Over Weight and Under Weight

your 4 year old only being 28 lbs concerns me because my 15 month old daughter (who is 34 inches tall) weighs 25 lbs and is not at all obese have you taken him to the doctor recently that just seems incredibly small how tall is your child? defintiely dont feed him junk food but consult with your doctor as to what could help in making him gain weight please respond back to me im genuinely concerned about you and your child

You should ask your pediatrition to refer you to a nutritionist. I am diabetic and you'd be suprised what you can learn about nutrition content in foods. The also have easy reference guides, that you can refer too. THis should be covered by insurance.

In the mean time I would put the overweight child on leaner milk fats at meals- skim milk, while the older gets 2% or whole milk. Snack time feed the underweight chedder cheese slices and the older mozzerella (chunk cheese is often on sale 3/$5) Yougurt has light (yoplait tastes awesome) and regular options.

Snack time protien is important to both weight classes. Try to include peanut butter on toast (more fat and protein) into the 4 yr old, and maybe a slice egg white (boiled toss the yolk, I keep boiled eggs in the fridge for this)or fried white egg (olive oil) for the 2 yr old. Combine these with toast.

Hopefully I helped, and those items were all pretty thrifty. Good luck.

Why not Prepare one healthy balanced meal and let the children grow the way they grow?

My 5yr old is borderrline "overweight" my 2.5yr old has been slightly underweight. they are different kids and use their fuel in different ways.

I make Healthy Balanced meals and make sure they each get proper amounts of excercise.

This may not be a popular opinion but I don't believe small children can be "obese" Obesity is an epidemic amonge children for sure, but I wouldn't start worrying until they are 5ish. Just feed them healthy foods and they will even out. Case in point my 5yr old at 4yrs old he was 55lbs and shortish we were sent to a dietician because he was considered very overweight for his height. a year later he has grown 4inches and gained 1lb still slightly overweight but he's becoming more proportionate.

Feed healthy foods, and they will grow to the size they are supposed to be.

I can't respond to your question about your overweight child, but my daughter was underweight for a while. We just returned from Southern Turkey, where we spent the past year. My Daughter had far more room to play, than she had in CA. We had a yard, and a safe place for her to ride her trike. No such luck in CA. We also think that there were less fillers in the food: Less water and whey. There was far less sugar (and as far as I know, no high fructose corn syrup) in everything (except the kids' yogart, and the peanut butter - unless you looked.) In both CA and Turkey we were eating the freshest food that we could afford. The point of all this is that she was at the 10th percentile when we arived in Turkey, and is at the 25th percentile now. And in Turkey we were told to take her off the high fat low fiber diet; which we did.

I would agree with everybody who says get out and play. It's the best burner of colories and increaser of appitite that I know of. I would also say that avoiding sugars, and high fructose corn syrup are good ideas. Unfortunately, that's easier said then done - they're in everything! I want to avoid them, too. Shopping will be a challange.

Good luck.
H.

You can check out mealsmatter.com for recipes. They have a huge database full of recipes of all kinds.
To help lighten the load on the grocery bill, check out angelfoodministries.com. They have participating locations throughout the country (at least 4 or 5 participating locations in Genesee County). They offer an assortment of food each month for $25 (the menu changes each month) with additional add on options available for really reasonable pricing. Many members of my family (myself included) purchase through them and we have yet to be disappointed.
I would suggest that you fix healthy low-fat meals (catering more to the overweight child) and buy Boost Plus to give your underweight child with dinner. I have an underweight step-son and the doctor had us start giving him one Boost Plus every night with dinner. We have to make sure to give it to him when he is half-way through dinner to help ensure that he doesn't get full from the boost before eating his dinner. It has helped him put on a couple of pounds and boost his immune system (he was getting sick quite a bit before).
Also, you may want to make sure that your children stay on an eating schedule, eating only at designated meal and snack times.
If you are interested, I have a handout that I found quite helpful that I received from WIC regarding mealtimes and small children. I can pass along the information in it to you. Just message me privately with an email address to which I can email the information (I will have to scan it for you).

Good luck, and if you have any questions or would like further information on anything listed above, please feel free to contact me.

-P.

I just have a tip for the under weight child....chocolate ensure....my mom gave it to my brother when he was under weight....usually a can a day and it added alot of calories to his diet and not in a bad way....he wont even drink regular chocolate milk now because he is so used to the ensure that he drank.....just a suggestion....

Definately ask your pediatrician for advice on what types of food your children should have to balance them. Not to say you would do this, but as an example: Feeding the underweight one ice cream would make him gain weight, but not in a good way ;).

With my son (who's always been small on the weight side but balanced for his height), My doctor told me more or less to just make sure there's a lot of healthy choices available and let him pick and choose (he was in a picky phase). She also mentioned that weight is usually relative to activity level, and height to nutrition. Maybe start going for walks with the 2 year old in a stroller, and the 4 year old on a big wheel, or tricycle. I think a nutritionalist would be a GREAT help here.

Bettycrocker.com is a good website for meal ideas. They have low fat meals that will satisfy kids. Also, you can try miserlymoms.com and kraftfoods.com. Have you tried shopping for your foods at an Aldi store or a Sav-A-Lot store? Another good website is couponmom.com which offers all kinds of tips and coupons to save on groceries. Some of the things that I do to maintain my 2 year old's weight is to stay away from soda and processed foods such as chips, candy, and cookies. Mott's has great applesauce called Healthy Harvest which is low in sugar and tastes great--my son loves it. Cheerios are low fat and kids love them and Barnum's Animal Crackers are great and low fat too. Limit the juice and for a treat try 2% milk or skim milk with Hershey's syrup. Hope this helps.

MC

Hi R.,
I can't comment on your 2 yo... my son is 2 but he is underweight according to the doctors. We gave him pedisure which is for making sure that he is getting the nutrients he needs and is very similiar to the ensure for older people. We had to giv ehim one bottle of it a day for about 6 months. Our doctor gave us some coupons because it was getting rather costly but he did put some weight on.

Good luck and best wishes!
J.

I have a 17mo boy that is only 18lbs and hasn‘t grown since 8 months old. He has a growth hormone problem and is under 5% for his weight at his age, have they checked that? It's just a simple blood test, that, low iron, or having celiac disease can contribute to him being small. Celiac disease can be fixed with diet.

Anyhow, for the 4yr old, I was suggested to give more meat and pasta to pack on the right pounds and 1 can of Pediasure a day. For the 2yr old, it's all about portion control and the right fats/carbs, unless he has a disorder i.e. thyroid. Then of course, medication would help. Except for sweets, they should be able to eat the same foods, just different amounts. More veg will never hurt to fill you up.

I’m not sure what tests, if any, you’ve had on your boys. Or if anything has been determined about either for their weight issues… I’m just trying all avenues.
HTH.
~B.

hi,
you should look into ENSURE. I know it for old people but they have it for kids too. they come in chocolate and vanilla and strawberry. this might be a good thing for them both. good luck hope this helps

Y.
mom of 3 :)

you should prepare one healthy meal for your family. A healthy diet is good for all of your children. get the kids outside playing and running and that will help your overweight child burn some calories.

buy only healthy things at the store.. you do not have to purchase chip pop and cookies..

perhaps the lighter child should get one extra snack a day- but he really doesnt need to gain weight it will happen in time.