# Food Ideas for 12 month old



## slvsquared (May 3, 2007)

Here's the deal. Zoe's about to turn one, and already seems to be an incredibly picky eater. I'd be willing to ride it out, but she's only in the 10th percentile for weight and we're supposed to be trying to fatten her up a bit. She has-to-feed-herself-thank-you-very-much







which makes things even more difficult. If she doesn't want to try something, she throws her whole plate overboard, or feeds it to the dog piece by piece.

She'll eat all the fruit I'm willing to give her. Loves bananas, nectarines, fruit cocktail.

Ignores most veggies

She'll eat chicken nuggets, but not chicken. Ground beef or turkey occasionally.

Eats yogurt, but ignores cheese.

I worry about her getting enough calories and nutrition from just fruits, breads, and pasta, which seems to be all she's willing to eat.

Anyone have any great, high calorie ideas? I'm willing to try most anything, as I'm really worried about her being underweight.

THanks


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## queenbean (Apr 6, 2007)

Eggs are great. My daughter likes them scrambled in olive oil, or even just regular fried in olive oil. Have you introduced peanut butter yet? Lots of good fats in there. You can also try avocados (my daughter hates them, but a lot of kids love them) for some good fats.

Just experiment. Give her things off your plate, whatever you're eating. My daughter refused to eat a lot of things until I started giving them to her exactly as we eat them -- spices and all. Once I did that, she became a much better eater.

ETA: If she's still nursing, don't cut back on that! Breastmilk is rich in calories and nutrients, and that's going to be a HUGE help for her.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

How much is she nursing? I would really focus on getting as much breastmilk in her as possible.

-Angela


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## gingerstar (Jun 10, 2005)

I know a mom IRL whose son was Failure to Thrive, and she learned a lot of good tricks to get the good stuff into him... Her best secret was the food processor, to puree things like carrots, sweet potato, squash, broccoli and zucchini, which can then be mixed in with things she likes. She added 1/2 cup zucchini, squash or carrot puree to pancakes, and you _could not_ tell it was there! You can also add them to scrambled eggs.

She made a great smoothie from yogurt, OJ, 1/2 carrot, 1 T walnuts, and some honey (if you do that yet) and cinnamon. She also would throw in berries or orange slices. Actually, if your dd drinks smoothies, you can hide a lot in them, or make them really thick and serve like yogurt, with a spoon.

I would try to get things like Barilla's pasta plus, which is made with chickpeas and lentils, and has increased protein, omega etc. Use the eggs which have the increased Omegas, and since she likes bread, I would bake lots of quick breads like pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, etc. If you have introduced nuts, that is a great source of protein and good fats - you can hide ground walnuts in lots of things.

Although I have to agree with Alegna, nursing is ideal, and IMO you should encourage it, even at 12 mos it is probably better than anything else she could eat...


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## slvsquared (May 3, 2007)

Unfortunately, she's not nursing any longer. Due to medication issues, we weaned at ten months, which is when the weight started dropping off. That's part of what has me concerned. She's on cow's milk, which the ped ok'd us to start. I know that's not the best answer around here, but at least if I give honest information you guys will understand why we're struggling.

So, I need ideas for good healthy solids.


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## nataliachick7 (Apr 3, 2007)

avocados, oilve oil!


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## nataliachick7 (Apr 3, 2007)

does she drink whole milk?


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## slvsquared (May 3, 2007)

Yes, whole milk. Usually 36-48 oz. per day.


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## caiesmommy (Feb 26, 2007)

Add flax seed oil to all foods....and into liquids, when ds was failure to thrieve I started adding it to his mashed fruit in the morning and it helped, avacados and olive oil are great like the pps said


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## slvsquared (May 3, 2007)

Thanks for the great tips. Keep 'em coming. I need to go to the grocery store


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## nighten (Oct 18, 2005)

Get a high fat yogurt. We love the Mediterranee brand -- it's got something like 45% daily sat fat in one tub. Love that stuff!

Also, try pancakes? We like the Pamelas brand and fry them in butter for more fat. You can sneak all kinds of goodies into pancakes too -- shaved veggies, fruits, oatmeal, whatever!

And if you add cinnamon or use a little fruit juice in the mix, they're really sweet and don't need syrup or anything.


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## slvsquared (May 3, 2007)

Oh, that's a good idea. She loves pancakes and waffles, I'll have to start sneakin good stuff into them.


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## K-Girl (Aug 6, 2007)

Hiya,

My youngest DS was diagnosed with FTT at about 18 months when he was consistently falling off his growth curve. This also happened around the time he stopped nursing--no great coincidence, I'm sure. He went from the fat, happy nursing baby to the skinny toddler who refused to eat. Anyhow, we saw a GI Dr. and a nutritionist who ruled out celiacs, etc. and just told us to get the calories into him. We put butter on a lot of things--veggies and pasta and rice, started with peanut butter, used a lot of cream cheese (on graham crackers, super yummy!), and tried to cut down on the cow's milk. We did full-fat yogurt and high-fat cottage cheese. I made homemade french fries in oil and homemake chix nuggets in in oil as well. I guess that we pretty much put oil and butter on everything!

I can't say that he gained a bunch of weight, or climbed back up the scale, however, he did not lose weight and has maintained the same growth curve for a while.

I must add that we started him on a probiotic diet recently--lots of yogurt, kefir, miso, and supplements, as well as lots of whoel grains and limited sugar, and he is now eating three meals a day--which is realy amazing. I am just mentioning this as something you may want to look into. I am so pro-probiotic because of seeing what it has done for him. Go bugs!

Kirsten


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## *guest (Oct 7, 2005)

Would an organic follow-on toddler formula be an option over the cow's milk? Or even one of the homemade goat milk formulas with extra EFA, etc.? Just putting it out there. I don't ever advocate stopping breastmilk to go to one of those options, but if it's already stopped and relactating isn't an option due to the medication (and i gotta be "that" jerk and ask if you checked it out in Hale's manual to be sure you really have to stop), I'd think a breastmilk substitute would be better for weight gain issues than trying to cram in enough table food. I know my daughter wouldn't possibly have eaten enough table food at 12 months, no matter what I dosed it with. Good luck, hope you find something that she likes!


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## slvsquared (May 3, 2007)

Well, we've tried the Enfamil toddler formula (which I know isn't organic, but we can't really afford organic right now) and she hates it. She took regular formula ok, but not the toddler kind. She drinks cow's milk without any issues - better, in fact, than she did formula.

I'm not so much trying to stuff her full of food, as I'm trying to balance out her diet a bit. I think by doing so, she'll naturally gain weight. She's not eating nearly enough now, simply because I can't find foods she likes.

She did, however, just wolf down some cheesy scrambled eggs with lots of olive oil, so that's good.

Relactation isn't really an option, I don't think. My dr. prescribed birth control, and told me I'd still be able to nurse her. My milk completely dried up, to the poitn that she was trying to nurse and screaming because she was so hungry. I'm still pretty p*ssed about that whole situation, as I'd wanted to nurse her until she self-weaned. Which she did, but only because there was no milk.


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## gingerstar (Jun 10, 2005)

mama. That was a hard lesson to learn I'm sure, but be gentle with yourself.
I didn't realize when I posted before that she is drinking milk - Horizon has an organic milk out with added DHA's - if that is in your price range, it would be a little better than regular milk.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *slvsquared* 
Relactation isn't really an option, I don't think. My dr. prescribed birth control, and told me I'd still be able to nurse her. My milk completely dried up, to the poitn that she was trying to nurse and screaming because she was so hungry. I'm still pretty p*ssed about that whole situation, as I'd wanted to nurse her until she self-weaned. Which she did, but only because there was no milk.

Can you go off the birth control? I bet there would be a decent chance of getting your milk back.

-Angela


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## margob73 (Sep 1, 2007)

I also have a 10th percentile girlie. I was a bit worried because my sister has had four FTT babies. My girlie never looked wasted and our ped helped me to not worry by reminding me it is a scale-someone has to be the small ones, right? Has your girlie always been in the 10th percentile or is she dropping?
It also important to look at her food intake over several days instead of meal to meal or even day to day. Toddlers are notorious binge eaters.
I liked to suggestion about flax seed oil and just wanted to through in that it's important not to cook flax oil. Another idea is to grind up flax seeds in a clean coffee grinder and add that meal to anything you cook-pancakes, muffins, smoothies, etc.
Good luck!


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## slvsquared (May 3, 2007)

She's always been on the low end - started in the 20th, and dropped to the 10th after we weaned. I have flax seed here, grinding them is a good idea.


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## *guest (Oct 7, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *slvsquared* 
Well, we've tried the Enfamil toddler formula (which I know isn't organic, but we can't really afford organic right now) and she hates it. She took regular formula ok, but not the toddler kind. She drinks cow's milk without any issues - better, in fact, than she did formula.

I'm not so much trying to stuff her full of food, as I'm trying to balance out her diet a bit. I think by doing so, she'll naturally gain weight. She's not eating nearly enough now, simply because I can't find foods she likes.

She did, however, just wolf down some cheesy scrambled eggs with lots of olive oil, so that's good.

Relactation isn't really an option, I don't think. My dr. prescribed birth control, and told me I'd still be able to nurse her. My milk completely dried up, to the poitn that she was trying to nurse and screaming because she was so hungry. I'm still pretty p*ssed about that whole situation, as I'd wanted to nurse her until she self-weaned. Which she did, but only because there was no milk.

I have heard Walmart sells a store brand organic toddler formula now, but haven't seen in person. if you're all set with cow's milk though, then maybe you can successfully balance the diet in other ways.

here's some info on relactation from Kellymom, and I bet there's more in the BF forum on this site.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/relactation.html

if the bc was something like the pill that you can just stop taking, it may be possible. it would be a lot of work, but you might be able to pump enough for a few feeds a day. I'm not telling you what to do or not do, and you don't have to justify, just passing along info.

Here's a site for finding donor breastmilk:
http://milkshare.birthingforlife.com/

again, just sharing info. If this is not appealing to you, perhaps someone else will see the link and find it interesting. good luck to you! i hope you gave your doctor holy hell about the bc mistake.


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## deditus (Feb 22, 2006)

I just wanted to mention that sometimes it takes 3 or more days of offering something new to my dd before she will try it.
As others have mentioned, we use full fat everything as far as dairy, everything is cooked with butter, olive oil, or coconut oil.


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## eastmillcreekmama (May 22, 2007)

I don't think anyone has mentioned tofu yet. My DD loves the stuff, just steamed, or you could put sauce on it, I like tahini sauce (Annies Goddess Dressing is commercially available version, but is super salty). An easy tahini sauce is 1/3 c. tahini, the juice of one lemon, some pressed garlic, and a dash of soy sauce, plus water to get the consistency you want. DD also loves avocado, and can eat a half in one sitting.

I would be cautious about peanut butter, I know a lot of people eat it and feed it to their kids, but it has a mold toxin in it that can't be removed, this is what's responsible for peanut allergies. If you can afford it, almond butter is a safer alternative, and is high in fat and calories.

Hmmmm, yogurt with fruit, how about coconut milk smoothies? Very high in fat. And what about beans, like black beans? My DD loves these too, great finger food.

I agree with PP who recommended feeding what you are eating off your plate. DD usually is more curious about this than plain servings. We started doing this a while back, and she eats a lot of things I would never expect a 13 m.o. to eat.

Anyhow, FWIW, my DD is very small for her age, 10th percentile or less. She started (at 6 mo) at 50th, so I COULD get worried about her, but I'm not. I'm sure she is just right for who she is. Both of us are small framed and rather skinny, so our genetic body type is that way. She is skinny, but IMO fine! She is very active, walking, etc., and therefore, she gains calories, etc, but also works them off. She is getting taller, though. It may not be a big deal that you DD is in the 10th.


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## slvsquared (May 3, 2007)

Thanks for the great advice, mamas. You've given me lots of super options. I haven't tried tofu, as we don't eat it, but I bet she'd like it. She seems to like soft foods, and from what I've heard tofu takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with...is that right?

I actually bought some black beans yesterday, so I'm going to give those a try, as well.

I'm not really willing to change birth control again, as I"m also bipolar. Messing with my hormones makes me manic, or depressed, or worse - both. That's part of why I"m so irritated about the BC issue - breastfeeding really mellowed me out. It took several tries to get a pill that didn't mess with my moods, and then when we found one, it killed my milk supply. We absolutely cannot go without birth control right now, as we can't afford another baby (I know that's a loaded statement, but in our case it really is true)

So, it's cow's milk or formula. She took the walmart brand formula when she was on it, and it was the only kind that she WOULD take. When she got bigger, I tried to move up to the Enfamil toddler, and she hates it.

Now, she won't take any formula - I guess she prefers the taste of cow's milk? We buy organic whole milk from a local dairy.


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## sewaneecook (Nov 1, 2005)

Since she is already drinking milk, you could add whey protein powder to her yogurt, pancakes, drinks, etc. It's really high in protein and tastes yummy.


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## mom2tatum (Mar 14, 2007)

We add fround flax seed and wheat germ to EVERYTHING, especially eggs, yogurt, coat tofu in it. That adds lots of nutrients and extra protein to my ds' solid intake (he is not even on the charts, or close, but our ped is a lac. consultant and more relaxed than I am, I think)

Oh, and salmon. Loves it. I had another thought and now its gone from me. If I remember, I will come back here.

Good luck!


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