How to fortify food for children
Last edited: 16/12/2022
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Your dietitian may advise you need to fortify your child’s meals to help promote weight gain and prevent weight loss. This is a short-term dietary change to help your child gain weight.
If your dietitian has recommended this, you can follow the guidance below.
What meals to have
Offer three meals a day, aim to offer breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Offer a carbohydrate food at each meal, such as pasta, rice, potato, bread or cereal.
Offer protein twice a day, for example meat. Lentils, pulses, egg or fish.
Aim for at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
Fortify foods with high calorie ingredients wherever possible.
Snacks
Try to have two snacks a day. This could be mid-morning, mid-afternoon or before bed.
Little and often
Consider this if your child can’t manage three meals and two snacks a day.
Large meals can be off putting, so offer smaller meals and snacks more often.
Offering realistic portion sizes can help to encourage your child with eating.
What is a portion?
Use your child’s hand as a guide.
- Carbohydrate – your child’s fist size.
- Protein – your child’s palm size.
- Fruit and vegetables – however much they can fit into the palm of their hand.
Drinks
Try to include nutritional drinks during the day, such as a small glass of fruit juice with breakfast or homemade milkshakes and smoothies as a snack mid-afternoon. You can also try a hot chocolate or malted milk before bed.
Offer drinks after main meals so your child does not feel full before the meal.
You can also try freezing nutritional drinks in a lolly mould.
Fortified milk
Try to use this on cereal and when cooking with milk, such as homemade custards or milkshakes.
How to make one pint
One pint is 400 calories and 25.3g protein.
Add one pint (570ml) of full fat milk to a shaker or glass, then add four tablespoons of skimmed milk powder.
Carefully place the lid on the shaker or use a whisk and mix, making sure there are no lumps.
Keep the fortified milk in the fridge. This milk can be used for the rest of the day, aim to have a pint of milk per day.
If your child has instant hot drinks such as cup-a-soups, hot chocolate or malted milk, then use the fortified milk recipe instead of water or make up the instant hot drink as per the instructions and add two teaspoons of skimmed milk powder.
High calorie milky drink recipes
- Simple milkshake: Add 200ml of fortified milk, one scoop of ice cream, one pot of yoghurt, with fresh or tinned fruit or milkshake powder and blend (300kcal, 10g protein).
- Chocolate dream: Warm up 200ml fortified milk, add one tablespoon drinking chocolate and sweeten to taste (230kcal, 17g protein).
- Banoffee treat: Mash a banana with 150ml fortified milk, one pot of crème caramel and a teaspoon of golden syrup and blend (350kcal, 12g protein).
- Banana and peanut butter smoothie: 150ml whole milk, 30g ice cream, four tablespoons of milk powder, one banana, one tablespoon smooth peanut butter, one teaspoon of honey and blend together (416kcal, 15.4g protein).
How to fortify common foods
Here are some examples of ingredients which can be added into meals to add extra calories to your child’s diet.
Product | Portion Size | Nutrition Added |
Skimmed milk powder | 1 tablespoon (9g)
1 teaspoon (3g) |
30 calories, 3.3g protein
10 calories, 1.1g protein |
Margarine | 1 teaspoon (5g) | 35 calories, 0g protein |
Cream | 1 tablespoon (10g) | 43 calories, 2.5g protein |
Double cream | 1 tablespoon (10g) | 50 calories, 0.2g protein |
Dates | 2 large (40g) | 108 calories, 1.3g protein |
Olive oil | 1 teaspoon | 40 calories, 0g protein |
Avocado | 50g | 95 calories,1g protein |
- Try mixing cream into porridge.
- Boil pasta or rice in full fat milk.
- Drizzle olive oil over pasta or make a creamy sauce to go with it.
- Mix cheese into a meal or sprinkle over the top.
- Mash avocado and mix into sauces.
- Blend dates and add to pudding.
Snack ideas
- Oat cakes – try adding a 100 calorie booster to this.
- Crumpet – try adding a 100 calorie booster to this.
- Thick and creamy yogurt.
- Custard pot.
- Olives.
- Fish fingers.
- Scotch egg.
- Eggy bread.
- Malt loaf with butter.
- Dried fruit and nuts (whole nuts not recommended if your child is under five due to the risk of choking).
- Breadstick with hummus or mashed avocado.
- Pitta bread with smooth peanut butter.
- Rice pudding pot – add a scoop of smooth peanut butter.
100 calorie booster ideas
These boosters are approximately 100 calories each and can be added to any appropriate meal or eaten alone.
Savoury
- Medium spread peanut butter (16g)
- Medium spread of cashew butter (16g)
- One level tablespoon mayonnaise (15g)
- Salad cream (30g)
- Two tablespoons hummus (50g)
- One heaped tablespoon pesto (20g)
- Cheddar cheese (37g)
Fruit and nuts
Whole nuts should not be given to children under five, due to the chocking risk. Nuts can be ground down for under-fives. Remove any stones where applicable for all ages.
- Small handful of peanuts (15g).
- Five Brazil nuts (15g).
- Handful of cashew nuts (20g).
- One banana (100g).
- Five dried apricots (50g).
- Six prunes (60g).
- Two to three dates (40g).
- One heaped tablespoon sultanas.
- Chocolate spread (16g) heaped tablespoon.
Dairy
If your child is on a dairy free diet, ask your dietitian for a cow’s milk-free food fortification diet sheet.
- 150ml full fat milk.
- One scoop ice cream (60g).
- 75ml evaporated milk.
- 30ml condensed milk.
- One small pot full fat yogurt.
- 40g full fat soft cheese.
- 50ml coconut cream.
It is possible to get additional calories from sweet foods such as sweets, sugar and honey, however, we would recommend using alternative ingredients to fortify the diet. Try to aim for unsaturated sources of fats rather than saturated fats, your dietitian will discuss this with you further.
Putting it into practice
Here are some ideas on how to increase the calories in your child’s meals.
Food | Nutrition before fortification | How to fortify | Nutrition after Fortification |
2 eggs scrambled with a small knob of butter | 168 calories
14.4g protein |
Add 1 teaspoon of butter, 2 teaspoons of dried milk powder and 45g cream cheese | 378 calories
20.7g protein |
Porridge 25g with 150ml whole milk | 189 calories
7.8g protein |
25g porridge oats 150ml fortified milk 30ml double cream | 421 calories
12g protein |
Tinned custard 200g (1/2 tin) | 193 calories
4.8g protein |
½ tin custard plus 30ml double cream | 333 calories
6.3g protein |
Boiled carrots
(30g) |
7 calories
0g protein
|
Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil | 47 calories
0.2g protein |
Mashed potato
(60g) |
62 calories
1.1g protein |
Add 1 teaspoon butter, 2 teaspoons milk powder, 1 teaspoon double cream | 170 calories
3.5g protein |
Boiled pasta
(50g) |
84 calories
2.7g protein |
Boil the pasta in 350ml whole milk on low heat for 30 minutes | 308 calories
15g protein |
Jelly instant sachet
|
1 serving:
100calories 2g protein
|
1 sachet instant jelly, 400ml fortified milk 2 tablespoons double cream | 1 serving:
190 calories 7.4g protein |
Contact us
Please contact the service though our Central Appointments Team:
0300 123 0861
kcht.centralisedappointmentteam@nhs.net
Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm
This information should only be followed on the advice of a healthcare professional.
Do you have feedback about our health services?
0800 030 4550
Text 07899 903499
Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm
kentchft.PALS@nhs.net
kentcht.nhs.uk/PALS
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
Trinity House, 110-120 Upper Pemberton
Ashford
Kent
TN25 4AZ
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