Reasons and solutions for 16-month-old babies not liking to eat

I have a sixteen-month-old baby at home, but what troubles me is that the child doesn’t like to eat. I have lost my temper with the child several times because of this issue, but he just can’t change this bad habit of not liking to eat. Even if he doesn’t eat for a whole day, he doesn’t seem to feel hungry. So I want to know some reasons why children don’t like to eat. I hope that through the following content, parents can find out the reasons and methods.

1. How to get your baby to eat

You should change the way you eat. You can cut the vegetables into round, square or triangle shapes and cook them with colorful vegetables. When your baby sees them, he will want to eat, which can stimulate his appetite. Sometimes you can cook with your baby, such as making dumplings, etc. When he eats the dumplings he made, he will have a sense of success and will naturally eat a big bowl. Don't criticize or scold others while eating, as this will affect your appetite. Create an atmosphere where many children can eat together. Babies will eat faster in such an environment. If you don’t eat the cooked dish, you can use the meat to make soup, hoping to get nutrients from the soup. To respect your baby, you can ask him what kind of dishes he likes to eat and cook the food he likes directly, rather than blindly forcing him to eat it. You can negotiate conditions with him appropriately, such as if he finishes his meal, you will accompany him to ride a bike, etc., so that he will know that as long as he eats, his mother will accompany him to play. If he is a listener, you should explain the reasons to him and tell him that if he doesn't eat and has no strength, he won't be able to move up to the next grade, his classmates won't play with him, the teacher won't like him, etc. Try to let him get enough sleep, because the child's brain will secrete growth hormone when he is sleeping, and this growth hormone determines 50% of his acquired height. Taking him outdoors more often and increasing the amount of exercise will help stimulate his bone growth. While doing outdoor activities, basking in the sun can help him absorb vitamin D, which will help him grow taller. Don't eat too many snacks. After all, there are a lot of pigments and additives in today's snacks, which are often the key to causing poor appetite. Too much sugar, chocolate, biscuits, fruit juice, etc. will reduce appetite, cause heat and are not beneficial. It’s better to eat less.

2. Several reasons why babies don’t like to eat

Normal growth slows down and the requirement for food decreases, which occurs around the end of the first year of life;

A sprout of autonomy. This kind of autonomy can appear when eating, dressing, bathing, before going to bed, etc. They are unwilling to be manipulated (feeding is also a kind of manipulation). They are in high spirits to play, such as hitting toys, building blocks, tearing paper, throwing things, etc., and are unwilling to stop; they have been scalded or "cooled" at some point. Having been choked..., he has a memory and is unwilling to eat; the food is not cooked to his taste, or is too salty or too bland, or the pieces are too big or too hard, etc., which also affect his appetite; there are too many distracting people or things in the eating environment, such as grandparents watching him, little ducks, red pandas, or little yellow dogs watching him, which are too tempting; being sick, tired, in a bad mood, or just waking up, he will also not want to eat.

3. Solutions to the problem of not liking to eat

For the short-term slowdown in normal development and the budding of independent personality, you can wait and just know it in your mind. Wash his hands and put on a bib three to five minutes before eating, move him away from where he plays with toys, and feed him in a quiet place with few distractions. Don't let others watch him eat. Be patient, cut the food into pieces, tear it into small pieces, and feed it a small bite at a time. Wait until he finishes eating before feeding him the second bite. Don't let him choke and give him a terrible experience. The taste of the food should be well controlled. It should not be too bland or too salty. Do not use MSG. Pay attention to the color, aroma and taste. The seat he sits in should be suitable for your feeding height, and it is best to have some restraint, such as sitting in a high chair with a horizontal board in front, a small chair with a circle, etc. Don't rush him and don't let him feel disgusted with eating. Don't be too rigid about mealtimes. Be flexible and feed him when you think he should eat (for example, three hours after his last meal). If he doesn't want to eat, try postponing it by half an hour to an hour. Otherwise, you can feed him earlier. Set an example of paying for meals on your own. When you eat, be enthusiastic and eat everything. Let him see it and remember it. When he is tired or in a bad mood, don't force him to eat. You can wait until he recovers and is in a normal mood before eating. If you suspect he is sick, take him to the hospital for a check-up and give him some medicine to aid digestion. As long as the child's height and weight are up to standard, it doesn't matter if he eats less. Don't worry too much, he will be fine after a while.

Tips

A common and important factor that causes children to not like to eat is zinc deficiency. The effect of zinc on appetite (anorexia and picky eating in children) is mainly due to the following three factors: one of the components of taste buds in saliva is zinc. When zinc is deficient, it will affect taste and appetite; zinc deficiency can affect the function of taste buds and reduce taste function; zinc deficiency can lead to mucosal hyperplasia and incomplete keratinization, so that a large number of shed epithelial cells block the small holes of taste buds, making it difficult for food to contact the taste buds and the taste becomes insensitive. If you find that your child has symptoms of zinc deficiency, you should supplement him/her with zinc in time. In children's daily diet, attention should be paid to dietary balance, so that children can develop good habits of not being picky eaters or not having anorexia; they can also take some zinc supplements such as protein zinc appropriately, which can help improve children's anorexia and picky eating.

The above is a detailed answer to the question of a sixteen-month-old baby not liking to eat. When the child has this situation, mothers should not worry too much. If the child does not eat, it means he is not hungry. When the child is hungry, he will naturally reach out to you for food. If you are worried that the child will become malnourished due to not liking to eat for a long time, you can cook more nutritious foods for the child. If you do it frequently, the child will eat some.