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Tips to Help My Toddler Gain Weight

If you are the parent of a toddler you may have discovered getting your child to eat can sometimes be quite challenging. Toddlers are picky eaters and it's common for parents to worry about their child's weight. One day your child may eat everything you put in front of him and the next day, he might eat close to nothing at all. There are several tips you can apply to get your toddler to consume the nutrients he needs so he gains weight.

  1. The Smorgasbord

    • Sitting a toddler down for breakfast, lunch or dinner can be difficult, because they are at an age where they are too busy exploring their surroundings to do so. Nibbling, fits better into their lifestyle. Place a bite-sized variety of nutritious foods on a compartmentalized tray. The toddler should be able to access the tray easily while playing and exploring. He will interrupt his activities to sit down and nibble on some of the bite-size foods. Offer foods that stay good for up to two hours and are high in calories yet nutritious. You can serve wedges of hard boiled egg, apple slices with peanut butter, banana slices, cubed pieces of cheese and pieces of bread with butter.

    Drinking Extra Calories

    • Another remedy to get your child to consume more calories is to serve him high-calorie liquids. Offer your child whole milk or a nutritional drink, such as PediaSure, two to three times per day. Making a smoothie is another way to get your child to consume extra calories. Use whole milk in the smoothie and include ingredients such as juice, peanut butter, honey and a variety of fruit. Let your child help you make the smoothie so that drinking the smoothie will be looked at as an accomplishment and reward.

    Cooking

    • Getting your child to gain weight, doesn't mean feeding him unhealthy, fattening, sugary foods. Look at nutrition first and calories second. When cooking your child's food, make small adjustments that increase the caloric content of the meal, but don't effect its nutritional value. When baking or cooking, increase calories by replacing water or milk with whole milk, evaporated milk, or half and half. When making fish or chicken, add an extra coating of flour or breading before cooking it.

    Serving Snacks

    • Whether serving your child snacks in between his meals will make him gain weight depends on the child and his eating habits. If your child is a picky eater, you may want to limit the amount of snacks you serve so that his appetite for breakfast, lunch and dinner doesn't spoil and he is somewhat hungry by the time a meal is served. Make eating a family engagement. Sit the entire family down at the dinner table and set a good example for your child. If he sees everyone eating, he might get motivated to eat also.

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