Dairy free, fussy and underweight

[woollysocksaresexy]

My 2 yr old DS has had to go dairy free. He has always been slim, but he is now actually losing weight. As well as being dairy free he is also pretty fussy. Does anyone have any good ideas for high calorie meals and snacks? He doesnt like any dairy free replacement milk or anything. We have an appointment with a dietician but it's still a while away. Thanks!

Avocado? Cashews?

Peanut butter
Cook food in oil
Real mayonnaise not reduced fat

Hummus, peanut butter, nut butters, avocado.

Frying foods in oil as opposed to grilling etc if he’s really underweight

Baked beans/lentils to bulk out meals

Sweet foods if allowed - Oreo biscuits, ginger nuts, bourbons

Birds custard in the tin is dairy free but you’ll need to use his own milk

Milk replacement but with crusha added to disguise taste.

Make a smoothie with banana, peanut butter, milk replacement etc

Toast with df soread(use thick slices) add jam or peanut butter etc.

Oily fish like salmon, mackerel and sardines are quite calorifically dense but full of healthy fats
Try coconut milk based sauces
Granola is pretty calorific - but try to find a lower sugar one

Nuts are brilliant for this. Nut butters spread on everything but also ground nuts. If you grind them fine enough you can add to almost anything. If your dc eats breaded chicken/fish you can mix ground nuts with breadcrumbs to coat. They can also be added to pastry and even stirred into things like the mince base of cottage pie (but make sure they are really fine like dust!)
Also, just Roll pastry is dairy free (except the all butter one).
Add olive oil pasta and veg.
Get used to reading labels, their can be about 80 calories difference between two slices of bread!
Some of the dairy free cheeses are ok.

You say he’s fussy, can you give examples of likes and dislikes?

Coconut milk based curries
Sweet potato
Nuts, seeds, and nut butters
Dried fruit
Avocado
Rice and quinoa
Legumes
Olive oil and coconut oil

I'm DF and me and DD have just blueberry pancakes made with Almond Milk. You could pour syrup onto them if you want to add calories.

What foods does he currently trust?

I had a similar dilemma when my son was that age dairy free and underweight I used to go round the supermarkets in the free from isles picking out the most high calorie foods waitrose free from muffins used to be a go to alpro chocolate milk and alpro strawberry mini cartons also koko used to do a high calorie cream which i stuck in everything almond butter and peanut butters are your friends here! I used to put pure coconut oil in everything and avocado oil if you can disguise. Avocados and mangos surprisingly high calorie and good fats if your not too worried about sugar gu do some amazing vagan deserts.

Thanks for all these great ideas, I've been trying a lot of them already so glad I'm on the right lines. Things are further complicated by the other kids who have their own likes and dislikes. with the 3 of them all complaining I've taken to just making the same meal for us all, avoid things I know they will HATE, but otherwise as long as I know they will all eat part of what is in front of them, I feel they cant complain too much. If they are actually dropping weight though, I may have to give this up. (although they still cant have hummus and breadsticks for every meal, FFS!)

Smoothies are a good idea. You can make a gorgeous banana and strawberry smoothie with a dairy free milk. The pinker the better- kids love it. Good thing about smoothies is you can add supplements and proteins and he won't taste them. A little honey to sweeten also helps.

You can also freeze leftover smoothie into ice lollies.

You can also get dairy free Nutella type spreads in most shops now which is a great treat. Would he like a spoonful in porridge? I make porridge with oat milk as I think it tastes the best- I drink milk but hate my porridge made with it. I then add raspberries and a dollop of Nutella.

DS is also 2, skinny and dairy free. He has the Alpro 1-3 milk, its quite sweet. He had dry cereal or toast with peanut butter, vitalite or occasionally jam for breakfast.

At nursery he has everything they give him but at home he has a lot fish fingers with a potato option and beans/veg. Some spaghetti hoops don't contain milk, he was eating chicken Gordon's but has gone off them. You can get vegan pesto now but he won't try it so he'll have plain pasta or some flavoured rice with veg.

Fruit, veg snacks, rice cakes, some biscuits and crackers don't have milk. Jelly or dairy free custard, alpro yoghurts are nice. We'll bake with vitalite and oat milk.

He used to eat vitalite cheese at home but won't now, I've tried it and alright - like cheap mild cheddar

There's no way he would try salmon or avocado as suggested above. I just check the ingredients of everything and buy from the free from range if I can't find a brand of product in the normal range

Sausages too