Aitch, I know you're very very busy right now but I need some help with underweight blw-er. Advice welcome from anyone else who can offer advice too.

[Dragonbutter]

DS2 (18months) has been poorly which resulted in his being assessed by paediatrics today. Turns out to be a viral illness but they picked up that he was underweight, now 0.4th centile or something. Something i knew anyway, but hate having him weighed because he's always been low on the centile chart and i can see his ribs and it worries me, then i realise he's developing fine and eating well and there's not much i can do, and we carry on, and decide not to have him weighed again.

Anyway, he's pretty much been baby led weaned purely out of laziness and being all AK'd out on DS1 (i had a mouli . He loves fruit and veg but leaves meat or fish on his plate or on the floor. Likes pasta, rice and dried fruit. He's not keen on sloppy food (sauces etc), he likes to be able to get a grip of his food.

How on earth do i help him gain weight? He insists on feeding himself and loves using a fork but i'm concerned that most of the food might be going on the floor.

Feeling guilty that i might be doing something wrong. i've always thought he was a good eater

Ok, I have to go to bed (no extra hours sleep for me and DD!). I hope the advice has been useful and not teaching you to suck eggs! Try not to worry too much. Could be worse, he could only eat cheese sandwiches and turkey dinosaurs [true story]

all good suggestions. i think i knew this was coming really as i bought a goodfood recipe book on thursday looking for more ideas for him.

i wonder if he gets uncomfortable in his tripptrapp chair, he always wants out.

i'm going to try lots of different approaches i think.

Pasta with chopped avocado and pesto stirred in while it is still hot, then add steamed mangetout or soya beans, and cherry tomatoes. Always gets scoffed. Add olive oil and olives to the pasta too, nice and fatty! Hmmm :-)

thanks. I'll probably not sleep tonight for thinking up calorific recipes.

thanks for all the advice.

yes 'healthy' food is all well and good but they need plenty of fat too, and not too much fibre.

that's why they have fullfat milk, but adults would normall have semi skimmed or skimmed as we have less need for fat.

gosh woolly, can i come round to yours for tea? that's sounds lovely.

ooh, olives, didn't think of them because i'm not a fan.

i use up chicken with a recipe like that, woolly. yum.

dragonbutter - I too have a tiny 17 month old ds! Mind you, he eats like a horse (well, most of the time - sometimes think he's eaten loads then I lift him out of his chair!), and pretty much devours as much as his 3 yr old sister who is a little chunky!

I'm not sure how heavy he is as he's not been weighed for at least 4 months, but I'd guess he's not much more then 22lbs - in 6-9month bottoms and 9-12 tops!

He's generally well (has s bit of a wheezy chest) and is lively all day trying to keep up with his big sisters. I'm hoping he'll catch up at some point though, but dh is only 5'5" and was a small child.

thanks madamy. it's been a rough day and i'm worried that i've been too relaxed and should be paying more attention.

yes i know what you mean about the chair, and the floor. he plays with his food a lot which i've always thought was a good thing and just leave him to it.

time for bed.
night ladies.
i'll let you know how his porridge and fruit and honey goes for breakfast.

donlt know if this will help, but my DD (nearly 17mo) hates being helped and loves to use cutlery as well, and like bumper's DD it causes more distractions than not. What I find helps is having a second fork on the go, which I load up for her, give it to her, she dips it on the plate and then eats what's on it, and then we repeat with the other fork that I have loaded whislt she is busy with the first one. Makes my mealtimes interestingly slow, but at least she gets some food in that way.

I worry about her eating as she is a picker generally and what she loves one week won't touch the next.

And the centile thing...pah. the very nature of centile charts means someone has got to be on the extreme ends, be that lower or higher. HCPs seem to forget that sometimes.

I think sometimes it's easy to go completely the oppopsite of pfb when it's number 2, 3 or more. I know I can be a bit too laid back about his develoment, and as the other 2 are 3 and 5, it can be somewhat hectic so he just fits in.
I do worry that he's a bit too small. I've not had him weighed deliberately I think - ignorance is bliss and all that. Am taking notes from here about other food ideas!

It's a real shock after the neglect ease of BLW and not having to help them, to suddenly have to be helping them when they progress on to cutlery, I am most put out that I don't get to just get on with my dinner any more!

Don't feel bad dronbutter, you sound like you are doing a great job and just need a bit of inspiration.

DD too is a bit of a picker and like yours daisy, she's like something one week and not be bothered the next. I always feel bad when I hear that someone's baby will "eat anything" and "eats as much as me!" and I then start to wonder if we hadn't done BLW if she would eat anything.

Thanks everybody.
He's woken up really hungry this morning and had a 4 course breakfast so i'm thinking it's more to do with him being ill than him not being offered the right things.
will definitely take on all your ideas as he obviously needs to have more fat reserves to stop him getting so ill when he's lost his appetite.
He's so little i imagine he'll prefer to nibble all day than eat large meals but we'll see how we go.
Thanks again.

That's great dragon. These are the bowls I was talking about. If I had some money I would invest in them myself.

they look good but a tad on the expensive side, especially with all the olives and hummous i have to add to the grocery list.

i have one of those sticky pads meant to keep the plate stuck to the table but he sees it as a challenge and it's quite impressive just how far a bowl of peas can fly once he manages to unstick it.

My DD3 is a little dink and definitely prefers to graze rather than eat proper meals.

If you want to boost his calories have you tried peanut butter on crackers, pasta with creamy sauces, breadsticks to dip into sour cream dips/hummus/guacamole. Grate parmesan onto spag bol, add nuts to meals if possible (ground almonds add calories and protein) and alternate cups of water with higher calorie drinks eg milkshakes or diluted juice.

They are a bit expensive but maybe and idea to give to the Grandparents as a Christmas prezzy. That's what I have just done anyway!

oh that's good about the breakfast. dd loses alarming amounts of weight if she's ill, it just drops off her. i just do the high cal thing for a while to make myself feel better... ben and jerry's anyone?

i've got a fridge full of hummous, olives, and lot of creme fraiche and cheese to make some lovely pasta sauces and he's gone and started refusing anything solid.

he's still not well, very lethargic and knackered looking. running a bit of a temperature and puking and wretching with his cough. the doctor has advised i let him eat anything he'll take including plenty of milk if that's what he wants.

today he's mostly had yoghurts and some bought fruit purees.

i want to sleep in his room with him tonight. it's so worrying when they're ill.

how do you spell wretch/retch?

retch. Poor wee boy, and poor you. Yoghurts, porridge etc sound good - porridge for dinner would be fine, I reckon. What about pancakes? Nice and soft if he has a sore throat, and lots of eggs and milk.

on popular demand:

'pull yourself together, give him bowl of porridge and tell him to snap out of it'

(I am easily led)

Let me know if you want my yummy rice porridge with cinnamon recipe. All kids love it.

I do, quint, I do!!!