2 year old not eating enough!

[aikigypsy]

I have been concerned about DD's weight gain for a while. She was about 22 lbs. at 18 months, and is still less than 23 lbs now, at 24 months. I tried to get her a checkup at 18 months, but couldn't (another country, about to move, didn't feel like fighting a system I was about to leave, etc.), and then when we got here we were told that we couldn't have her seen until the next well-baby checkup at 24 months.

So there we were today, and sure enough, the scales/charts show that she's down to the 8th percentile in weight (though about 20th on the WHO charts). She was big (75th percentile) at birth but DH and I are both a bit on the small side of average and were small as kids. The physician recommends weaning, but I'm having a hard time seeing how that would help (she's almost down to 3 times a day -- morning, nap, and going to sleep -- with a tiny bit of night nursing).

I try to offer healthy foods as often as I eat and in between, but she eats some junk, too (Top Ramen is the latest favorite -- just the noodles, never the nasty flavoring pack). Usually she just won't eat much. She occasionally eats broccoli, but I've had virtually no luck getting her to eat red meat. She will not touch milk that doesn't come from me, but yogurt and cheese are fine. She has tooth decay, which I'm afraid might be contributing to her lack of appetite.

I don't know what to do! Any tips for getting her to eat more?

[paulamc]

My DS is 14 months, and he has been off the charts small since close to birth. One thing we do to increase healthy calories is give him peanut or almond butter from a spoon instead of just on bread. He'll sometimes eat 5 or 6 or more spoonfuls. Sometimes he doesn't want it off a spoon but will take it if I finger feed him.

The other thing we do is give him smoothies - he drinks them from a regular small glass as we've never done sippies. Basically full fat yogurt, a banana, some other fruit, like blueberries (which we buy frozen in the winter), and maybe a little breast or other milk to thin it down a bit.

Recently we've started getting full fat greek yogurt, which is higher fat/calories than the regular yogurt, and by the way DELICIOUS! You can get it at Whole Foods, but you have to look hard to find the full fat version because there's a lot of non-fat. I sometimes put it in the smoothies but he will also just eat it from a spoon.

With the veggies, he will often eat more if he's not in a high chair and instead on my lap or in the sling, and we eat from the same dish. I've been despairing that the only green thing he would eat is peas, but this week he's started eating steamed asparagus and slices of zucchini sauteed in butter. He's gone on a sweet potato strike however.

Have you found any ways to integrate avocado into his diet?

Good luck! Since our DS is younger I'm not sure how relevant these ideas are, but perhaps some of it would work.

[swd12422]

I second the smoothies, and add things like avocado and coconut oil to them, whatever's high in calories. I do this with my son, and use veggies, too, b/c he doesn't eat them whole. If I don't put in coconut oil, I sweeten with banana or some dates , but the rest is yogurt and veggies and whatever extra "fat" I've added.