What to do if your baby refuses to eat

What should I do if my baby is picky about food and refuses to eat? This problem bothers parents in many families. Many babies have picky eating habits and refuse to eat, which causes the babies to get sick frequently, develop slowly, and have a poor mental state. This makes parents very anxious, but there is no particularly effective method. If the baby is picky about food and refuses to eat, parents need to have enough patience and persist for a long time to help the baby change the phenomenon of picky eating and refusing to eat.

Parents’ reasons:

●A messy dining environment: Many families watch TV and talk loudly while eating. Children are very curious and their attention is easily distracted from eating.

●Spoiled in the family: Nowadays, the living conditions of only children are too superior. They can enjoy all kinds of delicious food, so they have no interest in eating. Some parents restrict their children's activities in every way, resulting in too little exercise, little energy consumption, and lack of hunger, which causes loss of appetite.

●Parents use some "nutritional supplements", "health products" or "anti-fire medicines" inappropriately. They may contain hormones, thick and greasy tonics, and bitter and cold medicines, which may harm children's gastrointestinal tract, increase the burden on the liver and kidneys, and affect children's appetite.

● Incorrect feeding behavior by parents: coaxing, forcing or scolding children while eating, which causes children to be in a bad mood and develop a strong resistance to eating, and therefore hate eating. Some parents discuss their children’s eating problems with others in front of their children, repeatedly reinforcing their children’s awareness of not liking to eat.

●Parents themselves have problems with partial or picky eating, and their children tend to follow suit. So in a family, the food that the parents don’t like to eat is often not liked by the children either.

●Parents do not prepare separate meals for their children, as adult meals are not good for infants and young children to eat. Or the meals prepared are bland, rough, and boring, and fail to arouse the appetite of infants and young children.

Child reasons:

●The baby begins to develop self-awareness after one year old and enters the first rebellious period after one and a half years old. Refusing to eat and being picky about food are ways for children to emphasize their existence to adults and not wanting adults to interfere with their freedom.

What to do if your child is picky about food and refuses to eat

●Children keep drinking and eating snacks: Many children have a special liking for cola, cold drinks, fruit juice, and lactic acid drinks. Excessive snacks will increase the blood sugar of children, make them feel full all day, and suppress their appetite.

What to do if your child is picky about food and refuses to eat

●Improper eating habits lead to certain nutrient deficiencies: deficiency of trace elements and vitamins. For example, when "iron" is deficient, one is prone to iron deficiency anemia, atrophy of the gastrointestinal mucosa, weakened digestive function, and loss of appetite. "Zinc" deficiency will affect the formation of taste hormones, reduce the function of taste buds, cause a decrease in taste, and cause anorexia or pica.

The above are some of the reasons why babies are picky eaters and don't like to eat. Because each child's environment and physical condition are different, when parents correct their baby's picky eating habits, they must also apply measures according to the individual's needs and the characteristics of their children. Correcting a baby's picky eating requires a lot of time and patience. Don't rush it.