How to Help Your Older Baby or Toddler Gain Weight Nutritiously

Most toddlers are good about eating what they need to get the calories and nutrients necessary for their growing bodies, but sometimes it can be a challenge to find ways to pack on those extra pounds nutritiously, especially if your older baby or toddler has trouble with weight gain. As tempting as it might be, you cannot just let them load up on sweets or other fatty foods that are not healthy. Basic guidelines for the revised food pyramid are a great starting point to evaluate how your toddler's nutrition stacks up and to make sure he or she is getting adequate calories every day for healthy weight gain. Visit http://www.mypyramid.gov/ to set up a personalized food pyramid courtesy of the US Government.

Once you are certain you are offering your child a balanced menu (keeping in mind your child may opt to not eat everything all the time, but that their nutrition is rounded-out over the course of a week), try working in some of these ideas to help them gain weight healthily.

- Start by incorporating calorie-rich items from the food pyramid into your child's regular diet to promote weight gain. Try mixing in cooked chopped meat, nuts, beans, cheese, or wheat germ into your recipes to add calories.

- Olives are an excellent source of good fat for weight gain. Play up how fun it is to eat them by showing your child how to wear them on their fingers at the table. If you need to sneak them in, try adding them ground up or sliced on pizza.

- Olive oil is also an excellent source of good fat for weight gain. Make your child's favorite pasta dish and add one-half a teaspoon to his or her portion. They will not even notice the olive oil because it is in with the sauce and pasta.