You also learn to eat

1999/11/01 Agirre, Jabier - Medikua eta OEEko kidea Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

The topic gives to talk long and tense. Today, however, with the excuse of a book that paediatrician Carlos González has just published with the same title ("Our Child Doesn't Eat"), I would like to break down some false convictions fairly widespread around this point and clarify things to erroneously resolve some of the ideas that have been passed down from generation to generation as if they were absolute truths for people.

Never force a child to eat

It may happen that an adult does not open his mouth for fashion reasons, but for a child these social norms are not important. So don't insist that the child eat at any price.

How much food is needed every day?

Each of us needs a different caloric contribution, and so food is not exact science. While some have no limits, others eat like chorizos. Why measure all with the same measure? A year and a half child may have the same need as a nine-month-old baby.

Sure you don't eat anything?

For most parents, not eating anything is not eating as much as they think you have to eat. Perhaps if the size of the parents were half a plate, another rooster would have touched us.

Those who really eat nothing

Illness and also jealousy make food spoil. But that “evil” is only temporary, and once the problem is resolved, the appetite appears again.

Work outside Amatxo's home

The return of the mother to work can cause the refusal to eat in some children, if not in front of her mother. They may not eat for eight hours and then eat around the mother until full.

It is not a matter of life

For some parents this problem becomes a personal insult. Others, for their part, consider the satisfaction of their children through food indispensable.

No sense of guilt

Frustration as well as the feeling of not doing things right, as they did with them when they were young. That is what many parents feel and, of course, in this situation it is easily understood that food has moments of suffering.

Children misunderstandings

Put yourself in the skin of your children. Instead of receiving the love of his parents, they only receive attacks and bad words: nothing else gets him in the way from mouth to throat, but the parents are still there and, in addition, they annoy him and scream at him.

Final Test

Eat in proportion to what you give your child. Suppose the child weighs about 10 kilos and eats a plate. Did you eat five or six dishes? No! Surely you would be.

Free milk to taste

Breast milk is the most complete and nutritious food. As long as the child does not lose weight, there is no problem to continue with milk (preferably breast milk) until he turns one year or even more. Of course, walking calmly with schedules and giving children on demand.

When?

There is a misconception, but quite widespread, that cereals serve to fatten the child, and therefore instead of giving breast, you have to give it porridge. The porridges are well, they are healthy, but at the time and as prescribed by the doctor (not attending to the measurement or proportion of the flour box).

Does not like vegetables

The child's stomach is small, so it admits small amounts, i.e. many calories in a small volume. Vegetables have a lot of fiber, but few calories. And that's why they're not the best food for the baby. Some aromas are enough to taste.

Fruit porridge

It happens as with fruits with vegetables. If the child doesn't want to eat porridge, give the bite some apple or have fun in small pieces of fruit (for example, a pear). Recommendations and recommendations from the doctor at this point (how to mix, etc.) are not obligatory: your child has the last word.

Respect sleep

There are parents who "plug" the bottle into their child while they sleep and then complain that they don't eat anything, when they are awake. How will they eat if they have eaten enough during sleep?

Chuches, forbidden! News

Whether or not children eat, candies and snacks that are currently open should be prohibited ("once a year, no harm").

One-year crisis

At 12 months the growth rate is reduced, so the child no longer needs so much food. Little by little the needs will increase and above all from the five years their energy expenditure and their needs will increase considerably.

Those blissful percentiles

One of the biggest concerns of parents is weight charts. Each country has its own and you will never find two different matching graphics. What does that mean, that your baby will be pixeled above average or below average? From there take out the accounts and demystify, therefore, all the graphics and percentiles.

The child's "defenses"

Babies assume their defenses against the attack of their parents: make a big ball with food inside the mouth, spit and even cause vomiting. Their refusal is usually not a whim. As a result of evolution, children tend to reject and reject flavors unknown for their mere survival.

That ghost called allergy

Allergy can lead to a child's rejection of food that can damage his or her body (milk, eggs, gluten, or any other food that "notices" the child is not acceptable to him). Therefore it is better not to force the child to eat.

Appetite stimulants

These stimulant tonics contain psychodrugs that act in their composition, that is, in the brain, accelerating or stimulating the brain center of appetite. The effect of these medications is short and the effects are noticed during administration. They are not recommended except for exceptions. But, however, almost all the doctors of us have recited, because one thing is what is said in theory (and in cold), and another (and quite unfavorable or different) is that we have the case before, when we touch closely, what we do.

How to introduce food

From five to six months of age, you can start trying new flavors, always very carefully and slowly.

Specific strategies

Do not store leftovers for dinner. To put
in a dish what usually eats, and to us, as parents, seems very little. If he is hungry he will ask for more.
Avoid banks and anger if possible. Never buy the child with false promises (or lies).

Vegetarians

The children of vegetarian parents do not, at least in principle, have problems living with ovo-lacto-vegetarian food. However, in the long term, in my opinion, this measure of eating is quite insufficient.

Getting used to eating everything

But be careful! Forcing a certain meal can be the easiest way for a child to hate this food for life. If we do not force ourselves, but you are offered at the table, you will try it at the end.

Want to eat alone

The child may refuse to eat because he wants to bring his food to his mouth and that is not left. Even if the food is lengthened and everything that surrounds it gets dirty, it is convenient that gradually it gives it some independence, putting at its disposal what can only eat in every age.