What can I feed my 9 month old so he can gain more weight?

Question

I took my baby boy to his monthly check up yesterday, and the ped. said he is underweight. He's 9 months old and weights 7.600 kg and his height is 74 cm, the equivalent of (if I'm not mistaken), 16.7 lbs and 29 inches. He's a very healthy boy, he hasn't gotten sick. He's very active, he eats very well, from 2-3 whole fruits a day (bananas, apples, pears, etc...), at lunch he eats meat (red meat, turkey, chicken) with vegetables, he already eats yoghurt, and an average of 24 oz of formula with 6 oz of cereal a day.

The ped. said to increase the cereal and decrease the formula. He's been on vitamins and iron supplements, the ped. said to quit those, since he eats healthy, but only needs more weight.

But I think, since I'm average weight, and his father is really thin, maybe our baby will just be a thin person, I do
don't see anything wrong with that, as long as he's healthy and active.

But, do you have any tips? Should I change doctors?

Thanks!

brevejunkie: yeah, we're Mexican and we do live in Mexico. The dr. said that he's actually tall, he's in the 90% percentile in height (I'm tall too). And for that height, he needs and extra kilo.

Oh and he also said he's really pale and checked him for anemia (which thank God he doesn't have). But he's been always really white.

LOL a really white Mexican.

Answer 1

I am a nutritionist

first if your baby has always been thin your doctor shouldn't be concerned. for baby's they use percentile tables, so lets say your baby is in the 20th percentile, if he used to be in the 40th percentile then its time to worry, if he has always been around the 20th percentile its OK and normal for him

next your doctor is confused as to how a baby gains weight
your baby will lose weight if you take away formula and add cereal (because solids are less nutrient dense than formula is)

I would recommend you get a second opinion from a nutritionist (who went to school and understands diet) instead of listening to your child's doctor (who had a 40 min lecture on diet and nutrition, but is good at diagnosing disease)

Answer 2

And breathe.... Right, firstly, not that I'm advocating ignoring health visitors completely, but it's important that you realise they all have different view points and advice, and if you try to follow all of it you'll get very confused!!! Next, and most importantly, it sounds to me as if you are doing a stirling job - it can't be easy coping with a such a tiny baby (I presume he was early?!) and those early weeks must have been a very stressful time for you. Well done on getting this far and still having (most of) your marbles intact! Now we've got that out the way, I think you might benefit from reading up on baby led weaning - search for it on amazon and you'll find a great book whose author I can't recall right now, lol! I think there is only one book... anyways, whether you decide the weaning method is for you or not doesn'tmatter, I think you will benefit from hearing some of the things it has to say about the amounts of food your baby should or shouldn't be eating. I followed baby led weaning with my daughter - basically you don't use purees or 'baby food' only finger foods and milk - and at nine months she was mostly still having breastmilk, with the odd nibble of a carrot or half spoonful of weetabix. And her weight gain slowed - she barely weighs now, at 16 months, any more than she did at 9 months. But she is absolutely perfect. So basically, you're doing great, stop panicking and more importantly stop beating yourself up!

Answer 3

It sounds to me like you're feeding him all the right things. You might want to give him cereal and fruit for breakfast AND lunch instead of the meat for lunch. Save that for dinner. Cereals are loaded with carbohydrates, and that would plump him up. :)

You neglected to say what nationality you are. Not to stereotype, but I noticed some of your prior questions appear to be in Spanish. I live in an area of the United States that's heavily populated with Mexicans, and I can say from what I've seen, most Mexicans tend to have very very tiny babies. As a rule, they appear to be small-ish adults, as well. Very short and a lot of the times, thin. Are you Mexican? If so, does your doctor know that Mexican people are generally of a shorter stature?

Answer 4

Ok well this is a touchy subject for parents. My son was on the 30th percintile for weight and he would not gain at all but what I did was increase his ceral and got a sample of Scandical and you can get a free can via website. It adds calories to formula, food ,breast milk etc... it is tastless and odorless and really works for gaining weight also I gave him pedisure 3 times a day even as a infant but you need to go over this with pedatrician. You can see about a diffent formula too as there are many on market that have higher calories like nutromigeon.

Answer 5

he sounds healthy to me but u also have to remember that the charts are based on so many ppl and more people in this country are over weight. so.. and damn ur son is fat compared to mine my son when he turned 1 was 18 lbs and 30 inches tall and his pediatrician said he was get weight for his age and size. so it sounds like ur feeding ur kid fine just watch it and make sure he dont become another statistic of fat kids like most are and thats what the chart is based on cause most kids now adays are over weight cause there parents give them junk food and feed them when ever the child says thay are hungry. and a child will almost always say thay are hungry especaly if u ask them

Answer 6

As long as he's healthy i wouldn't worry about it. some kids are just thinner.

Make sure he gets enough fluids and don't give him junk like syrup water or chocolate milk. That will just build bad eating habits for later. As long as he is eating healthy and his tummy is full and he's happy then you're doing great!

Answer 7

your baby is healthy that's what counts and yes you may be correct he could have his dads build. doctors are human and i hate to say this but not always correct that's why people get second opinions. good luck :) and don't worry.