Gaining Weight

[David Lux]

You could compute his BMI. Normal BMI for kids is 14. I'm not sure though, of what it should be for babies, may be a bit higher, say 15 or 16. So if you compute his BMI, you'll get an idea.
The BMI of our son at 19mo and our daughter at 10mo were both 15.9. As they grew older and we put them on McD at 2yo, they are both at 14 at ages 8 and 5.

Fyi,

[ETeSelle]

Child/Teen BMI calculator: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/

Starts at age 2.

[edamama]

I hate having a picky eater on top of limiting his food choices, but really, even before I started the vegan diet it's not like he ate a lot and he didn't like meat, refused eggs, cheese, etc. so I'm not sure, even if I let him eat ANYTHING AT ALL, it would make a bit of difference.

Yes, this is a good way to look at it. Picky toddlers are the norm, not the exception.

I used to count an the avocado (he loved guacamole), but now he won't touch it. So I've just been trying to get him to eat lots of coconut milk yogurt and adding oil to his foods.

Sounds like you are doing all you can! I mash avocado in with applesauce and add a little cinnamon. Otherwise, my 15 yo won't eat it either.

[David Lux]

Debbie,

I would agree with you that charting would be better than the BMI. I just suggested BMI because it's something you can do easily. For the chart, I know that the charts are sometimes not adapted (you mentioned formula fed children, but we have adopted our daughter in China; same problem: usually Chinese children are shorter). What is important, according to our pediatrician is that the children are consistent: they should stay on the same curve. A large swing from the 90th percentile to the 5th would be, IMHO, a clear sign there's is a problem, that would need attention.

On your little girl, the poor one: it seems that she has some health issue and that can definitely interfere with her weight gain. Obviously if she's unwell, she would probably have reduced appetite, maybe she doesn't digest properly, she may have some occasional fever. The first thing would be to help her recover from those sicknesses and reassess the weigth issue afterwards.

For the cholesterol, I remember I have read in one of the McD books that cholesterol production was not reliable until after 2, and that was no problem, because the recommendation was to supplement with breastmilk until 2. Another reason to supplement was the increased need for fats, necessary for good nerve and brain development. Breastmilk, technically an "animal product", contains all the fat and cholesterol needed, hence the recommendation to supplement with breastmilk.

Of course, we can not assume that the cholesterol production suddenly begins on the second birthday. Presumably it begins gradually, earlier in some kids and later in others. I would think that the 2 yo threshold includes some security margin. So not supplementing a 15mo toddler's diet with breastmilk is probably safe, although I wouldn't like to experiment with my kids.

[David Lux]

Hi Debbie,

If your daughter has cold after cold, be aware that it could be due to a vit D deficiency, which could be indirectly caused by your low supply. You didn't mention vit D in the tests made so maybe it's something to look at. We are chronically deficient unless we supplement and we take 50000 UI per week for an adult. For our 5yo daughter (37 lb), we give a quarter of the dose, so 25000 UI every second week. For a baby, you would presumably even reduce the dose, but you could give a single dose and see if it helps. If she's deficient, her condition would improve within days of supplementing.
Alternatively, a simple blood test can show if she's deficient. Or you could make sure she has enough sun exposure, if practical.

There are adopted kids that had been starving in orphanages and the first visible consequence is that they are underweight. At a later stage, their growth is reduced. We know, for example a 9yo boy that looks like a 6yo. Once they've enough food, after they're adopted, their growth and weight catch up. So you should not worry if your daughter lost 1 or 2 lbs, she will catch up when the issues are solved. Of course you should be concerned and you are, I fully support you.

We don't really follow all Mercolas suggestions, definitely not his 'eat according to your nutrition type' idea; we stick to McDougall, and we are happy with it. I keep however an eye on his recommendations, as you have seen for fitness training, for health care; I discovered him because of his ideas on the dangers of vaccination. I think his ideas make also a lot of sense.

[David Lux]

We do find vit D in any pharmacy. Low dosage exists in drops, while the higher dosage like we use is in liquid form, prepackaged by 25000 UI units. In Luxembourg you need a prescription, but in Belgium (30 miles away), you don't need one.
We mix it with a bit of water and drink it. The taste is not bad for for kids, no problem, even for babies.