Need Fatty (And Healthy) Food Ideas for a Skinny Toddler

It looks like you've gotten a lot of really good suggestions here. The one thing I would add is super-buttery popcorn.

I make mine with 1/2 olive oil, and 1/2 coconut oil (both VERY healthy fats), then put a good amount of Real Salt (like sea salt) and butter. It provides both good fats and healthy carbs.

I think what you are feeding him isnt the best of foods; chocolate milk and donuts? I would stick with fresh fruits and veggies and the least processed foods possible. Avacados are high in good calories and try cooking with olive oil if you really want to add good weight.

My oldest will be 4 in 2 wks and is only 35 lbs and is 40" tall. Not sure you need to be worried about his weight but more about a healthy diet.

My son is also an incredibly picky eater, but no one can say he looks undernourished! Here are some of the things I include in his diet....

1. Fruit & vegetable blend juice. I ration him at 16 oz per day and water and ice it down. I also crush up a Flintstone vitamin and put it in his juice cup first thing in the morning.

2. Whole milk. After he is done with his juice ration for the day, I switch him to whole milk. Usually about 14 oz per day.

3. Sweet potato fries! This kid will knock you down for almost any kind of French Fry, and he loves sweet potato fries! I love that they are a healthier vegetable than regular potatoes. I bake them in the oven with non-fat cooking spray.

4. Smart Balance butter with Omega-3. I try to sneak this in his diet wherever I can. He has sensory aversions, but he's getting better about accepting butter.

5. We give him grilled cheese or cold ham & cheese sandwiches on Whitewheat bread. (This is a place I can sneak in the butter.)

Those are just a few of our menu items that weren't in your list. PM me if you'd like more suggestions or recipes.

Butter/olive oil up the pasta. Buy whole milk yogurt and milk, if you aren't already.

What about peanut butter? Any of the nut butters will be high in fat and pretty healthy.

You can make breakfast foods that are healty-ish and high in fat - bacon and sausage, scrambled eggs made with half and half instead of milk, served with home fries or french fries, pancakes with butter, frozen waffles, bagels with regular cream cheese.

Finally, keep trying to add to his diet - for dinner serve him what you eat. Sometimes he'll eat it and sometimes he won't. But he'll get pretty quickly that he at least has to try it to get something else. My son is 2.5 and doesn't even bat an eye at the "two bite" rule. You might find that he likes surprising other things. My son, who's pretty picky, adores Chinese pork dumplings. Good luck.

Smoothies. Use whole milk, a carton of yogurt, fruits, carrots and a little juice or sugar (little amount, I stress) to sweeten. You can also add protein powder instead of yogurt.

Our son's doctors have said repeatedly that with young kids, fat is a good thing. Our son hates to eat, so we have an uphill battle and we've had to switch our strategy of focusing on the healthy/low-fat to giving him higher fat foods. Regular ice cream is his favorite treat after dinner. Never used to keep that in the house, but every bit has helped him to gain weight.

Good luck!

Will he eat eggs with cheese? My LO won't eat the eggs alone, but if I put a tablespoon or 2 of shredded cheese into them as I'm making scrambled eggs, he'll usually them.

How about buttered noodles? Whole wheat pasta (whatever kind he likes) or egg noodles, with melted butter and some light seasoning (my SIL secret ingredient is a sprinkle of dill and the kids all go ga-ga over them!).

Whole milk, whole yogurt, whole fat cheese

I 2nd the avocados - if he won't eat them by themselves, make up a mash of them with 1/2 banana & half avocado, or slice em up and layer em together. Avocados are "brain food".

Smoothies - you can put some whey or soy protein powder, use a little half n half in place of milk, mix in his favorite frozen fruits and viola! It's a super yummy treat. Here are 2 recipes I use:
Recipe 1
* 1 cup frozen fruit (we use berries, mango, peaches, etc)
* 1 cup milk (you can sub part of this for cream/half-n-half, whole fat yogurt, soy milk, almond milk, etc)
* 2 tablespoons instant pudding mix (we usually use vanilla or chocolate)
* optional - 1 T wheat germ or ground flax seed, 1 scoop of whey or soy protein
Directions: place all ingredients in blender and blend on high for 30 seconds. Stir or scrape sides as needed and blend again for 30 seconds, until all fruit is well blended.

This is the recipe we use as the other basis for smoothies, if we have OJ on hand:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mango-Peach-Smoothie/Detail....
I used whole milk, and added some vanilla soy protein powder.

The smoothies also generally freeze really well for a great frozen treat.

avacado - if he won't eat it plain, mix it with fruit or even yogurt. He is a bit older, you may have to make up a story to get him to try the green but it is high in good fats and omega 3's...

Hi, I have 2 1/2 year old triplet boys. They are underweight as well, but that is because of their prematurity and just because of the way they are built. Their father is very tall and lean and I know they take after him. They each weigh under 25 pounds. We feed them all the time. They each everything your child eats, but we also feed the boys fish sticks and spam. I know the spam isn't that healthy but it helps to put the weight on and they like it. Fish sticks is also another alternative. The boys are picky also but I am trying very hard to just put new foods on their plates often so they get used to seeing it. They are bound to try it. I know it's frustrating I'm going through it too! Good luck

My daughter loves little bites of cheese quesadillas with guacamole. Avocados have a lot of healthy fat. Would he drink a smoothie in the morning? My sons love their smoothies. I usually put 1/4 avocado, frozen mangoes and strawberries, banana, yogurt, milk, and you could add some almond butter for extra healthy fat and protein. I've also seen recipes on the internet to make cxhocolate pudding using avocadoes!

avacados, nuts- if not allergic, mine were eating them by 2, seeds- pumpkin, sunflower, etc.. ,
Chocolate milk is counter productive, if you look at the nutritional information you will notice that the calcium content is alot lower than in white milk and thats because the chocolate stops the absorption of calcium. Its really not good for them and usually less fattening because most choc milk is made with 1% milk.
Ham cubes and cheese cubes for an afternoon snack with some ritz crackers and applesauce.
Frozen yogurt tubes- my kids hated eating them thawed but frozen they kept coming back for more.
Get rid of the hot dogs and instead do chicken burgers with with homemade breaded chicken breasts cooked in olive oil.
Chicken fingers- again homemade.
mac and cheese.. add some shredded cheese to it, and serve with a side of green beans or fruit.
I would also stop the pediasure and maybe just give the V8 veggie/fruit juice intsead, still lots of nutrients but not so filling that he won't eat the good stuff.
Does he like pudding? Frozen pudding pops,or smoothie pops.. My kids loved everything frozen.
The idea is to increase good fats without increasing processed foods and sugars.. its tricky.

Good luck
I hope you followed my thought train it was all over the place I know....lol

Great suggestions so far! I do want to say that my daughter is 3 1/2 and FINALLY broke the 30 pound mark. Both of my kids are naturally skinny and I couldn't fatten them up even if I tried! I wouldn't worry too much about it.
One thing that my daughter just LOVES is extra virgin coconut oil. She asks for a spoonful at least once a day! It's one of the healthiest fats you can eat!
Good luck!

Avacados!!! Super healthy and fatty!

if you can do nuts; they rock. and avacado (*but i see that isn't a go), and soy nut butter, or peanut butter.
anything w/good fat.

I totally agree with avocadoes and smoothies. My VERY picky 15 month old loves smoothies. Hummus is great and toddlers love to "dip." Another suggestion in sunflower seed butter. Sunbutter is awesome!! It's got good fats and you don't have to worry about nut allergies. My pediatrician told me to stop giving him pediasure, because that's why he wasn't eating. We stopped and he started eating so much more!! She said she hates the stuff and only recommends it in the most severe cases.

I agree with the avocado idea try making home made gaucamole and serve it with tortilla chips

Peanut and or soy butter, cottage cheese, Hebrew National hot dogs and salami (i'm only mentioning brand specific because you know that are all beef and not a mix of processed meats). If your doctor is concerned, can you add whey protein to his milk? That has a lot of protein and some fat to boost up his intake.
On the pasta, there is a great sauce that you can make - kinda like alfredo, but with less fat (but just enough) so the whole family can enjoy - greek yogurt mixed with some lowfat sour cream. Greek yogurt is good in general, too as far as protein goes.
Have you tried soy meat? Even though it's not as 'fatty' the consistency might be more palatable.
And, my last idea - rice and beans with sour cream and cheese - a very good way to mix carbs and proteins!
A donut every week can't hurt, either :) My daughter eats great (yes, I'm so lucky, but now she'll steal my sushi!), and she'll go to her daycare with a Starbucks hot chocolate once a week as a treat - why not?!

I don't think he is really that underweight, but I understand, you want to get a little more fat on him because if he is like my son, he wont eat much if he gets sick. It sounds like he has a pretty varied diet, I would try to introduce more fruit...does he like applesauce at least or bananas? As far as fattening goes, I cook my son chicken breasts in butter that I then pour over the breasts when they are done, so lots of food cooked in butter or olive oil. Also, you can buy canned organic coconut cream. Its almost all fat and you can put it into his yogurt or in anything that you would put cream into. It is really fattening and doesn't have a strong taste. My son never liked avacado.

I was going to chime in with coconut oil too.

I hope those hot dogs are organic and nitrite free.

My younger son used to be very picky (and thin) - when we cut out dairy, then gluten (both of which we later found out that he was severely intolerant to) his eating repertoire opened dramatically. I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

I spent about 10 hours with a highly qualified nutritionist - she really put "the fear of God" in me about processed foods.

We also had good success with certain vitamin/mineral/amino acid supplements.

My son is 13 - pushing 6 feet tall and though he is still on the thin side, he's much more filled out than he used to be. He's going for his black belt in karate and can run two miles in under 16 minutes!

Good luck - you're on it early (it took me 8-9 years) so pat yourself on the back! Nutrition is extremely critical for development imho.

My son is 2 yrs and 5 months old, and weighs 26. He eats well, and often, he just RUNS all the time. So if your son is like mine, his metabolism is through the roof! I usually have him eat things I KNOW he will eat. Instead of trying an overly healthy breakfast that I know he will only pick at, I let him eat a large bowl of cereal. At lunch, I'll slice and apple with peanut butter, and when the apple is gone, I then give him pretzels, crackers, and other things for the rest of the peanut butter. He's not a sandwich kind of kid so I try to mix in lots of things with peanut butter or cheese. Pasta is good for weight gain, so just offer it daily. And push the milk, even if it is chocolate.

Just thought I'd put in my two-cents! Your son does not seem abnormal to me-my son is almost three and is only 24 pounds and has been for the past year or more-and while the doctors were worried about his lack of weight gain for awhile-after I went to the gastroenterologist to rule out true medical problems-we found out its just genetic (I tried to tell them that originally-I have 2 brothers who were the exact same way and my other son is falling suit as well), so if your kiddo is hitting milestones and doesn't have underlying medical problems and your doctor isn't concerned, I wouldn't worry about it too much. He probably just has a great metabolism and is active like my boys!

That being said, here are a few things I tried! Butter on/in anything possible, cheese, peanut butter, cream cheese (my son loved cream cheese and jelly sandwiches-was something different for him), bagels, eggs, pasta, pizza, hamburgers, tacos.

And my kids love dessert and nothing wrong with that in moderation (we have something small usually after dinner-sometimes ice cream, sometimes popcicles, sometime fruit with whipped topping, sometimes a snack size candy bar-so sue me :D, but I am convinced because my parents didn't allow us dessert barely at all when I was growing up, I learned to sneak candy and sweets as a teen and didn't learn how to eat them in moderation, so I'd rather my kids learn the art of moderation with sweets than to be denied all the time and learn to sneak it as I did-and further proof is my hubby is opposite of me-his mom allowed him small desserts almost nightly and he is the type of guy that a normal bag of skittles will last him three days because he has developed a habit to only pull out 5-10 candies and then is able to put the rest away for another day-and by the way, the rule in our house is that my kids have to eat their food or no dessert-and there have been times where my DH and I get our dessert, but my son refuses to eat his dinner, so he goes without dessert too-i know...mean mommy!).

And there is new research that choc milk is no worse for kids than white milk and actually, kids who drink choc milk drink more milk (both choc AND plain) and get more calcium and vit D than kids who are just made to drink plain white milk and have healthier bone/teeth health into adulthood! So power to the choc milk :-)!

For the Pediasure, we were trying that too, but were told if it did not make a difference in weight gain in about three to six months (I took him in for weight checks every other month), to get rid of it because it is just a ton of extra sugar, which can cause unhealthy weight gain (granted, my kid was drinking about 4 a day-by MD direction-and in the end gained a pound but no more)! Getting him off was a bit of a challenge because, like your kiddo, he really liked it, but I just started substituting choc syrup (there is now sugar free that actually tastes good) or strawberry syrup into his soy milk (my son is also allergic to milk so that makes things even more difficult gaining weight), but after awhile he stopped noticing he wasn't getting Pediasure.

I hope some of this helps and truly, I wouldn't worry too much because in a society of childhood obesity (and the fact that my side of the family really struggles with being heavier), I am so thankful that my kids have their dad's great metabolism and hopefully won't have to go through the weight issues I have as an teen/adult!

For something new to try, I thought I might suggest tomato soup; my 21-month-old little man loves this stuff with a grilled cheese! Use 1 jar of marinara sauce, 2 cups of water, 1 cup of whipping cream, 1 diced onion ( whatever you like) and couple handfuls of matchstick carrots ( I've used diced up carrots too). I saute the veggies in olive oil and some garlic until soft, then add the rest. Based from how my son eats this stuff, just thought you may want to try it!!!

This came to mind seeing as how your little guy likes green beans. Maybe you could find a recipe for a brown gravy for him to dip them in. I am saying this b/c last night we had my mother's fried chicken and gravy. My son could have cared less about the chicken, but proceeded to dip all his green beans in the gravy...lol. Not sure if there is such a healthy gravy recipe out there, but it might be worth a shot!! Good luck!

Just wanted to say I think a little sweets won't make him unhealthy either!!! My son won't touch cake or cookies too , but loves vanilla ice cream....so every once in awhile, he'll have a vanilla ice cream cone:)

Along with him inhaling the tomato soup, he loves Chicken Noodle soup!! I eyeball everything, but I saute diced celery, onions and carrots. Then add chicken broth, I think I usually use about 32 oz. Bring to a boil and then pour in whatever kind of noodle you want to use. I use whole wheat rotini noodles, about a cup to a cup and a half. Since you said he likes chicken and pasta, maybe this would be something new to try. Once again, all the best!!

We used to add oil to everything. You can add olive oil or flax seed oil with little consequence to taste. When we were in Italy, the Italians just added the olive oil just before serving, so it wasn't cooked. Yummy! Flax seed oils adds very easily to yogurt and applesauce, ect. It has no taste, so you just want to hide the texture. Add either to any pasta or mac and cheese. I'd address the pickiness too but just insisting he eats what the family is served. Don't worry about caloric intact. He'll try you, but he won't let himself go hungry. You'll have to keep from giving him the Pediasure while you do that. As far as weight goes, if he's healthy, he's probably fine. My 4 yo is only 30 # and my 2 yo is only 23. Some kids are just small. Another thought, my kids went through a stage where they didn't like avocado, but it was a high fat staple for both of my underweight kids. I mixed it with homemade salsa (cilantro, pepper, tomato, onion, and lots of olive oil, sometimes a little cumin), full fat sour cream, and avacado. They loved it with chips. So much, in fact, after a while they were eating it with a spoon and skipping the chips. GL!

Believe it or not, the diet you listed only has three items that are not going to put meat on his bones. He likes pretty fatty foods so I wouldn't worry about it, he is just a skinny guy. I have a 4 year old that is only 8 pounds heavier than my 2 year old and taller than most 1st graders. You can imagine how skinny he is. Needless to say, no matter how much he eats, he is the skinniest thing, it is just his make up. Unless your doc has a problem I would let it be, when he is an adult he will be thrilled he has the metabolism he has.

Adding cream (heavy or whipping from the carton) to his milk worked great for my son, similar age and weight to yours. We do about 2/3 milk and 1/3 cream.

We saw a difference within a few days. GL,
J.

I think you could use more than a few food ideas.

I'm sure you'll find this blog helpful:

http://www.babybites.info/2009/03/03/fuel-picky-eater/

Then check out the rest of the site. You'll find lots of info on nutrition for kids.