Inappetence in children
Small tips to entice your child to eat
The concern that your child is not eating enough belongs to all mothers. In fact, inappetence is the pathology that leads 50% of children to the pediatrician. The problem is that this anxiety risks doing long-term damage. If we insist, if we do emotional blackmail, if we always decide what, when and how to eat, children lose the ability to listen to their body's needs and loss of appetite occurs.
Parents of past generations had a behavior that we can successfully adopt and that is "indifference" to what their children eat.
If the child decided to skip the meal, we just thought: "He won't be hungry". This indifference, actually only apparent, carried with it an important message: everyone, even a child, has an innate ability to determine how much and what food they need. It is the most spontaneous and natural attitude, the one that allows children to follow their instincts and keep away the psychological problems regarding food. Here's how.
Not to be done: behaviors that increase inappetence in children
- By forcing children to eat we get an even more pronounced refusal at the moment and, in the long run, an attitude of lack of appetite that can consolidate. Distracting them is also wrong: nutrition should be aware. - Pray them. Children are lost and perplexed by the expression of a worried parent because he has stopped eating: everything is normal for him. - Punish or reward them. Food must not become the yardstick by which to evaluate how "good" or "obedient" the little one is.Strategies for an ideal nutrition capable of overcoming inappetence
- Invite your children to make their own portion (leaving them the opportunity to have more). It will be an excellent exercise to stimulate the child's appetite and teach them to self-regulate, which cannot happen if the parents set the portions. - Appear disinterested. In this way, what the child eats does not become a problem and the naturalness of the meal and nutrition can be re-established. - Indulge his tastes. Don't force him to eat what he dislikes or it will increase his inappetence . If you don't like particular tastes, if you refuse a particular food, you can avoid it: no food is irreplaceable.
