2 year old needs to gain weight..help!

Rachelle - posted on 07/26/2011

Oh and when we put the tube in my daughter was 1 1/2 and only 15 lbs. She is now 2 1/2 and 24 lbs. It does help.

Rachelle - posted on 07/26/2011

We used to use foods with very high calories. Peanut butter, mayonnaise, add butter to all foods. The thing that worked the best for us was adding olive oil to all her foods. It is high in calories and is a good fat. We still put a G tube in and it has worked great. Love no having to force meds down her and when she is sick and wont suck or eat we just put through her tube and move on. The tube is not as bad as you would think and if it makes them healthier then go for it. The surgery was not that bad for my daughter but the surgeon tried to do her feeding dose after and screwed it all up so I recommend you have her pediatrician do the dosing and enforce that. Once you get past the first time putting it back in it really is nothing. I pulled it out the first time by accident and once I saw how easy it was to put back in I was like wow. Now I change it out when needed by myself.

Jodie - posted on 06/20/2011

I know exacly what u mean about the gaining wieght my son is 6 years old and only weighs 30lbs but he was born very prematurly he wont drink the pedasure any more as well as the breakfast essentials i would like to have some suggestions on this myself

Melinda - posted on 06/20/2011

Hi, Beth. My son has CP and his body seems to burn more calories than we can put in. Some things that are helping him to finally gain are: We keep whole milk powder and add it to everything my son eats or almost everything. Also, our dr recommended that he drink milk as often as possible rather than water and juice so that he's getting more calories with his liquid. Bananas, oatmeal, sweet potatoes and many other are highly nutritious as well as high in calories. Here's a link with really good info on it: http://www.cancercenter.com/after-care-s...
Basically, make every bite count. You can also try pureed foods for some things. He gets more calories and nutrition that way. Due to Ethan's CP we have to puree all his foods but my daughter needs strong teeth, etc so she just gets only some of her food pureed. Just because he's eating a lot doesn't mean he's getting what he needs. Shoot for high nutrition and high calories with everything including snacks. Also eating more often may help. At times, both of children were eating every two hours.
I hope this is helpful.

Jenny - posted on 06/20/2011

My daughter is not on the growth chart either. She is 7 1/2 years old and is only 28 lbs. and 42 inches tall. She has spastic quad CP. She has allergies to milk, lactose, soy, rice, goat milk and artificial sweeteners so it is hard to find things to help her gain weight. She loves to eat and eats pretty good. She has always been small and failure to thrive when she was a baby. But at that time we didn't know her allergies. Now her Physical Medicine and Rehab doctor says that as long as she maintains her weight and doesn't loose any and she continues to eat she is good. Her doctor says that if she weighed as much as a 7 year old or even a 4 year old her legs wouldn't be able to support her. Her doctor also says that due to her CP, PVL, and her sensory processing disorder, that she uses so much energy and burns so much calories that that is why she can not seem to gain weight.

Sandra - posted on 06/20/2011

I can understand how you are feeling. I have a little girl that is just shy of 8 and is 38 pounds. She is also below the 5th percentile and almost always has been since birth (she was 4# at birth). Overall she is small. We give her the high calorie Boost. Her doc says it is better than pedisure for her. We also try to keep her on whole milk products whenever possible. Hope it works out for you. A dietitian is also a very good idea as well. Investigating as to why he won't gain is another avenue to check into. For our daughter, it is that she won't eat most of the time.

Julie - posted on 06/20/2011

My little girl has always had trouble gaining weight. She will be 4 in October and is now 28 lb. Her doctors placed a G tube right after her 2nd birthday. We tryed everything to get her to gain but nothing worked. She now has feeding threw her G tube while she sleeps. She get Boost 1.5 and it has helped alot. It is hard thing trying to fight to get enogh calories in. But if your child has to get a G tub

Michelle - posted on 06/15/2011

I have triplet 3.5 year olds. They are 35, 25, and 22.5 pounds. The last two are WAY under weight. Add fats (butter, heavy whipping, and oil) and any other high calorie food you can think of (sour cream, cheese, and whole eggs). There is also something called Duocal. It is a powder you can add to food and if you get WIC you can have the local WIC office get it for you once you get Doctor approval. Good Luck!

Wendy - posted on 06/14/2011

My son went through the same thing. I don't think he was on the growth chart until he was 4 or 5. He is still very thin. His dietician had us try adding fats to his regular foods. Baked sweet potatoes with butter. The heavy whipping cream is good too. butters, oils. You need to add fats and have some high calorie foods. We actually had to set our alarm during the night (every 3 hours) to get up and feed him. I would ask doctor before doing that as it can become a habit and when you don't need to he may wake up automatically. It took my son a while to break that habit and he already has sleep issues.

Iridescent - posted on 06/14/2011

You can add creams, canola or coconut oils (MCT's) to his foods, butters, avocado to sandwiches. Look up foods for high calorie foods to give. A feeding tube is not the end of the world though either, so if it comes to that, honestly, don't feel like you've failed - you have not.

Karen - posted on 06/14/2011

Hi Beth. Has your son been to an endocrinist to see if its not his thyroid gland which is over producing the hormone thyroxine ?? Is there any other diagnosis your child has ? I see he had seizures. Has he had a MRI scan ? It could be hormonal issue with your child. Get a blood check from a endocrinist before you do the g tube ok.

Victoria - posted on 06/14/2011

Double cream is just like whipped cream and you can put it into anything so good luck

Tracy - posted on 06/13/2011

We had the same issue with our little one with CP. Her dietician basically had us get her to eat peanut butter on tons of stuff. She has a dairy allergy so couldn't do the normal butter, cream, pediasure stuff. Basically we ended up just letting her eat all day, anything that would get calories into her.

Mayme - posted on 06/13/2011

when my daughter was little we had the same problem with her not gaining weight. i added powdered milk to any of her food that it could be mixed into and also sometimes a little cooking oil. not much. i don't even know if they still make it but we fed her ensure pudding at every meal. she's 21 now and a little overweight. she is so much stronger with the extra weight on her.

Sammy - posted on 06/11/2011

hi try not to worry too much my daughter is 3 and only weighs 26lb and i know how upsetting it is. she see's a dietician and is being reffered to speech and language as her bottom jaw seems to have stoppeed growing, which doctor says will cause difficulty in eating

Beth - posted on 06/10/2011

thanks victoria. no i have not tried the double cream. what is that like whipped cream or something?

Victoria - posted on 06/10/2011

Have you tried adding double cream to his meals like curries,spag bol and baked beans even as it helps with my daughter she is 3 yrs old and she barely puts on weight but since adding the double cream its helped hope this will help for you if not ring the childrens hospital and speak to a child dietician to see if they have any suggestions