17 Amazing High Calorie Foods For Baby Weight Gain
Are you one of those moms that are extremely fretful about her baby’s low weight? Do you think your baby is not as healthy as the other similar aged babies? If so, then you are just at the right place! Because I am going to share with you some of the best ways and top 17 high calorie foods for baby weight gain that will prove highly contributive towards weight gain of your baby.
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Not only will these foods help in gaining weight, but also might prove to enhance their overall health, boost energy levels and stimulate brain development. Rather than choosing foods with high-fat content, pick out foods that are rich in calories for visible results and which will not just fatten up your baby.
1. Dry Fruits
Dry fruits are a rich source of energy, most needed to your baby for their nutritious and healthy growth. Dry fruits do not fatten up babies in any way but provide essential nourishment and ample amount of calories required for weight gain. Almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, figs, raisins, etc. all of them contain healthy fats.
- You can crush these dry fruits and garnish them over cereals, smoothies, etc.
- You can start introducing dry fruits to your baby’s diet at 8 months of age.
- Avoid giving whole dry fruits to babies below 2 years, for prevention against choking.
2. Fish
Fish contains fine amounts of vitamin D, vitamin A, proteins and other essential fatty acids needed for gaining weight. It is one the primary sources of omega-3 fatty acids which are constructive towards developing your child’s brain.
Vitamin D is extremely necessary as it helps our body to absorb calcium, further making our bones stronger and stimulates their growth. Whereas the vitamin A is known to have positive effects on our skin and eyes.
- Make sure your baby is not allergic to the fish, as it tends to be mostly allergenic.
- You can start with small slices of salmon, it is the safest option.
- Your baby must be minimum 6 months old for eating fish.
- Fish is soft, making it easy for baby to bite or swallow.
- For positive results, babies should eat fish 2-3 times in a week.
- You can even mash it up with rice or other foods and then feed your baby.
3. Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potato is a great source of vitamin A, vitamin B6 as well as vitamin C. The amount of saturated fats in the sweet potatoes is quite less and it also provides your baby with necessary volumes of manganese, potassium, and fibers.
Sweet potatoes are very nutritive and easy to digest; hence it does not upset your baby’s metabolism process.
- You can boil sweet potatoes and later mash them.
- Babies can eat such mashed potatoes or you can also mix it with milk.
- Minimum age of the baby must be 6 months old for eating sweet potatoes.
4. Eggs
Highly nutritive due to the richness of proteins, minerals, vitamin A, vitamin D, zinc, vitamin B12 and saturated fats, eggs tend to be highly beneficial towards your baby’s healthy development. Eggs also have fair amounts of choline which dominantly controls neurological system and brain.
- Introduce eggs to babies that are above 1 years of age.
- At first, only start with yolk and then gradually switch to egg whites.
- You can give a boiled egg or feed your baby with scrambled eggs and rice.
- You can even add egg yolk in your Baby’s soup or stew.
5. Banana
Bananas are a valuable source of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, carbohydrates and offers an abundant amount of natural energy to your baby, further enhancing their stamina. They can offer about 100 to 110 calories, especially when combined with other fruits.
You can make mash a medium-sized banana in your baby’s pureed food or just feed him with banana puree itself.
- Make sure your Baby is above 6 months of age for familiarizing them with bananas.
- You can even make Pancakes from Banana for babies above 8 months of age.
- Banana pudding is also a great high calorie recipe for babies.
- It is one of the best high calorie baby foods that comes handy while traveling.
6. Yogurts
Extremely healthy and easy-to-digest high calorie food has to be whole cream yogurt. It has just the right amounts of essential fats and calories to support your baby in gaining weight.
Apart from this, yogurt is also known to be a rich source of minerals and calcium. It goes very easy on your baby’s tummy, is light to digest and can effectively aid loose motions or other gastrointestinal issues.
- Make sure to give whole-fat yogurt to your babies; low-fat yogurt will not provide ample amount of nutrition that is much needed for healthy development of brain.
- Yogurts can be safely given to the babies above 8 months of age.
- Avoid flavored fruit yogurts that are sold in the markets, they comprise high levels of sugar which are not favorable for babies.
- Try making yogurt smoothies, rice with yogurt or other such nutritional recipes.
7. Pulses
With its abundant amounts of proteins, potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium, etc., pulses are also highly contributive in providing a daily dose of calories to your baby. Most of the pulses are easy to digest and are light on your baby’s metabolism system.
They have fairly low amounts of fats and high amounts of fiber, making it extremely healthy and appropriate for babies.
- You can make soups, or cook pulses in combination with rice for added richness.
- You can even make pureed foods with pulses.
8. Butter
Butter is a high-fat food which helps in positive growth of your baby’s body and equally develops the brain. Essential fats (about 100+ calories), vitamin A and other fatty acids make butter a good means of weight gain for your baby.
Nut butter like peanut butters, almond butter are also a great source of essential fats that can help in gaining weight.
- Make sure the intake of butter is limited to one teaspoon.
9. Cheese
Another power-packed high calorie food with fair amounts of vitamins, calcium and proteins, cheese proves to be one of the very popular foods that help in baby’s weight gain. Safe to be given to babies above 8 months of age, cheese is an optimum choice for babies who seek calorie-rich food items.
- You can give small chunks of cheese to the babies directly.
- You can grate cheese over cooked vegetables or over pasta.
- Toddlers might love the idea of cheese sandwich.
10. Avocado
Avocados are rich in calories, potassium, vitamin E as well as folate, eventually making it the best food for gaining weight, especially for babies. Due to its creamy texture and fairly mild flavor, you can easily make pureed foods or mash it and mix it with milk, bananas, etc. It can provide about 240 calories in total per fruit.
11. Meats
Chicken is one of the best high calorie foods that comprise about 100+ calories, followed by turkey and ham. You can safely the give chicken to babies above 8 months of age as they are rich in vitamin B6, vitamin B12, magnesium as well as niacin. Meats are packed with proteins and essential fats, so you can worry-freely include them in your child’s diet.
- Give meat once a week to your babies.
- Chicken can be given as boiled, as a chicken soup or mixed with rice.
- Make sure to look for high-fat meats that are fresh.
12. Milk
Whole-fat milk is very popular and beneficial way to add up to the daily dose of calories and make your baby healthier-looking. Cow milk is considered to be safe for babies above 1 years of age and is beneficial due to the high amounts of proteins in them.
Babies below 1 years of age must avoid cow milk as it might upset their tummy. Milk is a rich source of calcium, minerals, vitamins and proteins. You can include cow’s milk in your baby’s diet twice in a day (above 1 years of age). You can make smoothies, milkshakes, mix milk with rice, cereals, oats, etc.
13. Olive Oil
Amongst all the oils available, olive oil proves to be safest and healthiest option to add into your baby’s diet for serving about 119 calories/ tablespoon. It has a mono-saturated type of fat in it, which is considered as a good type of fat that initiates weight gain in babies.
You can prepare your baby’s pureed foods in virgin olive oil or mix directly into boiled veggies.
Olive oil also tends to make your baby’s skin more soft and smooth. You can opt for coconut oil as well, which is the next best thing that is rich in calories.
14. Whole Wheat
Whole wheat contains pretty great amounts of fiber, antioxidants and various other essential minerals like magnesium, iron as well as zinc. Though, whole wheat is not very high-caloric food, but it certainly contributes to eventual weight gain of your baby.
Whole wheat is best to be given to babies that are above 10 months of age. You can make pancakes or cereals out of wheat.
15. Oats
Oats are a rich source of fiber and other nutritional contents like zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, etc. They are fairly low in saturated fat, thus making it extremely easy for babies to digest it.
Oats always come handy whenever you are confused what to feed your baby as a snack. They are capable of aiding erratic bowel movements of your baby and also can to loosen up hard stools.
- You can make cookies, pancakes, cereals out of oats.
16. Peas
Amongst all green veggies, peas tend to carry very high nutritional value due to great amounts of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B6, magnesium, phosphorus and niacin contents. It is a great addition to your baby’s diet, especially as a first solid food for your baby.
- You can make puree foods out of peas or serve it up as a veggie soup.
17. Breastmilk
If your baby is below 5 months of age, an ultimate way to provide a high-calorie food at this age would be breastmilk. It is considered as a healthiest, safest and nutritionally valuable calorie-rich food that can effectively help your baby to gain weight.
It naturally comprises of all the essential nutrition that a baby needs in its early stage of life for primary development. It is easy to digest and does not cause any metabolic problems.
Conclusion
Above given top 17 high calorie foods for baby weight gain will certainly help your baby gain weight positively. As a matter of fact, the lower weight of their babies is always a cause of every mom’s dreadfulness. Therefore, by consulting a pediatrician and feeding your baby with all the right amounts of nutritious food will definitely aid this enigma.
Hope you enjoyed reading this article and gained some informative facts from it. Feel free to share your thoughts down below in the comments section and make sure you share this article with your friends and family to spread the word!
