What to do if a child has no appetite: causes, effective solutions, advice from pediatricians

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

An excellent appetite in a child is a guarantee of a good mood for parents. There is nothing more pleasant than watching a baby gobble up a freshly prepared breakfast, lunch or dinner on both cheeks. But more often than not, the opposite is true. The child flatly refuses to eat what the mother or grandmother has prepared. As a result, eating turns into a real war: the baby does not want to eat what is offered to him, and his parents force him to eat at least a spoon. Even threats and tricks most often do not help. About what to do if the child has no appetite, we will tell in our article. We will definitely dwell on effective methods for solving this issue and present recommendations from the famous pediatrician Komarovsky E. O.

What determines appetite?

Yesterday baby withwith pleasure he ate steamed cutlets, and today you cannot force him to eat even a piece of meat. Parents are at a loss - what to do? Poor appetite in a child who is barely 1 year old may be a manifestation of his intuition. This does not mean that the baby will refuse meat at 3 years old. It's just that today the need for vegetables, fruits and dairy products may be higher. But the baby's selective appetite at 3 and 4 years old and the rejection of certain foods is already the result of his successful manipulation by his parents. There is no medical explanation for this behavior. This opinion is shared by the famous pediatrician Komarovsky O. E.

Parents are very concerned about the fact that the child has no appetite. If you do what the child wants and offer him only his favorite foods, then the body will not receive a number of nutrients. So moms and dads have to look for different ways to increase it. Most often, a decrease in appetite has a physiological basis:

1. Hormonal background. When the growth of the child accelerates, intensive production of hormones in the body occurs, respectively, the child's appetite increases, and when it slows down, it decreases.
2. Energy costs. Mobile children, as a rule, have excellent appetite, because the body subconsciously requires replenishment of energy.
3. Individuality. Each person has their own metabolism, physique and muscles. Accordingly, one baby needs to eat at least 200 g of a serving, and another 120 g is enough.

Why does the child have no appetite?

Baby can't always eat as much as mom has prepared for him. But before you do anything, worry and figure out what to do if the child has no appetite, you need to find out the reasons for this condition. And they can be very diverse:

• abdominal pain, SARS, stomatitis, general malaise;
• stress caused by a quarrel with a friend, the death of a loved one or other reasons;
• depression;
• anorexia nervosa (an obsession with losing weight);
• taking antibiotics or other appetite suppressants;
• constipation;
• lack of physical activity during the day;
• frequent snacking between meals, resulting in the child not feeling hungry for longer;
• quench your thirst with sugary sodas and high-calorie juices;
• distractions from eating (watching TV during lunch, etc.).

All of the above reasons apply to children who already know how to feed themselves. As for babies, they most often refuse food for another reason:

• change in the taste of milk, for example, as a result of mother's consumption of garlic;
• abdominal colic;
• pain in the gums when teething.

Sometimes the reason for the lack of appetite lies in the fact that the child simply does not like the taste of food: too s alty, hot or, conversely, cold. In this case, it is not difficult to solve the problem - it is enough to remove the obstacle that interferes with the babyokay to eat.

How to prevent food refusal and what to do if the child has no appetite?

Dinner time has already come, but the baby still does not want to eat? Sometimes it only takes a few steps to prevent your baby from refusing to eat at the right time:

1. Feeding small meals 5-6 times a day is recommended because their stomachs are still too small to hold large amounts of food. That is why a child can only eat half of his lunch and refuse the rest.
2. Correct the menu. If the child does not like meat, he can be offered cottage cheese, fish or eggs. It is recommended to introduce foods rich in B vitamins, iron, folic acid into the diet. At the beginning of the meal, vegetable soups should be offered, and only fruit for dessert.
3. Avoid force-feeding. If children eat as much as they want, then very soon they will begin to enjoy food. The main thing is that the dishes are tasty, but he althy.
4. Involve children in cooking. Perhaps the dishes prepared on their own or with their mother will please the child more.
5. Serve drinks and juices to the table only after the main meal. There is no need to drink compote during lunch, it is better to do it after eating.
6. Cook interesting dishes. A child will eat even a banal scrambled egg with great pleasure if served in the form of a camomile or a heart.

If you stick to the diet and avoid snacking for15 minutes before lunch, mom may not have to worry about why the child has lost his appetite. And what to do if all measures are taken, and the baby is still reluctant to eat, the following methods will suggest.

Effective methods to increase appetite

Parents don't have to complain about their child's poor appetite and make a tragedy of not eating a bowl of soup if they try to remedy the situation in the following ways:

1. Increase physical activity. Children who play sports, dance, or just spend a lot of time outdoors usually do not suffer from lack of appetite.
2. Make breakfast a must. Morning meal improves metabolism and increases appetite.
3. Drink water 30 minutes before meals. It is enough to drink just a glass of pure water to start the work of the intestines and feel hunger in the near future.
4. Avoid stress. No need to talk to your child about school and grades during meals. In a good mood and in a friendly environment, he can eat much more than usual.
5. Offer what you like. Try to cook your child's favorite meals, gradually adding he althy, vitamin-rich ingredients to them.

Appetite Booster

How to make your child like cooked meals? The following foods should be taken into account by parents if their child has no appetite, and what to do with it, they do not represent:

• peanuts;
• yogurt;
• green tea;
• avocado;
• pumpkin seeds;
• garnet;
• almond and peanut butter;
• cashew nuts;
• basil;
• ginger;
• thyme;
• mint;
• peach.

The presented products are useful for the digestive system, they help speed up metabolism and increase appetite. Additionally, it is recommended to add spices: coriander, Italian herbs, cinnamon, oregano. They will add flavor to dishes, and a pleasant smell is known to increase appetite.

How to teach a child to love he althy foods?

Some children refuse food not completely, but selectively. They stubbornly set conditions for their mother, choosing what they will eat and what not. But sausages, pasta and french fries, beloved by most children, cannot meet the nutritional needs of a growing body. What to do so that the child has an appetite and that he receives proteins, fats, carbohydrates and vitamins in full, the following recommendations will suggest:

1. Proper eating habits must be nurtured from childhood. With the introduction of complementary foods, the product should be persistently offered to the child 10-15 times a day. At 7 months, the baby will be happy to blow everything new, but at 2 years old with great caution.
2. If a child refuses meat, which contains protein necessary for a growing organism, you can offer him fish. Refusing vegetables? They canreplace with porridge or fruit.
3. Organize a shopping trip together so that the child chooses their own food for dinner, like an adult.
4. A personal example affects the baby better than any persuasion and threats. If the mother herself does not eat vegetables, but prefers sausage, then the child will do the same.
5. Sometimes you can improve your baby's appetite with a varied menu. A child may not like cottage cheese in its pure form, but in the form of a casserole or filling in pancakes, he will eat them with pleasure.
6. Agree with some individual tastes of the crumbs. If the baby does not want to try the fish in any way, you do not need to force him. Perhaps his eating habits will change with age.

It is worth remembering that neglecting he althy foods can lead to he alth problems. You shouldn't give your baby only what he wants every time, but you don't need to force him either.

Eating while sick

Acute respiratory viral disease begins a few days before its first symptoms appear in the form of a runny nose or cough. In this case, it is not at all surprising that the child has a very poor appetite. In such a situation, you need to do what the body tells you, that is, refuse to eat. And there is no need to torment yourself with remorse about the fact that the child is hungry. In fact, it will be much easier for the immune system to cope with the disease on an empty stomach than to spend energy also on digesting food.

ARVI is almost always accompanied by nasal congestion and sore throat. In this case, it will be very difficult for the baby to swallow.food. Once the acute symptoms have passed, the appetite should recover on its own. In extreme cases, this will happen after a full recovery.

Quite often, a baby's appetite problems lie in the mouth. It can be stomatitis, inflammation of the gums, microtrauma, caries. All these diseases make eating extremely difficult.

The most common parenting mistakes

Don't panic if a three-year-old or a one-year-old child has no appetite. What not to do in this situation can be found in the following list of parental mistakes:

1. Cure a non-existent disease. It can be very difficult for parents to accept that a child does not eat because he is not brought up correctly. It is much easier to refer to some diagnosis and feed the child with medicines that he does not need at all. No need to waste time and money on trips to hospitals and laboratories. It is better to change your lifestyle and daily routine: walk longer in the fresh air, play sports, etc.
2. Forcing you to eat. It is not only harmful psychologically, but also physically. If a child eats only because he is threatened (not giving candy, telling dad, etc.), his pancreas will secrete less juice. As a result, food will take much longer to digest.
3. Giving food out of age. Some mothers tend to transfer the baby to the common table too early, and then complain that the child has no appetite for a year. Doing this is not worth it. At the age of one, the baby needs grated food, and he does not perceive food in pieces well. Adult lunch is just notgives him an appetite.

Forced feeding of children

Very often, parents force their child to eat, even if he has no appetite. This problem is especially true for first-born mothers. They really compare their child with their peers, who can be taller and fatter. You don't have to, and here's why.

Firstly, the physiological factor plays an important role here. Even with the same diet: one person can have a thin physique, and the other will be full in build.

Secondly, no one canceled the hereditary factor. Before you worry about the fact that the child is gaining too little weight and height, you should look at yourself and the baby's dad. But if a baby born to tall parents is stunted, you should consult an endocrinologist to rule out hormonal disorders.

Rudeness, threats, punishment, feeding through force - this is something that absolutely cannot be done, even when the child has no appetite at all. What to do in this case can be suggested by a pediatrician, psychologist, endocrinologist, after the results of the examination of the child. But sometimes it’s enough just to watch your child, pay attention to what he likes, and jointly draw up a menu for the week. Forced feeding can cause serious psychological trauma, the results of which can be diseases of the stomach, heart, etc.

Dr. Komarovsky about poor appetite in a child - what to do?

FamousThe pediatrician fully supports and advocates an active lifestyle for any child. He believes that if the baby did not eat soup for lunch, then you should not rush to the stove and cook something else for him. Let the child better recover to “work up” his appetite. When hunger becomes strong, even unloved soup will seem very tasty. The main thing is that the next time the baby should be offered the same soup, and not succumb to the persuasion that he again has no appetite. What to do with the child, Komarovsky makes it clear - you need to listen to his opinion, but not obey. Parents should have the last word.

The pediatrician draws attention to the fact that the daily routine of mother and child may not coincide. To find out when the baby wants to eat, you need to not offer him food at all for at least a day. When the child is hungry, he will ask for himself and, most likely, will eat everything with a huge appetite.