growth percentile dropped

We had a WIC appointment yesterday & they always get weighed & measured. Well, the lady told me that the kids' growth percentile had dropped from I think around 25 or 15% to 5%. She said they were still on the graph, so not to worry.....but maybe to add more fat to their diet. I told dh about it & he said, "What are we supposed to do, feed them ding dongs & junk food??" I said no, that can't be healthy.....she had suggested just adding a little butter to their oatmeal, ect. I thought maybe avacados would be good, but they threw them off their plates today. Guess they don't like those!

She also asked me how much milk they were drinking & I said around 18 oz/day. She said, that might be too much & to cut back to 12 oz/day. I'm mentally rolling my eyes b/c 18 oz is just 2 sippy cups.....how am I supposed to do this, measure out their milk 1st?? Come on! But she said too much milk could keep them full. I doubt that's what the case is, since they get 1 cup of milk during breakfast (which they usually eat pretty well) and the other one is after dinner. So I'm pretty sure they're not just filling up on milk.


Any suggestions on what I could feed them? Or does this even sound right that they need more calories??

 

My kids are huge milk drinkers & picky eaters right now, so I figure I'd rather them drink lots of milk that ask for junk, snacks, soda & juice.
As for the size thing, I don't know what the qualifications as for the WIC person, but I'd discuss it with your doctor. Some kids are just little & the charts are a just guideline. I have a friend and her oldest daughter has always been small. Her first pedi was always on her about making her eat more, adding butter to her food etc. She eats great, loves veggies & always ate everything on her plate. Eventually, she changed to a different pedi in the practice, and the low weight & size is no issue to him.
You really have to so what works for you & your family. Also, trust your own judgement.

 

Milk does fill them up, but if they're only drinking 2 sippies a day I wouldn't worry about cutting back on that too much. I would add butter to things like noodles, rice, etc. that they already eat. Also add cheese to everything. Give them full fat yogurt and cottage cheese as well. You could also give them small servings of ice cream from time to time or make fruit smoothies using the full fat yogurt. Peanut butter is also great for adding weight. Mine love it spread on a graham cracker or on apple slices. HTH

 

4x a day with 3 oz = 12 oz. per day for us.

Diana w/Rianna and Justin

 

I probably should have mentioned......dd seems sensitive to dairy, so we have to keep that kind of to a minimum. She drinks whole goat milk, otherwise she gets constipated super bad. So I hesitate to add any more cheese than she's getting. I do want to get more whole yogurt, though, but it's hard to find!

 

One of my girls wasn't gaining weight for about 6 months. This freaked me out. One pedi said it was ok. Another was very alarmed and wanted to do a whole bunch of testing. A deveopmental specialist said he didn't think it was a problem. These are all very well respected professionals. I'm just saying this to illustrate how subjective it all is. So frustrating.
I asked day care to give her 1/2 and extra serving of every meal which they do and she eats. We add olive oile (healthier than butter) to anything we can. We've added some cream cheese and other soft cheeses to her diet (she can't drink cow milk but these cheeses don't seem to bother her). I'm thinking of adding almond butter (she's allergic to peanut).
She's still on formula which I consider very important since it guarantees a % of her nutrition and drinks about 20oz a day. She doesn't get the milk along with food though. Like she'll have milk first thing in the morning and her breakfast about an hour later when she gets to day care. She gets more milk betweeen lunck and dinner- like a snack and before bedtime about an hour after dinner.
This has worked very well for her. She's started gaining weight- maybe 1/2lb in the last month which is great for this age. I guess you just need to try a couple of things and see how it goes.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.

 

QUOTE(naomi02 @ Jan 10 2008, 09:30 PM) [snapback]567544[/snapback]
I probably should have mentioned......dd seems sensitive to dairy, so we have to keep that kind of to a minimum. She drinks whole goat milk, otherwise she gets constipated super bad. So I hesitate to add any more cheese than she's getting. I do want to get more whole yogurt, though, but it's hard to find!


I can find whole milk yogurt at my super target, super walmart and all grocery stores, you just may need to look by dairy AND the organic/natural food sections. YoBaby makes a whole milk smoothie that my kids EAT UP and I offer when we are on the go, those I have to pick up at more of a Whole Foods/natural market, but I just stock up when I go.

Honestly, though I think it is much healthier to just focus on offering lots of good/healthy foods rather than throw lots of butter and saturated fats onto everything, as long as they are growing and doing well I wouldn't worry. We consume ourselves with trying to fatten our toddlers then all of sudden we are trying to make them play sports to stay thin....ahhhhh, america lol.

 

Nuts and Yogurt! I buy the crap - Trix yogurts and candied walnuts, almonds, peanuts. They have a snack spot and I just sprinkle nuts throughout the day - but it only got them up to 15% but they are probably always going to be skinnies...DH and I were as kids.

 

Try adding carnation instant breakfast to their milk at breakfast. It will add some calories and lots of vitamins/minerals.