How to Help Your Older Baby or Toddler Gain Weight Nutritiously

Most toddlers are good about eating what they need to get the calories and nutrients necessary for their growing bodies, but sometimes it can be a challenge to find ways to pack on those extra pounds nutritiously, especially if your older baby or toddler has trouble with weight gain. As tempting as it might be, you cannot just let them load up on sweets or other fatty foods that are not healthy. Basic guidelines for the revised food pyramid are a great starting point to evaluate how your toddler's nutrition stacks up and to make sure he or she is getting adequate calories every day for healthy weight gain. Visit http://www.mypyramid.gov/ to set up a personalized food pyramid courtesy of the US Government.

Once you are certain you are offering your child a balanced menu (keeping in mind your child may opt to not eat everything all the time, but that their nutrition is rounded-out over the course of a week), try working in some of these ideas to help them gain weight healthily.

- Start by incorporating calorie-rich items from the food pyramid into your child's regular diet to promote weight gain. Try mixing in cooked chopped meat, nuts, beans, cheese, or wheat germ into your recipes to add calories.

- Olives are an excellent source of good fat for weight gain. Play up how fun it is to eat them by showing your child how to wear them on their fingers at the table. If you need to sneak them in, try adding them ground up or sliced on pizza.

- Olive oil is also an excellent source of good fat for weight gain. Make your child's favorite pasta dish and add one-half a teaspoon to his or her portion. They will not even notice the olive oil because it is in with the sauce and pasta.

- Realize not all yogurt is created equal. Check labels to make sure you are offering whole-milk (full fat) yogurt to your child. Many of the yogurts marketed toward children today are low-fat varieties, which is a missed opportunity to add healthy fat in your child's diet. I recommend Stonyfield Farm's YoBaby yogurt (http://www.stonyfield.com/). It is certified organic and comes in a variety of flavors. The company also offers some varieties of its yogurt with great extras like cereal (for added iron) and Omega 3s. Yogurt is another great way to up the weight gain potential with other foods too. Offer it to your child as a dipping sauce for fruit. To boost yogurt's weight gain potential even more, mix in wheat germ with your child's yogurt.

- If you are breastfeeding or bottle-feeding your older baby formula, continue to make sure they get all the milk they need to gain weight. If you have made the switch to cow's milk, make sure you're still providing whole-milk for your child even if it means buying a separate gallon of skim or non-fat milk for you so they can continue to get the extra calories they need to gain weight. When cooking, use milk in place of water in your recipes (such as for hot cereal, soups, sauces) to add extra calories to your child's diet. Powdered milk can also be sprinkled into meatloaf, casseroles, etc. to add calcium, protein, and most importantly help your child gain weight!

- An occasional treat that will really help boost the calories your toddler takes in is chocolate milk (and what toddler can resist that?!). Instead of using chocolate syrup or powdered cocoa mix to make the chocolate milk though, substitute Carnation instant breakfast mix (or a similar product) to make the chocolate milk. I recommend occasional use of this "treat" or weight gain tactic though as you do not want your child to become accustomed to drinking chocolate milk so much so that they refuse regular, unsweetened milk.

- Cheese is another great way to help your child gain weight. White cheeses are usually better than yellow or orange cheeses in terms of nutritious fat so add that extra mozzarella to the pizza and stock up on string cheese. Other great snack combos for your toddler could include cheese and crackers or cheese with apples. Grilled cheese and macaroni and cheese are other toddler favorites. Other options include cream cheese on bagels or used in dips for fruit or crackers.

- Avocado is another excellent source of good-fat for healthy weight gain. Try making it into dips and adding it to sandwiches.

- Peanut butter can be a great source of healthy calories for weight gain. If you want to go one-step healthier nix the sugar-loaded varieties and go with an organic, natural peanut butter (make sure you mix it up first as the oil tends to separate over time). Peanut butter can be used in all kinds of recipes, is a stand-by sandwich filler, and makes a great dip/spread for active toddlers. Just be sure that your child does not have a peanut allergy before introducing peanut butter in large quantities to them. Also spread peanut butter very thin - your child should never eat large chunks of peanut butter as it can be a choking hazard for young children if eaten this way.

Little tummies can get turned off by a big plate of food so keep portions small and encourage them to have seconds and thirds if they want at meals and snacks. Instead of offering your child three big meals a day, break their eating into more of a five-to-six small meals or snacks per day plan to help them have an appetite for eating. If your toddler seems to be filling up too quickly at meals, try to stay away from soups or items with high liquid concentration like fruits and vegetables that may satiate them before they are able to eat enough to meet their calorie needs. These can make your child feel full quickly and stay full longer, but do remember it's still important that your child gets a balanced diet so offer these items after they have had something else higher in calories first so they can gain weight.

Toddler eating quirks can further hamper your weight gain efforts if you try to introduce recipes or items that are unfamiliar or not their favorite food item. If you have gotten into bad habits letting your child dictate what is on the menu, you can try to redirect them back to more nutritious and balanced menus. Try sneaking in the vegetables (or whatever item you are struggling to get your child to eat) to foods that your toddler already knows and loves so they are eating balanced meals while gaining weight. Check out the book Deceptively Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld (http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/), for how to puree vegetables and hide them in yummy items your toddler will gobble up. Just remember to always serve portions of the vegetable on the side also so your child becomes accustomed to seeing and eating the vegetables and will eventually eat them without you having to sneak them into their diet. Do not be discouraged if your toddler does not want to eat them initially - some children have to be introduced to a food twenty times before they will try it!

Keep in mind that many older babies weight gain slows down and some may even lose a little weight when they start walking because they are expending a lot of calories in the process. Your child may simply be destined to always be in the lower percentile for weight gain so try not to compare them with their peers. There are many reasons why a child may be slow to gain weight so make sure you have your child checked out by your pediatrician to rule out any possible illnesses, diseases, or genetic problems that may be keeping your child from putting on healthy weight for normal growth. Whatever the cause - trying some of these suggestions can help your older baby or toddler gain the weight they need to be healthy.