13 month old barely eats?

Question

My 13 month old is small for her age she was 28 inches long and 18 1/2 pounds on her last doc visit a month ago doc says she is now in the 4th percentile and that she needs to eat more, she is still nursing mostly just at night though she wakes about 3 times a night for breakfast, luch and dinner I can usually only get her to eat about 10-15 bites of food, I offer her 3 snacks a day and she'll take between about 5 bites and is done I can only get her to drink 10 ounces of milk the whole day, even though her cup is always available for her to pick up and drink I put 2 ounces in at a time every 2 hours either fill up or dump to put new in if anyone has anysuggestions on gettting her to eat more or fattening her up I would love to hear from you?

Answer 1

Ok where were you 2 months ago when I was going through the same thing with my son??? My son is very light, but very tall and gave us many problems to eat... But he thankfully is Now eating better.
First, we chose food really high in calories to feed him. This was his typical diet for the day: Breakfast (cream of wheat with whole milk and cinammon) then we forced him to have a banana gerber jar (after forcing him which most people don't believe in, he all of a sudden started eating more....) Snack, baby yoyo yogurt, lunch i would make lentil soup with ham and sausage, and vegies and blend that up for him with his cup of milk, Snack thick homemade pudding, Dinner, a puree of what we ate.
I understand your frustration! My folks were bothering me all the time b/c they claim that weight has a connection with brains... whatever :)
Well moving forward, I bought tons of toddler cook books and slowly when he learned to eat more he also wanted to feed himself and it worked! Good luck, and feel free to email me for recipes and stuff.

Answer 2

If she is refusing to eat anything, you may need to have some testing done on her to make sure everything is alright. Have you tried the sweet babyfoods like the desserts and fruits? If it is babyfood you have her on, try some good homemade mashed potatoes. Small bites of hot dogs or sausage. She is old enough to start experimenting with "adult" foods, just watch her. Puffy cheetohs are good at that age too because they "melt" in you mouth. Hope all gets better.

Answer 3

My toddler loves avacado, which contain potassium, folic acid, vitamin E and fiber, in addition to a substantial number of calories.
As an alternative to ice cream milk shakes, I suggest whole milk yogurt fruit shakes. If you really want to increase the calories and nutritional value, you could boost it with some protein powder. Things like coconut milk are also have high calorie count and is flavorful.
An easy-to-prepare food that my daughter requests often is Peanut Butter Play Dough. Mix approximately equal amounts of creamy peanut butter and powdered milk together; sweeten with honey to taste. Aim for a dough-like consistency, so that it can be squished, rolled, and stamped into cookie shapes if she's into playing as well as eating. Sorry to be so vague about the proportions, but it's a forgiving recipe -- and full of protein, calcium, fat, and toddler appeal.
I put butter on all of the kids vegetables (and anything else I can think of: pancakes, toast, pasta, etc.) when they were little. Sometimes I add a tiny bit of salt to vegetables just to make it more enticing. Specifically I take about 2-3 T. of frozen corn or peas, microwave them for about 45 seconds and add a hefty tablespoon of butter.
Another food that has been extremely helpful is whole milk yogurt. Sometimes I add maple syrup to the yogurt too.
You could also make a bechamel sauce with whole milk and whole milk cheeses to add to pastas, vegetables, or breads.
Use lots of olive oils, especially extra virgin olive oil, as they are high in calories but also contian essential fatty acids.
You can try to give her waffle sticks with some Nutella...or any nut butter (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc.). Most of the frozen breakfast pastries have about 200+ calories per serving...and they are quite yummy.
You might want to try things like mini corn dogs, frozen tamales, or anything that she finds "fun" and that is high in calories.

Answer 4

you should try to give her some pedisure so she can get some type of nutrition my both my children went through this stage where they would not eat anything that much