Tips to boost calories for 10 month DD? allergic to egg and dairy

[eskimomama]

Hello,

Had my 10 month review with the HV yesterday and DD is doing great, but because of teething she's lost a bit of weight, and I was told to give her boosting calories in her food.

All the HV could think of was cream & butter (even after I told her she was allergic to dairy ), and more oil... . I can't just load her food with oil, so I was wondering if any of you had tips?

She hates banana and not a big fan of avocado either - otherwise eating quite well.

thanks

If DD seems happy in herself and is meeting developmental milestones then my advice would be to take the HV's advice with a pinch of salt (of course, if DD has lost a lot of weight then this might not be sensible)

Has DD lost weight or has her weight just slowed?

She was 8.2kg 2 weeks ago and 8.05kg yesterday, so lost a little bit but much indeed. My instinct was also to ignore unless it becomes serious, but it's yet another advice from a HCP that is not suitable for allergic babies...
The HV said she was doing amazing (crawling/standing up, etc.) for her age + she's still breastfed, so nothing to worry about, really.

However I'm curious to know if any high calorie foods were recommended when they don't eat much (teething).

Maybe instead of focusing on high calorie foods, you could take away any 'empty' calories - don't give bread sticks, rice cakes, typical finger foods etc. If you can make sure she doesn't fill up on these, then any good food you offer her will be eaten.

But TBH she sounds fine!

We tried this with ds1 (I say tried cause he continued, and still does, to be small and thin). I gave him plenty of fatty meat, fried potatoes and a piece of cake per day. He was also on pepti formula til age 2 to try and boost weight gain.

He is, and always was, perfectly healthy but retained his natural preference for fruit and veg and is today still on the 25 percentile for height and the 9th for weight, even tho he outgrew his dairy allergy a few years ago.

His appetite kicked in at 3.5 which helped me feel better about it all, just wish I had those years of worry back. Honestly, if your lo is otherwise healthy and active I wouldn't worry.

I thought that HVs are more sensible now;myDS was smallish born and continued small (she is a 5ft tall 30yr now!) we have short people in our family. I ignored all that (average weight) crap) !!

You can make custard with rice milk,oat milk,or soya milk give the best soya though. Or smoothies with all sorts of fruit,ground almonds etc.

I have found that some health visitors seem a bit obsessed with weight and with giving children dairy products. I really wouldn't worry too much, especially as you are breastfeeding, although that's really good advice above about taking away 'empty' calories (roast potatoes are better than rice cakes!). Breastmilk has plenty of calories and is a balanced food. Your baby knows best about how much she wants to eat.

My DS is egg and dairy allergic and has always been on the 9th centile for weight and 25th for height (i.e. on the small and skinny side). He wasn't very interested in 'solids' until quite recently. He dropped a bit once when he was ill but soon made it up again - mostly with breastmilk!

I had this with my dd2 too. I give her:

• mashed potato with lots of dairy free spread (e.g. Pure)and/or soya cheese
• tinned sardines/ mackerel (both of which are packed with calcium - good for dairy free- as well as oil)
• lots of soya yogs/ soya cheese
• pasta
• Bourbon biscuits/ Hula Hoops!

But would also add that dd2 eats loads and is just built like a skinny minnie - some are, although I would be a little concerned about losing weight!

How about adding coconut milk or coconut cream to her meals? My DD can have dairy, but she loves salmon mashed with sweet potato and coconut milk, and also very mild vegetable curry with rice and coconut milk.

Mashed banana and coconut cream is also yummy.

same here dd2 dropped from 95th to 7thcentile once her allergies were confirmed.

We gave a lot of roast veg- esp sweet potatoes and regular potatoes.

Like whelk we also give hula hoops and bourbon biscuits! also pink wafer biscuits, party rings and the no cream jammy dodgers.

Sainsburys and asda have the dairy free choc buttons which we make into biscuits using vitalite or pure.

More difficult if you can't use soya- our dd is only just tolerating some and she's 2 next month. Still only on 9th centile but happy and healthy just a bit weeny

My dd loves homemade dairy free/ egg free gingerbread too.

You can make a lovely calorie and calcium rich rice pudding with coconut milk (higher in calories and calcium than cows).

You cook it the same way as ordinary rice pud but with several tins of coconut milk.

You can then milk in pureed fruit (or mashed fruits) to make it extra appealing and tasty.

You can also cook savoury meals (such as chicken and fish) with coconut milk for added richness.

For treats and cake, you can make carrot cake which can be done easily (google for recipies). Add Allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon tto boost taste.

Hi
If she's crawling she'll have hit a bit of a calorie burn stage as well - I noticed an amazing difference in my kids once they became mobile. They both steadied off but are skinny things but really fit and strong - first or second in all their sports day races (get me!). Sounds like you've been doing a great job and just need to up your game to keep up with your little lass moving now.
Such good advice above - I'd add soya puds and just a big focus on carb-loading ...
good luck!

Check for hydrogenated palm oil in the bourbons etc. It's amazing what you find in the Free from foods also loads of sugar! also coconut products can cause problems!

Asda smart price bourbons are fine (and only about 27p a packet!) - we eat a ton of them and also the smart price digestives. I've found that the posh brands tend to have butter etc. but the cheapy ones have veg. oil instead and fewer ingredients generally

Thanks all - anyone knows from when coconut milk is ok for babies?

Feel very ignorant but is hydrogentaed palm oil allergicy or bad in general?

I wouldn't worry either, if she's happy and not dropping too much.

Coconut is fine for babies as far as I know, but they are thinking about classifying it as tree nut in the US because of allergies, so maybe spot test first.

Hydrogenated oils are bad arterie-wise, no?

I try to smuggle olive oil in babies mashed dishes, she actually likes it (she hates banana and potatoes, so who knows). My doctor said if she eats meat, she'll be fine calorie-wise, even though she can't have dairy and all other things. She eats like horse and is skinny for a baby, not even walking yet. It's all good.

My DS is dairy and soya intolerant. He's 10 months and I too got the "cheese and butter" advice

I give him quite stodgy meals (meat, roast veg, rice etc) - he's not one for snacks really (although he likes avocado pitta sandwiches which I chop into small pieces). I also BF 4-5 times in 24 hours - he's down to one night feed and I'm going to keep that for a while yet!

I give him coconut milk - make his rice in coconut milk, curries (no chilli just gentle spices), mashed potato in coconut milk... Also quite a bit of lamb and fatty fish (soya, sardines).

He's starting to walk and crawls around loads so seems ok weight wise (although haven't had him weighed in a while!)

hi whelk dd3 came ten days early so will be 3 wks tomorrow.

Gorgeous Matilda so far showing no signs of any allergies and is on breastmilk and aptamil. Fingers crossed..

sorry to hijack OP

Recipes with beans and lentils good for protein and 'good' fats. Tinned sardines also a winner here and I load green veg (which also has calcium) into just about everything DS eats. Plenty of meat whenever possible. Also are you using a multivitamin? Worth doing even if BFing. Dalivit contains no nut product.

Hydrogenated fat just bad in general - for adults and kids. Avoid where poss!!