011

schoolsoutbride:
I'd move on fro purees too.
My friend has a blog on packing the pounds on kids. Her DD was FTT and she's done a lot of work on packing calories into meals b/c her DD ate so little.

Oops! Forgot to post the link, but it's the same one as the pp

Dragonfly1226 · October 2011

No advice because we are going through the same thing. Poor P had a ear infection that he is just getting over. (He is also getting his top 4 front teeth all at once.) Anyway, our normally great eater has started refusing food. I was hoping it was the antibiotic and that he would start eating again when he was off of it. I reall hope DS's appetite comes back soon!

GenRN45 · October 2011

To give only purees because Aaron has only 2 teeth is the most ridiculous advice I've ever heard from a medical professional, let alone a doctor.

Anna has never had a puree. She only has 2 teeth, and didn't get those until 8 and 8 1/2 months. She went straight to table foods and even at that, we didn't worry about "soft" foods or not. She also gets spear sized pieces or round slices with everything EXCEPT chicken. That we have to give her little shreads.

THis is the list of what Anna eats: (raw) Carrots, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, pears, avocado, bananas, nectarines, kiwi, peaches, plums, tangerines, cantaloupe, watermelon (cooked) chicken, salmon, tilapia, brisket, ground beef, broccoli, sweet potato, white potato, green beans, black beans (prepared} coconut milk yogurt, almond milk yogurt, hummu, raspberry all fruit spread, popped grain cake, bagel chunks

To add calories, I'd do something like Hummus. Anna would sell sophie for hummus. We just dip baby carrots in hummus, she sucks them dry and demands more! It's great. She also tends to scrape the carrot against her teeth, and shred little pieces to eat. She also loves "hummuscumbers", hummus spread on cucumbers.

Good luck perry!

emmyloustu · October 2011

You've gotten some great advice. I totally agree with everyone. Check out wholesomebabyfood.com for lots of great ideas. You might also want to add probiotics to his bottle or sippy - those antibiotics are tough on their systems. Full fat kefir is a great addition to their diets, too. Loaded with probiotics & healthy stuff. Eliza drinks several oz a day mixed in with her milk or smoothies. Also, a good way to use up the purees you have is to mix them with plain whole milk yogurt or Greek yogurt.

desabean · October 2011

I think you've already gotten the "no need to stick to purees" schpiel but I would add that G started refusing purred at 9 months and I hear that is quite common. She is a very good eater but didn't want to "be fed" anymore. She would eat nothing I had to feed her with a spoon. So I definitely second letting him try finger foods. And if you still want to try purees, I recommend the fruit and veggie pouches (ellas, earths best, etc) there are even some that have protein in them. G was seriously addicted to them from about 14 months to 24 months. They love that they can eat them by themselves. Good luck.

CMM05 · October 2011

Agree with the others.......time to give him solids. He will do just fine!

DS1 did not have a single tooth until he was 13 months and his 2nd tooth didn't come in until he was closer to 18 months......but.....he was on ALL solids at 9 months old. You will be surprised how much they can gum.

Everything the others suggested is great. Basically he can try it all as long as you cut it up for him. He will choke/gag sometimes......this is normal. Any pedi should tell you though that kid's gagging mechanisms are much better than ours. I know it is scary, but you have to help him learn.

Wholesome Foods and Weelicious are good sites to help get some recipes/ideas

Also, pasta is always a hit!

GL!

Mouseygail · October 2011

all great advice...and another person who's kid really hated purees. You might see a big difference when he gets to try out new flavors and textures!

RoxBride · October 2011

Lots of great info already - I'd add some meatballs and ravioli into the mix.

Sara Scissors · October 2011

My DS has always been a skinny kid too. When he only had a few teeth, I'd mix oatmeal or rice cereal in with his purees. It helped him get used to thicker textures and added more calories easily. And we added mashed potatoes pretty early too. You could always get the boxed brand and add soy milk (if dairy upsets his tummy). You can make it as thick or thin as he can handle. If that's really all that he'll eat, maybe give that a try. Good luck!

queenbone · October 2011

I'm glad you posted this, DS hasn't been gaining much and his dr. wants me to add more fat foods to his diet. In addition to avocado and yogurt (which you can't do) she suggested hard boiled egg yolks. Does that count as dairy for your child? My DS doesn't like it, he literally scrapes it off his tongue, so I add it to pureed baby food. GL!

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