Sometimes a meal turns into a real battle between adults and children. What tricks do parents go to feed their beloved child. Persuasion, threats, deception and even blackmail.
All this can help, but not always benefit. The meal should be fun, not provoke stress and eating disorders.
Are you really hungry?
Many parents believe that their child does not eat up, drinks little, and in the kindergarten he sits hungry all day. Moreover, the baby has normal weight, it develops and grows according to its age.
As the famous doctor Komarovsky says, in this case the problems are not with the child, but with the parents themselves. You can always calculate the calorie content of the diet, consult with a pediatrician, dispel doubts and let the little man get hungry.
Reasons why the child eats little:
- He can not. The reason is temporary. The problem is well-being, a bad mood, perhaps the teeth are cut, a sore throat.
- He does not want this particular food. There is often a problem in the behavior of parents. They involuntarily instilled selectivity or early introduced to sweets, sausages, chips and other foods with flavor enhancers.
- Nervous overexcitation. You can not sit at the table crying, moody and upset child. In this condition, saliva production is difficult, chewing and swallowing is complicated, the baby refuses to eat.
The amount of food eaten is also influenced by energy consumption. Mobile sanguine who do not sit still usually have a good appetite. Calm children with a phlegmatic nature are more often referred to as "little ones."
No regimen anywhere
The efforts of parents at any time and anywhere to shove another piece into the child lead to a lack of hunger, a violation of the regime. As a result, the baby is difficult to navigate in time. There should be three main meals in the afternoon, one or two snacks.
Since the child does not eat well, we take breaks, not two, but about three hours. Only the appearance of hunger will make a bowl of soup or porridge rejoice.
It should be removed from the visibility of the child vases with sweets, fruits, cookies. Papa chewing and dragging pieces sets a not very good example. You should talk with other relatives.
Good grandmothers and loving grandfathers should treat their grandchildren with sweets after the main meal. It is necessary to treat the child as a full member of the family.
We sit him at the table with us, give a napkin, have a meal together.
Let's cook together!
How not to try what you did yourself? Children from the age of two years can be involved in cooking, decorating, laying on a plate, table setting, washing vegetables and fruits. Preparatory processes, smells and anticipation will provoke an appetite, and the desired feeling of hunger will appear.
Cooking is easy to turn into a learning process, tell the child about the shapes, color, origin of the product. Any kid can be interested in a fairy tale, for example, about a potato that lived in a dungeon, and then got to it on a plate.
Introducing different tastes
If the child is selective in food, then it is important to make his diet diverse. Breakfast should not be limited to rice or semolina porridge. There are many other cereals, and from them you can cook puddings, casseroles, baby cheesecakes. Do not forget about additives: berries, fresh and dried fruits. Older children are offered coconut, nuts, jam, condensed milk. These are healthy foods that will change the taste beyond recognition.
Pediatricians and psychologists recommend giving the child food from his plate, a little bit by bit. This is how family eating habits are formed. It’s good if parents practice healthy eating. In the future, this will greatly simplify the preparation of the home menu and save mom a lot of time.
Bright dishes
Eating should be associated with something pleasant and beautiful. Let the bright plates and cups settle at home. Well, if the bottom is an interesting pattern.
The kid will gladly deal with his portion to see the picture. Interest is the main weapon of parents of youngsters.
There are plates with a transparent bottom.
You can stick different pictures. We complement the serving with cute napkins, tubes.
Food addictions
All parents want to feed the child useful meat or cottage cheese, but the baby may have completely different preferences. You have to put up with this. If you don’t like a product, then we are looking for a replacement. No need to insist, persuade, try to deceive. It is better to forget about it for a while, and then unobtrusively offer.
As for the dishes themselves, they children like porridge and meatballs more, others like soups, you also have to put up with this. If the child just eats little, then it is better to offer him a second course for lunch. It is higher in calorific value and nutritional value, saturates better and will bring much more benefits than liquid soup. Or alternate lunch: today is the first, tomorrow is the second dish.
What can not be done
The main mistake of parents is to try to feed cartoons, songs, tales, games, and even while walking.
Unconscious eating slows down digestion.
The child does not feel smell, taste, is distracted, the stomach does not produce juices and enzymes, the reflex connection is lost.
Other errors:
- Feeding force, persuasion. Without desire and appetite, food cannot be absorbed. A serious disorder can occur in children.
- The food is not by age. Excessive grinding, wiping products distorts the taste. But it’s also not worth giving whole apples or meat to pieces to a one-year-old child who, with all desire, cannot cope with them.
- Search for alternatives. No need to replace porridge with sausage or fried potatoes. If the child refused a meal, let them get an appetite.
- Frequent snacks. If the child has not eaten, there is no need to seek compensation. Sweets, cookies and fruits are given only after the main meal.
Food will only benefit if it is desired and consumed with appetite. Walking in the air, picnics, joint meals will make the baby hungry, eat well and instill the right eating behavior.
