High fat finger foods?

[mm123]

DD is 12 months, and at her one-year check up, we found out that she's down to the 3rd percentile in weight. Up until now, she's been solidly at the 25th, so both us and her ped. are quite concerned. It may be due to the fact that she's been sick the last 2 weeks, and not eating a lot, but in any case, we need to try to get her to gain some weight.

The ped. suggested adding more fat to her diet. She's at a stage now where she WON'T take ANYTHING from a spoon- she only wants to feed herself! So, some of our ideas to increase her fat intake: full-fat cheese cubes, grilled cheese sandwiches, toast with extra butter/cream cheese, veggies with melted butter on top. Besides adding cheese/butter/oil to things, what else can we try?

Yogurt and other purees are out for now, since she won't take a spoon. Any other ideas?

[nrp]

Diced avocado is a winner with my DS (although my DD never liked it). It is a bit messy, especially if ripe, but he manages just fine.

We just introduced peanut butter, so that is a good one, but if you aren't doing PB yet, maybe try sunbutter spread thin on crackers?

Maybe also add some flaxseed oil (or other good-for-you oil) to oatmeal for breakfast?

ETA: Oops - forgot you said no spoonfeeding. So I guess the oatmeal is out. My kids would eat scrambled eggs with their hands at that age - especially with some cheese added in to give it a little more "body." You could also do 2-yolks per egg white, too, to up the fat content.

[newg]

My DD loves avacado as well.....scramble eggs with whole milk and cheese are one of her favorites too....
ummmm....
DD is not a fan of spoons either, but she'll let me feed her yogurt or fruit mixed with oat cereal....sometimes I give her her own spoon to play with and "practice"...takes a bit longer to feed her..and a bit messy...but I get the food in her mouth!
Also giving her food to feed herself while I slip in a spoodfull works too.
What about making mashed potatoes with whole milk and letting her feed them to herself. Again messy....but no spoon needed.
What about baking...muffins, bread (banana, oat bran....) and using whole milk...

[Momof3Labs]

I'd suggest taking her back in a month for a weight check. What is the difference in weight between 25th and 3rd percentile? No point in making yourself crazy if this drop in weight is just due to her being sick for a while!!

[cono0507]

My son was and is quite skinny. We used to give him a yogurt smoothie instead of milk with his breakfast and sometimes again as an afternoon snack. He also ate lots of cheese and we'd let him dip foods in full fat dips, cheeses, etc.

[zag95]

OK- what about cheese cubes, meat, scrambled or hard boiled eggs, fruits, some carbs (crackers, Cherrios, graham crackers, fig newtons etc.), Mac n cheese or other pasta creations, whole milk , veggies (peas, green beans, carrots, etc), cut up pieces of baked potato, etc.

Our daughter doesn't like to be fed, but she will take yogurt, pudding and other tasties....via mouth! Try some delicious greek style yogurt from Trader Joes- DD loved it!

[urquie]

dd2 just did the same thing... went from 25% to 3% (at her 9 month check-up). she is perfectly healthy and happy. dd1 was below 0% from about 6 or 9 months until about 2 years. at 5 yrs old, she's now 50% and has always been in great health! are you nursing? bf babies usually take a dip on the chart from 6-12+ months.

avocado is a great healthy fat. you could spread it on toast and cut it up small. dice it and sprinkle it with cheerio dust (or dry baby cereal) to make it easier to pick up.

baked oatmeal (http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=315555&highlight=baked+oatmeal) made with whole yogurt, whole milk, oil or butter, and ground flax seed.

[sste]

DS dropped down the weight chart right around a year too - - I think it is pretty common. DS was taking in less breastmilk but hadn't really become expert with eating solids to compensate. Also, all that crawling burns calories!

Anyway, he picked right up weight-wise around 14/15 months.

I agree with all of the pps suggestions - - the only other thing I can think of is if there is some sort of supplement or high calorie shake you can add to her formula/cows milk/pumped breastmilk. We didn't do that but if your pedi is concerned, maybe she knows of something??

[tnrnchick74]

One finger food that is a hit around here is a boca burger cut up. We usually throw them on the grill - then cut them up into managable hunks. No meat, high protein, and a great snack!

We also LOVE avocados too!

[goldenpig]

Sorry you're having to worry about/deal with your daughter's weight loss. It can be nerve-wracking and guilt-inducing trying to get them to eat and gain weight. My 21-mo old daughter has always been the same way--too independent to let me feed her but never seemed to eat enough to gain weight. She stopped letting me spoonfeed her at 8 months even though she wasn't that skilled at feeding herself initially. Compounded by the fact that she doesn't like milk or juice, only water or nursing.

You could also let her try spoonfeeding herself. It's a huge mess letting her feed herself (particularly with soup) but a skill they have to develop and she's getting much better at feeding herself and using utensils now. Here are some higher calorie finger foods that we've had success with (though her preferences are always changing and sometimes she rejects things that she used to love so I always have to keep up with new ideas):

Chunks of avocados
Scrambled egg yolks with butter and cheese
Croissants (she didn't like mini muffins but that's another option)
Cubed cheese sticks
Mac n cheese (with extra butter)
Ice cream Dibs (nuggets of ice cream)
Sliced olives
Cut up cashew nuts with raisins
Chicken nuggets with mayo and ketchup to dip
Buttered spaghetti, fusilli or ravioli in cream sauce
Edamame
Cheerios sprinkled on top of yogurt (so she has to eat some of the yogurt)
Cheddar bunnies or goldfish crackers
Snapea crisps, vegetable stix or potato sticks
French fries, ABC tater tots or sweet potato fries (we've tried the spinach and sweet potato littles but she hasn't gone for those)
Cut up hot dogs or sausages
Chow mein, fried rice, egg rolls, egg drop soup
Rice formed into little balls that she can pick up
Campbell's condensed soups, made with milk instead of water
Cheese pizza
White castle cheeseburgers
Mini quiches

My daughter never liked the following items, but yours might so here are some additional suggestions. If your daughter drinks whole cow's milk, try adding Carnation Instant Breakfast powder. Or you can make fruit smoothies with ice cream, yogurt or milk. Try yogurt drinks, kefir, soy milk or rice milk. You can also try cream cheese on mini bagels, strips of waffles or french toast with syrup or cheese, or cheese quesadillas cut into strips. You can try lunch meats rolled up with cheese into a "stick" that she can hold. Or almond butter and jelly or banana sandwiches. For protein, try black beans, cottage cheese, fried tofu or Vienna sausages. Give her things to dip her food in, like sour cream, whipped cream, yogurt or mayo. Cook everything in butter or olive oil.

We are also doing the following with my daughter (who is consistently less than 1 percentile and has had issues with silent reflux and poor appetite): supplementing her foods with Duocal powder (unflavored calorie supplement that we add to just about everything), started a medication called Periactin to increase her appetite, and feeding her yogurt or pudding while she watches Youtube cartoons. She's so distracted that she lets me feed her. It seems crazy but it's the only thing that works and it's better than the alternative (the ped said she might need tube feeds if she didn't gain weight). Since I started doing that (2 oz every morning and every night) she has gained 3 lb in the last month (she was previously the same weight for 4 or 5 months). I think it's mainly the TV plus pudding/yogurt that made the difference (Swiss Miss and La Creme are the highest calorie, btw). You could try letting her watch a little TV and see if she'll let you feed her that way if she won't eat.

Don't be alarmed, I mainly listed everything above to help other moms who are also going through prolonged poor weight gain. You may not need any of this since it sounds like she mainly lost weight after a temporary illness. Their weight will often rebound quickly after an illness even if you don't do any of the above. Also, weight gain often slows when they start walking and becoming more mobile, especially if they are breastfed (tend to be slimmer than bottle fed babies). Good luck and hang in there, I think she'll be fine.

[vludmilla]

We made high calorie/fat smoothies for DD when she was little. We added full fat yogurt, sometimes soy protein powder, avocado, vegetable purees, cod liver oil...you name it. She LOVES these smoothies--I don't think I could drink them but she'll drink almost anything if I call it a smoothie. If you think you need to make it sweet for your DC to drink, add some fruit to it. I used a hand blender and whipped these up quickly. She could drink in a sippy cup or using a straw.

[vludmilla]

Oh, and macaroni and cheese made with whole milk, yogurt and butter. A cup serving of that can have about 350-400 calories of good stuff.