My baby won’t eat at all

My baby won’t eat at all!!!!!

I was that kind of a mom who would run around the house and follow my son to feed him. There were days that I resorted to Ipad and TV to feed him, so that while he is busy looking at the screen I would feed him spoon by spoon or morsel by morsel not knowing if he was hungry enough. There were also days that I would force feed him out of worry and frustration thinking that if he won’t eat he might get a low blood pressure.

Well, if you also have been there then you might want to know what I learnt out of all of this messy period of my life and that I never repeated with my other children.

First and foremost, to tackle the situation we must go by the flow. Yes, that is right. GO WITH THE FLOW. If your toddler doesn’t want to eat at all, just let him be. Never force him to eat because all that is going to end up in a big throwing-up situation and leading your child to avoid food even when he is hungry.

Secondly, always try to figure out the reason why your baby doesn’t want to eat. There could be many reasons as to why your baby is showing a lost appetite, of which I would like to mention some from my experience.

Probable Reasons

1.       He has been pick-eating right before the meal time and doesn’t feel hungry anymore. Yes, this is true. If you give your child snacks, candies, or random things in odd times, then you are filling his tummy up with unhealthy stuff and killing his appetite for the meal time.

2.       He might be too tired to eat anything. This happens a lot of the times when your baby is tired or hasn’t slept in a while.

3.       He might be feeling sick. Usually when kids have a cold, they just don’t feel like eating anything. Whenever my son would have a cold, he would lose his appetite.

4.       Sometimes it so happens, that when you introduce a new food, they might not like it. Or just avoid eating it because they are not comfortable with the texture of this new food.

5.       Another reason can be that your child is so distracted in a play or toy or something that he cannot get himself to eat and just want to play.

Some Remedies

Once you have found what is the reason behind your child’s lost appetite, you might want to fix it with a remedy. Here are some of the suggestions that I would like to give to all the new-mommies, that also worked for me.

1.       Never give any snacks to your child prior to meal time.

2.       Always have a set routine of meal times so your child can expect when to be fed.

3.       If you find that your child is tired, then don’t force him to eat. Just let him rest. I promise once he has slept well, he’ll be hungry and have his full meal.

4.       Getting a cold, or flu also takes away the hunger in babies. In that case just make sure your child is having enough liquids, soup, juice or whatever healthy drinks he likes to have. I am 100% sure that keeping him hydrated will make him feel better and well again.

5.       If your child doesn’t like the new food, it is ok. Just do not resort to junk or unhealthy foods if he doesn’t want to eat the new food. Always make sure to have his favourite food on the backup so if he refuses to have that new one, you can offer him his favourite food. Also, never stop offering new foods, it takes a while for the baby to test and trial and to develop taste for new things.

I would like to add this, that it is true that you are the mom, and you know a lot about your child, but it is important that you trust your child’s instinct. Your child knows when he is hungry, and when he is not ready or when he is full. So, it is very important that you respect that and do not force feed him just because you are worried. Force feeding can lead to many problems, like indigestion, throwing up, building a hate for food, and ultimately leading to an inadequate appetite.

SO, I hope that my experience helps you with that. Do add in comment if you think there is something to add to it.

Have a very happy motherhood!!