What if the child does not eat

Why children are so selective in food

On the children's appetite and eating habits are influenced by the first feeding, the rate of metabolism and lifestyle.

The first solid foods

doctors callLove and broccoli: in search of the children's appetite age between four and six months of "tolerance window" - a time when you need to give their children the first solid foods. The longer a child is not accustomed to the new food, the more he formed an attachment to one type of food. This affects the appetite in future: children refuse vegetables, ask for cookies and agree to eat the soup, and then only if the ice cream is.

The metabolic rate

A child may have a little, because he has a slow metabolism. This is a normal feature of an organism, not a pathology. To understand how this works, we can draw an analogy with fuel consumption from cars: one car need 5 liters per 100 kilometers, and the other under the same conditions "eats" 20 liters.

Lifestyle

Electoral appetite or refusal to eat - this is largely a question of education and way of life. If the child does not want to eat, so he spent enough energy and did not have time to get hungry. To arouse the appetite, increase the energy consumption: a walk in the fresh air, ride a rollercoaster or offer classes in the sports section. The more children are spending energy, the better their appetite.

How to tell if a child is eating enough

Traditionally, parents, grandparents and neighbors from the stairwell determine baby's health and nutritional status of his appetite. "A child should eat," and the more the better. If it does not, then, to him that something was wrong. Do not rush to panic.

It is believedElectoral appetite in childrenThat among children 3-6 years "maloezhkami" are only 18%.

Malnutrition portions are not determined by the size and appetite, and lack of nutrients in the diet.

That's according to what criteria this can be determined:

• Child for a long time is not gaining weight, height, and lags behind in physical development. Calculate the rate of weight, height and daily nutrient needs for your baby to calculator.
• A child older than 1.5-2 years of not eating certain food groups. For example, refuses vegetables, meat or cereal.
• Kusochnichaet child eats mostly junk food: sweets, fast foods and processed meats (hot dogs, sausages).
• A child older than one and a half years only eats homogeneous liquid food (eg, milk, or a mixture of mashed potatoes).
• The child refuses all food and hunger satisfied.

Keep a food diary and record in it everything that eats baby. After a week of recording observations, analyze and better show their pediatrician or gastroenterologist. Remember that the main indicator - it is a balanced diet, and not just the amount of food eaten. You would not be happy if the child is going to eat the whole packet of biscuits - what is the use of "empty" calories?

What should be in a healthy diet of a child?

Meals should be balanced, consist of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

• 2-3 years of proteins in the diet recommended children upDietary Recommendations for Healthy Children about 20% of all food, fat - 30-35%, carbohydrates - 45-65%.
• For children 4-18 years, the diet includes approximately 10-30% of food protein, 25-35% fat and 45-65% carbohydrate.

For children a healthy diet is especially important, because they are growing and developing. They need protein for muscle, calcium and phosphorus for strong bones, iron for oxygen delivery to organs and tissues, including the brain. To gain the right amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates, balanced diet should include six food groups:

1. Meat, fish and eggs.
2. Vegetables.
3. Fruits.
4. Milk products.
5. Complex carbohydrates (whole-grain breads, cereals, durum wheat pasta).
6. Legumes.

Among the products for a child must be at least 2-3 in each group.

The dangerously selective nutrition and malnutrition

Refusal of useful products results in nutrient deficiency and developmental delay.

Lack of protein can cause stunting, memory impairment, reduced physical activity, and weak immunity. Children with malnutrition mayFailure to thrive and cognitive development in toddlers with infantile anorexia lag in mental development of their peers. Consumption of sweets and fast food increases the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases, overweight and obesity in school age.

How to feed the child, if he refuses to eat

Stimulate appetite

The best medicine to increase appetite - a famine. That the child wanted to eat, increase physical activity: more than a walk, and give the child to the sports section.

Be creative with the decoration of dishes

To the child wanted to eat a meal, it should look beautiful. Pitch of cooked vegetables funny face, put a bike or garnish with vegetable sauce. With the help of molds for cookies make sweet pepper figurines, eggplant and zucchini. Unusual "bunching" of vegetables can be created using curly graters and knives.

cook together

Children are more likely to eat foods that have prepared themselves. Let your child help you and carried away by the process: let the vegetables mixes, rubs or carrot looks like baked potatoes - it will be wondering what happened, and a desire to try the dish.

Meals offered many times

Young children may refuse to unfamiliar products. This is common, and adults - not everyone can try fried grasshoppers or veal brains. To overcome the fear of a new food takes time. Therefore offers the same dish over and over again: the child may consent to the tenth or fifteenth attempt.

respect failure

To be able to say a firm "no" - is an important social skill. Do not suppress it and respect the opinion of the child. Otherwise, he does not learn to stand on his adult life and say "no", including himself.

How not to feed the child

Do not make there

We strive to feed the baby by any means and we do it with such zeal that he had developed an aversion to food. He stops to listen to the signals your body and understand when full, and when hungry. And the harder you push, the more the child resists. It's okay if he missed breakfast or lunch - more hungry for dinner.

Remember that the child's body is not accustomed to social norms and the need to eat five times a day. If the child has no appetite, it means that he has not spent all the energy that has come into the body with the last food intake. A little patience, and an appetite.

Do not force to eat up

Do not scold the child, that he had not eaten anything. Perhaps you put it too high a dose and he physically can not cope with it. Skill "stop when had enough" is an important and useful in adult life.

Do not allow your child to snack

If you want children to eat well at lunch, do not let them have a bite between meals. Remove from cookie candy table and do not make sandwiches. If a kid is working up an appetite, he will not give up the soup.

This principle adhere to French mothers: they have taught the child at certain times. "Children do not know snacking, so it is always hungry for a certain time", - writesFrench children do not spit the food. Secrets to Training Paris Pamela Drukerman, author of "French children do not spit eating."

Do not entertain the child during mealtime

Cartoons, books and dancing with a tambourine distract the child from eating. No need to shove a spoonful of porridge at all costs. It is necessary to teach him how to treat food consciously feel its taste and feel satiety. Instead cartoons talking about food: how it looks? What was it like? What it tastes? Do you want more piece?

Talk with your child about the food not only from the perspective of 'tasty - not tasty. " Food can be crispy, sour, sweet, spicy, spicy, soft. Curious attitude to food help to cope with the children's fear of the new dishes.

Do not focus on nutrition in the family

Do not show your child how important it is to have the power, however difficult it may be. Do not praise the kid if he had eaten something useful or eaten in principle. If your child will notice it, he can begin to manipulate you: to beg for toys, to ask for a trampoline and ride on the ponies in the park for a spoonful of oatmeal.

Food - it's just a food, it gives strength and energy. Do not use it as an encouragement or punishment. If a child is crying, it is better to embrace it than to appease the chocolate.

How to instill in children a love for wholesome food

Start with yourself

The child repeats after you everything that you do, including take over your eating habits. Why did he have to eat porridge and steamed broccoli, if you chew with gusto cakes and fried potatoes?

The family does not operate double standards: either you eat properly (at least in front of children), or let the children have not the most wholesome food.

Do not let yourself be manipulated

You - a parent, and once you decide that your child will eat. You can step by step to teach him to wholesome food, or indulging the desires, agreeing to give a cookie or a piece of sausage.

Firmly stand on his own, but leave the child a choice: offer 2-3 healthy meals, and let him decide what to eat. Do not cry and do not force him to eat what he does not want to. Remember how often you shoved the hated semolina or forced to eat milk soup in kindergarten. And how do you have a sweet tooth because it was forbidden in childhood.

Show that healthy food can be tasty

Wholesome food a lot of vegetables, fruits, greens, legumes, nuts, dried fruits, honey. Meet the child with different products, tell about the interesting history of each and let's try a piece. Let the kid will understand that the right food - this is not only porridge and soup.

The same dish can be cooked in different ways. For example, Cauliflower can be boiled, baked in the oven with other vegetables, fry with egg and tomato, add filler cake. To the taste was pleasant, vegetable slices, you can dip into the sauce of Greek yogurt or sour cream, and fruit slices - in the honey. Be creative, be sure your child something to enjoy.

If a baby has a weakness for juices and drinking yoghurt, replace them with "PediaSure Maloezhka». As there are no dyes, preservatives, palm oil, gluten and GMO, and the energy value is comparable with a portion of boiled cod and medium-sized apple. Bottle with a drink you can take a walk, to give the child to school or kindergarten, or simply offered as dessert after lunch or dinner.

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