15 Weight Gaining Food for Babies
How to identify your baby is underweight?
Parents often face the dilemma of lack of weight gain in their infants and toddlers. In some cases, particularly if the child’s weight is below the third percentile, lack of weight gain can be a genuine concern. In such a scenario, the first thing to do is to follow the doctor’s advice. A failure to gain weight can be due to multiple reasons – Congenital Heart Disease, infections, digestive issues like GERD, malabsorption or some kind of food intolerance.
Along with the doctor’s advice, it is important to ensure that a high calorie diet is designed for the child. The reason is that even though calories are burnt during exertion, the extra calories will help in weight gain. When planning a high calorie diet for your child, it is absolutely crucial to ensure that it includes healthy and wholesome foods, rather than heavy foods that are full of empty calories.
Unhealthy high calorie foods may lead to some gain in weight, but at the cost of nutrients. Moreover, when the child is full of unhealthy food, he or she won’t have the appetite for healthy foods. It also creates a dangerous addiction for high sugar or processed foods that can lead to various lifestyle diseases. At the same time, it is also important to include a good amount of protein, so that the extra calories are in the form of muscle mass and are not deposited as fat. Doctors nowadays keep babies on a now added sugar/salt diet for at least a year to create a balanced palate.
Ideal age chart.
Ideally, the following should be followed-
- Gain of 175 to 210 g per week from birth to three months
- Double the birth weight by 5 months
- Gain of about 400 g of weight every month till one year
- Triple the birth weight by 1 year
- 4 times the birth weight by 2 years
- 5 times the birth weight by 3 years
- 6 times the birth weight by 5 years
- 7 times the birth weight by 7 years
- 10 times the birth weight by 10 years
On average, a child gains 2 kg every year between 3 to 7 years of age and 3 kg per year after that till the pubertal growth spurt begins. Please remember that this is just a generic chart, and your child’s paediatrician is the best person to assess your child’s individual case.
15 Foods with nutritional benefits
1. Breast Milk
Breast milk is the best source of weight gain for babies till one year. When breastfeeding, make sure you empty one breast completely before moving to the next. This is because the milk the baby gets at the beginning of the feeding is the thinner fore milk, and the fat-rich hind milk comes after that.
2. Ragi
Ragi or Finger Millet is a traditional baby food that’s quite popular in South India. While being rich in protein and calcium it is also one of the best weight gaining foods for babies. Ragi is also a good source of dietary fiber, protein and Vitamins B1, B2 and B6.
These recipes are easy ways to feed your baby ragi:
3. Health Mixes
Our grandmothers relied on health mixes they made from home, sprouting, roasting and grinding a variety of wholesome ingredients. As you can imagine, they were far nutritious to commercial baby food mixes, in both taste and health. They are also more effective in helping baby gain weight. These mixes combine the goodness of cereals, nuts and pulses, and can be modified to make different variations. (Can link Baby Aahar Dry Nut Powder here)
4. Kerala Banana
When looking for healthy high calorie foods, you needn’t look much further than Kerala bananas or green plantains. Besides, they are also rich in potassium, calcium and phosphorous and have a good amount of dietary fiber to add bulk and aid digestion.
5. Pear
Along with apples, pears can be introduced as one of baby’s first solid foods. Pears have the benefit of aiding weight gain while providing important nutrients like iron, Vitamins B6 and C as well as lots of dietary fiber that also keeps the baby full. For infants and toddlers, puree can be made for easier consumption.
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6. Banana
Bananas are among the most popular first foods for babies for a variety of reasons. They are naturally sweet, can be mashed without any equipment and don’t require cooking. They’re also an excellent travel food for babies and kids. Being an energy dense fruit makes it ideal for helping babies gain weight, and it also provides dietary fiber, potassium, as well as other minerals and vitamins.
7. Peas
Peas are among the most nutritious vegetables that can be introduced as baby’s first solid food, after crossing 6 months. It is very high in dietary fiber, thiamine, vitamin C and high in magnesium, niacin, phosphorous and Vitamins A, B6. Some toddlers don’t like the taste of peas, however, they can be included in vegetable soup to mask the distinct taste.
8. Potato
Potato makes an excellent first food for babies. It has a soft consistency, is easily mashable and is also the least allergenic food. The potato is rich in minerals, vitamins and also an assortment of phytochemicals such as carotenoids and natural phenols. Potatoes are best known for their carbohydrate content, with a medium sized potato.
9. Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes are an excellent first food for the baby. It can be given from 6 months of age.
Sweet Potatoes are very low in saturated fat, high in dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, vitamin B6 and very high in Vitamin A and C.
10. Dry Fruits
Dry fruits include almond, pistachio, fig, cashew are energy dense and non-fattening.
The dry fruits can be powdered and mixed in almost all the foods, other forms by which it can be given are almond milk, dry fruit snack bar, dry fruit laddu.
11. Cow’s Milk (after 1 year)
Milk is one of the healthiest foods for children over one year, with a single cup having a multitude of beneficial nutrients. Please remember that infants under 12 months cannot digest milk. Whole milk is recommended till the child turns two, since the fat is essential for proper physical and mental development. About two servings a day is ideal for kids under four, which is about a cup of milk or yogurt.
12. Ghee
Desi Ghee is one of the best foods for weight gain, along with adding several other health benefits. Traditional medicine recommends having a spoon of ghee a day for optimum health. Ghee is 32% MUFAs, or healthy fats that helps promote brain development in kids. It’s also anti-inflammatory and good for a strong immune system.
13. Paneer
Paneer is a form of Indian cottage cheese, and is quite popular in Indian households, especially as an alternative to animal protein. All kinds of cheese can help babies gain weight, while also providing important nutrients like phosphorous, calcium and selenium.
14. Eggs
Eggs can be given after 8 months of age, and are little powerhouses for nutrition. A single egg contains lots of protein, iron, choline, fat and other vitamins and minerals that your child needs for overall growth and development. One of the big advantages of eggs is that they are very easy to cook and can be included in a variety of recipes. Eggs are high in proteins and saturated fat which is good for weight gain. T
15. Oats
Oats has been hailed as a health food the world over, and it’s the top recommended food to treat a number of common ailments. Despite its reputation as the ideal food for weight watchers, it is actually perfect for indirectly improving weight gain in babies.
Oats is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and high in manganese, magnesium, thiamine and phosphorus.
Conclusion
Even after having had all the checks done as to why their child is light, parents may still be mystified about how to help them gain some weight. It is important to keep in mind that increasing the body weight of a child isn’t always an easy task; children have very high energy demands and small capacity in their stomachs so simply meeting their daily energy needs can be tricky, let alone trying to exceed them so that they gain some weight.