weight gain after illness

[marl]

My 11 month old has dropped from 50th to 9th percentile having had what the doc now tells me 'was' pneumonia, but we were originally told chest infection. He has lots of flem on chest so keeps being sick when he eats, if he coughs. Any advice on getting his weight back up again. He is eating about half what he normally does but it's often coming back up again, particularly if he comes across a stray little lump. We are back to pureed home made baby food which feels like going backwards... and 3 7 oz bottles of stage 3 formula a day.

Make sure he is eating little and often - I would say 5 or 6 small meals a day rather than 3 big ones then what is brought up is a smaller percentage of overall day iyswim. Make sure food is quite rich - cook with olive oil, butter etc, lots of protein. My ds2 has always suffered with chest infections and always ahas the same reaction takes a long time to get him back to eating again because the coughing makes him sick after every meal.

Try ofering lots of small meals and offer the food cold. Offer lots of high fat/calorie foods like full fat yoghurt (with fruit purrees mixed in) and potato-based purees, avocado, sweet potatoe etc. Icecream is another good high calorie food as is frozen yoghurt. Offer finger foods along side, dry foods such as toast, rusks or dry veral (ds2 loves shreddies with a hint of milk) may be easier for him to tolerate initially. Marmite is great for helping them release energy but quite salty so use it sparingly. Don't rush him, so long as he's stable or gaining a little weight at the mo thats fine as his body starts to recover.

Ds2 regresses every time he's ill too (just turned one and getting a cold twice a month on average at the mo).

Hope that helps and hope little mans feeling better soon