help me fatten up my baby

[mamato4]

Alaina had her 15 month appt on Friday. She weighed 20.3, this puts her in the 5th percentile. The pedi just mentioned he wants to keep an eye on it till her next appt because she's been dropping down in the percentile for weight. I'm not too worried. This girl is active from the moment her feet hit the floor in the morning. I feel like that is part of it.

There's not too much she won't eat. She still nurses a few times a day and will take a little WCM from a sippy (but not much). I should have asked the pedi some ideas for getting more calories in her, but I forgot. I'm pretty strict with sweets and she's never had juice. I'm trying to come up with some healthy ideas to get her weight up a little. Maybe I'm just making more out of it than I should. She is nice and healthy just petite. Any suggestions?

[bootsorhearts]

Isaac is 5th percentile too! Pedi is not worried, he's long and lean like his Daddy.

What about peanut butter or almond butter? Spread thin on toast. Avocado in chunks or spread on toast? Anything fatty like that will have lots of calories.

[doglover31]

My DS is only 4 months old and a chunker ( he probably weighs close to your little girl right now)
But there are a lot of foods with healthy fats. Like boots suggested peanut butter, almond butter, avocado. You can also try cheese. If she eats meat you do fattier meat choices-dark meat chicken, fuller fat ground beef, etc.
sounds like you just have an active little girl. She's just lean

[doglover31]

@enchanted at his 4 month appt he was 16lbs 9oz. And that was a month ago. He will be 5 months in 2 days so I'm sure he is at least 18 if not 19. He's just big, he's even tall too.

[lindsayanne14]

My only additional ideas would be eggs, cheese, or full fat yogurt.

[doglover31]

Sorry for hijacking mamato4! I think eggs and full fat yogurt are a great idea too!

[kels09]

My boys are 16 months (13 adjusted) and they weigh 27 and 24 lbs. I am so proud of the fact that they are in the 75 and 50 percentile for their age group!

We give them lots of banana, avocado and rice cereal. We also give them vitamin D milk and full fat yogurt as well. We may be changing them to 2% and low fat yogurt if the doc tells us its ok and they maintain their weight. We haven't tried peanut butter yet.

[princezjk]

Everyone gave some great ideas. Just wanted to add that my SIL's Pedi suggested adding olive oil to foods to help fatten up my nephew.

[rosiepeare]

I was going to say exactly what princezjk did. Our pedi recommended drizzling high-quality olive oil on anything and everything (mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, toast, etc.) as well as adding chia or flax seeds to yogurt, oatmeal, or puréed fruit. We followed the olive oil directive (just never got around to buying the seeds) and also got a "Munchie Mug" for our girl-on-the-go. It's always full of something--Cheerios, cut up homemade muffins, sliced grapes or tomatoes--and she loves carrying it around and snacking from it here and there. The combination of those things got her weight from 14.9 lbs (12%) at 9 months to 18.3 lbs (30%) at 11 months!

[mamato4]

Thanks for all the ideas. She loves yogurt so we already do that. I'll try the pb and also the olive oil. That seems like an easy way to get more calories in with out trying to get her to eat more food. DH also thought adding shredded cheese to stuff would be helpful.

I'm trying not to stress about this, but I feel like ever since her appt. I've been over thinking each and everything she puts (or won't put) into her mouth. My mom made the comment "girl's are supposed to be skinny" Totally missing the point. It's not so much her percentile, as it is that it is going down not staying steady. And way to push the perfect body image at a young age. I know she was just trying to make me feel better, but it just made me mad.

rosiepeare you mentioned flax seed. Are they high in calories? I actually have some here. Might have to give that a try. I know I've seen you mention your muffins before. Have a recipe you care to share? I'm happy to see how L made such a great jump. I'm really hoping till A's 18 month appt. to see a nice jump too.

[pamcakes]

Alaina sounds exactly like Blythe. She's 17 months and still under 20lbs! My mindset about eating is I will literally feed her anything and when I find something she loves i just go with it. I make smoothies and hide avacado and coconut oil in it for some extra fat. She looooooves cottage cheese (which is disgusting to watch her shove in her mouth, lol) so I buy the 4% fat kind. I freeze yogurt tubes and cut them in half for her to have as a snack as she runs around the house. My issue is that she won't sit still long enough to have a meal and so she's contantly snacking. She loves "pizza" which is just half a whole wheat thin bun with sauce and melted cheese. She will try anything but then spits out what she doesn't want to eat. She wastes sooooo much food it can be really frustrating.

ETA: Like Rosie, B almost always has a snack cup on the go full of snacks. I have 3 that we rotate!

[bethelgal42]

Anne was just 19lbs, 6 ounces and 29.75 inches tall at her 15 months appointment this week. She is 5% for weight and 25% for height. My doctor didn't seem concerned since she is active and isn't a picky eater. He also mentioned that after a year genetics start to take over in a baby's growth pattern. I was pretty short and skinny growing up and DH didn't become tall until Junior High and was thin until high school.

Anne has always been between 5 and 10% for weight. She loves yogurt and we have started added baby cereal to the yogurt to add some more calories. It was also recommended by a friend to add real butter or cheese to her veggies and baby cereal to pureed fruits.  Anne loves avocado so we have that for snack often. 

Anne will eat almost anything which is good.

[muirmaid]

PPs have great food advice; I'm just here to commiserate as another mom to a peanut. He wasn't on the growth chart at all until his 12 or 15 month appointment, so I can't speak to the plateau experience you're having, but I can totally identify with the "I'm trying not to worry about this because it's probably fine but I can't help but think about every calorie that is or isn't being eaten!" My mom also has a tendency to make "reassuring" comments that aren't actually helpful, and I know that's super aggravating.

Increased mobility often means a drop in percentiles, and even can mean no weight gain from one appointment to the next. If she's started moving around a lot more since her 12 month appointment, that would totally explain a drop in percentages. DS didn't learn to walk until he was almost 18 months, so he gained a lot between 12 and 15, but hardly anything since then. It's when an individual growth curves stays flat for six months or so that it becomes cause for further investigation. If her weight has gone up from 9 months to 12 to 15, you're probably in the clear (inserting the "I'm not a doctor" disclaimer here!).

One small warning: the more we pushed cheese and yogurt, the worse his constipation got. Flax seed mixed into the pureed veggies he eats regularly were a big help in that department!

[rosiepeare]

Hi mama! :-) With the little bit of research I did, it seems like flax seeds are high in healthy fats, which is the benefit for weight gain. As for muffins, I'm happy to share the recipe I use! I make a batch of mini muffins (the recipe makes about 40-50 total for me) about once every two weeks. They freeze great! Here's the recipe:

www.superhealthykids.com/power-packed-fruit-and-veggie-muffin-for-picky-eaters/

[threetexans]

M was put on a butter diet at 9 months. She was on the smaller side, up until a month ago. Our pedi had us add melted butter, or high grade olive oil, to her purees for extra calories. We did lots of full fat yogurt and cheese, cream cheese on toast, avocados, and scrambled eggs with half & half.

[mamato4]

Thanks ladies. I was letting it really get to me. I feel much better today after reading how many other mamas have gone through the same thing.

Thanks for the recipe rosie. Can't wait to try it.

[wifey]

Hey Mama! All good input here! All the healthy things I offer Tate, but actually felt annoyed for the opposite reason. Tate is 85th for height and weight, and the pedi assured me it was just genetics because my side has tall women and men. My DH's family makes weight jokes, pokes his belly telling him to get a trainer, ect. He is 14 months, and he is slowly understanding more and more, and I don't want him getting an effing complex! We are all sensitive about our little ones, I totally get it! mamato4

[rn536]

My first DS was the same and even at 5 1/2 years old he is still less then 10th percentile weighing only 36 pounds. But he is super healthy and doc never worried. Someone has to be at the bottom of the percentile charts! And like you said being super active burns calories. Like the pp said try some full fat yogurts and cheeses. Avocado is a great healthy fat. Maybe even make some smoothies with full fat milk and peanut butter.