How to get him to gain weight

[marialynn242]

In addition to hating his formula lol he hasnt gained any significant weight in a month he did get 2 inches longer but no weight gain anyone have any suggestions on what helps babies gain weight safely I know mash potatoes works but he doesnt really like them. And i heard coconut oil work but wasnt sure if it was safe

[mommy2maddie]

I think babies start to slow down a bit especially when they hit 12 months. My daughter weighed 20lbs at 12 months and now she weighs 22 at the most, and she is 23 months. My doctor gets on me all the time about it, but each child is different, they may not gain as much weight as other children but eat well. I know it is frusturating but I know I try my best to get my daughter to eat well so she will gain more weight and it just doesnt happen. I wouldnt stress to much about it.

[trish]

I would check with your Ped. & get some suggestions. Usually if they are concerned about weight gain they will offer suggestions. Has he start crawling or getting more mobile? That tends to slow their growth/gain a bit.

[aggie95mom]

My son tended to only do one thing at at time, if he gained weight for a month then he didn't grow in height or vice versa. Definitely ask your ped and look at his growth curve to see if it's a consistent shape for him. My preemie son loved avocadoes and scrambled eggs around that age. I also roasted all of his veggies with olive oil and that made him excited ... still does!

I know it's so hard not to worry so express your concerns to your ped and see what he/she has to say. I've been through feeding therapy and my take away from it diet wise was to just be mindful of what my child was eating over the course of a week. As long as the foods are healthy/good calories, you know they are getting good nutrition. We started to worry when my son's caloric intake with these weekly snapshots dropped off dramatically. Even now, 4 years later, he still has days where he survives on raisins, orange juice, a banana and piece of string cheese. The next day or two he'll eat everything in site, but he's still tall and thin. I just think he'll always be that way.

[bernadic]

Ask your ped to give you a referral to a dietitian. They gave me great suggestions. They had me add whole milk to his "go and grow" formula and had him drink Carnation Instant Breakfast once a day. Good luck.

[marialynn242]

Thank you! My insurance actually let me do that without a referral I made an appt with a nutrtionist is that the same?

[bernadic]

Good question, not sure about the difference. You can always ask. See if you can get one that specializes in children too.

[trish]

After my 3rd still wasn't 20 lbs by 18 months & had such slow gain from 12 months-18 months my Ped. has us do Pediasure and/or carnation drink mix in whole milk 2-3 times a day. She still only gained 1/2 an inch more by 2 but gained nearly 2.5 lbs to get up to 31 inches & 22 lbs at 2! :)

I hope you get some good ideas from the nutritionist.

[jamie w]

If your child does not have problems with milk then here are some the things our GI and dietician suggested:
-add butter to everything you can
-add MCT or coconut oil to foods
-lots of carnation instant breakfast
-you can get Duocal which is a powder you can add to foods that adds calories
-Benecalorie (you have to order it online I think)

[trish]

I'm glad Jaime mentioned "if your child does not have problems with milk". All of our efforts to help Ali gain were heavily milk based & she had terrible constipation because of it (I've since realized). We had to do suppositories, enemas, miralax & extra juice on a regular basis (after they had told us to cut out juice & give her higher calorie Pediasure and/or carnation instead).

When she had RSV & was doing the nebulizer a friend told me that her son wasn't supposed to have milk when he did the neb so we tried soy milk for those few weeks. It made a HUGE difference in her poop!! That was like 6 months ago & we've had her on soy ever since!! She still eats yogurt & cheese & has regular milk in cereal but for just drinking she has the soy. I can't remember the last time we had to do an enema or a suppository & we've even mostly cut out the miralax. So just FYI - adding the extra calories can mess with their systems a lot & you may want to watch out for all the extra milk they may want to add!!