Ensuring your baby gains weight within a healthy range is important for their growth. Explore these tips for promoting healthy weight gain in babies.
You can help your baby gain and maintain a healthy weight by helping them develop healthy eating habits.
Healthy weight gain requires a focus on energy-dense foods that support growth and development. It may take time for your child to attain a higher weight, but eating a wide variety of foods can help your child achieve that goal.
Tips For Healthy Baby Weight Gain
Increase your baby’s calorie intake
You can try to increase your baby’s portion size during mealtime, especially energy-giving food such as rice, pasta, and potatoes. Use whole-grain carbs whenever possible. If your baby finds it difficult to eat a large portion, you can try small frequent portions. This means that he/she will eat a variety of foods throughout the day which will not only increase calories but also other nutrients required.
If your child has a poor appetite, you can stimulate their appetite by inviting their friends to share a meal, serving their favorite foods, or having a pleasant mealtime conversation. Plan for regular eating times. Give at least 5 meals a day including three meals and several snacks. Provide a balanced nutrient-dense meal and healthy snacks such as fruit and vegetable salads, yogurt, or sandwiches with healthy fillings.
You can also increase the energy density of your baby’s meal until they reach a healthy weight. A small portion of energy-dense food provides more calories than a large portion of less energy-dense food. Energy-dense foods tend to be high in fats, whole milk, and butter.
You can try:
- Balancing a healthy diet with high-calorie foods e.g. mashed green bananas with minced meat and spinach, then you can melt some butter on top of the mashed bananas.
- Adding milk or cheese to mashed potatoes, beans, and green vegetables.
- Adding crushed nuts to yogurt such as macadamia, ground nuts, and cashew nuts.
- Blending energy-dense fruits such as avocado and bananas
Provide enough proteins
Proteins support muscle growth and increase muscle mass. This is important for healthy weight gain. Proteins also play a fundamental role in body functions including the repair and recovery of worn-out tissues in skin, muscles, organs, blood, hair, and nails. Increasing your baby’s protein intake raises the overall calorie intake which can lead to weight gain.
Offering balanced meals and snacks from protein sources such as milkshakes, and cereals soaked in milk and nuts will help your baby get enough proteins. Protein provides early satiety which helps in reducing unhealthy snacking that can lead to unhealthy weight gain. Foods high in proteins include but are not limited to eggs, meat, milk, nuts, fish, and legumes.
Give fibrous carbohydrates and healthy fats
Including meals with fibrous carbohydrates and healthy fats will help increase the calories and other nutrients in your baby’s diet. You should use whole food sources of carbohydrates such as unrefined maize and wheat flour, beans, fruits, and brown rice. These foods provide essential energy to maintain muscle growth and weight gain.
Fibrous carbohydrates contain fibers. Our body does not break down fibers and eating food with fiber helps your baby feel full and makes it less likely to overeat. Another benefit of fibrous carbohydrates is that it contributes to the health of your baby’s gut flora. A healthy gut flora is essential to maintain regular bowel movements, prevent infections, and stimulate the immune system. Fats give your baby energy and help in the absorption of vitamins in the body. Healthy fats occur in foods such as nuts, avocados, vegetable oils, and fish.
Encourage your child to be physically active
Physical activity is essential for your baby’s health, development, and well-being. It increases hunger and improves the link between the food taken and food expenditure hence preventing excessive weight gain. Apart from helping him/her maintain a healthy weight, physical activity has other benefits such as strengthening bones and muscles and improving concentration, flexibility, and posture.
Maintaining a healthy weight during childhood is one of the strategies for having a healthy life. Unhealthy weight can lead to life-threatening conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. On the other hand, if your baby is underweight he/she may be at great risk of health conditions such as malnutrition, osteoporosis, lowered immunity, and impaired growth.