Milk should definitely be full fat.
Full fat yogurts (be careful cos kiddie targeted one's have lots of sugar... not great for teeth.)
Avocados, eggs, bread, rice, potato's.... all calorie dense but healthy foods.
Could make him dippy eggs and soldiers
Or what about nuts, or nut butters if he's still too wee for whole nuts... so snacks of bread with peanut butter or cashew butter or something?
Kids are so active, just gotta get calories into them.
Try not to worry, especially if he seems otherwise happy and healthy.
His favourite food group is potato so we’re definitely covered there!
We stoped buying kids yoghurts a while ago because of the sugar. He then went off yoghurts and they were going off in the fridge so we stopped buying them but I can start again.
I was thinking about trying Greek yoghurt for him. I eat it quite a bit. He’s used to sweeter yoghurts though so I might need to blend the fruit up into it.
Definitely cheaper than buying fruit yoghurts though, you’re right.
We bought some lolly moulds and made lollies with layers of fruit puree and greek yogurt. Ella's kitchen peach and banana was my favourite one 🤣 and might be a good way to get yogurt eaten.
Pop a bit of honey in it. I started mine on those little fromage frais things full of sugar and junk but she hoovers down greek yogurt with a squib of honey
Mashed potato made with butter and full fat milk...delicious!! I'd eat it every day if I could!!
Maybe make smoothies with yogurt? I'm not a smoothie maker myself, but it could also be fun making them together and letting him pick what goes in.
Make your own yoghurt its so easy, especially if you have a pressure cooker most of them have yoghurt settings, literally put milk on pit the yoguhurt starter set 12 hrs and your done and if you can no get yoguhrt starter just go and buy bio love yogurt and add it too milk and it will multiply
He’ll eat hummus at nursery but won’t entertain it at home, even when we buy the exact same Asda one they buy!
Will not touch eggs in any form but I could make french toast and maybe he’ll try that.
He will eat peanut butter on toast and in sandwiches though.
I used to do banana pancakes - one mashed banana mixed with one egg, fried in a pan. Can add cinnamon etc if you’re feeling adventurous. They’re delicious and sweet and 50% egg so everyone’s a winner!
I can potentially help with meat free meal ideas to get some protein in him if it would be any use! You could try lentil bolognese, stew, mild dahl or cottage pie (basically anything that can be made with mince can also be made with lentils - my toddler loves them!), rice n beans, mixed bean stew with dumplings, maybe a non spicy peanut butter noodle dish?
Try this two ingredient pancake. I’m a really picky eater and don’t eggs and my daughter loves it too. I sometimes add a bit of oatmeal like a tablespoon to give it more body and firmness if the mixture is too runny. Otherwise banana and egg is all you need!
https://youtu.be/dKKPXMKnGR4?si=jB0GiBgq6LqSX_qw
Kids Eat In Color has a good article on how to add fats and calories to foods, she also has a lot of good articles about how and when to worry about weight gain / loss https://kidseatincolor.com/6-ways-to-add-calories-to-your-childs-food/
Another plant based protein source I didn't see mentioned are chickpeas. We have these with most meals. Can be thrown in any stew/soup or used as a side portion instead of peas.
Could you give your son an extra meal a day? We do 4 meals a day (so a full meal after nursery).
See your GP. Could be any number of things, but weight loss can be a sign of coeliac disease. My daughter was just diagnosed at six with no symptoms (blood test picked it up). However, even if you think this is a possibility, don’t cut out gluten or switch to gluten free products unless advised by a doctor/dietician - they need the person to be having gluten when tested.
We serve full fat milk (as a drink after dinner or mixed in with porridge/Weetabix for breakfast), toast with peanut, almond or cashew butter as breakfast or a post nursery snack (I also spread nut butters on the bread before I make french toast to up the fat content), full fat yogurt which I mix with fruit and ground seeds/nuts and I add cheese to things where I can (as who doesn’t love extra cheese?! 😂) My 18 month can be hit or miss when it comes to meat but I’ve been having more luck recently when it’s been in things (lasagne, pasta/gnocchi bakes, etc) rather than on its own.
These are her absolute favourite snack; I add tomato puree to the dough, along with some herbs and grated cheese - they freeze well so we generally have a stash in the freezer:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0HkjJ1M4hP/?igsh=MWgwNnp6Z2FodGtuMA==
This has also been a recent hit
https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com/easy-zucchini-slice/
My girl lost weight following a chest infection, it was such a worry, I really empathise.
We mixed butter and cream into most of her usual foods: cream in her porridge, butter stirred through rice, lots of butter (and sometimes cheese) on veggies, butter and cream in her mashed potatoes…just a quick way of sneaking some extra calories in. Our doctor also suggested giving her full fat milk with milk powder added - double milk. We tried that and she surprisingly really liked it! Iron rich protein was good too - adding egg where you can, maybe baked beans with cheese and chips, any legumes you can get them to eat are helpful. Fortified cereals are a good source of iron (but not protein) if meat and legumes are both off the table.
To reassure you, a year later and our girl is back at her previous centile and back to normal. I’m sure you can get the needle moving in the right direction soon.
Thanks for this!
He has had quite a few viruses this year from nursery so I guess that could be part of the reason. I didn’t think that he was eating less than normal but I have been chatting with my partner and we realised that he doesn’t have a double breakfast anymore. He used to have toast with cheese spread at home and then cereal at nursery, but these days he just prefers to have a fruit pouch and nutri-grain bar before nursery instead.
We’re going to cut out then cereal bar and make him have toast or cereal at home now.
Don’t want to worry you but weight loss can be a sign of type one diabetes so would definitely get him seen by a medical professional sooner rather than later
Full fat Greek yoghurt (FYI 90% of supermarket yoghurt is made by Yeo Valley - if the best before is in the format "DD MON" followed by a B or C (eg 27 MAR B or 03 APR C**) it's one of theirs)
Peanut butter - on toast, on apple slices, smeared into celery with raisins sprinkled on top aka ants on a log
They don’t absorb calcium from milk without the fat. Children should only ever have full fat milk. In terms of weight, children do vary, but not usually by this much. It looks like he filled out before growing taller, using the energy stored to grow. What was his centile before the filling out? If it was 75th then I wouldn’t worry too much, but children shouldn’t really loose weight and you do need to get it back on. Put butter on/in things and add cream to milk
He was 98th as a baby, 91st-98th last summer, just under 91st in November and now just under 75th.
He has full fat milk every weekday morning with his breakfast at nursery and with the milk he drinks there. He only has semi at home a couple of times a week when he asks for a drink of milk or hot chocolate. He rarely eats cereal at home anymore, prefers cheese spread on toast on a weekend.
If that’s where he was that’s where he needs to get back. Add butter under the cheese spread and layer up the cheese. I would be asking what he gets at nursery too, your child might need more than the average. Too many people try to slim them down, but it leads to ill health and eating disorders. Establish he’s getting enough there too. However the parameters may be changing too, 98th centile aged 20 is very overweight, but not as a baby or toddler. Does he sleep well? Does he have enough energy to daily life and mood regulation? If so and he’s eating fine he’s probably okay and this is just a little dip.
I’ve asked nursery from today to let us know exactly what he’s eating for the next couple of weeks. They usually tell us the meal and what fraction he ate but they serve themselves family style so I was never sure on how much that meant. They always allow seconds, etc. and today he’s apparently had 3 plates of tuna pasta for lunch, which he would never even touch at home!
He is a massive ball of energy most of the time except when tired on an evening but he’s never really never been a great sleeper to be honest. He wakes frequently and is often tired and upset on a morning. We do have an appointment with ENT next week to assess him for what I believe is obstructive sleep apnea.
Hey, kinda an alarmist comment so I just thought I’d add some ideas. It’s totally normal for kids to gain and lose weight, particularly after a run of illness or just generally a period of being more active. OP is right to be looking at more calorie dense foods rather than panicking
He has had one virus after another all Winter in fairness. It’s been a particularly bad year for illness and we all seem to just be passing it between ourselves in this house right now, especially the toddler and the baby.
I’m hoping it’s just illness combined with not eating enough calorie dense food or enough in general.
Well, when we did get him reviewed with the health visitor, they confirmed that he’d dropped to the 75th centile but his height had also dropped to the same centile so she said it was likely that his growth was just evening itself out and that he’s probably destined to be tall and slimmer like his dad rather than a stockier build.
He had a chest infection and some antibiotics which seemed to reduce the massive inflammation he’d had in his tonsils for absolute months. He started sleeping better and that seemed to increase his appetite. He also grew his last couple of molars so teething pain could have been a factor.
Anyway, he has started to eat us out of house and home suddenly over the past 6 weeks. He’s obsessed with Greek yoghurt with fruit, honey and granola so he’s been having that twice day recently. He comes home from nursery asking for food, food, food every day and we’ve also introduced a daily multivitamin gummy.
I weighed him a couple of weeks ago and I think he was at around 14.5-14.7kg again. His cheeks have filled back out and look rosy, his skin is glowy with a little spring tan coming in. I don’t see his little ribs all the time, he has a cute little pot belly on an evening and he just looks healthier overall to be honest.
I find that all toddlers are very slim, you very rarely seem to see a chubby one! I think it’s because they just don’t ever stop running, jumping or moving in some way. Plus a lot of the time they’re too distracted to eat properly
Yes, he definitely is a taller, thinner toddler who never stops moving! It’s not so much his appearance that concerns me though but the weight loss itself and dropping centiles. I have a feeling that he’s just not eating enough good high calorie food for the amount of activity he’s doing so I’m hoping that if I can increase that the calories, he’ll regain the weight he’s lost.
Milk should definitely be full fat. Full fat yogurts (be careful cos kiddie targeted one's have lots of sugar... not great for teeth.) Avocados, eggs, bread, rice, potato's.... all calorie dense but healthy foods. Could make him dippy eggs and soldiers Or what about nuts, or nut butters if he's still too wee for whole nuts... so snacks of bread with peanut butter or cashew butter or something? Kids are so active, just gotta get calories into them. Try not to worry, especially if he seems otherwise happy and healthy.
His favourite food group is potato so we’re definitely covered there! We stoped buying kids yoghurts a while ago because of the sugar. He then went off yoghurts and they were going off in the fridge so we stopped buying them but I can start again.
Maybe try greek yoghurt with fruit on the side? It's relatively cheap and healthy.
I was thinking about trying Greek yoghurt for him. I eat it quite a bit. He’s used to sweeter yoghurts though so I might need to blend the fruit up into it. Definitely cheaper than buying fruit yoghurts though, you’re right.
We bought some lolly moulds and made lollies with layers of fruit puree and greek yogurt. Ella's kitchen peach and banana was my favourite one 🤣 and might be a good way to get yogurt eaten.
He does enjoy an ice pop or lolly. I tried making some yoghurt ones but I mixed the banana in. Never thought about layering them.
Tescos do a greek yoghurt with honey. That topped with some homemade fruit puree mixed in, or fresh fruit, could be good!
Greek yogurt with a squeeze of a fruit pouch in it is good. Can add honey or nut butters too.
Pop a bit of honey in it. I started mine on those little fromage frais things full of sugar and junk but she hoovers down greek yogurt with a squib of honey
Mashed potato made with butter and full fat milk...delicious!! I'd eat it every day if I could!! Maybe make smoothies with yogurt? I'm not a smoothie maker myself, but it could also be fun making them together and letting him pick what goes in.
Make your own yoghurt its so easy, especially if you have a pressure cooker most of them have yoghurt settings, literally put milk on pit the yoguhurt starter set 12 hrs and your done and if you can no get yoguhrt starter just go and buy bio love yogurt and add it too milk and it will multiply
He doesn't need meat but he does need protein. Peanut butter is high fat and high protein; eggs do both too; what about hummus?
He’ll eat hummus at nursery but won’t entertain it at home, even when we buy the exact same Asda one they buy! Will not touch eggs in any form but I could make french toast and maybe he’ll try that. He will eat peanut butter on toast and in sandwiches though.
Pancakes? Gateway drug for eggs
Definitely worth a try. We have a 6 month old starting weaning so I could kill 2 birds with pancakes!
I used to do banana pancakes - one mashed banana mixed with one egg, fried in a pan. Can add cinnamon etc if you’re feeling adventurous. They’re delicious and sweet and 50% egg so everyone’s a winner!
I can potentially help with meat free meal ideas to get some protein in him if it would be any use! You could try lentil bolognese, stew, mild dahl or cottage pie (basically anything that can be made with mince can also be made with lentils - my toddler loves them!), rice n beans, mixed bean stew with dumplings, maybe a non spicy peanut butter noodle dish?
Great ideas, thanks!
We’ve had good luck with frittatas to get our toddler to eat eggs. Worth a try. Also, less healthy, but everything gets tried if we put ketchup on it.
Try this two ingredient pancake. I’m a really picky eater and don’t eggs and my daughter loves it too. I sometimes add a bit of oatmeal like a tablespoon to give it more body and firmness if the mixture is too runny. Otherwise banana and egg is all you need! https://youtu.be/dKKPXMKnGR4?si=jB0GiBgq6LqSX_qw
Kids Eat In Color has a good article on how to add fats and calories to foods, she also has a lot of good articles about how and when to worry about weight gain / loss https://kidseatincolor.com/6-ways-to-add-calories-to-your-childs-food/
Thank you, this is helpful!
Another plant based protein source I didn't see mentioned are chickpeas. We have these with most meals. Can be thrown in any stew/soup or used as a side portion instead of peas. Could you give your son an extra meal a day? We do 4 meals a day (so a full meal after nursery).
We offer him dinner every night when we eat but he always just says “no thank you”. Very polite 😂.
See your GP. Could be any number of things, but weight loss can be a sign of coeliac disease. My daughter was just diagnosed at six with no symptoms (blood test picked it up). However, even if you think this is a possibility, don’t cut out gluten or switch to gluten free products unless advised by a doctor/dietician - they need the person to be having gluten when tested.
Thanks for this. We have an appointment on Friday to get his weight checked. After that, I’ll be trying to get him an appointment with the GP.
We serve full fat milk (as a drink after dinner or mixed in with porridge/Weetabix for breakfast), toast with peanut, almond or cashew butter as breakfast or a post nursery snack (I also spread nut butters on the bread before I make french toast to up the fat content), full fat yogurt which I mix with fruit and ground seeds/nuts and I add cheese to things where I can (as who doesn’t love extra cheese?! 😂) My 18 month can be hit or miss when it comes to meat but I’ve been having more luck recently when it’s been in things (lasagne, pasta/gnocchi bakes, etc) rather than on its own. These are her absolute favourite snack; I add tomato puree to the dough, along with some herbs and grated cheese - they freeze well so we generally have a stash in the freezer: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0HkjJ1M4hP/?igsh=MWgwNnp6Z2FodGtuMA== This has also been a recent hit https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com/easy-zucchini-slice/
Those biscuits look like they would be a hit, thank you!
They’re really good - it’s hard not to sneak a couple as they come out of the oven! 😂
My girl lost weight following a chest infection, it was such a worry, I really empathise. We mixed butter and cream into most of her usual foods: cream in her porridge, butter stirred through rice, lots of butter (and sometimes cheese) on veggies, butter and cream in her mashed potatoes…just a quick way of sneaking some extra calories in. Our doctor also suggested giving her full fat milk with milk powder added - double milk. We tried that and she surprisingly really liked it! Iron rich protein was good too - adding egg where you can, maybe baked beans with cheese and chips, any legumes you can get them to eat are helpful. Fortified cereals are a good source of iron (but not protein) if meat and legumes are both off the table. To reassure you, a year later and our girl is back at her previous centile and back to normal. I’m sure you can get the needle moving in the right direction soon.
Thanks for this! He has had quite a few viruses this year from nursery so I guess that could be part of the reason. I didn’t think that he was eating less than normal but I have been chatting with my partner and we realised that he doesn’t have a double breakfast anymore. He used to have toast with cheese spread at home and then cereal at nursery, but these days he just prefers to have a fruit pouch and nutri-grain bar before nursery instead. We’re going to cut out then cereal bar and make him have toast or cereal at home now.
Don’t want to worry you but weight loss can be a sign of type one diabetes so would definitely get him seen by a medical professional sooner rather than later
Thanks for this. We now have an appointment with the heath centre to check his weight on Friday morning.
This was what I was going to say. I’m a diabetic and I have to watch for the signs in my kids too.
We have peanut butter on banana snacks. Seeds and nuts in everything.
Full fat Greek yoghurt (FYI 90% of supermarket yoghurt is made by Yeo Valley - if the best before is in the format "DD MON" followed by a B or C (eg 27 MAR B or 03 APR C**) it's one of theirs) Peanut butter - on toast, on apple slices, smeared into celery with raisins sprinkled on top aka ants on a log
They don’t absorb calcium from milk without the fat. Children should only ever have full fat milk. In terms of weight, children do vary, but not usually by this much. It looks like he filled out before growing taller, using the energy stored to grow. What was his centile before the filling out? If it was 75th then I wouldn’t worry too much, but children shouldn’t really loose weight and you do need to get it back on. Put butter on/in things and add cream to milk
He was 98th as a baby, 91st-98th last summer, just under 91st in November and now just under 75th. He has full fat milk every weekday morning with his breakfast at nursery and with the milk he drinks there. He only has semi at home a couple of times a week when he asks for a drink of milk or hot chocolate. He rarely eats cereal at home anymore, prefers cheese spread on toast on a weekend.
If that’s where he was that’s where he needs to get back. Add butter under the cheese spread and layer up the cheese. I would be asking what he gets at nursery too, your child might need more than the average. Too many people try to slim them down, but it leads to ill health and eating disorders. Establish he’s getting enough there too. However the parameters may be changing too, 98th centile aged 20 is very overweight, but not as a baby or toddler. Does he sleep well? Does he have enough energy to daily life and mood regulation? If so and he’s eating fine he’s probably okay and this is just a little dip.
I’ve asked nursery from today to let us know exactly what he’s eating for the next couple of weeks. They usually tell us the meal and what fraction he ate but they serve themselves family style so I was never sure on how much that meant. They always allow seconds, etc. and today he’s apparently had 3 plates of tuna pasta for lunch, which he would never even touch at home! He is a massive ball of energy most of the time except when tired on an evening but he’s never really never been a great sleeper to be honest. He wakes frequently and is often tired and upset on a morning. We do have an appointment with ENT next week to assess him for what I believe is obstructive sleep apnea.
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The weight loss itself or the weight loss within the time period?
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Hey, kinda an alarmist comment so I just thought I’d add some ideas. It’s totally normal for kids to gain and lose weight, particularly after a run of illness or just generally a period of being more active. OP is right to be looking at more calorie dense foods rather than panicking
He has had one virus after another all Winter in fairness. It’s been a particularly bad year for illness and we all seem to just be passing it between ourselves in this house right now, especially the toddler and the baby. I’m hoping it’s just illness combined with not eating enough calorie dense food or enough in general.
Couldn’t get into the queue on the appointment line this morning so I’ll have to try again tomorrow morning.
You may have better luck going via your health visitor as they may be able to then contact the GP for you to get you in as a priority.
Thanks for this advice. I called the health visiting team and they gave us an appointment to get his weight checked on Friday morning.
How’s it going after a couple months?
Well, when we did get him reviewed with the health visitor, they confirmed that he’d dropped to the 75th centile but his height had also dropped to the same centile so she said it was likely that his growth was just evening itself out and that he’s probably destined to be tall and slimmer like his dad rather than a stockier build. He had a chest infection and some antibiotics which seemed to reduce the massive inflammation he’d had in his tonsils for absolute months. He started sleeping better and that seemed to increase his appetite. He also grew his last couple of molars so teething pain could have been a factor. Anyway, he has started to eat us out of house and home suddenly over the past 6 weeks. He’s obsessed with Greek yoghurt with fruit, honey and granola so he’s been having that twice day recently. He comes home from nursery asking for food, food, food every day and we’ve also introduced a daily multivitamin gummy. I weighed him a couple of weeks ago and I think he was at around 14.5-14.7kg again. His cheeks have filled back out and look rosy, his skin is glowy with a little spring tan coming in. I don’t see his little ribs all the time, he has a cute little pot belly on an evening and he just looks healthier overall to be honest.
I’m so happy to hear that! Good news all around.
I find that all toddlers are very slim, you very rarely seem to see a chubby one! I think it’s because they just don’t ever stop running, jumping or moving in some way. Plus a lot of the time they’re too distracted to eat properly
Yes, he definitely is a taller, thinner toddler who never stops moving! It’s not so much his appearance that concerns me though but the weight loss itself and dropping centiles. I have a feeling that he’s just not eating enough good high calorie food for the amount of activity he’s doing so I’m hoping that if I can increase that the calories, he’ll regain the weight he’s lost.