Help me fatten up my baby

flerlgirl · August 2014

DS is still on purees and some solid-ish foods (tiny bites of bread, yogurt, occasionally eggs). He is starting feeding therapy soon but in the mean time he is losing weight. I think it's a combo of him being on a basically all-liquid diet and starting to be more active. His pulmonologist is concerned that he is losing too much too fast, so she is having us add a supplement to his milk.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for adding calories to his fruits/veggies? He is randomly very picky and then not at all. He's a weirdo but he's my little weirdo. I thought some of you here might have dealt with something similar with your LOs. TIA for any ideas!!

gault530 · August 2014

Will he eat avocado? That has a lot of fat and calories and could be added to just about any veggie. Do you mix in formula or just water? You might try milk (if he can handle it) or formula to add some calories.

KTZ17 · August 2014

What kind of eggs will he eat? If he'll eat scrambled you can throw an extra yolk in there. I've heard of people using coconut oil. Could you add some to the purées? Or some butter? Think like Paula Deen (except without the racism). Sorry you're dealing with weight gain issues. A friend's full term daughter didn't gain weight between the 12 month and 15 month check ups, and her pedi told her to give her daughter ice cream and chocolate milk. Sage words from that pedi right there.

flerlgirl · August 2014

@gault530 - we have never tried avocado! I need to do that. He is not on formula anymore so I could definitely mix some milk in. Thanks!!

@ktz17 - he does like scrambled eggs. And I have a tonnnn of coconut oil. Oddly I only think of it as being useful for diaper rashes and forget it's actual food, haha! I will try adding that to his purees. I thought *I* was supposed to have the ice cream. That's where I've been going wrong. Also I legit lol'd at your Paula Deen comment.

@usm123 - thanks! I need to ask about the pediasure. They gave us a supplement for his milk but I am all for adding as many extra calories as I can. But it is nice to know that your DS lost a little when he started crawling, since he and my DS are apparently clones. I was kind of surprised how concerned the pulmo was - I mean, yes, he lost weight, but it's not like he's hungry all the time or is using all his energy to breathe hard or something else alarming. He's just a skinny dude.

Thanks, all!!

KTZ17 · August 2014

Thought of something else...will he eat oatmeal? The baby kind or just regular oatmeal? I've heard of making it with heavy cream instead of milk for fat purposes. I suggested this stuff to my friend whose daughter isn't gaining and she was highly against my suggestions to try toddler formula or pediasure. Appalled even. Umm, last I checked toddler formula or pediasure are leaps and bounds better than giving your baby chocolate milk and ice cream on a daily basis. But I digress. About Josh, some kids are skinny. Once he starts on the solids maybe he'll put on some weight. Maybe not. My sister was a huge chunker and my brother was skinny as a rail. Strangers on the street used to say to my mom "why don't you feed him what you're feeding her?" Now my brother eats everything and my sister's a vegan. Just some fun anecdotes for ya.

JeepersWife · August 2014

We mixed powder formula in with DSs puréed foods for extra cals and added powder formula to his liquid formula or milk for a higher calorie concentrate. He is still a little guy though!

diagonalley · August 2014

Girl scout cookies

J/K no advice but I hope that little Mr. starts putting on some pounds soon!

flerlgirl · August 2014

@ktz17 - we have tried oatmeal a few times. He doesn't care for the texture. But we haven't tried it in a couple of months so I should see what he thinks of it now. I really want to try the pediasure. Toddler formula gave him a lot of tummy troubles but maybe smaller amounts wouldn't. All experiments I will have to try this week

And you're right; he might just be a small guy! He is pretty short, which is funny because my nine-week old is very long. She is only five pounds lighter and five inches shorter than Josh. Silly children.

@maitaibeth - we haven't seen a nutritionist since we left the NICU. But that sounds like it could be really helpful. I will ask his pedi for recs on that at our next visit. It would be great to get a more specific plan in place for him. I'm hoping the speech/feeding therapy will also help with his weight gain.

@sahara78 - no PB yet! His pedi gave us the go-ahead to try it but he is so funny about textures. I might start trying tiny amounts or maybe I could mix it in with something else like you said. Thanks!

@diagonalley - Thin. Mints.

edit bc TB is a jerk

flerlgirl · August 2014

SweetSouthernMomma08 said:

*lurker*

I know that y'all have moved past formula for the most part, but preemie formula does have more calories than normal formula. Maybe add some of that?

I definitely second the avocado. What about beans or other protein rich dairy? Have you tried quinoa? I season quinoa and mix it with avocado. DS loves it.

Thank you for the suggestions! I am going to ask his pedi about whether adding formula (or additional supplements) would be helpful. I'm game for anything. We are trying avocado tomorrow so I hope he likes it! Thanks again!

rednelson · August 2014

My LO was 18 pounds at a year and has always struggled with eating, so I can sympathize. He's now almost 3 and around 27/28 pounds and still fairly lean. Some of the things we give or have given him are heavy whipping cream, coconut oil, butter and oil on all veggies/noodles, avocado, bacon (he loves bacon!), full fat yogurts, almond butter (yummy banana, almond butter, yogurt, whole milk smoothies), breads with giant heaps of butter on top, organic deli meat/cream cheese rolls, raspberries stuffed with cream cheese, and cheese (shredded, sticks, on veggies, quesadilla, etc). We also used to give him pediasure but just switched to the organic brand pedia smart that we add to his whole milk. I also used to mix 2/3rds whole milk with 1/3 heavy whipping cream and a scoop or pediasure-talk about a calorie bomb! I only gave him a high calorie drink after he ate though past about 1.5 years old since I wanted to encourage calories through solid foods before liquid. Good luck! Weight struggles are so frustrating!

flerlgirl · August 2014

Thank you for all the suggestions!

flerlgirl · August 2014

@sweetsouthermama08 - no, he didn't like it! He is such a diva. I am going to try adding it to different things to see if I can trick him

That's how he eats most fruit; he hates fruit for some reason. Thank you for the link!

flerlgirl · August 2014

Usm123 said:

@sweetsouthermama08 - no, he didn't like it! He is such a diva. I am going to try adding it to different things to see if I can trick him That's how he eats most fruit; he hates fruit for some reason. Thank you for the link!
Ummm I love that you just called him a diva! I call both my boys that on the regular. They really are twins.

Ha! Now it's just creepy. But, yes, DS is soooo dramatic. If he sees his empty bottle on the counter and wants more milk, he flings himself to the floor and lets out the most pitiful whine. He is ridiculous.

flerlgirl · August 2014

Usm123 said:

DS2 decided in OT he only liked certain bean bags we were playing with. He would place his head flat on the ground and whine until I handed him the one he wanted. Then he'd sit up with the biggest smile. DS1 wanted me to make him a toasted sandwich for his lunch today. I told him he'd take the cold sandwich like the rest of the 4 year olds!

Yessss, omg, the therapy. Two identical toys, but he will only accept the one on the left. Because the one on the right is obviously a spy.

I cracked up about the toasted sandwich. Poor DS1...his peanut butter is chilly. I hope he's okay. (that was typed in my sarcasm fact, just in case you think I judge his "cold" sandwich.)

flerlgirl · August 2014

Thanks!! I am going to ask about all of these fabulous ideas!

Nita14701 · September 2014

I used to stir in some coconut milk (the stuff from the can) into purees or mashed sweet potato. That stuff has a ton of fat. It takes a while to go though the whole can so I would pour into ice cube trays and freeze and pull out a cube at a time as needed.

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