Full nutrition of the child is the key to his health. Lack of appetite in a beloved child gives rise to various diseases and a lag in physical development. Toddlers who eat poorly are usually pale, moody, and irritable. Unfortunately, many parents are faced with a situation where children eat poorly. What to do in this case and what can cause such a phenomenon?
Causes of poor appetite in a child
During the period when the baby is on artificial or natural feeding, provided that the mixture or milk meets the necessary parameters, usually there are no problems about appetite. At this time, the baby eats regularly and in the volume required by the small body.
The first difficulties with eating usually begin with the introduction of complementary foods, when parents can observe that the child is eating poorly, and, it would seem, for no apparent reason. In fact, the lack of appetite in a baby almost always has an explanation.
The most common causes of a child’s reluctance to eat are diseases, malaise, lack of regimen, stressful situation or just a bad mood.
Diseases
If the baby is sick, then a loss of appetite is a natural reaction to the disease. The human body is so arranged that it always distributes its forces in the right amount and in a certain direction. With any ailment, the immune system concentrates on the focus of inflammation, trying by all means to fight the disease. From this we can conclude that if the child began to eat poorly during the illness - it does not matter, it even contributes to a speedy recovery, because the body, as you know, spends a lot of energy on digesting food.
Bad mood and lack of mode
The most difficult to recognize cause of a child’s lack of appetite is a bad mood. Such a reaction may be the result of misunderstanding or insufficient attention on the part of parents, as well as quarrels, scandals, unfair punishment, resentment caused by peers, etc. If the child began to eat poorly due to internal experiences, mothers and fathers need to find a solution to the problem contact your child and talk.
Most often, children have poor appetite in the absence of their daily regimen. Ensuring that sleep, games, and feeding are on schedule is quite difficult. In addition, the child during the day may pick up some sweets, sandwiches, snacks, and a full dinner will become completely uninteresting for him.
What to do if a child has a poor appetite?
Thus, if the child began to eat poorly, the first thing to do is to observe him and try to find out the cause of the situation. It is very important to be extremely attentive, restrained and patient, because a little man so needs love, affection and care.
Simple rules will help solve the problem of poor appetite in the baby, following which, you can turn the process of eating into an interesting and exciting activity for a little man.
Rule number 1
The child eats poorly: what to do in this situation? In no case should the baby be forced to gobble up those dishes that he does not like. In children, hostility to certain products can often occur, but in most cases this phenomenon is age-related and disappears over the years. However, forcing the baby to eat what he does not want, you can thus cause him a real phobia associated with this dish.
Overcoming the hostility of your child to a product by force will not only not bring any result, but can also lead to harmful consequences. Forcing the baby to eat, you can instill in him a persistent dislike for food. That is how the problem of poor appetite is born.
In order to get out of this situation, it is necessary to temporarily exclude from the child’s diet what arouses his dislike, and after a while, when the memory of this product fades, it should be as if accidentally lined to the baby. If the negative reflex to this type of food is unstable, then most likely the child will start to eat, if it is persistent, then nothing can be done, it remains only to reconcile.
Rule number 2
It is very important that the process of eating evokes positive emotions in the baby. If the child eats very poorly, it is important for parents to pay great attention to the situation in which the child has breakfast, lunch or dinner. When eating, adults should forget about their problems and in every possible way show the crumbs how deliciously everything is cooked. You also need to try to pay less attention to the child, not to yank him and eat with appetite. Looking at others, the baby will also begin to eat.
You should pay attention to the dishes from which the child eats. So, some kids love children's dishes, while others prefer "adult" plates, like everyone else. It will be useful to purchase plates with various bright patterns at the bottom and during lunch time each time invite the baby to guess what pattern he came across this time.
Rule number 3
If possible, breakfast, lunch and dinner should be arranged at approximately the same time, and moreover, for the whole family. On weekdays, this, of course, will be difficult to do, but still it is necessary to strive for this.
It is advisable that in the morning the children get up at the same time as the adults, and that the whole family has breakfast at the same time. If this causes certain difficulties, then you should at least have dinner together on weekdays. On weekends, family meals should be a tradition.
Rule number 4
If children eat poorly, what to do to increase appetite? It is very important that the baby is hungry before eating. In order for the child to feel hungry by the time he is seated at the table, he should be provided with walks and adequate physical activity between meals. In this case, it is very important not to feed the child with different goodies.
Do not give in to his requests and persuasions to give something to eat before the appointed meal time. Only in this case, the baby is hungry as it should. Parents should only show their character a few times and overcome pity for their beloved child, and the problem of poor appetite will disappear.
Rule number 5
The child eats poorly, what to do with these parents? Often this happens when the baby does not eat up his portion, but nevertheless in this situation it is not worth scolding him. You should calmly remove everything from the table and tell the child that next time we will eat, for example, at 7 o’clock, and try to keep this promise. If, until the stipulated time, the child insists on asking for food, you can give him unsatisfying fruits - a pear, an apple or an orange.
Rule number 6
You should not impose a lot of food at once to the baby. It often happens that the child, so that he ate, was torn from the game. In this case, he perceives the food as an annoying hindrance, which prevents the game from continuing. And if in such a situation the child, in addition to everything, sees a huge portion that requires a lot of time, he will naturally become capricious.
It is best to first give the baby a small portion and, having waited until he has an appetite, try to get the child to ask for an addition. Such a request should become a habit over time.
Rule number 7
When the child is 2 years old, the baby eats poorly, as it turned out, for various reasons. Perhaps the food is simply not tasty enough, and its appearance does not cause appetite? This can be easily fixed by showing your imagination and ingenuity.
So, for example, you can make “sweets” from vegetable puree or cottage cheese, for which you simply place slices of food in bright wrappers. The child should offer to drink tea, compote or even eat soup through a straw.
Other tips
"Children eat poorly, what should I do?" - Young parents often turn to such a question with pediatricians. As a rule, the recommendations of specialists are as follows:
- It is necessary to monitor not the quantity of food, but its quality. The nutrition of the child should be balanced and varied.
- Particularly active children who cannot sit still for minutes can read a book at dinner. This will help them focus and calm down.
- The most capricious fidgets can be suggested to draw while eating and put pencils and an album on the dining table. So, for example, if a child eats an apple, then it is worth offering him to draw this fruit.
- You should not feed the baby immediately upon returning from kindergarten. It is best to wait until the child himself expresses a desire to eat. It is important to remember that food in the evening should be exceptionally lean and light.
- No need to put before him a second course until he ate the first.
Means that increase children's appetite
Children eat poorly, what should I do if all the methods have been tried, but the situation has not changed? Alternative methods come to the aid, aimed at increasing the appetite of a little man.
For good digestion stimulation, the berries of such medicinal plants as juniper and barberry, blackcurrant and dogrose, mountain ash and sea buckthorn, as well as caraway seeds and anise in the form of decoctions and tea additives are used. These products, pleasant and sweet in taste, as a rule, children drink with pleasure.
But decoctions and tinctures of wormwood, yarrow, chicory and dandelion root, although they have rather unpleasant taste characteristics (in connection with which the kids completely refuse to take them), significantly increase the secretion of gastric juice, and therefore increase appetite much more. Use such herbal remedies is necessary 30 minutes before eating.
When a child eats poorly, what does traditional medicine advise to do in this case? Well-established as a means of improving appetite, and homeopathic medicines: "Colchicum", complexes with calcium and magnesium salts. Medicines include Lizin, Creon, Elkar, Glycine. However, it is very important to use them solely on the recommendation of a doctor.
Strict adherence to these rules will surely bring success and will help turn the process of eating into a truly fascinating, and most importantly, welcome activity for the baby. Parents always need to remember that proper and balanced nutrition of the child is the key to the full development of the growing organism.