please can someone help me fatten up my toddler...

[PellMell]

She is falling through the centiles gone from 50th to under the 2nd and has not put weight on or gone up a shoe size in almost a year (she is 2.2 yrs)....hv going to delay referal to paediatrician for 3 months.I have one other daughter who's "failure to thrive status" was directly linked to her syndrome (she is disabled)
With dd2I do think it is just that her diet does not provide her with enough calories because her preferances are naturally for leaner food and I struggle to encourage her to consume milk and milk based foods. She refuses cheese too.
I really don't want to start having dd2 prodded about and investigations done if I can get some weight on her..
any advise or suggestions or even yummy recipes.
tia

Is hse healthy in other respects? Is she a normal, energetic toddler?
If so, then I really wouldn't worry.
It's normal for weight gain to slow at some point.
My dd2 fell underneath the bottom centiles long ago. She's fine, just skinny, like a lot of children.

How is her height, PellMell?

thankyou belgo. I think you are right.
I know unlike her sister that she is very well and healthy.
I am getting more sensative to comments lately and understand the hV taking the precautions she has like mentioning the paed.
I wish people would stop asking me if she is o.k? (I think a reference to her sister really)

DD went through a really skinny phase

gave her toast with butter, pitta bread and hummous, scrambled egg made with butter and cream, if there is no history of nut allergies, would give your DD peanut butter too... i also found that feeding DD little and often helped as she seemed so overfaced by bigger meals...

and as much milk as she would drink

does she like yoghurt?

chicken & broccoli in sauce made with tomatos and olive oil, with pasta,

salmon , peas and potato mashed with butter

Pellmell - ignore what other people say. I had some family members commenting on my skinny baby, seemingly trying to imply that I wasn't feeding her, (especially as I was still breastfeeding), and they would conveniently ignore the fact that all the babies in my and dh's family are skinny.

If this is stating the obvious to you, please don't take offence! The kinds of diets we should be aiming for as adults - tons of fruit and veg, wholemeal everything etc etc is too fibrous for young children - ie the fibre fills them up too quickly so they haven't room for more food and therefore aren't taking on the calories. Might be worth looking at that as a possibility?
Can you give examples of what she is typically offered (and then how much she might eat) in a day/over a couple of days?

meant to say, skinny isn't always a problem. My DD is really tiny, to the point i get really upset when people comment on it, but she eats like a horse and is incredibly active. Which is why I asked what your DD eats typically in a day.

thanks for your support
no time now but will be back later.
What I really want to do is do some cooking up and freezing some hearty meals. She is a good eater if a little selective, hates rich food. She doesn't like milk or yoghurt or cheese. She loves fish, pasta , chicken and loads more. I suspect because of my own problems with being overweight I have gone overboard trying to choose healthy options which she doesn't always need.

Will she eat custard? When I struggle to get anything at all down dd (13mths), she will invariably tuck into a pot of Ambrosia custard. It has about 150 cals in a pot. I mix it with half a pot of Organix peach and oats (100 cals a pot).

Therefore 200 calories and almost 100% guaranteed to eat. I am trying to fatten dd up too and am more concerned about calories than sugar tbh.

I had forgotten about custard...yes I will try that one tonight.
Today she had a tantrum because I said no to "can I have more pickles mummy"
She will eat those huge gerkin things but leave her sandwich.

can you try the - you can have the pickle once you have eaten the sandwich - approach.

So get her to eat some filling food with the promise of her favourites afterwards.

as long as she is eating and is otherwise well i wouldn't worry my dd was recovering from pneumonia and hadn't eaten well while ill so I put her back on formula, i then gave her dinochews and fish oil, but she'd been ill. i wouldn't shovel her full of sugar tho it's not healthy.

i make a soup with lots of healthy things in too, pulses, quinoa, etc, always try and give warm meals too.

Healthy is fine when you have a baby or toddler who is on the 90th centile. If you've got one on the 0.9th you have to make sure every mouthful has maximum calories in it.

As long as the diet is balanced a bit of sugar won't make any difference. If your lo will eat 10 mouthfuls, more calories in the custard than in a vegetable soup. I'd go with the custard.

Both mine are just skinny minnies and tall, too.

Neither DH nor I has a 'fat tooth'. We don't like heavy foods, can't eat much at one time and are consequently slim folks.

The girls are the same, so we just offer snacks during the day.

I would opt for a check-up if they are on 0.9th centile

Quiche is a great high cal food that loads of children love. My DS eats tons of it. However if your DD doesn't like eggs / cheese etc she might not like it.

Would second the custard thing too. DS will ALWAYS eat Ambrosia Devon Custard, full fat of course... (wont eat it when I make Birds instant stuff though ).

she loves quiche actually as long as it doesn't taste cheesy. I should try making some with salmon or something.
She really is a good eater. Friends of mine always compliment me on how well she eats and "isn't she tiny though" always gets a mention.
I have made sure that her meals have been a bit higher in calories the last couple of days and thought more about her snacking on things like banana or a milkshake instead of plain milk (which she leaves)
She is a healthy child and I am going to just think a bit more about what I offer her.

Pellmell - obesity is on the increase amounst kids in Britain, so a skinny child stands out more, becasue it's becoming more unusual.

My dd's in the 2nd percentile & she's almost indifferent to food (except sweets, which she gets once in blue moon) so I sympathise. Try giving your dd food kids don't usually like. Mine likes olives, red pepper, spinach and fish (good source of calcium). Also almonds, which I roast myself. She also adores plain yogurt with blackcurrant sauce, which I make with only a tablespoon of sugar. And apple-minced meat crumble with clotted cream, although she loathes applesauce.

Try sneaking as much oil and fat into your cooking as possible. Fried food, oven chips etc.
You say she doesn't like cheese or milk. She may have a dairy intollerance - some people with this naturally avoid dairy products.
Try giving her meat and oily fish instead. Things like salami, sausages.
Too much fibre isn't so good for toddlers as was mentioned before, so fill her up on stodge instead of salad!