Why does the child refuse to eat

Feb­ru­ary 07, 2017, 20:22

Pho­to: Howard Dick­ins

Accord­ing to experts, from 20 to 60 per­cent of chil­dren of preschool and school age have prob­lems with appetite. Par­ents and grand­par­ents are forced to use cun­ning, per­sua­sion, promis­es, fairy tales and songs with dances to feed the capri­cious. Why is this hap­pen­ing and how to facil­i­tate the process of feed­ing?

Not com­fort­able at the table

Do you scold your child for messy eat­ing and soil­ing clothes at the table? Or maybe you force the baby to use a knife and fork? Or at the table you begin to sort things out with the father of the child? It is clear that the baby los­es all appetite, and he does not feel com­fort­able at the table. Put aside quar­rels and clar­i­fi­ca­tions, praise the child if he holds a spoon beau­ti­ful­ly. Cov­er the baby’s knees with a nap­kin so that an acci­den­tal speck does not spoil the mood at the table for either you or him.

Refusal to eat — a form of protest

It hap­pens that even adults go on a hunger strike to protest against some­thing. The child has his own arse­nal to attract atten­tion, among which the hunger strike is one of the most effec­tive. You should not be afraid in this sit­u­a­tion, threats and pleas will not bring results. Talk to the baby, care­ful­ly find out the rea­sons for the protest and fig­ure out togeth­er with him what is wrong.

Taste­less or unusu­al food

Are you famil­iar with the sit­u­a­tion when at home the child’s appetite is all right, and prob­lems with food begin when you try to feed at a par­ty, on vaca­tion or at some­one else’s birth­day? Per­haps the answer lies in the fact that the child is sim­ply used to the food that the moth­er pre­pares. Start intro­duc­ing your child to new foods and dish­es as ear­ly as pos­si­ble, involve him in the cook­ing process, come up with new dish­es and fun­ny names togeth­er. Per­haps soon the fear of unfa­mil­iar foods will dis­ap­pear in the crumbs, and he will begin to try new dish­es with plea­sure.

Used to food with enter­tain­ment

If every time a child is fed, a the­atri­cal per­for­mance or a con­cert with vocal and dance num­bers is played at the table, the baby quick­ly gets used to the rich pro­gram and is no longer inter­est­ed in eat­ing just like that. Don’t try to make your life eas­i­er by play­ing car­toons at din­ner or putting on anoth­er show. It is bet­ter to chat at the table, share the events that took place dur­ing the day and dis­cuss plans for the upcom­ing week­end.

Relat­ed Arti­cles

The opin­ion of the edi­tors may not coin­cide with the opin­ion of the author of the arti­cle.