A 9-month-old child does not eat well. Maybe he just began to eat less, more filling food?
You can often hear from mothers: my child does not eat well. First you need to make sure that this is true. If the baby is gaining weight well in accordance with his age, then there is no reason to panic - it means he has enough.
Your nine-month-old child does not eat the amount indicated on the box of porridge or eats less zucchini than the neighbor’s Kolya. But he, on the other hand, eats baby cookies, applesauce, and drinks compote. That is, he eats the same amount of food in volume as a serving of powdered porridge for his age or a neighbor’s child’s favorite vegetable. After all, kids also have their own taste preferences.
The baby began to gain less weight. This is absolutely normal. And if a newborn should gain at least 600-800 grams per month, then with age this figure gradually decreases.
Even when determining whether a 9-month-old child is not eating well or not, it is important to understand that previously he only drank formula or breast milk, which are absorbed quickly. And now the child receives more high-calorie and long-digesting food. Therefore, he is more full and eats less. You can try to increase the intervals between feedings and ensure high physical activity of the child.
You analyzed the situation and came to the conclusion that your baby is not eating enough. He became restless. Look, maybe he is teething or has a sore throat. Or the child doesn’t feel well and gets sick. In this case, show it to your pediatrician. The doctor will determine whether the baby is healthy, whether he has enough food, and whether his height and weight correspond to his age. Perhaps the doctor will prescribe vitamins to your child to increase his appetite.
We all know that nothing increases your appetite like a walk in the fresh air. Perhaps your 9-month-old baby is not eating well because you don't walk him enough. In summer, at least 3 hours. In winter, depending on the weather, an hour or two.
Another reason for a child’s poor appetite may be that he or she eats enough at night. When calculating whether your baby is eating enough, be sure to include the amount of liquid he drinks during the night (milk, juice, yogurt, water).
Another reason for a child’s poor appetite is heat. When it's hot, the baby tends to drink rather than eat.
Adaptation to a new place and vivid impressions can also negatively affect the child’s appetite, but gradually everything returns to normal.
From 4.5 months I began to introduce complementary foods, I ate everything I offered, but for several days now I have categorically refused meat purees, eating only sweet curds and sweet fruit purees!!! He learned to spit and uses it perfectly. I'm breastfeeding. In the morning there is usually porridge, juice, bread; for lunch, vegetable puree, meat puree and juice; at 6 pm puree, cottage cheese, at 8 o'clock before bathing kefir... Who has faced such a problem as getting a child to eat something that is not tasty)))???
My daughter, up to 9 months old (and now we are almost a year old), gobbled up everything with great pleasure - both formula milk (we are artificial from 1.5 months), and complementary foods - any juices from 4.5 months, any kind of porridge I didn’t give it, vegetable purees, meat purees. With particular pleasure, it’s true - cottage cheese and fruit purees (they’re so sweet!) Well, then the whims began - first of all, I threw away the bottle with the mixture, tried to give it from a spoon, also to no avail - then it came out of my mouth as a stream, it turned out to be “cheating” for a couple of weeks. it, making a liquid porridge from the mixture and giving it from a bottle at night. Then this stopped working too. I had to give up the mixture for 1.5 months. ago (although the local pediatrician had round eyes - feed until a year! Try other mixtures (and we ate NAN)! yeah! so I went to sweep everything off the store shelves!) Now in the morning and evening we always have milk porridge from a spoon, Sometimes I add fruit puree or grated apple for taste, my daughter eats it on both cheeks.
As for the “unsweetened feedings” - this is lunch, then here, too, the child began to show miracles of intelligibility - he tries the first spoon, and then, if something is not to his liking in terms of taste, he begins to knock the spoon out of my hands with his little hands... At first, I was so tired I... Then I adapted to simply distracting: we sit toys (bears, dolls) nearby and begin to feed in turn - a spoon for the bear, a spoon for Katya... My daughter’s mouth opens by inertia and the process continues. Sometimes she has to occupy her hands with something so that she doesn’t push the spoon - for example, I give my spoon or a napkin to wipe her mouth... Well, we haven’t encountered spitting yet (pah-pah)...
Yes... I also wanted to say... Ready-made unsweetened purees in jars are still tasteless... I definitely try to prepare lunches for the baby myself - I cook vegetable and meat soups, purees... I add a little salt during the cooking process... Maybe this will save... I don’t think so, that, say, store-bought “broccoli” or “cauliflower” my princess would gobble up now with a bang behind her ears...
Anyuta, cook chicken, beef yourself... in a blender with potatoes or rice... you can even give small piles (of chicken), but this is if you are already accustomed to chewing... We, too, are not very good at store-bought meat purees, but only the cooked ones burst, only cracking behind the cheeks... We are 1.2 bromlem with food ugh, ugh, ugh no... The only thing is he didn’t eat anything for his teeth...
A child's good appetite is a source of endless joy for parents. There is nothing more pleasant than seeing your child happily devouring a cooked lunch, dinner or breakfast. But more often the opposite happens. Mom and grandmother tried to cook, and not just like that, but exactly what the little one loves. And the baby stubbornly refuses to eat and is capricious.
In some families, every meal turns into a real battle between the “unwanted” person and his persistent parents. They persuade the child, try to deceive him with various maneuvers and tricks, insist and threaten that he will not get candy unless he eats the soup. Is it necessary to try so hard and what to do if a child has a poor appetite, says the famous pediatrician Evgeniy Komarovsky.
Appetite varies
Life is impossible without food, but appetite does not always come while eating. Natural appetite occurs when the body requires food to replenish energy reserves in order to survive. And selective accompanies modern man much more often.
The child wants cookies because he likes them, and does not want porridge because cookies are better.
Selective appetite reflects the real picture of needs only in an infant; at 8-9 months he intuitively feels that he needs calcium and refuses to eat soup. Not because the soup is tasteless, but because milk is healthier. At the age of 1 and 2 years, children prefer dairy products for the same reason.
If a one-year-old child does not eat meat on principle, this does not mean that at 3-4 years old he will not begin to eat it with pleasure. It’s just that for a 12-month-old baby, vegetables and fruits, cottage cheese and milk are more important. And he understands this on an intuitive level.
Closer to 3 years, the problem of selective appetite, according to Komarovsky, is far-fetched - if a child does not eat vegetable puree and demands only chocolate and sausage, this is a common pedagogical mistake of mom and dad, and there is no need to look for any medical reasons for this behavior.
Why doesn't the child eat?
If a toddler refuses to eat, according to Komarovsky, there may be two reasons for this: he cannot or does not want to eat.
He can’t - this means that the appetite is present, but it is difficult to physically eat. For example, a mother’s milk does not taste good (the woman ate something wrong), the hole in the nipple is too small, and the porridge does not suck, etc. In infants, quite often, during sucking, the intestines begin to actively work, and their peristalsis is not activated in time . The tummy is twisting, the baby is in pain, he stops eating and cries.
Quite often, the root of a child's appetite problem lies in the mouth.
Stomatitis, inflamed gums during teething, microtrauma of the gums (scratches from toys that have been in the mouth or nails) - all this makes the process of absorbing food quite unpleasant.
Sometimes there is no appetite during colds or acute respiratory viral infections.
If the nose does not breathe, then access to oxygen is blocked during sucking, which is uncomfortable, and the child stops eating. If your throat hurts and it’s unpleasant to swallow, you will almost always refuse to eat.
Sometimes the child does not like the food itself - it is hot or too cold, salted or unsalted, large or mashed.
It all depends on the personal preferences of each individual child. If moms and dads manage to understand that the child wants to eat, but cannot, then it is best to consult a doctor to find and eliminate the obstacle that is preventing the baby from eating normally.
If a child eats poorly or does not eat at all, not because eating gives him unpleasant sensations, then he simply does not want to eat. However, you should not immediately accuse him of hooliganism and insist that the porridge be eaten. Reluctance to eat also has its reasons:
- Disease.
Even if the parents have not yet noticed that the baby is getting sick, he himself, as a rule, begins to feel negative changes in his body in advance. In this case, a child who does not eat anything simply “turns on” the defense mechanism - on an empty stomach it is easier for the immune system to fight the pathogen. You should not force feed your baby; he does everything right, as his natural instincts tell him. But this is only true for acute infections. If a child has a long-term chronic illness, lack of appetite is a bad symptom, but this is rare.A child’s body easily gets used to new conditions, and therefore, with a protracted illness, a child begins to eat as usual, and with some ailments, for example, diabetes, there is even an increased appetite. Komarovsky gives certain recommendations on how to feed a sick child: not at all until he asks. And the mother should not be at all ashamed that she does not feed her sick child. This is the best thing she can do now for his speedy recovery.
- Refusal to eat “out of conscientiousness.”
This happens to teenage children, especially girls. If she suddenly decides that she has become “fat” and needs to “do something about it urgently,” offer the child lighter and healthier foods (salads, boiled meat, fruit, milk). If a girl refuses to eat, then fasting becomes pathological and is quite comparable to a symptom of mental illness, which leads to anorexia and the girl’s slow death or disability. In this situation, feeding by force is also not an option, says Komarovsky, since the true cause of the hunger strike must be eliminated. A psychiatrist and a teenage psychologist or psychotherapist will help with this.
- Refusal to eat for no reason.
There are also children who, without any illness, eat little or practically do not want to eat. They, according to Komarovsky, still have their own reasons for not wanting to eat, such as individual metabolic characteristics. After all, in one child, digestion occurs faster, nutrients are absorbed and absorbed faster, while in others the process is slower. Therefore, such a “slow” child refuses a cooked lunch, because he still has breakfast in the process of being processed.
Appetite depends on hormone levels.
If a child grows faster (his mother and father are tall), that is, he will be larger and more often than his peer, who is not genetically destined for tall height.
The level of energy expenditure also influences the presence of appetite. If a child runs and jumps in the fresh air, then he will get hungry faster than if he sits in front of the TV and watches cartoons.
To restore a child’s appetite, it is often enough to simply adjust energy expenditure
- take more walks, enroll your child in a sports section. In the end, going for evening walks with the whole family before dinner will definitely have a positive result.
How parents can improve their baby's sleep
Mom and dad, having understood the reason for the disruption of their child’s nighttime rest, must create the most comfortable and optimal conditions in the children’s bedroom in which the baby can quickly fall asleep and get quality sleep.
In the evening, it is important for parents to ensure that their son or daughter does not play active, outdoor games one to two hours before going to bed. It is also necessary to exclude overly emotional games and entertainment in the evening. To prevent a child’s fragile nervous system from being overly excited, in the evenings one should give preference to calm and leisurely games. In addition, it is important to start preparing for the night's rest a couple of hours before bed.
Swimming in the evenings is a mandatory daily procedure that does not take much time, only 10-20 minutes. Experts recommend adding decoctions of sedative herbs to the water and bathing the child in this water. Calming plants gently and without negative consequences for the child’s body soothe and help to fall asleep faster. Pediatricians usually advise using the following plants for baths:
- mint and lemon balm;
- sequence;
- chamomile;
- motherwort;
- valerian.
Important! These herbs can be used in small quantities, and only if there is no allergic reaction to them.
To make it easier for your baby to fall asleep, it is necessary to develop a “sleep ritual” - several specific actions that need to be repeated daily. The toddler will associate these actions with sleep. Thanks to their daily repetition, children quickly relax and calm down. The “sleep ritual” for many includes a lullaby, a fairy tale, putting on pajamas, turning on a night light, playing quietly, taking a bath, or something else.
Another important point is ventilation of the children's bedroom. Neither adults nor children like to relax in a stuffy room, so in the evening you need to arrange 15 minutes of ventilation every day, and in the summer you can open the windows for half an hour or longer. In addition, it is important to wet clean the bedroom several times a week so that the child can rest in a clean room.
If a mother is exhausted, rocking the baby for a long time and spending the whole day with him, then she needs to make it a rule to sleep with the baby. When the child has dozed off in his bed, it is advisable for the mother to also sleep at this time in order to restore the wasted energy and strength.
Gradually it is necessary to prepare the child to fall asleep independently. At about six months of age, it is important that the baby gets used to sleeping in a room alone. To prevent the toddler from throwing tantrums and crying, it is necessary to gradually wean him from the presence of his parents. You cannot do this abruptly; it is important to try to accustom the baby to independent sleep as smoothly as possible, so that the baby does not have fear or psychological trauma.
Parental errors
Very often parents try to treat a non-existent disease. If no serious acute pathologies or infections are detected in the child, it can be difficult for parents to admit that the child is not eating because he was not raised that way. And tests begin, and diagnoses are always found that “seem to not exist” and treating them is a waste of time and money.
Komarovsky advises to stop dragging your child around clinics and laboratories, leave him alone and simply change your daily routine and lifestyle - introduce longer walks, cool baths, and play sports.
Many parents force their child to eat.
Evgeny Komarovsky also includes his favorite tricky tricks among these actions: “Look, the spoon flew and flew,” “Eat, otherwise we won’t go to the park!”, “I’ll tell dad everything!” A cornered baby will eat under pressure, but without appetite. This means that less gastric juice will be secreted, the liver will cope with its part of the work more slowly, and digestion will be difficult. The benefits of force feeding are less than the harm.
It is also wrong to give food that is not according to age.
If a child does not eat in pieces during the year, requiring pureed food, this may be quite justified. If he has only 2 teeth in his mouth, then there is simply nothing to chew the pieces with. However, mothers who have read that the pieces will definitely stimulate the remaining teeth to grow faster, immediately sound the alarm: they say, they have lost their appetite. Komarovsky calls for a realistic assessment of your child’s capabilities. No one asks him to puree his food until he is 5-7 years old, but making it digestible, at least until 6-8 teeth come out, is quite within the power of any parents.
If your child refuses soup for lunch, you shouldn’t rush to cook him something else.
There's no point in scolding either. Let him “work up” his appetite. The only thing that can overcome selective appetite is the feeling of hunger. When it becomes real and strong, the poured soup will cause a lot of delight and will be quickly eaten without any persuasion. The main thing is to offer your child the same soup at the next meal, and not another dish.
A child who suffers from lack of appetite should not have any snacks between meals: no apples, no oranges, no sweets.
Such “easy prey” should not be within his reach. This rule must be followed by all family members, it will be especially difficult for grandparents, but we must stick to it.
You should not impose your eating routine on your baby - your breakfast, lunch and dinner may not coincide with his routine.
Try not offering him food at all for at least a day. At the same time, walk, play in the air, but don’t say a word about food. The child will ask for food himself and will eat everything you offer him with excellent appetite.
You will learn more about what to do if your child does not want to eat in the following video.
- Doctor Komarovsky
What to do if a child refuses complementary feeding? What risks exist for a baby’s body that does not receive enough “adult food”? How should a mother behave so that her baby starts eating? Recommendations from pediatricians for determining the correct tactics of action.
Most mothers look forward to when the baby is six months old. After all, at this age you can introduce complementary foods, which means you can please your baby with new products and carefully prepared dishes. This is the essence of maternal nature, a manifestation of love, an evolutionary desire to feed, which is second in importance for the preservation of the human race after the need to warm.
In the introduction of complementary foods, mother sees new opportunities for showing affection and care. Therefore, refusal on the part of the child is perceived with great chagrin and even apprehension. At the same time, pediatricians believe that nothing urgent is happening.
Reasons for refusing to eat
From the moment the child began life, he received tasty and sweet breast milk or a tasteless, but so familiar formula. And suddenly at some point he is offered completely new food. Its taste seems unexpected, unusual and does not always attract the child.
At the same time, infants on breastfeeding and formula feeding experience new foods differently.
- Babies are familiar with the tastes of food. Breast milk, which babies consume daily, contains flavor notes of the foods consumed by the mother. Therefore, when using them as an introductory meal, the risk of failure is much less than non-traditional products for the mother’s table. In addition, breast milk contains digestive enzymes that help food digest. If after taking a new product the baby does not have any problems with digestion, he will be very happy to eat such food the next day.
- Artificialists only know the taste of the mixture. It is believed that it is easier to accustom a baby to artificial feeding, since he has been receiving “foreign” food all his life. But not everything is clear here. The adapted mixture has a neutral taste, and after trying a new product, the baby may simply be “scared” of it. In any case, it will be more rich and specific. It may seem too sour (if we are talking about a fruit ingredient) or harsh (vegetable puree from cabbage, pumpkin). At the same time, kids quickly pay attention to sweet tastes, so they usually eat dishes made from sweetish vegetables or industrial cereals with pleasure. Thus, a selective love for complementary foods develops: previously unfamiliar with the sweet taste (unlike infants), artificial infants eat sweet fruit purees and cereals, but refuse meat dishes, fish, and cottage cheese.
However, the type of nutrition a child receives is only one aspect that influences his or her attitude toward complementary feeding. Pediatricians consider the following factors to be much more important.
Physiological readiness for complementary feeding
The recommended time frame for introducing complementary foods at six months is arbitrary. For each baby, the process of “maturation” of organs and systems occurs individually and with varying intensity. In particular, in breastfed babies, the digestive system becomes more stable and mature to accept any food other than breast milk, just in time for six months. But for formula-fed babies and babies on a mixed diet, this process takes longer. Therefore, the mother’s early attempts to offer new food lead to the child not eating complementary foods. His body is simply not ready for it yet!
Such factors should also indicate physiological readiness.
- The baby sits freely, holding a spoon. This is important from the point of view that introduction to complementary feeding should occur with the direct participation of the child. He is not a passive “spectator” of the process, he is an active participant who learns to independently scoop food into a spoon, bring it to the mouth, remove it with sponges and chew.
- The ejection reflex has already died down. By about six months, the reflex that encourages the tongue to push out any thick and hard food fades away in children. This indicates that the baby is physically ready to consume something other than milk or formula. If everything you give causes vomiting or is pushed out of the mouth by the tongue, your baby's reflex may not have faded yet. And you should wait with complementary foods.
- The digestive system reacts normally. If eating new foods causes pain in the child’s tummy, diarrhea, or increased gas formation, this does not indicate a “normal reaction to unfamiliar food,” but that you are offering it to the child early, before the digestive system matures. Of course, the baby cannot associate discomfort in the tummy with any product. But intuitively one can completely refuse such “dangerous” food.
If a child does not eat complementary foods for 6 months, it means that he is not yet physiologically ready for it. Mom should wait and try again in a couple of weeks. It is important to do this only at the moment when the baby is completely healthy. Poor health due to acute respiratory infections or teething in most cases is the reason for refusing to eat.
Psychological factors
Lactation consultants are confident that the baby must be emotionally ready for complementary feeding. The process of eating food evokes keen interest and a desire to try it yourself - that’s what emotional readiness means.
In this case, there will be no problems with eating new food. Moreover, the child will want to eat it and enjoy it. Moreover, in this case there is no difference in the type of nutrition: both an infant and an artificial one can be equally effectively interested in food.
What are the signs of psychological readiness? There are several of them.
- The child is interested in food. If he sits on his mother’s lap during a family meal, he tries to reach the contents of the plate and put it in his mouth.
- The baby protests when he doesn't receive the product. It is a product, not a cutlery or, for example, a napkin. There is a big difference in food interest, where the baby's goal is to eat food. And in objective interest, when the baby just wants to twirl a spoon in his hands or try his mother’s cup on his teeth.
- The child does not calm down until he receives the product. It is difficult to distract him from what he wants by playing or in any other way. Even after receiving the breast, he returns to where he started: demanding the food he likes.
Typically, food interest is formed if the child, from the moment he masters the skill of sitting, regularly spends time at the common family table. When he observes day after day how his family members behave at the table, how they eat different foods, how they like it, how they communicate with each other, the problem of what to do if the child does not eat complementary foods does not arise.
The child refuses to eat formula: the main reasons
Feeding your baby breast milk provides essential vitamins, minerals, infection-fighting antibodies, and other nutrients.
But what to do when it becomes insufficient, or situations arise when breastfeeding becomes impossible. The mixture comes to the rescue. However, problems arise here too - some children may refuse to drink it immediately or after some time.
This situation should not go unnoticed by parents; it is important to identify and eliminate the reason for the refusal.
Artificial feeding of infants has many nuances that every parent will have to face. Therefore, to normalize it, you need to consider the following:
- choose nutrition according to characteristics, needs, age;
- correctly transfer the child to formula;
- use only high-quality bottles with nipples;
- follow the cooking technique, feeding regimen, serving size;
- introduce complementary foods gradually, alternating with artificial formula.
When transferring a baby to artificial feeding, his baby teeth may be cutting, his tummy may be bothered (intestinal colic) or other reasons, which is why he may refuse to eat or not finish the formula.
Incorrect feeding organization
Children often refuse food because they receive it in excessive doses or frequently. Artificial breast milk substitutes take longer to be absorbed by the child's body, so such feeding should occur strictly on schedule - once every 3-4 hours (depending on age).
In the first six months of life, children fed formula are fed once every 3 hours. After 6-8 months, you can gradually begin to switch to a four-hour break.
The number of servings that can be given at a time depends on the age of the baby and is regulated by the World Health Organization.
In addition, it is necessary to prepare the mixture correctly, without increasing the number of measuring spoons, thereby trying to make it more satisfying.
It is possible that if the baby is not fed with formula milk correctly, in the first days his digestive system will cope with large volumes. But then problems appear:
- decreased appetite (does not finish drinking or refuses food altogether);
- bloating (undigested food fibers cause increased gas formation);
- colic (increased fermentation in the intestines causes discomfort and pain);
- intestinal dysfunction (diarrhea, constipation).
During the period of introducing complementary foods, a child may eat less formula due to the consumption of new foods (mashed potatoes, cereals, yoghurts, curds, cookies, tea). In addition, sugary drinks and snacks reduce appetite, so it is advisable to limit them. Very often, some children who have been receiving complementary foods for a long time begin to gradually abandon artificial formula.
The food may not be suitable for the baby, even if it is the best. All mixtures are almost identical in composition and are manufactured in accordance with the required quality standards, however, their taste may differ markedly. Some babies happily eat the formula purchased by their parents. Others, on the contrary, may not like its taste, smell, and naturally refuse to eat it.
Fortunately, stores now offer a large selection of these products, so you can easily choose the best one for your little gourmet.
Also, some children refuse formula for a trivial reason - they were given either too hot or cold food.
Not hungry yet
Artificial formula is a sufficiently nutritious product that the baby’s body spends a lot of time and effort digesting, unlike breast milk. Therefore, he may refuse to eat it, because he simply is not hungry yet. In this case, there is no need to worry, you need to observe the interval between feedings - once every 3-4 hours.
Sometimes a decrease in appetite is observed due to the characteristics of the body, when a small amount of food is enough to satiate. Failure may also occur due to changes in weather or climate.
Introduction of complementary foods
During the period of introducing new products into the diet, the baby may refuse to eat the mixture due to the fact that against the background of delicious purees, cereals, yoghurts, cottage cheeses, it simply becomes tasteless.
In this case, the pediatrician may recommend a formula that is more suitable for the age and health of the baby.
Eruption of baby teeth
This period is painful, often accompanied by diarrhea, high fever, excessive salivation, and sleep disturbances. The baby becomes capricious, his gums turn red and swell, which react to any touch with pain. Therefore, if he begins to eat poorly, and all the symptoms of teething are observed, the mother should try to make him feel better.
Some children benefit from a special teether with anti-freezing liquid inside. It must be pre-cooled by putting it in the freezer for 2 hours, then offered to the baby.
Cold will help relieve pain and itching from the gums. But the most effective for teething is considered to be an anesthetic gel (for example, Kamistad, Kalgel) containing lidocaine. It causes numbness, reducing pain.
The product is used only after consultation with a doctor.
Usually, after teething, the child’s appetite is restored.
If the baby refuses formula milk, screams loudly, arches and draws in his legs, then his stomach may hurt. Intestinal colic (increased gas production) is common and can occur as a result of:
- immaturity of the digestive system (the number of necessary enzymes for digesting food is not yet enough);
- air entering the body as a result of an incorrectly selected bottle nipple;
- failure to comply with proportions when preparing the mixture;
- overfeeding;
- dysbacteriosis, intestinal infection.
If a child has severe intestinal colic, the doctor will prescribe a remedy (Plantex, Espumisan, Baby Calm, fennel tea, dill water) to alleviate his condition. It is also important to follow the rules when preparing the mixture and purchase a suitable bottle with a pacifier.
Inflammation in the ENT organs
Stomatitis, sore throat, thrush, otitis media during sucking and swallowing food only increase the pain in the child. And with rhinitis, breathing difficulties arise, which is why a refusal to eat occurs. The baby must be seen by a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
Short frenulum of the tongue
Feeding problems may occur due to a short tongue tie (ankyloglossia) in an infant. In this case, consultation with a dentist and surgeon is required. If the diagnosis is confirmed, surgery will probably be required. The operation is simple and does not require pain relief.
Uncomfortable pacifier
An incorrectly selected pacifier can affect a child’s decreased appetite. It comes in different sizes and types. The standard nipple follows the shape of the mother's breast, which makes bottle feeding more natural.
There are also special orthodontic forms that prevent air swallowing. These nipples differ in the number of holes and are selected depending on age.
If it is not selected correctly, the baby will choke, or, on the contrary, get tired due to the fact that the mixture flows slowly. Therefore, power failure is possible.
So, there are enough reasons why a child refuses formula. Finding out exactly what caused this will be helped by a pediatrician who will conduct an examination and prescribe therapy, if necessary. The problem cannot be ignored, otherwise refusing to eat can lead to weight loss and health problems.
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Source: https://moykarapuz.com/iskusstvennoe-vskarmlivanie/rebenok-otkazyivaetsya-ot-smesi.html
Basic principles
It is always easier to prevent the development of negative phenomena, so we will focus on the basic principles of proper complementary feeding.
- Physiological readiness, food interest. New foods should be introduced only if both of these factors are observed in the baby.
- The baby is healthy. Sometimes it happens that the baby was actively eating one or more foods, but suddenly the child stopped eating complementary foods. At the same time, he literally “hangs” on his chest, behaves unusually, sulks, and often cries. The reason for this may be painful teething, poor health as a result of the disease, after vaccination. After recovery, the usual diet will be restored. You just need to give the child’s body a break during this time and not force him to eat.
- No violence! Proper complementary feeding is desirable. If the baby refuses it, it means that he has no food interest or physiological factors have come into play. It is unacceptable to force him to eat, otherwise the fact of eating will be perceived negatively by him. And the problem of “feeding” will become the way of eating in your family.
- Don't overfeed. A common situation is when a child begins to try some foods and even begins to eat some of them well. And the mother decides to bring it to the “recommended norm”, prepares 180 grams of puree or porridge daily and encourages the child to definitely eat everything that has been prepared. As a result, after a few days the baby begins to refuse the food he previously liked altogether. And it's not that he doesn't like the taste. And the fact is that the previously favorite dish acquired a negative connotation for him: the child was already full and did not want to eat anymore, but at the insistence of his mother he had to eat everything as “indicated in the norms.”
The existing standards, for convenience, offered by month in tablets, are not at all a guide to action. They give general recommendations on what foods should be offered to a child and at what age. And they show what the child should not eat more than the norm in order to avoid overfeeding. It is stipulated that breast milk or formula must be retained in the diet.
When breastfeeding
What to do if a child refuses complementary feeding while breastfeeding or, for example, does not eat vegetable complementary foods, limiting himself only to porridge or fruit puree? Nothing, the breastfeeding consultants answer.
According to WHO recommendations, breast milk should remain the main food for a baby up to one year of age. Its enormous benefits continue for up to two years. But now, when the baby has not even reached one year of age, it is milk that serves as its main source of food. And any complementary food, be it meat or cereal, is for informational purposes only.
At the age of one year, the baby should receive only twenty-five percent of nutrients from third-party products, and the bulk - seventy-five percent exclusively from breast milk. There is evidence that until the age of eight months, mother’s milk covers absolutely all the nutritional and energy needs of the child. As long as you breastfeed on demand, you can be sure that your baby is provided with everything he needs.
Therefore, even if a 9-month-old child does not eat solid foods well, relax, do not be nervous, and act according to the circumstances. Does he like a certain type of porridge? Okay, so eat it. Have you tried a piece of meat and spat it out? Offer it a week later, and then again a week later.
A child’s perception of food is not formed overnight. Research by scientists has shown that an addiction to a particular product arises if a person has tried it a sufficient number of times. Not one or two, but twelve to fifteen. Therefore, in order to get acquainted with meat or, for example, cottage cheese, you should periodically give it for testing.
The correct actions of the mother, a calm and attentive attitude to the needs and desires of the baby will bear fruit. Typically, infants begin to eat the full range of foods recommended to them not at six or eight months, but at one year or a little older. As long as you continue breastfeeding, this is normal.
A 7 month old baby doesn’t sleep well, what is the reason?
One of the most common problems among young mothers is the lack of sound and healthy sleep in their babies. It should be noted that in most cases, restlessness at night in children is caused by an incorrect daily routine, that is, the parents themselves are to blame for the fact that they cannot rest normally in their own bed, but have to spend time near the baby’s cradle.
Of course, it’s not uncommon that the problem lies in the baby’s poor health; the cause may be teething, abdominal cramps, headaches, and some others.
But, before trying to treat the baby for possible diseases, it is important to exclude the main reason for the lack of normal sleep in the baby.
Baby's daily routine from birth to three years
Every mother knows how her child’s day should be organized, but, oddly enough, only a few adhere to these rules. A 7-month-old child does not sleep peacefully if his active games take place in the afternoon, namely in the evening. This is the main mistake parents make, because the more the baby moves, laughs, and jumps in mom or dad’s arms, the harder it is for him to fall asleep and the more often he can wake up just a few hours after falling asleep for a long time.
At least three hours before bedtime, you need to organize your baby’s leisure time in such a way that it includes reading books, folding pyramids, towers, and also a mandatory evening bath. Warm water will help the baby calm down and put him in the right mood.
In order for your child to sleep more soundly and peacefully, you should ventilate his room half an hour before bedtime; this can be done while he is bathing. But do not forget that the room must have time to warm up; a steamed child after taking a bath cannot be brought into a cold room.
What not to do to avoid prolonged falling asleep and restless sleep
A 7-month-old child often sleeps poorly due to the fact that his daytime sleep is too close to his nighttime sleep, that is, the last waking up during the day occurs later than 5-6 pm. Ideally, the baby should rest twice: from 11 to 12-12.30 in the afternoon and from 15 to 16-16.30, in this case, by the set evening time - by 21 o'clock he will already be tired enough and falling asleep will pass quickly and easily.
Before the age of one year, a child is overly susceptible to emotional excitement, so it is worth limiting acquaintance with new people and special events to a minimum. Moreover, these recommendations concern not only the evening time of the day, but the baby’s existence in general. Such recommendations do not mean isolating the child from the entire outside world, but only imply a reasonable attitude towards everything new, that is, you should not introduce a seven-month-old child to all existing relatives on the same day.
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