What to do to make the child eat. What does a child need to eat well? Here, for example, the body's need for calcium for children of different ages

We often hear from parents: “My child is completely uninterested in food, it’s impossible to stuff anything into him!” So here are a dozen practical tips for you in case of "stuffing"

1. The child's nutrition should be varied, children get bored quickly enough even recently favorite dishes. In such cases, simply exclude the boring food and introduce a new one - the appetite will not keep you waiting. After all, we often remove toys that the baby is no longer interested in on the far shelf. Time will pass, other bears and cubes will get bored, and those from the shelf will again become the most beloved.

2. Don't be afraid to use spices, herbs, spices and exotic foods in baby food. The sooner children learn to understand and distinguish the taste of foods, the more they will be picky in food in a good way later.

3. Change your baby's feeding schedule on hot days. At noon, offer him not lunch, but a second breakfast (for example, kefir, cottage cheese, light porridge, fruits, diluted juice), and after sleep, a rather hungry baby can easily cope with the dishes that you prepared for him for lunch.

4. Don't force your child to eat when they are sick, nervous, or upset.

5. Do not put the child at the table immediately after the active game. And of course, do not try to feed a baby running around the apartment: such a race will not lead to anything good. Moreover, it can be dangerous: you can easily choke on food.

6. Do not divide food into "good" and "bad". Instead, find the connection between food and things that are important to your child, such as appearance.

7. Encourage healthy choices. Praise your children for eating the right foods. Gently substitute unhealthy chips for oven-baked potato sticks or homemade muesli. That is, always have a healthy snack on hand instead of sweets.

8. Never use food as a reward. This can create problems excess weight in later years. Instead, encourage your children to do something that requires both of you to be active, such as a walk in the park or playing on the fresh air. In our world of busy parents, joint leisure often in itself a great gift for a child.

9. Give children food to go to school in beautiful plastic boxes and never in polyethylene. And only one that will not deteriorate in a warm room and will not lose appearance after the "portfolio test".

10. Try not to feed your child yesterday's food. It is much less appetizing and healthy than piping hot. And to save time and effort, freeze broths, herbs, vegetables and fruits, including in the form of mashed potatoes.

Food may be uninteresting because it appears from nowhere. If you involve a baby (what a baby, sometimes it would be nice to involve a teenager too) in the process of cooking, the situation can change radically. Something we do not remember a child who would refuse to try the dish prepared by him.

The main thing in joint cooking is not to be afraid (we are talking about parents). Even the most Small child will not be cut by a sharp knife if you show him how to properly hold a dangerous tool, and do not flap his wings over him while he cuts. Yes, there are definitely dangerous things: hot oil, a large pot of boiling water - all this, of course, is not for kids. And teach adult children safety precautions - and everything will be all right with them too.

This becomes a real tragedy for the whole family. Although even if the baby eats enough, it may still seem to the mother that he is malnourished.

DO NOT FORCE YOUR CHILD TO EAT

If the child does not want to eat now, do not insist. Do not expect that the baby will master the same portion as you. Do not swear if he only ate a few spoonfuls. Is it his fault that until his tummy made room for new food? After a while, he will want to eat on his own.

TRY THE COOKING TIPS

There are many tips on the web on how to get your child interested in food. For example, you can arrange multi-colored vegetables on a plate according to color. Then count them and send them one by one to the baby's mouth, while keeping the score. So in parallel, the children will learn to count. The well-known game will also help, when food turns into an airplane and flies to land - into the baby's mouth. The little ones will definitely like this game. True, you may soon get bored and you will have to come up with another one. But it often helps if .

BE PATIENT

Caring for a child is not always easy. Sometimes, to feed the baby, you need to be very patient. The baby cannot eat a lot of food at once. Have you eaten a few spoonfuls? Great. Let him take a walk. After a while, invite him to eat again.

DO NOT MANIPULATE OR BRIBE

If you write a test for five, I'll buy you a typewriter. You eat a few more spoons, I'll buy you a toy. Do you really believe that these methods work? Yes. One time, second. Then the child understands that this way he can get everything he wants. You will have a baby fed (in your understanding) and new problems in the family in the form of.

It is no secret that sometimes parents themselves do not fully understand what proper and healthy baby food means. The good news is that after reading this article you will receive as many as 10 simple and understandable tips.

Parental control. Who goes to the store and buys groceries? You yourself? Then you can lay all the blame for the malnutrition of children on yourself. No child will go hungry. The kids will eat whatever they find in the lockers and the fridge. So if you don’t have enough healthy food in your kitchen, then you need to reconsider your standard shopping list.
Let the child choose. On the one hand, it may seem too unusual and even wrong to ask a child about what and how much he wants. But if you stick to a daily routine with a fixed time for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, cook tasty and varied, then the child will choose from what to eat. It's not difficult to have a pack or two of whole-grain pasta and, say, rice in the kitchen. Offer to choose a side dish from these two options, and it will be useful in any case.
Don't force yourself to eat. Let the child decide for himself whether he ate or not. Only in this way can a person learn to understand himself and avoid overeating.
Start nurturing the habit of proper nutrition in your child from birth. Food habits are rooted in early age, literally from the moment . Therefore, do not insist on some "so healthy cauliflower" if you do not want your child to look at it for the rest of his life. If the baby does not want to today, do not force feed. Offer it in a week or two and maybe your child will taste it.
Diversify the children's menu. In fact, children love not only cookies and pasta with sausages. Offer them something completely new at home, or let them choose for themselves in a cafe. You will be surprised how much children love to experiment.
Count liquid calories. Carbonated sugary drinks contain a huge amount of calories that do not carry nutritional value. Gradually replace soda with water, milk and. So you will not only satisfy the thirst of the child, but also provide him with the necessary vitamins and minerals.
Don't underestimate dessert. If every meal ends with a "delicious delicious dessert, which I spent half a day on, "then the child begins to perceive the third dish as something special. And this incredible begins to want more and more, and ordinary food, especially vegetables, less and less. Do not focus on any food, and then the child will not beg for sweets with or without reason.
Don't try to express your love for your child through food. It's much better to just tell him how much you love him. If you use food (for example, some special dishes) as a reward or an excuse to delight a child, then most likely he will develop a habit of seizing stress and celebrating any events with feasts with age.
Lead by example. Children, especially small ones, repeat everything after adults. It is difficult to teach a child to eat broccoli and brown rice if you yourself prefer pies and sandwiches. Change the diet of the whole family, gradually replacing unhealthy or unhealthy foods with tasty and nutritious ones. Use kitchen appliances such as a slow cooker, air grill, double boiler. They allow you to cook food without adding or with the minimum amount oil, very few vitamins are lost during processing, and the dishes are very tasty. If the whole family eats the right and tasty food, then the child will be.
Limit the time spent on TV and computer. With this method, you will be able to reduce the number and volume of snacking, which is also often not always healthy. And it’s better not just to ban the child from watching cartoons, but to go for a walk with him or play outdoor games. Children love it much more.

The child's drinking regimen

There are many opinions and recommendations about proper nutrition, but very little information about what children should drink and what not. A person drinks 1.5-2.5 liters of fluid per day, so it is very important to ensure that the child gets the maximum benefit from what he drinks.

How to accustom to water and milk

Healthy food undoubtedly improves the mood and well-being of the child.

For children of any age The best way quench your thirst - drink a glass of plain water or milk. And not only because there are no calories in water at all, and there is a lot of calcium in milk, but because this way you can form the right habit of using milk and water, and not soda, to quench your thirst.

Here, for example, the body's need for calcium for children of different ages:

Toddlers 1 to 3 years old - 700 mg of calcium daily (480 ml of milk).
Children from 3 to 8 years old - 1000 mg (600 ml of milk).
- 1300 mg (720 ml of milk).

It is better to choose skim milk or milk with low fat content, so you will cut down on extra calories.

If your child doesn't like milk, try making a milkshake with some berries or fruits like strawberries or bananas. These shakes are easy to make, tasty and sweet enough, and packed with extra vitamins and minerals.

If children drink a lot of soda, sports drinks, juices and juice drinks, then not only will they get a huge amount of sugar and empty calories, but they will also begin to consume less milk and other dairy products (for example,), depriving themselves of the necessary calcium. In addition, excess calories can lead to obesity and serious health problems (diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension).

Calorie and sugar content of various drinks

Water (1 cup) - 0 calories and 0 grams of sugar.
Low fat milk (1 cup) - 100 calories and 11 grams of sugar.
Fresh squeezed orange juice (1 cup) - 110 calories and 22 grams of sugar.
Juice drink containing 10% juice (1 cup) - 150 calories and 38 g of sugar.
Carbonated sweet drink (1 cup) - 100 calories and 27 g of sugar.

Limit your juice intake

If your child loves juices, then make sure that only natural good juices are bought for him, and not juice drinks with a lot of sugar and flavorings.

Juice consumption norms for children of different ages:

Up to 6 months - juice is not introduced. The main and only food of the child should be breast milk or formula, as well.
6-12 months - no more than 120 ml of juice, can be diluted with water.
1-6 years - up to 200 ml per day.
7-18 years - up to 350 ml per day.

Limit the amount of carbonated drinks

A variety of lemonades and cola are often bought for children. But parents do not always remember that soda contains large amounts of sugar and acid, which can lead to caries and obesity. Moreover, such drinks often contain caffeine, and children definitely do not need to consume it. It is believed that the earlier a child has tried soda, the more difficult it is to wean him from it and the more he will drink it in the future.

It is worth noting that it is not necessary to categorically prohibit the child from lemonade. If this is a child under 7 years old, then try to just not let him try, but if this is an older child, then explain why you do not like soda, why it is harmful and offer a tasty choice: ice tea with honey and lemon, milkshake or homemade compote.

More about the culture of baby food in the program "School of Dr. Komarovsky":

Offer a variety of food. Give your child the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of foods. He, most likely, will not like everything that you give. But the more choice, the more food the child will like and, ultimately, the child will develop his own taste.

Don't force your child to eat food they don't like. A child will always associate negative things with a certain type of food, and this can affect the future life of a child who does not like this or that type of food. The best motivation is encouragement.

Give your child a new food along with the one he likes best. Many young children dislike broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. Encourage your child to eat these types of foods by mixing them with a little melted cheese or salad dressing. Children tend to love ketchup, which can be served with eggs, potatoes, or meat. Yogurt is best given with fruits and cereals.

Offer your child food more often. At this stage in life, when transitioning from milk to solid foods, the baby will get used to new types of food more easily if you feed him small portions throughout the day, rather than forcing him to eat large portions all at once.

mix different kinds food. Mix what your child doesn't like with their favorite types of food. This is a great way to get your child to eat healthy food. Bran bread can be given along with bananas, blueberries, or zucchini. This is how you add fiber to your child's diet. Juices are also in a good way Introduce your child to new tastes. Mix fruits or even some vegetables with whole milk or whole milk yogurt. This will benefit the child and saturate his body with calcium.

Meal times should be fun. You don't have to beg your child to eat sugary foods or good-tasting meals. The problem will arise with more tasteless products. To get your child to eat healthier food, make meal times more interesting. The child will be interested in eating more fancy food.

Play with food. You can play airplane with your child when you need to put food in a spoon, pretend that it is an airplane and make the child eat the food; this is a common game that makes the child open his mouth to eat this or that food. You can also count "1, 2, 3!" and put a piece of food in the child's mouth on the count of "3". You can even come up with your own game for feeding time. Think of something that will make the child open their mouth wide enough to fit a spoon.
Praise your child for what he eats. Even babies are pleased to know that they have done something good. Praise your child with a smile, clapping, or words when they try new foods or eat healthy foods.

Set a good example. Your child will certainly eat the same as you eat. He will watch you eat and repeat after you. Eat a lot wholesome food and show that you like it; this will make the baby eat more. But be careful, because your child may also be interested in fast food and soda.

Very often, parents are faced with a situation where the child refuses to eat partially or completely. This problem especially worries grandmothers. Adults worry that babies do not eat anything but sweets (gingerbread, cookies, juice, etc.). In fact, the root of the problem is most often not in the health of the child, but in the wrong mode and upbringing. If you want the baby to eat soup with pleasure, ask for supplements and kill a few cutlets with mashed potatoes, you need to properly build food education, which we will talk about today.

How to awaken a child's appetite

Here are some rules that will help feed your child properly, tasty and varied.

Do not force! First, no coercion. Never force a child to eat. From birth, the body experiences hunger as soon as the blood runs out of the nutrients taken with the previous meal. That is, the body itself says when and how much it needs. In no case do not force the child to eat, do not dance in front of him with a spoonful of porridge, and even more so, do not force-feed him. This can lead to serious psychological problems who will pass with the baby into adulthood. Food is a pleasure and a way to satiate, but not a punishment.
Mode. Set your daily routine and meals. After the baby switches from breastfeeding to the general table, he should eat at about the same time.
No snacks! Eliminate sweets, cookies and other sweets, especially in between meals. Do not be surprised that the baby refuses soup if he ate a chocolate bar an hour ago.
Avoiding sugary drinks. Compotes and juices can also be considered food, because they contain a lot of sugar. In between meals, sugary drinks should be avoided - only pure water. And offer compote as a dessert after soup and main course.
Kindergarten. Oddly enough, it contributes to normal nutrition kindergarten. Many parents admit that their capricious and picky children begin to eat normally only in kindergarten. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, there is a strict discipline - all meals are strictly at a certain time. Secondly, there are no cookies and sweets in between - they simply have nowhere to come from. Thirdly, the team plays a role - if everyone around eats with appetite, the child will also begin to repeat after his peers. Therefore, if your child does not eat well, you should try to give him to the garden, unless, of course, age allows.

The question "How to make a child eat" is fundamentally wrong. You can’t force him, you need to awaken the baby’s interest in food, it is important that he feels hungry. Then the cooked dishes will seem much tastier. But what if the child prefers to eat selectively?

How to feed a child in a variety of ways

Indeed, the problem of a balanced diet is very acute. Many children do not like to eat meat, someone refuses vegetables, others do not recognize fruits. However, doctors say that the child's diet should be varied. Every day he should eat something meat, something dairy, some kind of fruit and vegetable, cereals are also obligatory. This will provide the baby with the right amount of vitamins. What to do if the child refuses meat or does not like vegetables at all?

Many children do not eat onions in any form. However, if it is finely chopped and boiled for at least two hours in the broth, it will dissolve almost completely, the baby will not even notice it.
In kindergartens, potatoes are cut small enough so that one piece can fit in a child's mouth. But even in this case, the educators admit that not everyone eats soup. But if you crush the potatoes right in the soup, the kids eat the dish with much more pleasure.
It is quite rare to find a child who loves meat. Firstly, the meat is quite tough in structure. In order for the baby to eat it with pleasure, you need to cook cutlets and meatballs from meat. Moreover, you need to scroll it through a meat grinder 2-3 times to make the dish very soft. Add a little fat and onion to the minced meat for juiciness, steam the cutlets, serve them hot, immediately after cooking. The kid will definitely not refuse such a delicacy.
To make the child eat fruits and vegetables with pleasure, you can cut out the shape of stars, men, animals and other shapes from them. In general, the creative presentation of dishes is very important for a child, interest usually whets the appetite.
Some mothers admit that children do not want to eat fruits and vegetables as a whole, but they are happy to eat them in pieces. That is, you need to cut pears, peaches, apples, bananas and other fruits into small pieces, put in a bowl and give it to the child. Sometimes the independent use of a fork causes insane delight. Try to give your child a fork with non-sharp ends so that the baby does not get hurt.
If your child is refusing food, try giving it to different form. That is, sometimes one year old babies refuse food simply because they do not want to eat the usual blender puree. Much more they like dishes with small hard pieces. This is called pedagogical complementary foods, when new foods are introduced into the child's diet from the mother's plate.
Cook delicious food for your child! Sometimes parents get confused proper nutrition for the child, although they themselves do not adhere to the established rules. If a baby eats broccoli with pleasure at six months, then do not be surprised that he refuses green mass at three years. When preparing mashed potatoes, add butter, a little milk and salt - that is, to make the baby really tasty.
By the way, it is easier to feed a child with meat if it is a chicken leg. Many children, for some reason, love them very much.
Until the age of three or five, do not introduce industrial sausages, chips, ketchups and similar dubious foodstuffs into the child's diet. Understand, mom's soup rarely wins a fight against sausages, so it's better to protect yourself from such food in advance. The later the child learns what it is, the better.
If a child completely refuses vegetables, you can cheat and make them juice. That is, mix the juice of carrots and apples, serve the baby with a straw, or even pour it into a package of purchased juice. Often children, not seeing the cooking process, drink freshly squeezed juices with pleasure. But remember, for a child under three years old, the juice must be diluted with water.
You can also use this approach. Buy your baby a beautiful plate, on the bottom of which are drawn fairy-tale heroes or cartoon characters. Tell your child that he should eat soup soon to say hello to his beloved friend.
Do not cook porridge overly sugary - many children do not like this. Add sugar in moderation, be sure to garnish the taste with a pinch of salt. Vanillin or cinnamon can be added to semolina. Don't let lumps form - you can form an aversion to semolina for life. But children will eat deliciously cooked porridge with great pleasure.

And further. If the child does not want to eat, do not force or persuade him. If you don't want to eat, don't, eat the soup later. But be steadfast - do not offer any alternative, otherwise the child will constantly manipulate you in terms of food. Talk to the elders in advance. In the morning you must say out loud - the porridge is ready, who will be? If all adult households, including older children, run to the kitchen with pleasure, the baby simply cannot stay away! Give the child a little so that he can master the portion and enjoy the taste of the dish.

If the child refuses any food and this is accompanied by symptoms such as abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, heartburn, then you need to see a doctor as soon as possible. This may be a sign of poisoning or a gastroenterological disease.

Is food always important?

Separately, I would like to say about small children who are on breastfeeding. Often mothers complain that babies are not very interested in complementary foods, that they constantly suckle their breasts, although there is nothing in it. In fact, many women only think that there is no milk in their breasts or there is very little of it. For late deadline feeding (after a year), a situation is typical when the breast does not pour much, but milk is still produced in it. This indicates that the baby is eating. If you want to transfer the crumbs to a common table, you need to think about full or partial weaning from breast milk when you breastfeed your baby only after waking up and at bedtime.

Should I force my child to eat if he is sick? Many women of the older generation are sure that it is worth it, because the baby "will not have the strength to fight the disease." However, this is fundamentally wrong. There is such a thing as curative fasting. This means that in the acute period of many diseases, food will only aggravate the condition of the baby, because the body is not able to digest food, all its resources are aimed at fighting the disease. Especially you can not force a child to eat with a cold and food poisoning. You can offer him a light broth or boiled rice only if he asks to eat. But this rule does not apply to the water regime. As with poisoning, and with SARS, you need to drink a lot and the more, the better. By doing this, you will not only protect your child from dehydration, but also help speed up recovery.

A person's attitude to food and eating behavior are laid down in childhood. If you do not want to see a child obese in the future, with a large number of complexes and sores on the background of obesity, you need to instill a healthy attitude towards food in your child. Tell your teenager that his body is not a trash can where you can throw everything from soda to nuts and chips. Do not force your child to eat everything on the plate - this is wrong. You need to eat as much as you want, no more. The body reacts much worse to overeating than to hunger. We are what we eat. And if the child wants to eat, he will certainly tell you about it, do not force the children to eat. From hunger and exhaustion in prosperous families, no one has yet died!