High calorie healthy food?

[hodgehegs]

Hi

My 9 year old daughter is on the 1st centile for her weight (25th for height).

I am small (approx 5ft 2 and a size 6) so this is no surprise to me.

We have a fairly healthy diet and she eats well when she has her favourite meals (eg spaghetti bolognese, home made special fried rice, roasts etc) and likes healthy snacks like carrot and cucumber sticks.

For puddings after lunch and dinner she is allowed ice cream or chocolate biscuits for a treat.

Any ideas of extra snacks or other ways I can boost her weight? I don't want to start giving her a junk food diet after bringing her up on a healthy one.

Unfortunately she doesn't like dairy products: milk, butter, cream etc so it's hard to get extra calories into her that way.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Peanut butter, nuts, avocado, eggs and cheese. This is the kind of thing we gave my son when he was very underweight (he's verging on stocky now three years later, but thats a different matter!)

Has anyone suggested she is too thin? Or just genetically tiny?

Otherwise, maybe dried fruit? Nuts? Oatcakes with humus? Home made flapjack? Home made fruit loaf?

Thanks PVL - she is picky - doesn't like any of those things! Eggs she will eat in fried rice or pancakes, and the only dairy (apart from ice cream!) is if I make home-made macaroni cheese. I do try and hide a bit of butter and cheese in mash as well.

Thanks Marian - perhaps I should have posted this in the fussy eater thread instead! She likes bread (plain) and crackers (plain) and will eat hummous with doritos.

Yes there is an added problem - my ex (abusive, has falsely reported me to police and social services many times over last 4 years) is claiming that my daughter is neglected (has tried and failed numerous times to have her removed from me), so although my family are all genetically small, he has jumped on this as "evidence". Our dr has confirmed she is on 1st centile and we are going back in 2 months to have her weighed again, as if she keeps dropping centiles we might have to consider a pediatrician referral.

Have just been through another Social Services investigation. They were really good, are happy with what I'm doing and can see what he's up to, but I just wondered for all our sakes, and since she is so slight, if there was anything else I can do.

I'm feeding her as best I can, just wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything!

How about hiding the things she's not keen on? Like making cornbread muffins with cheese, or flapjacks with hidden nuts, seeds, linseeds etc? There are lots if ways to slip in things they think they don't like (I spend my life doing this for my pickiest child, the aforementioned tiny toddler as was!)

Nairns oat biscuits? 2.2g of sugar per biscuit, they come in chocolate chip, berries, fruit and spice and ginger. My little girl loves them.

Also plain Quacker oat bars are not too high in sugar:
www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/cereal_bars/quaker_oat_bar_original_with_golden_syrup_5x38g.html

You can add butter or a healthy oil to all of her cooked food if it is fairly sloppy, this massively increases calories. Also, I know she doesn't like dairy but you can hide a bit of mascapone cheese in things like mash potato etc as it is so mild and v high calorie.

Avocado, nut spreads as others have suggested. Be wary of too much high fibre food as it will fill her up but be low calorie.

Is she a grazer? Is sometimes easier to get calories in between meals eg things like mini cheddars, flapjacks, raisins.

Savoury muffins? They have lots of oil in and you can add v mild cheese which she won't notice but also grated veg so is healthy.

Will she eat custard? Rice pudding?

Rapeseed oil is a good one to use as think it is high in Omeage 3 but no strong taste. I've tried avocado and linseed oil with DS but he hated the taste.

I guess she doesn't like milkshakes? V high calorie would be whole milk, full fat ice-cream, banana and peabut butter.

Thank you. Maybe we should try grazing more often - she is currently allowed a snack between breakfast/lunch, then another between lunch/dinner, but maybe we should try more availability.

Has just eaten 4 fishfingers, chips, peas and sweetcorn, followed by an ice cream this evening, so appetite is fine, just the limited choice of foods. Prefers dry finger food types, generally not keen on sauces, but I do manage to get mascarpone in the pasta sauce.

Used to drink milkshakes but has gone off them recently (doesn't like the underlying milky taste) and prefers fruit juice or water.

I don't want this to become a battle, and I can't force her to eat more variety when she refuses. Will keep trying and suggesting she tries more things. If it becomes a real problem then maybe a trip to the hospital nutritionist will prompt her to try more things.

I would maybe just let get graze more, leaving her to eat the goods she likes. Learning to eat when you're hungry and stop when full is great life skill

Goods ?! Foods, I mean, sorry

Thank you, will give it a go.x

I would suggest more frequent snacks - something every hour - & broaden your definition of healthy food. Vegetables unfortunately are high in bulk but low in calories. Chocolate gets a bad press but, with its combination of fat, sugars and cocoa solids, it's actually not a bad choice. Hummus/jam/nutella and toast fingers. Fruit juice is more calorific than water and is a really easy way to pack in several hundred more calories a day. Raisins (or trail mix or similar) are high calorie as are cereal bars and flapjack type products. Malt loaf is another good choice. For main meals, slip in extra tablespoons of olive oil and fry rather than bake, poach or grill... the opposite of what a weight-loser would do.

You don't want to introduce bad eating habits though. I do think adding a bit of extra oil (rapeseed is one of the best with minimal flavor) is an okay way to do it. If she likes cake you can make frosting/icing out of avocado, which is high in fat, but good fat. I often take regular banana muffin/cake recipe add some grated carrot, raisins, and any other dried fruit or nuts I fancy. Maybe letting her choose the 2/3 things your going to add in at the store and baking the cake with her, she might be more interested in trying her own creation! I do caution adding extra cheese to things because it is very high in saturated fats which isn't good for anyone. Chocolate is an okay option, but to get the most benefits from chocolate the darker the chocolate the better and most kids don't like dark chocolate. Try smoothies made from all fruit and sneaking some yogurt into it? Just add frozen fruit, fresh fruit, fruit juice, and some yogurt in any combination you like and blend. Good luck :)

A 'bad eating habit' can also be a too-narrow diet and not eating enough. Saturated fat is actually a very good choice for active, growing kids that need to gain weight... it's fat, sedentary adults that it causes problems for.

Yes she does need some saturated fat esp if she doens't like dairy.

How much meat does she eat? Thats good protein with a balanced amount of fat (depending on the cut).

Does your dd like pastry? That can be packed with calories. I'm sure I can think of pastry dishes that aren't too saucy; what about sausage plait, like we all made in Home Ec at school?

Something (chicken?) en croute maybe? As someone always advises on threads like this (with good reason), she might enjoy helping you to make it, or indeed she might enjoy cooking dinner for you and her, herself. There are a couple of OK cookbooks out there aimed at youngsters; ds has Cooking Up a Storm which he uses quite a lot. He is good at steak and chips. I have rather the opposite problem with ds, appetite-wise, however

I agree with Cogito about broadening your definition of "healthy".

Thank you. Will try and get a choc mikshake in today (she has liked mars or galaxy ones in the past). She likes fruit smoothies but can tell if there's banana or yoghurt in (doesn't like either), she just likes apple juice with berries blended in, which is better than nothing, as least she's getting some vitamins.

Doesn't like pastry (not a clue why, maybe because it's a bit fatty?), but does like meat, so will try upping meat portions. Loves roast potatoes so will maybe do those more often too.

Doesn't like nutella (how is this possible? I could eat a whole jar off the spoon!)

Yes, this is tricky for me, lots of things here that I thought as a "good mum" I shouldn't let her eat much of, but seems like I need to change my perspective and think high calorie = good, instead of focussing on the fruit and veg so much.

Her school has a snack policy where they are meant to bring in a piece of fruit/veg at break time, might have a word with them and say because of our circumstances would they let us bring something else. She loves choc brioche, and usually has it for breakfast, so could maybe give her an extra one of those or a sandwich.

Burgers?

Would she eat a traditional bacon & eggs etc. cooked breakfast in the morning? You said she likes pancakes and that's a pretty high-cal option. Also good idea to talk to school about the problem and ask for her to have a high-cal alternative when others are eating fruit and veg. Dried fruit is a lot more calorific... would she eat that?

Likes burgers, we have those about once a month, maybe we should have them more.

My partner made her sweetcorn omlette a few weeks ago and she liked that too. She likes bacon, but not eggs (unless mixed in egg fried rice).

Doesn't like dried fruit, but used to like dried fruit snack bars, only the school bars variety but then she "went off them", which happens with quite a few things. Maybe time to try again.

Today she's had brioche for breakfast, lunch was scampi & chips, dinner was chinese takeaway (chips, spare ribs and chicken balls), with a mars ice cream for pudding, so not a traditionally healthy one by any means! Lots of high fat and calorie foods there.

I think she is just one of those people, like me, that can eat anything and not put on weight, and unfortunately my ex has jumped on this and tried to make a big issue out of it for his own ends.

"I think she is just one of those people, like me, that can eat anything and not put on weight,"

I know it may seem that way but, mostly, 'naturally' thin people are that way because they're either very active or they don't eat as much as they think. Fat people tend to be less active than necessary and eat more than they think. To successfully gain weight of 2-3lbs a month and keep it on, an active person has to take in an extra 500-1000 cals a day, every day for weeks on end. It's rather more difficult than it sounds.

That does sound hard when you put it like that, especially if I don't want her diet to consist mainly of junk food.

No room for an ice cream maker. Our small kitchen is already full, including the worktops! (blender, steamer and slow cooker take up all the room)

She is already allowed an ice cream a day for her pudding. Will make chocolate fondue more often too - a whole bar of green and blacks and a pot of cream, with a bit of honey to sweeten, and strawberries to dip in. One thing with cream in she does like!

Today was choc chip brioche and apple juice for breakfast, fish and chips for lunch (we ate out at the zoo), and sausage sandwich with salad for dinner (she ate extra sausages, too). 2 ice creams today - smarties one at the zoo and a mars one for pudding.

That all sounds really unhealthy to me, certainly should have had a lot of calories in!

A normal lunch at home would be a ham sandwich with carrot and cucumber sticks and some doritos.

She's no more active than any other child I know. I think during term time she doesn't like her school dinners much so maybe not eating enough then. I let her have packed lunch twice a week but no more as she likes the same limited thing every day and I want her to get used to trying new foods. She also often brings half her sandwiches and crisps home again, so I think that's maybe where we're falling down. Another thing to bring up with school, perhaps.

What you're describing is pretty high cal and all you have to do to 'healthy it up' is to add a few more fruit and veggies and maybe some more wholegrains. Day trips often end up as sugar, fat and salt festivals but, taken in the context of a whole week, a few ice-creams and chips aren't a problem.

Do check with school that she's eating the lunches. A packed lunch where you can control the calories and which you are sure she is eating is better for an underweight child than picking round a school dinner.