High Calorie Meal/Snack Suggestions?

When my girls (who are both VERY twiggy!) were little, I would give them: 1. full-fat ranch dressing for dipping veggies 2. whole milk 3. various cheeses 4. hummus and crackers 5. PB on crackers ...and other things like that. I felt it was better than giving them cookies and other "empty" calories but was still giving them more calories than some other choices. Good luck!

Peanut butter and honey sandwiches! Whole milk Ice cream Granola bar Cereal

Her's some more suggestions: Cook food with olive oil Nuts Whole grain breads with butter dried fruits starchy vegetables Bagels with whole cream cheese cottage cheese with fruit cocktail or fresh fruit avacado/guacamole Eggs- fried, scrambled Tofu sour cream Yogurt Try putting out pieces of toast or bagel with cream cheese as a snack with whole milk. Cream cheese also comes with fruit blended in like starwberry or blueberry. A bowl of nuts is also a good idea- peanuts, pecans, wallnuts, soy nuts. Youc an buy a mix. fresh fruit with cream cheese dip also.

When we are going somewhere for a while and my 3 yr old has not eaten a single bit, she loves to drink a chocolate Ensure with a straw. The bottles are small but over 200 calories. Not ideal, but at least her stomach is full. It's similar to Carnation Instant Breakfast.

Oh wow, there are lots of good ideas here that I haven't tried! Keep 'em coming! Thanks so much everybody. :)

This thread is a few days old, but I just saw it and wanted to add that smoothies can be a great calorie-adding snack. We actually buy canned coconut milk, pour it into ice trays, and then use the coconut ice cubes to make smoothies. Yummy! (Of course our kid isn't that scrawny, so we don't have a good excuse - we just like it. . .)

Has anyone used PediaSure? I haven't tried it yet because my Joshie loves Carnation Instant Breakfast but my Joshie is scrawny too. He is in like the 40th percentile for weight and is just now walking. Enfamil sent me a small can of transition formula for babies 9-24 mos. but I can't get Joshie to drink it as he has been drinking whole milk now for about 4 mos. Blessings, Michelle

Our pediatrician had us switch our son from whole milk to Pediasure until he puts on a bit more weight. DS likes it just fine (usually finishes what we give him). He wasn't on whole milk all that long before we made the switch though. I've never used one of the transition formulas. Maybe you could try mixing it with milk though? We actually use a generic brand of Pediasure from Fry's because it's about half as expensive. We use the plain vanilla but there are a few different flavors. I wish you the best with Joshie. It's so frustrating with our son. He just doesn't seem interested in eating much and I spend so much of my day trying to get a few extra calories in him. Ours was a little bit of a late walker too. But now that he's got it he sure is fast. I just don't get why he's not hungrier after burning all those calories running around the house!!

My little boy was very skinny, so we supplemented his whole milk 1:1 with Boost. Eventually realized he is lactose intolerant, and went to straight Boost, 2-3 cans a day, or however much he'll drink. He takes lactose free milk or soy milk on cereal, but refuses to drink either of those otherwise. My other kids guzzle milk. He has stayed healthier than other kids in daycare, and is now in excellent height/weight proportion, with little fat. He loves his Boost, has always refused Pediasure (seriously Pediasure does not taste as good), and boost is actually a good bit cheaper. Our pediatrician and pediatric nutritionist both have said there's no real difference between them, if your child is not much over a year old the boost can have a tendency to give them loose poops but that goes away. I also like to give him plenty of yogurt and peanut butter sandwiches for snacks or lunch--high cal high protein & he loves it.

Our Ds has had digestive issues and he drinks rice milk as he is unable to tolerate soy. When comparing the calories I was surprised at the difference. (A 1 cup serving has 130 calories, 27 grams of carbohydrate!) He tends to be slender, but not underweight so far, probably because he chugs rice milk and all those liquid calories! We buy the vanilla flavored rice milk and he likes it. My kids also like dates (the dried fruit) which have TONS of calories. You can also find other nut butters if peanut butter gets boring. My kids liked the sunflower seed butter pretty well, and also hazelnut/chocolate butter, like Nutella. Nuts are great, but be careful serving whole nuts to toddlers as they are a choking hazard. (Paranoid mom here. Sorry! :o ) Smoothies are a great way to get extra calories especially if you add yogurt (or soy or rice alternative yogurts), whole fruit, and honey. (Honey only after your child is 12 months or older, of course.) You can make them with Pediasure or any of the instant breakfasts, or pudding mix and this would give a significant amount of calories. When I had my wisdom teeth out and couldn't eat (dang stitches!) I had nut butter smoothies for the protein. My kids like crackers or pieces of pita bread with cream cheese, chopped nuts, and dried fruit (raisins, chopped dates, currants, cranberries, apricots...) on them. Also those all-fruit bars. (This is one brand. [url=http://www.azurestandard.com/product.php?id=SC422]Azure Standard - Just Fruit Bar, Apple Cherry[/url] ) Look at the calories, and it's all fruit with no sugar added. You'd probably have to get these at a health food store, or the health food section of your grocery store. Even if you split it in half and gave it at two different meals or snacks that would still be a bit of calories packed into each bite. And speaking of splitting in half...I used to cut everything into tiny bits as the kids seemed to eat more that way. Also served small portions at a time for the same reason. I think they ate more when I served them 3 or 4 servings of tablespoon sized portions than when I put a 1/4 cup serving on their plate.Home made mac n' cheese, made with evaporated milk and whole-fat cheese. I have a recipe for that, too. :D Puddings made with Pediasure are also hi-cal. Those little peanut butter balls have been a hit at my house. Very easy to make, too. Peanut Butter Balls 1/2 cup peanut butter, or other nut butter (Nutella, anyone?? :evilgrin: )2 1/2 Tblsp non-instant dried milk (but why not dry pudding mix for a few more calories?)2 Tblsp honey2 Tblsp raisins or other dried fruit pieces1/4 cup shredded coconutenough sesame seeds with which to cover the ballsPinch a small amount, roll into ball, then roll in sesame seeds to cover. The kids can do this too. It's a craft and a snack. LOL