Help 9 Month Old Gain Weight - Randolph,NJ

I put a tablespoon of coconut oil in my daughter's oatmeal every morning. It has 14 grams of fat and tastes really good.

If she eats fairly well, drinks, is happy and healthy and
doing all the things 9 months old do, I would not worrry.
Some kids are just meant to be thinner. Not all babies
are rolly polly.

I used to watch a sweet baby who was tiny and did not
like to eat much. Fast forward 11 years later, she
has a great appetite but is still thin. That is who
she is.

Try to relax and don't make food an issue if she enjoys
eating.

Mom of 5

Why does she need to gain weight? My older children (now 12 and 11) weighed 16 pounds at a year old. They were born at 6 pounds 4.5 ounces, and 5 pounds, 11 ounces, respectively. They are healthy preteens, believe me. If she is eating regularly and getting the vitamins and nutrition she needs, isn't her weight just a number on the scale?

I had an underweight baby as well. I added oil to her food and tried to give her "healthy fats". I would give her healthier brand potato chips once in a while. Also if she isn't allergic to peanuts, that is good as well.

If she's not gaining, you should have her checked for Celiac disease. If your ped. doesn't agree go directly to a gastro. My child suffered for 2 years, which is quite common as it is largely misdiagnosed.

honestly, i don't know what the problem is. don't add butter and other saturated fats to the childs' diet. that would be call for a new dr in my mind. both my kids only weighed about 18 lbs at 1 year. they are now 15 yrs at 125 lbs and 5'6" and my other daughter is 10 years old and weighs about 55 lbs and is about 52 inches. is your child growing, gaining weight. leave him/her alone!

I agree that adding mashed banana and/or avocado is a good way to boost her caloric intake. My sons both were thinner babies, and our pediatrician suggested adding dry mashed potato flakes(the type made with real potatoes) to soups to boost the calories. It thickened the soup, added some calories, and wasn't full of unhealthy fats, like adding butter is!

Hi E.! I really think it's odd that your doctor thinks your daughter needs to gain weight. My daughter weighed 16 pounds at her 1 year check up. She was (and is) a healthy weight, just lean instead of chubby.
I would ask your doctor why he is concerned because if she is eating well, as a good energy level and is overall healthy then you shouldn't have to supplement with fats.
You could add a kids fish oil supplement to her baby food for healthy brain developement, though! You can't go wrong with that!
I hope this helps!

16 lbs isn't great but its not too horrible either, my 16 month old weighs 17 lbs 8 oz! Its good that you're taking a proactive approach, just keep giving your baby "fatty" foods, i.e. the stuff you wouldn't dare eat. is your baby eating solids? if she is feed her things like avocado which has a lot of fat, is she doesn't like the taste you can mash it with a banana. also try things like cheese and/or white sauces over rice or veggies, they have a lot of fat. if nothing else works and your still worried you can ask your dr about supplementing w/PediaSure. Just remember at the end of the day some babies are just small, so if she's eating well and just tiny think how happy she'll be at 18!
Good luck :)

Hi, E..

My 9 mo old just went to the dr and is 16lbs 6 oz. My dr didn't seem too worried about it, but I think it's b/c my 2.5 yr old was the same. With her I did add olive oil to her baby cereal and made the cereal with formula. But also try adding lots of new foods for her to pick up w/ her fingers - just cut up whatever you are eating.

However, some babies just don't gain a ton of weight. If you baby is gaining from visit to visit and is around the same percentile, give or take she is probably growing okay.

Good luck.

I went through the same thing with my son at about that age. I think they are starting to move a lot more and they need more calories. I gave him lots of cream. He never drank milk or formula but I did wait until 11 months to do this. I put the cream in his yogurt and added a little homemade fruit puree and beachnut cereal. Until then, I added as much butter and olive oil to his food as possible. I think at 10 months he got french fries a few times a week. I would buy the kind from the supermarket and fry them myself to cut down on the sodium. My son doesn't like cheese, but its also a great way to get calories in him. You can give it to him in about 2 months, but check with your doctor to see if you can give him cheese a little earlier than that. Is your baby breastfed? Those babies are usually slimmer. Also, try to offer food at regular intervals and if you need to feed your baby most of the time, then do it. But be sure to offer finger food as well. My son loves fruit and I take snacks with us whenever we go out. Also, I always (and still do) put the baby oatmeal in all his applesauce and yogurt. He only likes the crust on the bread so that extra carbs is a good thing. Good luck!

The concern that doctor's usually have is if the child has been a certain percentil and then drops significantly. What percentile was your daughter? If its at least 25 percent and you and your husband are slender than that could be normal for her. But at the same time, babies need fat to build their brains and to be in the 5th or 10th percentile is not normal or healthy.

Hi E.,
If your daughter seems healthy and is thriving, do not worry about her weight!!! I am appalled at the doctors for telling you to add butter to her diet. That is ridiculous!! As long as she is eating healthy foods (veggies and fruit), there is no need to worry. You certainly don't want to start a hbit of feeding your child a diet based on high fat foods.
Good luck....it's never easy raising a child!!!

Hi E.-
First- there's nothing wrong with a good quality, farm fresh butter for active kids!!!! Olive oil is great too. I'm just surprised with all the info out there that people are still so anti- butter. yes, if children are sedentary, fat probably isn't great. Anyway-
You don't have to give sugar and fat, just fat. French toast is great and easy. Just put lots of milk with the eggs, maybe some cinnamon, let soft whole grain bread soak up all the egg and milk mixture and cook on the stove in unsalted butter. When it's cooked, melt a little more butter on top. Definately no syrup necessary. You can sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar, if you want, but you probably don't need to.
Think casseroles- mac and cheese (noodles cooked soft)with whole milk and whole milk cheese, add peas, green beans or broccoli before you bake the casserole.
Soak cheerios in whole milk.
Oatmeal mixed with full fat yogurt and applesauce.
I always melt butter on my one year old's veggies for extra fat.
Hope this helps a bit. I fattened my one year olds up this way! After they're 2, they don't need all this fat, but until then, think butter, full fat yogurt and whole milk in everything!

my friend's baby was also tiny and his doctor recommended ice cream. i'm serious. you may want to get haagen dazs, it's the only truly natural ice cream out there, no preservatives etc so it's the best for the baby. also, can she eat oatmeal (like single grain oatmeal for babies)? if you try that for breakfast, lunch and dinner, that should help make her chunky. you can add pureed fruit and vegetables to it to alternate the flavors (ex. add bananas for breakfast, peaches for lunch, carrots or sweet potatoes for dinner).

My little girl was always the same way. She is now 4yrs old and only weighs 27lbs. I started her on Pediasure right before she turned 1 and has been drinking it ever since. She is still tiny but it keeps her afloat and I have to say is the healthiest kid!
I had my daughter tested for so many things and worried myself sensless. I have been feelign what your feeling for YEARS. Just relax, she is what she is, try the pediasure and DONT go crazy feedign her all that fatty stuff, it'll only hurt her as she gets older, when thats the only way she will eat her food.
Any other questions email me at ____@____.com

Hello! My son has the same problem. He is 3 1/2 now and only weighs 25 pounds! His father is very small-framed, so genetics plays a part. The main thing to watch is that the baby's weight percentile doesn't go down. It is best if the percentile goes up, but even if it stays the same, you know she is maintaining properly.

When my son turned one year old, the doctor prescribed Pediasure, which he continues to drink twice a day. Your daughter's pediatrician may recommend the same, but not until her first birthday, as it is a milk product.

As for now, there are some other foods she can eat that are tasty and easy to prepare. Try sweet potatoes with some butter mashed in. Avocados are great, too - they are very high in healthy fats. Does she like yogurt? Always use the regular yogurt, no low-fat or fat-free for her. Try mashing some banana in the yogurt too.

Even if the pediatrician does not recommend Pediasure, you will be able to introduce (whole) milk at age one. That in itself should help. Best of luck!

1)Wheat Germ... added to the oatmeal or yogurt.
2) whole grain breads, and Arnold makes a Double protein whole wheat.
3)whole wheat grilled cheese fried up in a pan with lots of butter.
4) whole grain pasta

Note: these all give a more stinky bowel movement. But I think it worked in my case.
I tried to focus on whole grain, multigrain, and higher protein finger foods..... before any teeth came in , I just cut them up smaller, for biting/moshing with their gums.

Uh, my youngest weighed 16 lbs at 12 months. The doctor was concerned and told us to give a supplement (we use Kid Essentials by Boost), but we were never told to mix food with butter or oil. I think that is kind of extreme. The only time I ever heard of that was for a child with other health issues who was older than 9 months. My daughter, BTW, is finally 20 lbs at 19 months old and a happy, healthy little peanut.

Not sure why that is considered low weight for 9 months (unless she is extremely tall). I can't imagine adding butter to food (what kind of food is she eating that you would even add butter to?) All the baby yogurt is very tasty and is fairly high in fat. (It's delicious... I eat it too! luckily it comes in small containers!) When she's a year, you'll switch her to whole milk and that will give her some fat too...

Adding weight with pure fat like butter isn't healthy. What did your baby weigh at birth? It's typical for babies to double their birthweight at six months and trip it at a year. If she weighed six pounds at birth and is now gaining a pound a month, she is right on target, she would be 19 pounds at a year. My youngest was 8 pounds at birth, 20 pounds at a year and a very healthy boy. Remember that since she is still under a year, her primary nutrition is still her milk, so I would suggest making sure that she is getting enoug breastmilk (or formula if that's what you use) and that food is not replacing those feedings. That's what has the fat they need.

My son is only 17 lbs too and it concerns me also. He's strong though and very active and a great eater.

E., I don't understand some drs say things like that!! I see that as a good weight. If she is eating and even if she piks her food and goes back to it an hour later and eats a little bit and again and again, that is fine. That is almost what we adults eat like but it's difficult to with schedules and things. We should eat 6 months but I don't and would like to but so busy sometimes I forget to eat. Let her eat veggies and fruits and I see people mentioned avocado which I didn't know and mash it with bananas if she doesn't like the taste. I read in the magazine that we should feed the veggies to our kids 6-10 times before stopping because they show they don't like it. Sometime persistence helps them to like it more and want to eat more frequently. I wished I knew but oh well, there may be another chance in the future. If she is eating, getting the nutrition she needs and getting the breastmilk or formula, then she is doing fine. I can't believe he told you put butter in her food. No, that is just ridiculous!! The pediatrician can let you see the curve they have in her chart. There is a black marking about average weight at each age and they mark it where she's at. You have every right as the mother to see the chart and see how she's doing. Sometimes you'll see, oh, she's doing fine and the dr's worried or the dr's not reassuring me she's doing fine. Don't worry, Mom, many of us have worried about it with our first child...it's natural and that's a good Mommy to be concerned and question.

E.,
If your baby is happy, doing what she's supposed to, and gaining but just not what the Doc wants, relax. It is not the end of the world.

If you are breastfeeding, don't stop if you don't want to. My son's pediatrician keeps getting the question out - are you going to stop? Do you want help stopping? Like it's abnormal or something.

If you are feeding her foods already, you can include avocado, most kids like that, it's mild. If you are adding meats already, buy organic, cook it and keep the fat in it. (in regular meet, that's where most of the pesticides reside).

Olive oil is the best of the veggie fats you can add. If it is a seed or nut oil, you generally want to avoid to possibly keep allergies at bay.

Butter: again, organic to keep pesticides out.

Questions, email, I'm here.
Good luck,
M.

My daughter is 18 mo. old and has congenital heart disease...hence she is a pretty poor eater (it takes a lot of work for the body to chew/digest). Anyway, we have given her Greek yogurt (from the organic food section). We use Fage brand. Greek yogurt is a lot higher in calories/fat than just regular baby yogurt. Also, you can try avocado. Very high in good fat. There is also a product called Duocal which is a powder that you can sprinkle on food to add extra calories. We also switched formulas to Peptamen Jr. (30 cal. per oz), but you need a prescription for it.

If your daughter is eating well otherwise I would not worry about it. One of my three children was always small. She just barely weighed 20 pounds at 12 months. My pediatrician was not concerned at all. At her 18 month check up she was in the 25th percentile for weight and then they said if she did not gain more by her 24 month check up then they would be concerned. She was a picky eater in that she did not want to eat baby food, just table food. She drinks milk and water and will try anything. She is just petite and your daughter might be too.

my son only weighed 16 or 17 lbs at 9 months. what are her other measurements? my son's weight has never been a concern, but i just feed him what ever we are eating and he eats 3 meals and at least 3 healthy snacks inbetween meals each day.
as long as she is healthy, active, eating, and striving, i wouldn't put much of a huge concern on weight. hope this helps.

Hi E.. Try mashing up Avacado and banana. My kids LOVED THAT and it's full of healthy fats and making it fresh it is loaded with vitamins. Just make sure you make it a serving at a time because it will brown. Hope that helps. :)
Other than that, I also agree with the other ladies that 16 pounds at 9 months seems like a healthy weight. But the avacado & banana will help if you're concerned.