What's the best way to get more calories into a toddler?

[Nuttyaboutnutella]

Over the last few weeks, my little boy hasn't been fussed about his bedtime milk and has recently stopped having it all together.

He's a very active little boy so the drop in calories has meant he's lost a little weight. Nothing drastic but some of his trousers are now falling down.

Sounds daft but what's the best way to get more calories into him?

He has milk on cereal but won't touch milk as a drink now (even with Nesquik or as a smoothie), he already eats a lot of cheese and yoghurt. We eat dinner at 6pm as a family so it's too late for him to then have porridge or something for supper.

Basically an example of his day is:
B - 1 Oatibix with milk and fruit, plus a slice toast with peanut butter.
L - cheese sandwich (one piece of bread) with fruit, and either a handful of crisps or a small piece of chocolate (he's also offered cucumber/tomato but never eats it)
D: whatever we are having followed by fruit and a big bowl of yoghurt (plain with fruit puree or a drizzle of honey)

He sometimes has snacks which are toddler fruit/oat bars (Organix etc), homemade flapjack, etc. Everything is full fat.

Should I increase his portions? So 2 Oatibix, bigger sandwich? Should add, we're very slowly coming out of a fussy stage but still not great (wouldn't touch his enchiladas last night) so he's not necessarily eating 3 full meals a day either. I'd rather not fill him up on chocolate/cake just to get the extra calories in him.

Dietician suggested adding a very generous amount of butter to all hot meals when we were trying to increase DD weight.

How about some home-made dips like guacamole, hummus, tzatziki etc? My daughter (23 months) loves anything she can dip and they are quite nutrient-dense foods.

Would he eat a mild curry made with coconut milk? That's quite high in calories (and it might be a good way of hiding some protein and veg). Also, if he is tricky about meat, would he possibly eat some tofu in a curry or stew? It is very plain-tasting and soft-textured, so it might help with getting him some more protein and iron.

For what it's worth, his portions don't sound enormous to me. My daughter easily polishes off 2 weetabix plus toast and banana for breakfast (and she is average height and on the slim side). I find that she is ravenous in the morning and pickier as the day goes on, so it might be a question of working out when he is most likely to play ball.

Avocados and bananas. These are good snacks for us. My boy is low in the centiles and the dietician suggested putting a spoonful of nut butter into other foods just to make sure he's getting the calories.