any tips on weight gain for 10 month old ?

dpmother

Registered User
hello !

my lil one is 10 months old & been eating well, but not gaining enough weight...

baby is active & healthy and is hitting the milestones (crawling, standing, etc.) quite well....

However we are concerned as she is quite below average in weight. Doctors had pointed out that she is ok but a little bit of weight gain would be better?

Currently she is having Enfapro formula (approx 3 times a day, 4-5 ounces each time) and is having 4 meals (including fruits, soups, rice, lentils, etc.)

We have noticed that off-late she does pu-pu 3-4 times a day compared to 1-2 times a day a month ago. The pu-pu is normal and she has not shown any symptoms of loose motions.

So far,she does not have any teeth, but it could be coming any time.

Any tips on how i can help her gain some weight?

thanks in advance !
 
My only advice is be careful of what you wish for. For some babies, it is perfectly normal for them to be in the 25th percentile, for others it is normal to be in the 10th. For these babies, it could be harmful for them if you overfeed them in order to make them become OVERweight (for them) at such a young age.

My advice would be don't worry about it UNLESS there are obvious health issues associated with her poor weight gain - which, from what you have described, there are not. Babies will eat when they are hungry, they will eat as much as they need, and I worry that FORCING them to eat more than they need could do more harm than good.

I know that this culture over here thinks that "fatter is better" for babies - but really, that is not always good for the babies. Just let it be, your baby is healthy and happy. Why change anything, just to make her more chubby??
 
We have the same issue. Our daughter is not gaining much weight, and we have been advised to try and increase it. It is not in an effort to make her chubby, rather to prevent her from dropping off the curve entirely. She was born at 10%, dropped to 3% a few months ago, and seems to be dropping again. She also is very active and seems to be hitting her markers, she just seems to burn more calories than she consumes. In our case, our doctors (both in the US and in HK), would like her to stay around 3%, and recommended adding healthy fats to her food, like butter, olive oil, avocado, full fat yogurt. I agree that chubby is not always healthy, but a baby who is not growing well might need some help.
 
beamae and dpmother, can you quote how much weight your baby actually is?

i had a 10 month old, born at 5%, stayed there all the months with a bit of drop and a bit of gain. at 10 months, he was 7kg. then in the following two weeks he suddenly gained 1 kg and now stayed flat again during the last week.

we have not changed anything in his diet and do not add any supplements or anything. my view is that he is happy, eating well, active and all-around normal. so nothing to worry about.
 
How's your baby's height? My 10 month old has always been 10th percentile or below in weight but always been around 50th percentile in height. Our doctor says that although it would be nice if she gained a little more, there are no concerns because she her development is fine and she is active and healthy. Plus she said that height is actually a better indicator fir growth than weight. Afterall, one can always lose weight but can't get shorter!
 
healthy fats are essential not for weight gain but important for the development of the brain - from what i've read they say that before the age of 2 babies SHOULD eat more "fat" in their diet and that a non-fat diet is not beneficial to the diet of babies. so add that to their diet - if not for weight gain but for brain development.
 
Don't worry too much about baby's weight. My daughter was 8.7 kg at her 1-year-old check up. Her weight has always been at 25% and height at 50%, and doctor said it's perfectly fine. Don't force feed them. Healthy eating habits start young. Your baby knows best when s/he is full or if s/he needs more food. Just go by the little one's cue. They won't starve themselves, it's an instinct.
 
Don't worry our son was 8 kgs on his 1st birthday and is 13 on his 4 th birthday. We freaked out initially but as our kid hit all his milestones on time , super active, mental growth all well our dr said we shouldn't worry

As others have said if there are no issues don't worry so much.

We have also seen parents giving medications to their kids to increase their appetite and some of the kids have become obese as they have grown older
 
Yes good fats are for brain development apart from weight gain

Hi all,

My 10-month old son has the same problem. Dr also suggested us to try to make him gain weight and eat more fats.

BeaMae - the food that you mentioned - butter and olive oil - would they be good for babies before 1 yr old?

Thx.

Yvonne
 
butter is actually recommended as part of the meal for kids under 2 as it is a natural form of fat that kids need for brain development. avocado is also very good for them too - i mashed it in yoghurt for my baby when she was younger,\ and she really liked it.
 
Try giving more carbohydrates like potato, sweet potato, rice, pasta etc. I used to give pureed fruits and veggies but when i switched to carbs for main meal my lil one gained weight.
 
I have a small 10 month old baby too -- she was full term but low birth weight (less than 2.5kg; less than 3 percentile) at birth. Caught up a lot around 4 months old to almost 50th percentile but since 6 month-mark, back to moving around 10-20th percentile. She loves full fat yogurt and avocados, and eats a lot but just doesn't gain. Agree we mustn't overfeed. I referred to this a lot: http://www.infantchart.com/ - there's a good weight for length measurement which I think is probably more important that looking at weight or length alone.
 
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