How can I increase the calories in my child's diet?

There are many ways that one can increase calories. Before using any of these tips however, you should talk with your child's doctor or dietitian to make sure that these are safe for your child.

There are 2 categories.
Food/Natural Substances (things you can go to your local grocer or vitamin shop to purchase)
Medical Interventions (these typically require a prescription and if not covered by insurance can be very costly)

Food/Natural Substances
Some items that we can add to our child's food/formula that will add calories are the same things that we all love and avoid to prevent those extra pounds. Heavy cream, olive oil, butter, gravy, avocado, and ice cream to name a few. A small amount of these can add a lot of calories. These are empty calories. The calories you get from adding these will not help with your daily nutritional needs. You will need to be sure that you are giving a complete formula (or balanced diet) and/or vitamin supplements in addition to these items in order to insure your child is getting the nutrition that he/she needs.

Medical Interventions
Before using any type of supplement and/or medical intervention to add calories, we can not stress enough how important it is to work with your doctors. Some of these items are available without prescriptions, but to insure that they are used properly and safely for you child, a doctor needs to be involved in the dosing and creating a usage plan. Some of these items are things like Scandishake, Duocal, Pediasure Sidekicks, and many others.

References:
Hand to Hold- Lunch and Learn material created/shared by dietician Leslie Ivy - High Calorie Baby Foods
Hand to Hold- Lunch and Learn material created/shared by dietician Leslie Ivy - High Calorie Recipes