Hi Mamas,
My 11 month old nephew has not been gaining weight, and his doctor told my SIL and BIL that they need to give him high calorie foods. He is allergic to most formula, so he has a tough time with it.
Any suggestions for foods & food preparation methods that would suit his age?
My son--now 2 years-old--has always been very thin. I tried every imaginable method of trying to get him to gain weight. It wasn't until I read Ellyn Satter's book, Child of Mine, that I felt like I finally understood how to feed my son. This book is phenomenal!
Pediasure is what my pediatrician put my child on. She has Failure to Thrive. He did this as soon as she came off of formula. It kept her from becoming malnourished.
We had the same problem with my now 2 year old.
Avocado, egg yolk, if he is sensitive to dairy, they can "butter" stuff with Smart Balance, quesadillas if he can have dairy, coconut milk. Once he turns 12 months, it will be easier since he can have whole eggs. Bacon, sausage. Noodles with olive oil, garlic and herbs or butter if he tolerates. Waffles, pancakes, french toast. Also quick breads like banana bread, etc.
We used a homemade rice formula mix that had fish and flax seed oil - if interested in the recipe, send me a private message. Otherwise, they can give him a 1/2 t of fish oil a day and 1t of flax oil a day in whatever he drinks. Once he could tolerate dairy, we mixed cream into his milk.
If you google "high calorie foods for infants" or "high calorie foods for toddlers" you can get some good pages.
Ask your pediatrician if the baby is old enough for avocados. They are high in fat/calories, but are good for you, too. You can get spoonfuls right out of a ripe half of an avocado.
My son is a stringbean, but with no food allergies. We fed (and still feed -- he's nearly 4 now) him a lot of peanut butter, full fat yogurt, put a little butter on those vegetables, mashed potatoes, etc.
My daughter took a "dive" on the growth curve around this age too - she actually lost weight from 9-12 months, which concerned her doctor a bit. She was basically on an all fruit diet (as in, all she would eat was blueberries and bananas, no matter what else I seemed to offer her). Anyway, the good news is that eventually she started eating other stuff and just started tracking a new percentile curve. At the end of the day, parents just need to offer their kid a variety of foods and go with the flow.
You want to know if he is absorbing the food. Was he on alot of antibiotics? that will whip out his intestinal flora or good bacteria. I would give him childrens probiotics. try to find a naturalpath or childrens GI doc in your area. you can call Genova diagnosics (they do alot of GI testing) for a doc who works with kids in your area. If he does not have a good GI tract he will not absorb what is needed to gain weight and grow. Good luck
I love when pediatricians give advice like that but don't tell them how to do it:) Their best bet would be to have a consult with a pediatric nutritionist. Do they live in the area? I know a great one that works through Early Intervention. I could see if she sees kids privately. Otherwise Easter Seals in Villa Park has a great one on staff.
Well the Pediatrician should have given them suggestions or sent them to a Pediatric Nutritionist or suggested other types of Formula.
And as for solids, they have to know what an under 1 year old can eat or should not eat... per guidelines. Never give a 11 month old honey for example, or scrambled eggs.
Here is a link:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...
http://www.babycenter.com/0_foods-that-can-be-unsafe-for-...
all the best,
Susan
Without knowing why he is allergic to formula, this is a toughie. Is he allergic to milk and soy? What about Cows milk and goats milk? I used a lot of butter in my son's foods but you can also use olive oil. You can cook his veggies and possibly a little meat in it and either puree it or cut it up really small. I hear coconut milk and oil and nice and fattening and probably ok with his allergies. He is probably old enough for french fries and if you cook it in a lot of oil or butter it will put some serious weight on him. There are also weight gainer drinks but I never used them since my son was not into drinking any milk products. Can you eat full fat yogurt? But lots of extra cream and baby cereal?
