Foods high in calories for kids?

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thisisjl
thisisjl Posts: 1,074 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Without going into to much detail I'm looking for suggestions for kid friendly food ideas that will help my daughter to gain weight and will be easy on her tummy. I'm not going to let her start sucking down cookies and candy just for extra calories but she is a mildly picky eatter so I have to have kid friendly stuff and anything with cheese is completely out she hates it as well as most anything with a sauce other than spaghetti sauce.

Slight background on why I want her to gain a little weight is she is 11 (will be 12 in December) She went from being 86# in June to weighing in today at 83#.
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Replies

  • buzzcockgirl
    buzzcockgirl Posts: 260 Member
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    I've been trying to 'bulk up' my little guy for the last year as well - but doing it healthily (is that a word?) He's almost 8, skinny as all get out, only weighs 50lbs. It's his body type- was always in the >10% for weight/height etc...
    Anyhow- I try to get him to eat noodles, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, basically seems like a ton of carbs! Nachos with beans... hmmm... what else? Whole milk. Good luck!
  • FiercelyBeautiful
    FiercelyBeautiful Posts: 590 Member
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    I have read about this and as you mention the worst thing you could do is load her up with bad food because that just teaches bad habits and poor health. Props for not taking that approach. Whey protien is actually a great things for kids to use to help gain weight in a healthy way. You can put it in oatmeal, pancakes, a smoothie, whatever. Go do some reading about it, its really effective and healthy.
  • Lobster1987
    Lobster1987 Posts: 492 Member
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    trail mix, make whole grain oatmeal raisin cookies with splenda, whole milk, peanut butter, whole grain pancakes with peanut butter and bananas.
  • KWKY
    KWKY Posts: 110 Member
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    If your daughter can stomach it, avocado is fantastic, as well as yoghurt.

    My daughter's digestive system can't take either, so I give her boiled egg yolks, she has one a day mixed in her food.
  • thisisjl
    thisisjl Posts: 1,074 Member
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    Buzz, yeah she has always been smaller but I'm worried now that she is actually loosing weight, don't know if it's combined with her stomach issues (We've been to a couple dr. no one will tell us why she is having stomach pains) I'm starting to wonder if they are hunger pains at this point. But the pains started about a year before the weight loss occured so I doubt that's all of it but I'm wondering if she isn't eatting as much because she's afraid of her tummy hurting. I just don't know what to do at this point.
  • zozzabubba
    zozzabubba Posts: 137 Member
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    Just off the top of my head, a healthy but relatively high cal (considering how healthy it is) breakfast would be granola and full fat yogurt and milk with some chopped up banana and walnuts.

    For other meals, would she eat pesto? It's about 60 cals a tablespoon so using half a cup of that (I think half a cup is 8 tbsp?) for pasta sauce instead of tomato sauce would majorly up her calories. I also like to spread pesto on toast for breakfast, tastes really good with tomato slices.
  • munchlaxx
    munchlaxx Posts: 102 Member
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    Thanks for making a topic about this, I am trying to help my daughter gain some weight as well. She's a picky eater and it's driving me nuts! Gonna eyeball this post! :)
  • caraiselite
    caraiselite Posts: 2,631 Member
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    Without going into to much detail I'm looking for suggestions for kid friendly food ideas that will help my daughter to gain weight and will be easy on her tummy. I'm not going to let her start sucking down cookies and candy just for extra calories but she is a mildly picky eatter so I have to have kid friendly stuff and anything with cheese is completely out she hates it as well as most anything with a sauce other than spaghetti sauce.

    Slight background on why I want her to gain a little weight is she is 11 (will be 12 in December) She went from being 86# in June to weighing in today at 83#.

    its probably because its summer time. less time sitting in school - more time playing.

    i bet she 'fattens' up normally once school gets back in sesh.
  • munchlaxx
    munchlaxx Posts: 102 Member
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    I have read about this and as you mention the worst thing you could do is load her up with bad food because that just teaches bad habits and poor health. Props for not taking that approach. Whey protien is actually a great things for kids to use to help gain weight in a healthy way. You can put it in oatmeal, pancakes, a smoothie, whatever. Go do some reading about it, its really effective and healthy.

    Thanks for mentioning whey protein. My daughter has actually been curious about it since she sees me mix it up in my yogurt. It just didn't dawn on me that she would benefit from it, until now. I had only just been seeing my chocolate whey as a way to fill my chocolate needs during my weight loss journey...great to realize it'd be awesome to help with a kid needing to gain weight. :)
  • sz8soon
    sz8soon Posts: 816 Member
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    I am in the same boat, my 11 year old son is a whopping 70 pounds and as long and lanky as you can imagine. He's played football the last three years but actually chose to take this year off because he wasn't comfortable going up to the next age group. It's not that he doesn't eat, but when you've got a kid that loves, salad fruits and veggies over anything it's though to get those higher calorie foods in.

    Pants without a belt or those inner elastic adjusters yeah right! Slim fit are still loose.
  • thisisjl
    thisisjl Posts: 1,074 Member
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    I've been making smoothies a lot I might try adding some whey protein to her's see if she notices. I'm pretty sure she doesn't like pesto sauce, but I think I'm going to try getting more granola she likes granola bars I might see if she'll munch on just granola with out the chocolate.
  • jillianlovesyarn
    jillianlovesyarn Posts: 44 Member
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    Smoothies can be good for this since you can bump up caloric intake a bit more easily in liquid form and a lot of kids like smoothies. I also like the avocado suggestion. Nuts, seeds and nut butters are also dense but a good source of nutrients.
  • imwithgizmo
    imwithgizmo Posts: 146 Member
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    If you can make her smoothies with peanut butter, banana, even avocado (she doesn't have to know), that will get her some nutrition and calories. You can use almond or rice milk if you want non-dairy.

    Maybe some home baked blueberry muffins, pasta (whole grain) with a creamy sauce. Full fat yogurts, pudding, or purchase some of that Pediasure.

    Have you checked with her pediatrician to see what's up?
  • JennsRAQ
    JennsRAQ Posts: 132 Member
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    Other things to consider adding to smoothies - chia seeds, ground flax, coconut flour, peanut butter, cottage cheese, full fat greek yogurt
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    I'm just going to bump this for ideas. My kids are very slender, especially my older one (she also excels at running and she is almost as tall as me at age 8). The doctor says they are very healthy and nothing to worry about especially since I am very small as well.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,835 Member
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    Any foods that cause someone to eat over maintenance will cause them to gain weight. So options are to just eat more of what they're currently eating or if they aren't big eaters then I'd try some higher fat items (9cals/gram) like nuts, pb in smoothies, avocado etc.
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
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    WHY are you trying to make your daughter gain weight????? Does she know you're doing this or are you just trying to get her to eat more? Just let her be a kid. kids are naturally thin and energetic. Is she suffering from an ED? if not why does she need to gain weight?
  • thisisjl
    thisisjl Posts: 1,074 Member
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    If you can make her smoothies with peanut butter, banana, even avocado (she doesn't have to know), that will get her some nutrition and calories. You can use almond or rice milk if you want non-dairy.

    Maybe some home baked blueberry muffins, pasta (whole grain) with a creamy sauce. Full fat yogurts, pudding, or purchase some of that Pediasure.

    Have you checked with her pediatrician to see what's up?

    We started with her pediatrician when she started having issues with her stomach they ruled out what they could then they sent us on to a Gastroenterologist who did more testing and in the end we still don't have a reason as to why her tummy hurts. There is another test we can do but I've been putting it off since she's been through so much testing lately and that is to actually scope her stomach but thats pretty invasive and she's freaked out by the thought of it and her dad is convinced it's just a nervous stomach. With the weight loss issue now a factor I might concider it after we get back from vacation since that is a new development.
  • thisisjl
    thisisjl Posts: 1,074 Member
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    WHY are you trying to make your daughter gain weight????? Does she know you're doing this or are you just trying to get her to eat more? Just let her be a kid. kids are naturally thin and energetic. Is she suffering from an ED? if not why does she need to gain weight?

    Actually like I posted she is small to begin with and has has LOST 3 pounds over the past 2 months and has stomach issues which make it harder for me to get her to eat. Please READ all my posts before you start yelling at me about trying to get my kid to gain weight! It isn't so much I want her to GAIN weight as I want to stop the weight loss and keep her growing healthy.
  • caraiselite
    caraiselite Posts: 2,631 Member
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    WHY are you trying to make your daughter gain weight????? Does she know you're doing this or are you just trying to get her to eat more? Just let her be a kid. kids are naturally thin and energetic. Is she suffering from an ED? if not why does she need to gain weight?

    i posted that kids 'thin out' over the summer because they are more active. (and my post got ignored... wonder why!)
    my son gets check ups every 2 months for meds and he always loses weight over summer. it's no big deal!

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