Picky eater/Not gaining weight

MaggieF516 · October 2013

Hi everyone, My 15 month old has always been a bit on the tall and thin side, around the 30th percentile for weight. I was very small as a baby and his father was a super skinny baby, so I believe it may be genetic (even though we are both normal size people now). Well he was 21 lbs at his 12 month visit and at his 15 month visit he did not gain any weight I feel awful. He needs to go back in a month for another weigh in. I'm trying so hard to feed him constantly (and I was before this). He is just not interested in food. All he wants to do is walk around and play. He fusses in his highchair and plays with the food. If I try to feed him with a spoon, he will turn his head of push it out. He does eat, but I just feel it is not a focus of his and I am constantly battling him to get him to eat. The only thing he will gobble down is something sweet like a muffin (the pedi said this was an ok food) or french fries (only gets these once in a while at a restaurant). He kind of likes meatball type things and fruit. He doesn't really like pasta, eggs, cheese and certainly not vegetables.

I don't know what to do to make him gain weight. He also doesn't drink a lot which I am struggling with as well. He finally is just now starting to use a sippy cup. He is very stubborn and would not take a bottle/sippy cup from me since we breastfed.

Any recommendations for foods or what I can do to get him to eat more? He won't eat anything really healthy, so do I give him just "junk" type food? I am really upset that he didn't gain weight in 3 mos. I should also note he is VERY active and the pedi even commented on it. He may be burning a lot of calories and maybe this is why he doesn't gain weight. Thanks in advance!!

ELF4321 · October 2013

This is my daughter exactly. She gained 4oz between 12m and 15m, and based on my at home check, only 2oz from 15 to 17m. She's 80th percent for height but down to 25th for weight. Pedi wasn't concerned at 15m because my husband was super tall and thin as a child, but I'll be curious to hear what he says at 18m.

I feel like I'm constantly chasing DD around the house with food because she just won't sit still long enough to get the calories into her. DD won't eat anything like eggs, avocado, or other "good" fats, so I'm basically trying to fill in the gaps with baby food pouches (and even resorted to baby cereal because it's fortified with vitamins and iron). She is also not a big milk drinker so I haven't had much luck with pediasure type drinks. Thankfully, she likes cheese and yogurt, so I try to give her a string cheese and a squeeze yogurt every day to get calcium. I only try to sit her down for lunch and dinner at this point and let her eat breakfast and snacks while standing and running around in between bites. She loves bread/carbs, so breakfast is usually a waffle or pancakes with butter for extra calories, and some cut up fruit. For lunch and dinner, I try to spoon feed her something as fast as possible in between her feeding herself bites of whatever finger food I think she'll eat.

I wish I had the "answer", but I'm still struggling with this too. Good luck!

traveltheworld · October 2013

DS lost quite a bit of weight when he first started DC so we got a long list of recommendations from his pediatrician. The key one was to try and feed him fatty foods. Give him full-fat Greek yogurt, lots of meat, and add lots of butter and oil to everything. Our pediatrician also said try not to fill him up with carbs (breads, pastas, etc.) but instead focus on meats and dairy. We also didn't offer any low-calorie snacks (e.g. crackers, pitas, etc.).

I also found that eating with him helped. He enjoyed "talking" to us while we eat and he enjoyed handing us food. So he'd feed one bite to us and eats one bite himself.

DS won't really eat any vegetables either so I've started putting them in smoothies or meatballs/ravioli I make my own spinach pasta, and bake my ownzuchini and carrot breads and muffins etc. Good luck! Having a child that doesn't eat is very stressful.

fanofanne · October 2013

our doctor said that that is to be expected, and that they should grow out of it. also, almost all my friends who have children always talk about how it's so hard to get their lo's to eat. with that said, my twins are off and on...some days they'll eat fine, some days just a couple of bites. we do chase them around and do a whole song and dance to distract them to get them to eat, which of course, was not recommended by the dr. good luck!

ASmallWonder · October 2013

Make all his calories count. He likes meatballs? Pan sautee them in olive oil. Give him full fat dairy products. Would he drink a smoothie? Have you tried giving him new things or old things a different way? I hate cottage cheese but I forced myself to give it to my son and he LOVES it. I had to step outside the box that is my own hangup. He likes roasted veggies over steamed and he likes anything with dip. Overall, I wouldn't worry too much because when they start to walk it's not uncommon for them to not gain for a bit

StacyJYay · October 2013

I hope my LO's eating experience gives you hope. My LO now is 22 months old and weighs a whopping 33 pounds, so he's tipping the scales. He used to be a terrible eater (didn't eat solids until 16 months old), but he's good now as long as I put on a "show" during meal times: read stories, sing songs, and yes, I admit it, let him watch Elmo apps on the iPad... In terms of what he eats, here are some of his favorites:
- eggs (scrambled with cheese or pan-fried in a smidge of oil); my LO didn't like eggs until 18 months, so keep trying!
- organic chicken breakfast sausages
- Fage Greek yogurt
- very finely shredded roast beef
- nuts and nut butter
- guacamole (eaten by the spoonful)
- roast chicken
- grilled shrimp (in olive oil)
- pizza
- mac and cheese
- veggies of all varieties (interestingly, he doesn't like fruit)

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