High calorie baby foods?

[G MARX 10]

dear swfcgal

Have you thought of getting a juicer or feeding your child warm soups with pasta in? ask your health visitor for a list of high calorie food suitable for your childs stage of development.

dear aries22

this is just my opinion,but has anyone suggested that its not the food eaten its how the childs body absorbs it ,i was always told that growing kids need full fats as this helps to increase testoserone btw is this the same 2 year old that you said had tantrums,?

[Aries22 10]

dear swfcgal

Have you thought of getting a juicer or feeding your child warm soups with pasta in? ask your health visitor for a list of high calorie food suitable for your childs stage of development.

dear aries22

this is just my opinion,but has anyone suggested that its not the food eaten its how the childs body absorbs it ,i was always told that growing kids need full fats as this helps to increase testoserone btw is this the same 2 year old that you said had tantrums,?

 

Can't remember Marxy, but is eating better now, though he does go to the children hospital in August.

[nottsman 10]

If you're making your own meals (or even with ready made foods) you can easily add extra calories to the foods during cooking or once prepared. The highest calorie foods are fats so good options are:

Unsalted butter or oil added into purees or drizzles over veg. Use plenty in cooking too - children need fats, and in the short term to promote weight gain this would be fine.

Double cream - use in creamy sauces and in mash. Pour into puree fruits or over puddings.

Cheese - add to mash, sprinkle over veg, melt into pasta sauces/risotto, sprinkle over pasta meals.

Use thick and creamy yoghurt/fromage frais.

Make cheese/White sauce to use in meals - use full cream or gold/ jersey milk +/- double cream.

Offer milky puddings such as rice pud, tapioca, custard with fruit. Rice pudding made with half coconut milk and half jersey milk is really tasty and high in calories once your baby is managing lumps!

Generally, you should always offer a starchy food at each meal, eg potato (mash with butter, cream and cheese for extra calories), sweet potato mash, baby rice (use baby's milk to make this up), pasta, rice, bread. Anywhere you give your baby a fruit/veg puree, try to give baby rice mixed in or another starchy food appropriate for their age.

Hope this helps

[nottsman 10]

Oops forgot to add. If you buy ready made jars etc opt for the highest calorie ones by looking at the packaging. Compare the 'calories per 100g' on packaging and choose the highest - over 65kcal per 100g is a good place to start but the higher the better! Don't forget you can always add a teaspoon of oil, a swig of double cream or a sprinkling of cheese to increase the calories further.

 

Also when increasing the fat content of foods, start with a little and increase the amount so it's not too much of a shock to the system for baby!

[carmencarter 10]

Before her heart surgery my daughter was on high-calorie prescription formula because of her weight issues so I can relate to your situation. I did use a lot of cheese, full fat yogurt ( she loves it)...and the one food that to this day she still polishes off in seconds: avocadoes! I just swear by them, healthy, high in calories, natural- OK, a bit pricey but you can get 4 for £1 in most supermarkets, the trick is to get them regularly and wait for them to get nice and ripe, to get a melt in the mouth texture. My dd loves it on its own, or with breasticks, mixed with pasta...

[unamamma 10]

5 month old!

[swfcgal 10]

I'd like to thank everyone for their helpful advice, since I started with the 'fattier' foods, she's been steady on the so called line she's 'meant' to be on. The little monkey loves her sweet potatoes followed by a dish of rice pudding!!! The consultant at the hospital reckoned the slow weight gain was more to do with the initial weaning process and has no concerns (other than her asthma but thats a different story!)

Thanks again everyone