too much tomato based food for 3yo?

[titferbrains]

DD is underweight, GP says just try to get more calories into her. I am aware that diet tends to narrow at age 3 but she does eat a lot of tomatoes and tomato based sauces -all home made and containing other things eg chicken paprika stew with peppers, tuna and pepper and olive sauce for pasta, spag bol, tomato and basil... she isn't really a fan of creamy sauces, she hates all cheese except parmesan (and we have to call that magic cheese that disappears) -and other favourite meals are sausage/fish fingers and (homemade) chips. it's so warm in our kitchen that I can't bear to turn on the oven for the latter! Just lost enthusiasm for figuring out nice interesting meals for her because she has become more fussy and stubborn about not eating it if she doesn't like it. Do you think it's bad for her tummy to be having lots of tomatoey sauces re: acidity etc? She has at least one yeo yogurt a day, will that be good for the gut flora?

Letting her leave the food is not an option, she really needs to eat. She only weighs 13kg. Dr has asked to see her again in a month but she has chicken pox which I think is affecting her appetite also.

Your diet is very high in vegetables all round, by the sound of it. Whilst healthy for adults it can be a bad thing for very small children because a) vegetables are low calorie and b) the high fibre content means the food rushes through the gut too quickly.

I would suggest you reduce the vegetables in her diet and bump up the carbohydrates like pasta, rice, bread and potatoes. Use plenty of oil or butter in those tomato sauces - avoid low-cal spreads or low-fat yoghurt. Introduce lots of high-cal snacks to her day so that she is eating 'little and often' - preferably things with a high sugar or fat content. Ice-cream is good, so are cakes or bread spread with plenty of butter. Lots of children will nibble away at dried fruit quite happily. Drinks are another good way to get calories into someone. Full-fat milk is an obvious one. Smoothies and fruit juices in moderation.

thanks, I tend to put veg in most things so I don't have to worry too much about cooking a separate vegetable, which I think is pretty dull for kids to eat anyway.

Will keep up with giving her foods she likes and not worry too much about what it is.

I also plan to make a white bean puree with some herbs and lots of olive oil that I can add to her tomato sauce- it should "disappear" but will bump up the protein as it can be hard to get her to eat large amounts of meat fish etc.

Problem I am having is that I am offering her lots of stuff but she just says no thank you.

Am going to whip up a strawberry smoothie now while the baby sleeps and hope she slurps it up. Actually, will make that a milkshake!!

Can't you add olive oil to the tomato sauces? Or a bit of butter, a la tomato soup?

sorry, X post, slow poota!

Yes already adding

I would live on tomatoes if given a choice. They are a fruit, dontcha know?

yes i have no prob with toms per se, it's just that she already eats loads of fruit AND I don't want to give her tummy problems.

At 3 years old 13kg doesn't seem anything to worry about if you look at the WHO growth charts. My DS is only 18kg at over 7 years old (so on the 3rd centile) and no one has ever pulled me up on him being underweight.

You seem to be giving her a good range of food already so as long as she's healthy (apart from the chicken pox) i wouldn't worry. If her tummy isn't upset by what you're feeding her then no need to change the meals you're already giving.

If you do want to add a few more calories to her diet how about milkshakes made of full fat milk & ice cream? Butter in mashed potatos & on bread and full fat yoghurts.

she hasn't gained weight since december.

she is complaining of tummy aches occasionally but the GP I saw is refusing to consider gluten intolerance and I am scared to cut it out of her diet as it will narrow the range of foods she will eat so drastically. I struggle to convince her to eat food she likes so am not confident about expensive tasteless cornbased replacements!!!

I am going to try to go back in 2 weeks and see a different dr.

Why don't you try cutting out the gluten for one day and see if she stops complaining of tummy ache? Or keep a food diary so you know what triggers them?

Tummy aches are a bit odd for children. My DS still confuses the empty /stuffed full /need to sit down on the toilet/feeling a bit odd in the car because of daddy's driving stomach aches!

If she's just getting over chicken pox it's bound to affect her appetite so like you say - give it a couple of weeks and take her back to the doctors if she's no better.

tifferbrains your white bean puree sounds interesting. where did you learn of that? Do you have a recipe?

What does she normally drink? If not already doing maybe a fruit juice with breakfst, milk with lunch and dinner and full sugar ribena or sorts might help?

definately smoothies, you can add cream, coconut cream, and frozen blueberries etc. very nutritious and delicious!

She has cereal followed by fruit every mornin and usually complains after that, tho not always. She adores grapes and eats them after every meal, maybe 5 each time, I try to limit this but hard as they are her fave. Going to have to work on offering her something else...

Does cpox usually affect appetite ?