Underweight Toddler

-mac & cheese
-fries or mashed potato with grated mozarella and mushroom gravy
-pasta with full ceam alfredo/carbonara sauce
-banana cake
-milkshake
-boiled sweet potato with simple syrup
-potato gratin
-rolled naan with pizza sauce and mozzarella
-deep fried mashed potato balls with cheddar cheese filling
-pancakes with butter and maple syrup
-deep fried fish fillet

Above are some of the high calorie foods my kids like. Did the doctor suggest some vitamins to increase appetite too?

 

I would say moong dal helps, good protein, toor dal , urad dal(idli, dosa),
Also helps. Pongal , all
vegetables and dals without chillis and spices . (Kids that young can't take chillies and spices, so they start disliking real food)

As she is close to 2 yr , introduce to pistachios and badam and peanuts with few days gap to see for allergies or indigestion. This can be given as one time snack, Kaju is tough to get digest so you can wait that one for 6 more months.

Milk 3 glasses per day is good and necessary for bone building,.

Biscuits, chocolates, candies, cakes all change their taste buds and they feel like eating sweet only. Also it kills hunger and empty calories. So give them very rarely like once in a week

Fruits even though not for weight gaining over all helps them , but. Papaya , watermelon, banana, small mango piece(tough to digest mango)
Good to gain weight.
And rice is good too for carbs which needed for brain development and very easy digestive. All other grains like whole wheat , jowar can be given .

Carrots kids like it, just simmer in tadka or simply grated

Every meal and snack if it is healthy kid may pick up in gaining weight

Also genes matter too, some weigh less , just no reason, and small built . As long as health eating habits are there , and kid play well , no need to worry I think

Also if u see growth charts , 1st year they gain lot of weight, but second year it is not same, very little weight gain . You can see online growth charts

 

Find out where the percentile chart is from. In the UK, the practitioners routinely warn us not to get stuck up on it because the charts are made using data from > 30 years ago when breastfeeding was discouraged and formula feeding was encouraged. As a result babes tended to be much heavier. Additionally Asian babies were quite often were genetically much lighter than Caucasian babies. So I am a bit wary of the percentile charts.

I'm a bit puzzled too that the child has been suggested mct oil because I remember reading about its weight loss properties but thats the context I've read it in, perhaps. Would you use Coconut oil or would you give a special formulation? The latter makes me uncomfortable. that's because I'd rather go the traditional way than use new fangled fads as somehow I'm not sure of the research done.

KashmirFlower has given excellent tips. It is especially important that the child is NOT encouraged to eat junk like biscuits, icecreams, Chocolate and deep fried foods now to gain weight.

With my child who never gained much weight, other things helped with her fussy eating habits
- getting her to sleep 12 hours in the night, plus 2 naps for 1.5 hours each ( had to be sleep trained)
- making sure she didn't fill up on milk - in he middle of thenight especially,
- putting her on a schedule - at 1, it was milk as soon as she woke up (give 200 ml and tweak of it prevents her from eating breakfast after an hour) 3 meals plus 2 snacks as soon as she woke up from a nap; Milk only before bedtime. Sugar and salt were severely restricted. The meals would have enough dairy.
- mealtimes were in a particular chair only. No running around.
- the child eats what it can in 20-25 min. If the child doesn't want to eat, I'd let her go without offering any substitutes until next meal or snack time. She understood that she had to eat well or it isn't pleasant.
- Also helps to mix it up - a piece of fruit or carrot followed by a bit of main course. Helps trick the brain into liking the main course.
- having a balanced plate for each meal with lots of portions of different healthy items. Veg, fruit, protein, carbs and fat. I included cheeses and butter, and cooked with regular veg oIL or olive oil. Not too much oil either.
- making porridge using formula (strictly ones without sugar) to increase calorific content than milk. If anything needs sweetening, I'd add banana.
- it is important to turn off all screens during mealtimes and just have a chat - it is not recommended but I'd use a washable book if the child got restless. But not often enough to make it a habit.

In the end remember that your child being active and happy is what matters. Make sure the child gets lots of physical activities between breakfast and lunch. Weight gain will automatically happen as a side effect.