Help 17month old gain more weight

[Scottishmumma3117]

Hi mums

my lg is 17 months and has a lot of sensory issues with foods (suspected autism) won’t diagnose her until she 2

she has lost lots of weight recently and under the average weight than her age and she quite a tall girl she doesn’t sit up or stand few developmental issues aswell

has anyone any suggestions of foods I can try her with to try get her to gain more weight

What kind of food does she like? Any tastes or textures she's not keen on?

I presume she is under the care of a GP? If not then she should be. They should refer you to a paediatric dietician if there has been significant weight loss.

She will only take yogurts or baby pouches off me but she just doesn’t enjoy any food and is unhappy when she getting fed

Have you spoken to your HV? They might refer you to a dietician.

One of mine was a fussy eater she would probably be diagnosed with arfid now, anyway I gave her what she would eat i didn't bother with a lot of new food, also gave her full fat milk.and yoghurt and made home made milkshakes with bannana in just to sustain her weight.

Yes she is on a lot of care from different departments for her help but only advice am getting is keep trying her with different foods

Hi my DD struggled with weight gain since birth - butter was my answer.

Corn cobs covered in butter
rice with butter in it
Toasted sandwich with butter on the inside and outside of the bread
Jacket potatoes with cheese and butter

Sour cream/ tzatziki on the side of chicken or chicken nuggets for her to dip into if she felt brave that day

Hummus on crackers

Apple with peanut butter

I just tried to add extra calories to everything as my DD eats like a bird

Good luck it’s stressful xx

Do you let her feed herself or play with food so she tries some ? Is she still on formula that might help.

Yes it was her HV that flagged up her being underweight and we’ve spoken to the dietician but they seem to say it could just be her condition but she still waiting on proper diagnosis instead of global development delay , she has 3 bottles of full fat milk and plenty of yogurts will refuse to drink anything else

If they are waiting for diagnosis then you might get better feeding advice. Does she chew?

Try jelly full sugar let her play with it on a tray.

Do you do meal times where she sits in a high chair and give her food on a plate?

Yes she has set meal and snack times in her high chair
i put the food on her tray so she can touch it but will just pick it up and throw it away from her space and yes she can chew but gags a lot with foods

How about smoothies/milkshakes you can add a few things to up the calories. You can even add things like flaxseeds to smoothies and whizz them up.

I appreciate if she has food/sensory issues she might be able to detect things in the drink. My dd won’t even drink the pedisure chocolate shakes and won’t touch anything other thank plain milk or juice with a barge pole but it’s worth a try. DD is also very fussy and flagged as having static weight I just try to add extra calories to the things she will actually eat at the moment.

My eldest DS struggles with weight gain due a medical condition and I agree with the other suggestions for a referral to a pediatric dietician as they will be best to advise and will be able to prescribe calorie dense yoghurts/shakes to supplement her diet.

In the meantime I would try and make every mouthful she has as calorie dense as possible...so adding butter or full fat double cream to everything; mash, pasta, sauces, veg. Things like snacks rather than veg sticks and hummus offer bread with it and mix in a tablespoon of olive oil into the hummus or offer full fat cream cheese as a dip

Thanks yous all so much appreciate all your advice

Try and not fret too much i know this is a big worry for you.but just calories over everything else is what she needs so if that's milk yogurt and purees just keep doing that, give her bits of this and that gagging isnt choking so if you can hold your nerve and she isn't to distressed just try and work through it.

@Scottishmumma3117 I don’t have any experience of these challenges myself OP but I follow “Dietician Lottie” on instagram who has posted loads over the last few years about having to get more calories into her son who was particularly avoidant of lots of foods. Could be worth having a look to see if any advice may be helpful for your family 😊

If she has lots of yoghurt/milk based things then could you add a bit of double cream to the milk etc? Even small amounts will add some calories.

At that age for my daughter to gain weight she needed formula and food.
She had 3 meals a day and about 18-23oz of formula.
It took her a really long time to get enough calories and nutrition from food. We were able to wean her off formula between 20 and 24/5 months.
She still had 500ml of oat milk a day until 4 to help with maintaining her weight. She has a lot of food allergies so has a restricted diet.