Underweight

My son was put on soy formula since he was 2 months old, since he was lactose intolerant like his dad. His pediatrician has never voiced any concernes about it since my so was in the 60% when he was born and is now in the 95%. He is also in the 95% for height so he is proportioned. I also give him cereal, veggies and fruits now, and he seems to be thriving. Hope it helps.

We don't do milk in our family as there is not a nutritional need to drink another animal's milk, LOL!

You are right on the money that your child needs plenty of fat for brain development. We fill that niche in our family by offering advocado's, grilled salmon (not more than 1X per week) and add flax seed oil to things like oatmeal, pancakes & sweet potatoes. We also grill veggies in olive oil.

After the age of 3 you can introduce peanut butter if there is not an allergy, this is also a great source of healthy fat.

Also leafy green veggies and broccoli are excellent souces of calcium another neccessity in a toddlers diet.

Hi C.,
We encountered the same situation with our daughter. Our DR suggested hummus to help her put on some pounds...Our kids love it with pita chips or Sun Chips, as a veggie dip or sandwich spread. Olives, olive oil, avocado (guacamole & chips...), & nuts are also a great source of "healthy" fat. Whole grain breads are good too, with Smart Balance butter, which isn't a milk-based spread. And peanut butter or almond butter over a good hearty slice of whole grain toast with Smart Balance and apple butter on top is yummy. We also make protein shakes, with a good chocolate whey protein powder, soy milk, peanut butter, and bananas, and even some soy ice cream sometimes. Kids LOVE these. Vanilla whey protein powder is also good with juice, bananas, berries, etc...

And if your little one's not unhealthy in any other way, don't worry too much about the weight. Especially if your DR isn't concerned. Some kids are just smaller.
Wish I had that problem! ha
Take care,
K.

I recommend Twinlabs Cod Liver Oil with flavoring (comes in mint and orange flavors). My pediatrician approved of it for my son...so feel free to ask your pediatrician about it. It does NOT taste fishy and it has the good fats that babies need. PLUS it has no heavy-metals or PCBs (mercury contamination and PCB contamination being the reason children are told to limit the number of fish servings per week). My son is old enough to eat fish now, but he loves the spoonful of oil every morning.

I take it too (but twice a day). Who knows? Maybe it will help my joints/memory/etc. I buy the 3-bottle pack on Amazon (it's the cheapest place I've found so far) and store it in the fridgerator. Hope this helps.

Hi C.,

Has Ty dropped centiles on the growth chart? The reason I ask is because it is very normal for babies to be under the 5th percentile. In pediatrics, we suspect an issue only when children drop 2 centiles or more. It's OK that some children and babies are low on the growth chart as long as they are plotting along the same line. Be careful in trying to make your baby gain weight when his body is regulating itself just fine. The best way to tell if your baby truly does have a nutritional issue is to get a full nutritional assessment from a pediatric dietitian. Your doctor can refer you to one. We have a great nutrition clinic down at Children's Medical Center Dallas.

As for the soy formulas, all formulas on the market with the exception of preemie formulas are all 20 calories/ounce. Soy formulas have the same calorie level as regular milk-based formulas, so no difference in its ability to alow for normal weight gain. And many of the soy formulas DO have the fats (DHA & ARA) that may aid brain development. Examples of these formulas are Enfamil Prosobee LIPIL or Similac Isomil Advance.

I hope this helps!
A.

First, my pedi allways told me to not pay attention to the percentiles because they are a national average and every child is different. My almost 3YO is still in the 5th percentile on his height, but he was the tallest one in his class last year. So if your pedi has not really addressed this concern with you, then I would not be too worried about it.

I don't know if this works for your situation, but both my babies were underweight due to them being preterm. My pedi and my lactation consultant told me to eat olives and cook with olive oil because they had the best source of natural fat that would be discreted through the breastmilk. Once I started doing this, their weight started climbing. Since I love olives I still eat them all the time and now I only cook with olive oil. Now that my 1YO is eating almost all table foods and has been on mostly table foods since she was 10 MO, her weight is right where it needs to be. My older one did not start eating table foods as early as she did and we kept him on baby food a lot longer and he was in the 25th percentile for his weight for almost 2 years. My youngest has been 50 to 75 percentile since a month after I started with the olives and olive oil while breastfeeding. To me she seem so tiny and petite that I am surprised at her weight of 22 lbs.

My son was also on Soy formula- expensive stuff! He's still really little and his doctor isn't too concerned about his weight either (he's been sick quite a bit.) If you are concerned about the nutrients then give him some vitamins (poly-vi-sol.) My son drinks the Carnation drinks and I'm not sure if the powder is made with dairy products but if not you could mix it with soy or rice milk. My son also does the pediatric nutritional drinks every single day (it really hasn't helped him gain much weight honestly.) Someone told me once not too worry too much, you won't have a 21 year old wearing 6-9 month clothing.

I'd check out this GREAT holistic doctor in Southlake. www.centeru.com His name is Dr. Jay Mahoney and he is a D.O.!

My 2yr old was/is not able to digest reg. milk either. She is on soy milk and absolutely loves it. If your concerned about adding healthy fat, try the organic yogurts--we loved the Horizon brand(she can tolerate the all other milk products but the actual drink itself.)
Just like the other moms mention--avacodos and PB are great. As far as a healthy brain developement, my 2yr old is doing just great. She talks constantly,knows her ABC's,we have complete conversations with her,etc.
Goodluck,

BB

I believe that the type of fat you are referring to is DHA and ARA. There is a brand of products called Baby's Only Organic. They have a powder supplement of DHA and ARA as well as a soy based toddler formula for babies over a year. The web site is http://www.naturesone.com/supplements.php
Beech-Nut is a company that makes baby food with added DHA/ARA.
This is a link to an article by Dr. Sears regarding DHA that is quite comprehensive:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T040900.asp
Hope this helps a bit!

There's a great book called "Super Baby Food" that has lots of great ideas for how to pack a lot of nutrition into small amounts of food. For good fats, try mixing in some tahini and flax meal to his yogurt (and honey if you want - just a bit). Make muffins that have extra grains in them, along with banana and ground-up nuts or seeds.

Good luck!

C.

Avacado's are an easy, great finger food, perfect for your little guy. Peanut butter is also great, but make sure the ingredients read: peanuts, salt. Kroger has a great generic all-natural PB.

I make soy milk fruit soomthies a lot for breakfast and add in flax oil and wheat germ. My son will even take flax oil straight!

As far as soy, I kept my toddlers on soy step 2 formula for toddlers until 24 months (they can begin at 9 months). they both loved it in a sippy cup.

Keep in mind that fats are not all created equal. There is the good, the bad, and the ugly. Good sources are from fruits and veggies, like olive oil. Bad are from animal sources, like in cow's milk. Ugly are the hydrogenated oils found in most of the fast foods and in major brands of peanut butter and marjarine (sp?).

So, just becouase there is more fat in cow milk, doesn't mean it is better for him. Also, the calcium in cows milk is a not as easily absorbed as the calcuim in produce, so there again, it doesn't mean that cow's milk is the best source of calcuim, either. The label may read you are getting "X" amount of calcium, but your body only absorbs a small %age of that.

hope this helps! all the best, liz

i give my son next step soy formula. similac makes it and lipil does as well. he loves it and it has all it needs.

Hi C.,
At 10 weeks old, we found out our son was allergic to the milk protein. After BF'ing for 1 year we switched him to Goats milk. It has almost as much fat and calories as cows milk. It taste good and goats aren't fed hormones so it's much more pure than cow's milk. Walmart now carries it, it's $2.95 for a quart, so it's not cheap (whole foods carries it for $3.49!). but you might try it. It also comes in a powder form, which helped for trips/vacations. My son is now 2 1/2 y/o and in the 60% for weight.He drinks a cup in the morning and evening.

Good luck...D.

I'm not sure if your son can do yogurt because I'm not sure how seriously allergic he is to milk. My son always spit up whole milk, so we had to put him on 2%. But he has always been able to eat yogurt. I even gave him Danimals and gradually added the 2% milk to it. I'd check with your doctor first depending on his allergy symptoms, but it may be something to try. My son has always been in the 20th percentile while my daughter was always in the 99th. So I know it's hard to watch them not gain the weight like you'd like for them to.

I would recommend starting your baby on the Enfamil Toddler formula.
He's old enough to start it now and it will provide him with all of the essential vitamin's and fats needed at his age.
They make a Prosobee Enfamil toddler formula and my son is now 18 mths old and still drinks the Enfamil Next Step.
I plan on keeping him on it until he turns 2 so I know he's still getting plenty of nutrition.

Even if your baby is eating solid food's, they can still be very picky eaters at this age and sometime's eat very little.
With the Toddler formula you know your baby's still getting plenty of healthy nutrition needed and hopefully help your baby put some weight on as well.

Good luck to you and your little guy!

Have you tried pedisure? What about carnation instant breakfast with the soy milk? It has alot of calories. My son was put on it because he is underweight too.

C.,

I am a SAHM of 3 girls ages 12, 9, and 7. They all were raised on soy formula. When I chose to switch them from formula to milk they used Soy milk. All three of my girls were Lactose Intolerant. Let me tell you the fun we had at feeding time.

I am not sure as to the data on healthy brain development for infants on soy milk/ formulas. My children have all tested into the Gifted and Talented department. My girls were put through hours of testing and psychological evals. My middle child has been doing studies on the highschool level for the last 2 years. Just my personal experience I would have to completely disagree with any harm that could affect the brain by feeding your son a soy based formula or milk. I hope that my experience will at least give you another point of view. I am not saying that all children who drink this will end up labeled "G/T". But I don't feel that drinking soy products hurt my childrens brain development.

Enjoy that sweet little one. They grow up so fast. I look at my 12 year old and it feels just like yesterday that I brought her home from the hospital.

Good Luck,
Dene' H.

Who is your allergist? I would ask him these questions. Pediatricians are great for sniffles but it ends there for most of them in my experience.

I go to Dr. Seshagiri Rao and he is wonderful (but has long wait times).

Has your son shown signs of slow brain development? I have a 2-1/2 yr old who has fallen in the less than 3 percentile in weight since she was born. She was breast fed for the first year and my milk was never very fatty either. She is only able to drink Silk soymilk because the other soymilks we have tried have too much acid in them and upset her system. She is not a big eater and can still wear some clothes for a 1yr old. That being said, she has always been ahead of her age group developmentally and as I am told by her daycare provider and teachers at the school she goes to twice a week she is as smart as some of the 4yr olds she is around. The doctor has never been concerned with her weight or size and alway told me and still says to date that as long as she is healthy and happy that we are in great shape, she is just a slim child. And from what I understand from her Grandmother, her uncle was like that too when was little and he is 6'2" now and has just always been slim. Some children are just like that but it has nothing to do with what they eat or what you are doing. Unless he is showing signs of slow development I would not be worrying and trying to supplement his diet. And I wouldn't attribute slow brain development to soymilk either. If his development is slow I would start finding out if something else is going on with him. I can introduce you to lots of children who have been raised on soymilk and they are all smart and perfectly well developed. And some of them were fat babies and some of them were slim babys.