Helping a child gain weight
Replies
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Hearts_2015 wrote: »What would you recommend I feed her that might be toddler appeasing?
@ndj1979I think this is something you should discuss with her treatment team ….no one on MFP is qualified to answer this correctly ...
Hm... sounds like ppl are qualified to share 'toddler appeasing' foods .. they are doing it now.
Oh and BTW...what's the 'correct' answer anyhow? lolblue_eyes1978 wrote: »I think this is something you should discuss with her treatment team ….no one on MFP is qualified to answer this correctly ...
As odd ad it sounds some of the best information a parent can get is from other parents. Who's to say the dietitian takes this condition as serious as the mom/ parents do. People in the medical field get paid to care.
because her daughter has a medical condition that requires a feeding tube, that is why she should ask, you know, DR's and stuff.
if this was just "how do I get my daughter to eat" then yea, you would have a point..
this is entirely different.
Perhaps you're confused as you seem to missed a bit in her first post. Her daughter is not on a feeding tube but might need to later in the year if she doesn't gain weight. Thus the thread.... ya know asking ideas on making foods her daughter will enjoy to help her put weight on? Remember?
why are you trying to pick a fight when it isn't needed... if you don't don't have food ideas for her then maybe it's time to move on to another thread?
I am not picking a fight…I am telling OP to talk to a DR since her daughter seism to have a serious medical issue.
What are the qualifications of everyone trying to tell OP how to feed a sick child?????0 -
Thank you all for your suggestions! I do have a "diet plan" from her team of specialists, but it has more generic suggestions. (Nut butters, avocado, pediasure, etc). They also really just want her to eat and enjoy eating again/the process of eating to help your body so I was just looking for some ideas of what to try with her. Please be assured we are in constant contact with her specialists, they just didn't give me a huge cookbook or anything to go on. I apologize for causing concern to some, all I wanted were some suggestions of what foods are enjoyable for a toddler to eat but would add some weight.
She gets weary of momma putting sunflower seed butter on all her food.
As for "how" to feed her, thank you for suggestions, but we have some behavioral therapists working with us on that. I mentioned her eating habits to give an idea that she can't really be "forced" to eat right now.
I should have rephrased the post, apologies, I just really wanted some ideas of what to add to my shopping list for her.
What does she enjoy? If you can post some meals she likes, or at least tolerates, it would be easier to get suggestions on what else to try.0 -
I'm sorry to hear about your little girl. That must be really hard.
My sister was very picky when she was young and would also prefer to starve. Noodles with butter were big in our house - you can use margarine to avoid the dairy issue, and fun shapes can make it more appetizing. Kraft Mac & Cheese have character noodles she might like. Chicken nuggets with ranch or some other fatty dipping sauce, and french fries. Mac & cheese with a vegan cheese maybe? Smoothies if she'll drink them - you could use a high calorie coconut/soy/almond milk base, add in any flavors she likes (strawberries, chocolate, peanut butter), and add a big scoop of coconut oil or avocado for extra fat & calories without affecting taste.
Nutrition is very important so sneak in fruits and veggies if you can, but honestly if my daughter was faced with a feeding tube I'd focus primarily on getting calories in her, and supplement with a multivitamin. Kids love Flintstones chewables, or the gummy vitamins.0 -
Coconut cream is very high cal, smooth texture, not to strong flavour and light coloured so might be a winner. If you put a can of coconut milk in the fridge for a bit the cream will solidify on top. You can whip it up with cocoa powder and maple syrup (or your daughter's flavours of choice) to make a lovely sort of frosting consistency which is lovely spread on ...everything. You could also sneak some into anything creamy like pasta sauces, mash etc.
Avocado is good - my daughter won't eat it alone but I make ice lollies by mashing it with lime juice and sugar, yummy.
Can she have any dairy at all? Because I find that pastry and pies are popular at that age. We put just about anything (tuna, cooked veggies, chicken, left over pasta sauce) on puff pastry and fold it into little pasties. (It's a great one for kids to help cook too, if that's part of your behaviour plan)
Muffins topped with jam - lots of dairy free muffin recipes online. Carrot cake is a bit hit in our house and is pretty high cal because of the high oil content.
Pizza - you can make pizzas at home without the cheese and the sauce is a good place to hide extra calories.
If she likes pasta maybe a homemade pesto skipping the cheese? Pine nuts and olive oil are good sources of calories.
Will she eat fish? Oily fish are good, maybe mixed with mash to make a fishcake if that makes the texture and flavour more manageable.0 -
I think this is something you should discuss with her treatment team ….no one on MFP is qualified to answer this correctly ...
This. You're talking about the health of your baby here. That's not the sort of thing you go to random internet people for.
Also...chicken nuggets with bbq sauce is what my daughter couldn't get enough of at that age.
I agree that this is more of a question for her treatment team, however, she's not asking for concrete answers or answers taht anyone here may or may not be qualified for. Like most people in the forums (well, not lately, it seems) they ask for experiences of others and how those others coped with their situation of the same manner. It's more comforting to anyone to know that they are not the only one who's had to deal with whatever problem it is their facing.0 -
Does she like oatmeal. You can pimp it with dried fruits and cinnamon. I also suggest avocado. Guacomole will work as dip or spread it on bread. And how about dried beans and peas. Try dishes like dhal and hummus. Perhaps she will enjoy that. Good luck. I wish you all the best and hope Things will Work out for you and her.
Ah hahaha "PIMP IT"
I've never heard that term used in conjunction with food. That's awesome!!!0 -
What does she enjoy? If you can post some meals she likes, or at least tolerates, it would be easier to get suggestions on what else to try.
Her favorite food is watermelon. She could seriously eat a whole baby watermelon. Soft pears (like in the can or very ripe), soft grapes, and sometimes she is a fan of pasta. She was not happy when they said no more mac n cheese.
A lot of her problems are psychological with food, and without writing a huge essay on it, just some textures bother her as well as color. (But then some days she's totally fine! It's a lot to do with mood.)
She is a hard sell with meat and fried food-texture issues. She will chew them up, the push them out of her mouth instead of swallowing. Strange, I know.
Drives me nuts.
So for example:
Yesterday she was all about french toast, tried it again today and it was absolutely no-go. Nutritionist suggested getting a larger "arsenal" of meals so we can keep out of a rut.
So I figure if I take all of your suggestions and keep giving her new-ish meals to try, she might keep eating. We are trying to give her at each meal one familiar thing that she usually likes with a new (or not eaten recently) food.
So we'll try:
Roast beef with gravies (very tender)
Oatmeal with dried fruits
Avocado/Guac on bread
Hummus/dhal (Gonna try homemade since she hates storebought)
Mashed potato with mayo/sour cream
High calorie shakes (we've tried pediasure and orgain, ordered some ensure clear to see if that's better)
Pasta with sauces/stirfry with oil/curries
Sweet potato fries (with fry sauce?)
Spaghettios
Smoothies (these are a hit or miss..but if it's from jamba juice for some reason it's the best lol)
Coconut oil for cooking
Yogurts (I have a hard time finding not low fat yogurt. Seems like most people have the opposite problem)
Chicken/Tuna/Egg/Pasta salad
Raw vegan ice cream (gonna go research that!)
Juice
Noodle Soup with crackers
Truly, thank you all so much for all of your help! This is a great list to start with. I am a bit of a nervous/stressed wreck over this, so having a list written out for when I go shopping/ go to the fridge makes my life so much easier!! Thank you!!0 -
KentWhiteRabbit wrote: »My son has ASD and was VERY picky as a toddler, one day he would eat sausages, the next hell would freeze over before I could get one near him. Life was very frustrating at meal times between the ages of 2 and 5! We tried the eat it or starve method as health visitor promised no child will ever starve themselves....they were wrong!!
My only advice would be to just let her eat what she wants at mealtimes, to get the calories in, so she isn't starving herself, and then try small amounts of veggies, meat, or whatever you need to get her to eat, away from meal times. This keeps mealtimes less stressful and in time hopefully she will eat enough to avoid the tube. The one thing that my son has almost always eaten was plain boiled pasta. He would have a little cheese or butter on it, you could try dairy free spreads etc.
At 5 my son was very light (not as severe as your daughter it seems), and one day I just "gave in" and let him eat chocolate and pasta for dinner. I felt like a bad Mum! BUT, he turned 18 at the weekend he's slim but not an unhealthy weight. He eats a much more varied diet, although he's still picky, and actually enjoys cooking too.
Yeah, she has West's Syndrome, which can commonly lead into ASD. We are testing/evaluating for that now that she's been spasm/seizure free for a while, but that sausage scenario is TOTALLY what happens in our house. I feel you, it's good to know that she will probably be okay. And yeah, if she has to have the tube, so be it, but we're not done trying yet! I feel you, and bet you are a great mom! Thank you for the advice and sharing your story 0 -
pediasure?
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What does she enjoy? If you can post some meals she likes, or at least tolerates, it would be easier to get suggestions on what else to try.
Her favorite food is watermelon. She could seriously eat a whole baby watermelon. Soft pears (like in the can or very ripe), soft grapes, and sometimes she is a fan of pasta. She was not happy when they said no more mac n cheese.
A lot of her problems are psychological with food, and without writing a huge essay on it, just some textures bother her as well as color. (But then some days she's totally fine! It's a lot to do with mood.)
She is a hard sell with meat and fried food-texture issues. She will chew them up, the push them out of her mouth instead of swallowing. Strange, I know. Drives me nuts.
My daughter was this way with meat, something about the texture. What helped was either using very tender meat with sauce (chicken was a "favourite", especially thighs) and also ground meat. I used to cook meat in red sauce, think like spaghetti bolognese. Mixing the meat/sauce with rice or very small sized pasta helped a lot get her used to meat. Since you say your child likes pasta, this could help.
Also if you cannot use butter, you can cook with olive oil, and add extra in her meals.
When it comes to yoghurt, try greek full fat strained yoghurt. It is about 10% fat and you can also mix in honey, jam or chocolate to make it interesting (and higher in calories). You can also use it with fruit to make smoothies and if you can get an ice-cream maker, it is an excellent basis for ice cream. If she likes ice-cream and you cannot feed her regular milk-based ice cream, you can google recipes for curstard based ice-cream and use soy, almond or hazelnut milk instead of regular milk. Also coconut milk makes a good ice cream base, and you can also add coconut oil for extra calories.
When you serve food, do you eat the same thing? I think with most toddlers, if it comes from your plate, it is much better accpted (at least as a first try) than if it is their own meal.0 -
I'll toss you an idea I got from my friend who has fostered many children with eating problems and was an early childhood educator. She's worked with troubled kids, Aspberger's kids, deaf kids, ADD kids, and diabetic kids. She would put out all the fixings to make fruit kabobs and fruit pizza for her grandchildren, putting out all sorts of foods to be skewered and then eaten. You could include marshmallows, all sorts of things. It's the creativity part. Children won't easily give up something they've made.
I relate to the love of watermelon. I forgot; is dairy right off the table? Because watermelon is great dipped in greek yogurt for instance.
If your child loves mac and cheese sometimes but cheese is now off the list, can you make it with butter or margarine and maybe spiced up a little?0 -
There are some great dairy-free cheese alternatives these days that may allow her to continue to enjoy macaroni & cheese (since that's one of her favorites)
http://us.daiyafoods.com/recipes/easy-mac-n-cheese
Or try a packaged brand: http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Balance-Vegan-Cheddar-Cheese/dp/B00N4E3C4U/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1433523296&sr=8-3&keywords=dairy+free+macaroni+and+cheese
Good luck to you!!
P.S.-If I'm not allowed to post product links, please let me know
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Speak to your Dr first. My friend's daughter was in the same position. I'm not sure if things have changed now because I no longer have Facebook. The only advise I will give you is that you make the food colourful on the plate. Arrange it in a smiley face or something like that. If its fun she will enjoy eating. Call broccoli small trees and things like that in a story. She should like that. I need to go see to my little fussy eating princess now cos her big brothers left her alone. Good luck!!0
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My daughter had massive issues with chewing/swallowing/etc as well due to some health issues. We started feeding therapy at 12 months when she was still gagging on purees. She was also VERY picky and wasn't even on the growth charts. Periactin was advised as an appetite stimulant and it did good things for her. At nearly 2, after 9 months of weekly feeding therapy and being followed monthly by a specialist team at UNC Hospital, she's eating 85% of everything a kid her age "should" eat.
Have they discussed an appetite stimulant before going to a feeding tube?0 -
OK, this may not be a huge help but I'm a nanny and 2 things popped into my mind:
Avocado shakes. They don't taste heavy, they taste very fresh, almost like cucumber. You can use canned coconut milk with dense cream on top and make sure you add sugar. Experiment with the ratio, but they taste very good.
In all my years of feeding toddlers, the best thing that worked for me is that I always eat with them and eat my food very excitedly. When they see adults also eating with them, that may help.0 -
Coconut milk ice-cream is Amazing and generally a lot more calorie dense than soy or some of the other alternatives. Coconut Bliss makes the yummiest one I've found so far. I'd definitely try some of the non-dairy cheez foods too for a mac + cheese replacement.
Roast veggies using a bit more oil than you would use for yourself. Try different shapes like strips (call them "fries") or cubes. Have ketchup for dipping.
It sounds like she doesn't like the texture of meat maybe try some tofu? the firm type can be cut into little cubes that are easy to pick up.
Does she like kid junk food like goldfish crackers, freeze dried fruit drops, and cereal bars?
A few other random ideas, Muffins, french toast, donuts, raisins, smoothies. Let her steal bites off your plate.0 -
Have a look at this website. I used it after we adopted our son from overseas. It's got some good tips for maximizing calories per bite, increasing interest in food, etc.
http://adoptionnutrition.org/
Best of luck!0 -
Thank you all for your suggestions! I do have a "diet plan" from her team of specialists, but it has more generic suggestions. (Nut butters, avocado, pediasure, etc). They also really just want her to eat and enjoy eating again/the process of eating to help your body so I was just looking for some ideas of what to try with her. Please be assured we are in constant contact with her specialists, they just didn't give me a huge cookbook or anything to go on. I apologize for causing concern to some, all I wanted were some suggestions of what foods are enjoyable for a toddler to eat but would add some weight. She gets weary of momma putting sunflower seed butter on all her food.
As for "how" to feed her, thank you for suggestions, but we have some behavioral therapists working with us on that. I mentioned her eating habits to give an idea that she can't really be "forced" to eat right now.
I should have rephrased the post, apologies, I just really wanted some ideas of what to add to my shopping list for her.
There's absolutely no reason to feel the need to apologize, your post was just fine. I took it to mean exactly what you shared just above (I believe most of us did), + merely checking in with others on ideas as you shared. Just shake off the posts of some... hope you got some helpful ideas and she gets to enjoying more foods because of your thread and gains the weight she needs:)
Take care
Hearts
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Ants on log (celery, nut butter, raisins)
Apples with Peanut Butter
Jell-o Jigglers (remember those? make a tray of jello with an extra package of Knox, harden and cut with cookie cutters)
Hotdogopus (I realize a hot dog has to be cut for a toddler but you can present it in a cute shape).
mini burritos
dino nuggets
This is a really silly suggestion (and not meant to suggest behavioral or "how to feed her") but my mom loves to remind me of a time when I was little and refused to eat* unless it was served on my favorite Sesame Street plate, out of my favorite cereal bowl or out of my favorite cup (that happened to be from a box of Raisin bran). Maybe some fun plates/cups will enhance her eating experience.
*not to the extent that you are at, it was a phase for me, not a medical issue.
Good luck!
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What does she enjoy? If you can post some meals she likes, or at least tolerates, it would be easier to get suggestions on what else to try.
Her favorite food is watermelon. She could seriously eat a whole baby watermelon. Soft pears (like in the can or very ripe), soft grapes, and sometimes she is a fan of pasta. She was not happy when they said no more mac n cheese.
You can always make her vegan mac and cheese that can be VERY calorie dense. Pasta with vegan sauce made with non dairy milk, lots of melted daiya vegan cheese and earth balance or other dairy free butter is incredible!
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What does she enjoy? If you can post some meals she likes, or at least tolerates, it would be easier to get suggestions on what else to try.
Her favorite food is watermelon. She could seriously eat a whole baby watermelon. Soft pears (like in the can or very ripe), soft grapes, and sometimes she is a fan of pasta. She was not happy when they said no more mac n cheese.
A lot of her problems are psychological with food, and without writing a huge essay on it, just some textures bother her as well as color. (But then some days she's totally fine! It's a lot to do with mood.)
She is a hard sell with meat and fried food-texture issues. She will chew them up, the push them out of her mouth instead of swallowing. Strange, I know. Drives me nuts.
So for example:
Yesterday she was all about french toast, tried it again today and it was absolutely no-go. Nutritionist suggested getting a larger "arsenal" of meals so we can keep out of a rut.
So I figure if I take all of your suggestions and keep giving her new-ish meals to try, she might keep eating. We are trying to give her at each meal one familiar thing that she usually likes with a new (or not eaten recently) food.
So we'll try:
Roast beef with gravies (very tender)
Oatmeal with dried fruits
Avocado/Guac on bread
Hummus/dhal (Gonna try homemade since she hates storebought)
Mashed potato with mayo/sour cream
High calorie shakes (we've tried pediasure and orgain, ordered some ensure clear to see if that's better)
Pasta with sauces/stirfry with oil/curries
Sweet potato fries (with fry sauce?)
Spaghettios
Smoothies (these are a hit or miss..but if it's from jamba juice for some reason it's the best lol)
Coconut oil for cooking
Yogurts (I have a hard time finding not low fat yogurt. Seems like most people have the opposite problem)
Chicken/Tuna/Egg/Pasta salad
Raw vegan ice cream (gonna go research that!)
Juice
Noodle Soup with crackers
Truly, thank you all so much for all of your help! This is a great list to start with. I am a bit of a nervous/stressed wreck over this, so having a list written out for when I go shopping/ go to the fridge makes my life so much easier!! Thank you!!
Take her to a psychiatrist.0 -
chicken nuggets, pasta, pizza,0
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FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »
Take her to a psychiatrist.
She is working with a team of specialists already. A psychiatrist is a specialist for psychiatric issues and prescribes medications most of the time. A psychologist or behaviour interventionist (or an occupational therapist and speech language pathologist who specializes in swallowing) can probably help with a better approach. This child has health issues that OP noted. It would be like any child that has autism, or sensory processing difficulties, or even perhaps swallowing difficulties. Not a quick fix from a psychiatrist, most of the time.
And from experience with children with sensory issues and other diagnoses-no plate or cup, or recommendations or bribes will work...lol.
OP there is a recipe out there for cookie dough dip that uses chickpeas ground up for the base. It might be a good alternative for something fun, but good to eat!
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Watermelon Jello Juice - just don't let the jello solidify when you make it and she can drink it warm. Kids typically love the stuff, very easy on the stomach, high calorie content. You can add other nutritional supplements to it and the high sugar content covers the taste. It's a go to on the pediatric cancer ward.0
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FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »
Take her to a psychiatrist.
She is working with a team of specialists already. A psychiatrist is a specialist for psychiatric issues and prescribes medications most of the time. A psychologist or behaviour interventionist (or an occupational therapist and speech language pathologist who specializes in swallowing) can probably help with a better approach. This child has health issues that OP noted. It would be like any child that has autism, or sensory processing difficulties, or even perhaps swallowing difficulties. Not a quick fix from a psychiatrist, most of the time.
And from experience with children with sensory issues and other diagnoses-no plate or cup, or recommendations or bribes will work...lol.
OP there is a recipe out there for cookie dough dip that uses chickpeas ground up for the base. It might be a good alternative for something fun, but good to eat!
I know what a psychiatrist is, thank you very much. A psychiatrist is the one who will evaluate her and can then refer her to a psychologist. Both a psychiatrist and psychologist can perform CBT on her, if it is in fact psychological.0 -
If the texture of meat is an issue, perhaps ground meat made into meatballs or meat loaf (combined with some sort of bread crumb) would be easier for her to tolerate as it's softer and less chewy.
There are a wide variety of flavored nut butters available...while I typically scoff at the idea of Nutella being a "healthy breakfast" (when spread on multi-grain bread and served with fresh fruit and a glass of milk)...I think some of the sweeter options (Try Peanut Butter & Co...their White Chocolate Wonderful is yummy...and I'm not a huge fan of either white chocolate or peanut butter) might be more palatable than plain peanut butter.
I would definitely try to add a bit of coconut oil to things like oatmeal and smoothies (or olive oil to more savory dishes).
Vegan mac and cheese or non-dairy quiches (using Silk or other unsweetened soy/almond/rice "milks") can be high in calories.
My kids love dried fruit...it's like candy to them.
If she can tolerate yogurt, full-fat Greek yogurts are pretty readily available (and can be mixed with fresh fruit or jams to sweeten them)...and brands like Yo-Baby are full-fat as well. Also look for some of the "indulgent" yogurts...typically in dessert-like flavors.
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Nutrition data has a search tool for foods. By inputting foods highest in calories in the filter i got this list.
Check what your child can eat and combine some of them.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000001000000000000000-w.html
I'd skip the two three first pages tho or go directly to the food category that your child can eat, since it gives it sorted by calories which makes the first pages full of oils and fats.
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I second the posts about really changing the food "experience" as opposed to focusing on the actual food. Picking out the food together, plating the food together, making it a game, whatever... Her meal time is an understandably stressful, frustrating, and anxious time for you. And she picks up on that. Try putting out happy and excited vibes instead. That's probably way easier said than done. But, you really can't expect a toddler to calm down and eat when the room is filled with tension and worry.0
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