My DH and I have both struggled with severe obesity for some time...DH since he was a child, and me since puberty. DH's entire family on both sides is severely obese, and my dad's side of my family has a mild problem with obesity as well. As adults, DH and I now live busy lifestyles, exercise regularly, and eat well. I am now 125lbs and 5'3", and DH is heavier (maybe 265lbs and 6'2") but a bulky, muscular build...not fat.

So naturally when we started to have children we swore they would never face the challenges we did as far as being overweight. We are very careful to teach him about "sometimes foods" such as french fries, "foods that give you big muscles" such as broccoli and lean proteins, and "fill you up foods" such as pasta and bread. He understands these concepts pretty well and at age 2 he will eat a great variety of foods, and he prefers fruits and vegetables to sweets and junk. My concern is that DS is a BEANPOLE! He is in a high percentile for height, but right at about 50th percentile for weight. His pedi didn't act worried about his weight, but did note that he could stand to gain a bit and suggested we continue to give him whole milk. We have started to incorporate more red meats into our meals, but we really like to stick to lean proteins and vegetables, fruits, whole grains, etc.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions...including the expert on the board...of ways we can help our son gain a bit of weight while maintaining a healthy perspective on food and nutrition. I have read and talked to parents of kids who needed to gain weight, and they have been told to let the kids dip their foods in ranch dressing, drink shakes, add cheese to everything, and basically pump them with junk. I'm just not comfortable with that idea and don't want my child insisting on having ranch to dip his food in because that's what he had for a period of time while he was needing to gain weight. I'd love any insight!