Underweight children are often more susceptible to illness and may fail to grow properly. To gain weight, your child needs to consume more calories daily. Offering just any calories, however, will not support his nutritional needs for proper skeletal, brain and muscle development. Even if you have a picky eater, you can use specific strategies to encourage weight gain in your child.
Step 1
Increase portion sizes at meals. Serve larger servings of carbohydrates, such as whole-grain cereal, pasta and rice, and proteins, such as eggs, chicken and lean meats.
Step 2
Offer more variety. Provide potatoes and noodles, pancakes and eggs, or chicken and fish to increase the chance that your child will find something he likes.
Step 3
Cook high-calorie meals. Make whole-wheat french toast instead of offering cold cereal, offer peanut butter instead of turkey sandwiches and make macaroni and cheese instead of pasta with red sauce.
Step 4
Allow your child to graze. Give in to frequent snack requests by offering yogurt, dried fruit or nut butters on crackers.
Step 5
Push higher-calorie vegetables. Serve avocado, chickpeas, black beans, peas, corn and sweet potatoes more often than broccoli or leafy greens.
Step 6
Cut back on juice or sweetened drinks around to meal times. Too much liquid may make your child feel too full to eat.
Step 7
Increase the calorie count of foods your child will eat. Add cheese to sandwiches and noodles. Sprinkle nuts over cereal. Bake healthy muffins with dried fruit. Include dry milk powder in mashed potatoes.
Step 8
Provide whole milk products. Use whole milk to increase the calories of mashed potatoes, soup and hot cereal.
Step 9
Give your child healthy desserts. Offer pudding or ice cream, which provide calcium along with their high calories.
Step 10
Make a high-calorie smoothie at snack time. Blend a frozen banana with peanut butter, whole milk and ice cubes. Try alternative combinations, such as almond butter, mangoes and shredded coconut or peaches, frozen yogurt and strawberries.
Tips and Warnings
- Sometimes children are too excited to eat. Eliminate all active play about 30 minutes before meal time.
- If your child fails to gain weight despite your efforts, check with your physician to rule out any underlying problems.
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