Childhood obesity has become a sad epidemic, but failure to thrive and children not gaining adequate weight is just as serious of a concern. Knowing the best high calorie foods and strategies to help your toddler gain weight can have a great impact on your lives. For instance it many prevent your child from needing to be tube fed or becoming malnutritioned. There are many simple steps to take to increase your child’s calorie and fat intake.
Half & Half
Using half & half in a very easy way to add calories to your child’s diet and help them gain weight. When your toddler drinks milk always use whole milk and add a couple of ounces of half & half to the milk. Also use half & half when you make oatmeal, smoothies, or scrambled eggs.
Cheese
Adding whole fat cheese is a great way to get in more calories, gain weight, and make food more appealing to a young child. You can add cheese to just about any food such as scrambled eggs, meats, potatoes, beans, and many more. Cheese can also be used as a dipping sauce. Have your child dip their veggies and chicken nuggets in a melted cheese sauce, its delicious and high in calories. Cream cheese is tasty and a fantastic high calorie food to spread onto crackers, toast, or bagels. Also try it with your child’s favorite jelly.
Ranch/Mayonnaise
Ranch dressing is a very versatile, high in fat and calorie food most kids just love to eat. Try ranch as a dip for vegetables, chicken nuggets, fries, or on a toasted sandwich instead of the usual mustard. Mayonnaise is also high in fat so do not hesitate to add it to tuna salad, chicken salad, and sandwiches. For a change try adding a little ranch or mayonnaise to ketchup to make a great dipping sauce for fries.
Oil/Butter
Olive oil is a very heart healthy oil that can be added to your child’s food. For example if you make mac and cheese, add a little extra olive oil to your child’s food before serving. It can also be added to eggs, ravioli, salad, beans, potatoes, and much more, the possibilities are endless. Butter is an effortless high calorie and often high in calcium food to combine with many other foods. Add some extra butter to your toddlers mashed potatoes, toast, oatmeal, grilled cheese, and baked goods.
Drinks
Instant breakfast drinks made with whole milk are packed with lots of calories for your toddler. They are also enriched with many vitamins. This type of drink is a great choice because they come in many flavors, most children are able to find a couple of flavors they just love.
High calories and fat are important for a toddlers growth and development. It may be best to avoid foods and snacks make for toddlers because the majority of them have virtually no calories or fat. Children not gaining adequate wight or with failure to thrive often do not have a good appetite, so it is important to make every drink and bite count.
