Appetite is the emotional manifestation of the body's physiological need for nutrients and the desire to consume certain foods. Decrease and loss of appetite are manifested by a complete or partial refusal to eat.

Hunger and appetite should not be confused. From a medical point of view, these are different, albeit interconnected, concepts. The feeling of hunger is a reflex that manifests itself when special centers of the brain are excited against the background of a lack or insufficient intake of nutrients into the body.

The main signs of hunger are pulling discomfort in the sublingual region and in the projection of the stomach (“in the pit of the stomach”), as well as an increase in the secretory activity of the salivary glands (profuse salivation). Appetite is a selective manifestation of hunger, depending on individual preferences, emotional state and a number of other factors.

Causes of Loss of Appetite

It is customary to distinguish between the following types of changes in appetite:

• complete loss of appetite ();
• partial reduction;
• change in taste preferences.

Causes of loss of appetite in children include:

Loss of appetite in a child is often one of the symptoms of the so-called. "seasonal" diseases - and. In the acute period, you should not feed the patient "through force", since in this situation incomplete digestion of food is possible. A child's refusal to eat may be the first clinical manifestation of poor-quality foods or medicines. It is not excluded (, etc.), which require hospitalization in the infectious disease department of a hospital.

Loss of appetite often indicates the presence of serious autoimmune diseases and pathologies of the liver and hepatobiliary system. If loss of appetite is accompanied by dyspeptic disorders (belching,), there is reason to suspect the development or exacerbation of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. In such cases, it is necessary to seek help from a specialist gastroenterologist who will prescribe necessary tests and develop a treatment plan.

When, in addition to loss of appetite, a child has drowsiness and, there is reason to suspect endocrine diseases - in particular, (a decrease in the functional activity of the thyroid gland). In such cases, consultation with an endocrinologist is required, an ultrasound scan of the "thyroid gland" and conduction. It helps to identify pathological processes in the pituitary gland and (or) hypothalamus.

Metabolic disorders often develop against the background of growth. Already in the early stages, the patient's taste sensations change, and loss of appetite is noted. The rejection of meat food should be especially alert. If there are certain signs of a tumor, the patient is sent for examination to an oncologist.

With neuropsychiatric disorders, a decrease or complete loss of appetite () is one of the leading clinical signs. The process of eating does not give the patient pleasure, the products seem tasteless, and rapid satiety appears. Even small portions of food cause unpleasant sensations of heaviness and fullness in the stomach, as well as nausea. In such cases, consultation and treatment with a psychotherapist or neuropathologist is required.

Note:most often, anorexia nervosa is diagnosed in young girls with an unjustified desire for weight loss. With this pathology, an aversion to food is gradually formed. Often, against the background of anorexia, severe exhaustion develops, in severe cases accompanied by irreversible changes in the body. With a complete loss of appetite, long-term treatment in a hospital may be required.

Loss of appetite (more often, a more or less pronounced decrease) may well be a variant of the norm, i.e., it is far from always a sign of somatic diseases or nervous disorders. Children's need for food changes at different stages of development. It is determined by the intensity of growth, energy costs and hormonal levels.

Important:studies of eating behavior in children have shown that every fifth child at 4-5 years old is picky about food. Some of them this feature persists up to 9-10 years.

Decreased or loss of appetite in children

In children under 3 years of age, loss of appetite is often associated with, which is accompanied by severe local discomfort and deterioration in general well-being.

A child, as a rule, refuses to eat if he develops an infectious lesion of the mucous membranes of the oral cavity (). Inflammation and the formation of numerous sores makes the process of eating painful.

Often the cause of a decrease or loss of appetite is force-feeding "by the clock." Eating "through force", when hunger has not yet appeared at low energy costs, can even lead to the formation of a negative attitude towards certain products. You can not force the child to eat with encouragement or threats - the appetite must develop independently.

Note:taste preferences in children sometimes change literally daily. The food that he eats with pleasure today may disgust the baby tomorrow.

Loss of appetite is possible if the baby is not accustomed to eating in accordance with a certain regimen.

Refusal to eat is a common occurrence when snacking between main meals. Perhaps all parents know that sweets and starchy foods (“fast” carbohydrates) impair appetite. You should not be surprised if the baby, having eaten a bun or chocolate shortly before dinner, refuses soup.

Nervous excitement or excessive fatigue can also affect appetite.

What to do with loss of appetite in children?

When a child regularly refuses food or eats with apparent reluctance, it is first of all important to exclude the presence of nervous or somatic pathologies. In their absence, important attention is paid to the formation of the daily regimen and nutrition, care that the food is full and varied.

How can parents help?

When a child, in the absence of serious diseases, limits his diet himself, there is no need to worry that he will starve.

Average age needs of a growing body in kilocalories:

• 3-5 years - 1500;
• 5-8 years - 1800;
• 8-12 years - 2000;
• 12-16 years old - 2400.

Important:excess calories can cause a set of extra pounds and, which is increasingly being diagnosed in children at the present time.

Some parents believe that a well-fed, slightly overweight child needs more calories than their skinny peers. This is fundamentally wrong. It is thinness that is evidence that all the calories received with food are burned. In overweight children who are prone to calm games, the need for food may be noticeably less. It is often possible to observe how a chubby baby by the age of 9-10 begins to “stretch” and there is no trace of fullness.

Appetite, as a rule, increases significantly during the period of active growth and puberty. Parallel to the change hormonal background, there is a restructuring of all types of metabolism. The adequacy of nutrition is determined not by the amount of food consumed, but by the rate of growth and development of the child and the degree of fatness.

Note:at different periods of life, children do not grow quite evenly, and their need for calories changes accordingly. From birth to 3-4 years, the period of “first fullness” continues, and then for the vast majority, a “half-height growth spurt” begins, and children, as a rule, go to the first grade slender and thin.

To improve appetite, the child needs to be offered a variety of foods, avoiding the so-called. food conservatism.

It is necessary, as far as possible, to regulate the energy consumption of children. To improve the child's appetite, regular walks in the fresh air, active games and physical education and sports are required. If he spends most of his time at the computer or in front of the TV, it should not be surprising that his need for food decreases.

A good remedy for loss of appetite in a child is a good example. It is recommended to have lunch and dinner with the whole family. It is important that parents enjoy eating the same dishes that are offered to children.

The baby should eat in a calm environment, without being distracted by external stimuli. He should not be allowed to eat in front of the TV.

If the child is hungry between meals, offer him or dried fruits. These products will not kill your appetite, but will help to cope with the feeling of hunger.

Feeding time should be limited to 20-30 minutes, and if you refuse one or another food - 15 minutes.

Poor appetite: which doctor should I contact?

With a persistent decrease or loss of appetite, it is necessary to show the baby to the pediatrician. It is possible that specialist advice is required.

If the baby appears sickly, tired, or simply lacks energy, the following may need to be tested:

• nutritionist;
• endocrinologist;
• psychologist;
• neurologist;
• gastroenterologist.

It is possible that treatment of the underlying disease is required to normalize appetite. A good reason to see a doctor is a delay in the growth and development of the child, as well as his poor general health.

With diagnosed pathologies of the digestive system, the child is prescribed a diet (in accordance with a specific identified disease), which will have to be followed long time. For any diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, nutrition should be fractional, that is, relatively frequent (6 or more times a day) and in small portions.

Folk remedies to normalize appetite

Can be used to increase appetite folk recipes- decoctions and infusions of medicinal herbs.

Note: before giving herbal medicines to a child, be sure to consult a pediatrician for contraindications and the likelihood of developing allergic reactions.

Recipe 1

2 tsp dry or fresh raspberries, pour 200 ml of boiled water and leave for 30 minutes. With loss of appetite, the child should be given 100 ml of infusion 4 times a day before meals.

Recipe 2

Pour 200 ml of water 2 tsp. dry crushed dandelion root and infuse for 10-12 hours. The infusion should be taken 50 ml 3-4 times a day 30 minutes before meals.

Recipe 4

Brew 1 tsp. dried herb bitter wormwood 200 ml of boiling water and leave for 30 minutes. The infusion should be taken in 1 tsp. in 15-20 min. before meals three times a day.

Recipe 5

½ st. l. dry cornflower flowers pour a glass of boiled water, leave for 15 minutes, cool and strain. With loss of appetite, the infusion is recommended to drink 50 ml in 15-30 minutes. before meals.

Recipe 6

½ tsp parsley seeds, pour 200 ml of cold water, put on fire and heat for half an hour, without boiling. Cool and strain the finished infusion. The drug is recommended to give the child 1 tbsp. l. 4-5 times a day before meals.

A good appetite in a child is a source of endless joy for parents. There is nothing more pleasant than to see how a child happily eats a cooked lunch, dinner or breakfast. But more often it is the other way around. Mom and grandmother tried to cook, and not just like that, but exactly what the little one loves. And the kid persistently refuses to eat and is naughty.

In some families, every meal turns into a real battle between the "unwanted" and his persistent parents. The child is persuaded, they try to deceive with various maneuvers and tricks, they insist and threaten that he will not get candy if he does not eat the soup. Is it necessary to try so hard and what to do if the child has a poor appetite, says the well-known pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky.

Appetite is different

Without food, life is impossible, but appetite does not always come with eating. Natural appetite occurs when food is required by the body to replenish energy reserves in order to survive. And electoral 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 the needs of only baby, 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 year, 2 years, children prefer dairy products for the same reason.

If a one-year-old child fundamentally does not eat meat, 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 intuitively.

Closer to 3 years, the problem of selective appetite, according to Komarovsky, is far-fetched - if a child does not eat vegetable puree and requires only chocolate and sausage, this is a common pedagogical mistake of mom and dad, and you should not look for any medical reasons for such behavior.

Why is the child not eating?

If the little one refuses to eat, he, according to Komarovsky, may have two reasons: he cannot or does not want to eat.

It cannot - this means that the appetite is present, but it is difficult to physically eat. For example, a mother’s milk is tasteless (the woman ate something wrong), the hole in the nipple is too small, and the porridge is not sucked, etc. In infants, quite often, during sucking, the intestines begin to work actively, its peristalsis is activated at the wrong time . The tummy twists, the baby hurts, he stops eating and cries.

Quite often in a child, the root of the problem with appetite 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 eating food rather unpleasant.

Sometimes there is no appetite during colds or SARS. If the nose does not breathe, then during sucking, access to oxygen is blocked, which is uncomfortable, and the child stops eating. If the throat hurts and swallowing is unpleasant, refusal to eat will almost always follow.

Sometimes the child does not like the offered food itself - it is hot or too cold, salty or unsalted, large or mashed.

It all depends on the personal preferences of each individual child. If moms and dads managed 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 prevents the baby from eating normally.

If a child does not eat well or does not eat at all, not because eating gives him discomfort, 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, 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. Do not force feed the baby, he does everything right, as his natural instincts tell him. But this is true only for acute infections. If a child has a long-term chronic illness, lack of appetite is a bad symptom, but this is rare.

  The child's body easily gets used to new conditions for itself, and therefore, with a protracted illness, the baby begins to eat, as usual, and with some ailments, for example, with diabetes, there is even an increased appetite. Komarovsky gives certain recommendations on how to feed a sick child: no way, until he asks. And mother should not be ashamed at all 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 conscience." This happens with teenage children, especially with girls. If she suddenly decides that she has become “fat”, and “something should be done about it urgently”, offer the child lighter and healthier foods (salads, boiled meat, fruits, milk). If a girl refuses to eat this too, then fasting becomes pathological and is quite comparable to a symptom of a mental illness that leads to anorexia and slow death or disability of the girl. In this situation, feeding by force is also not an option, says Komarovsky, since it is necessary to eliminate true reason hunger strikes. A psychiatrist and an adolescent 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. Indeed, in one child, digestion is faster, nutrients are absorbed and absorbed faster, while in others the process is slower. Therefore, such a "slow" child refuses to cook lunch, because he still has breakfast in the process of processing.

Appetite depends on the level of hormones.

If a child grows faster (his mom and dad are tall), that is, he will be bigger and more often than his peer, who genetically “does not shine” with high growth.

The level of energy consumption also affects 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 the child's appetite, it is enough to simply adjust the energy consumption.- walk more, enroll your child in the sports section. In the end, the whole family going for evening walks before dinner will definitely give a positive result.

Parental Mistakes

Very often, parents try to treat a non-existent disease. If no serious acute pathologies and infections are found in the child, it can be difficult for parents to admit that the child does not eat because he is not brought up that way. And the testing begins, and there are always diagnoses that “as if they don’t exist” and their treatment is a waste of time and money.

Komarovsky advises to stop dragging the child around clinics and laboratories, leave him alone and simply change the daily routine and lifestyle - introduce longer walks, cool baths, and go in for sports.

Many parents force their child to eat by force.

Yevgeny Komarovsky also refers to these actions his favorite cunning tricks: “Look, the spoon flew, flew”, “Eat, otherwise we won’t go to the park!”, “I’ll tell dad everything!”. A cornered baby under pressure will eat, but without an appetite. And this means that less gastric juice will be allocated, the liver will cope with its part of the work more slowly, digestion will be more difficult. The benefits of force feeding outweigh the harm.

It is also wrong to give food not according to age. If a child does not eat in pieces a year, demanding pureed food, this may be fully justified. If he has only 2 teeth in his mouth, then there is simply nothing to chew on the pieces. However, mothers who have read that the pieces will certainly stimulate the rest of the teeth to grow faster immediately sound the alarm: they say, the appetite has disappeared. Komarovsky calls for a realistic assessment of the capabilities of his child. No one asks to wipe his food up to 5-7 years, but to make it digestible, at least until 6-8 teeth come out, is quite within the power of any parent.

If a child refuses soup for lunch, do not rush him to cook something else. It's also not worth the hassle. Let it work up an appetite. The only thing that can defeat selective appetite is the feeling of hunger. When it becomes real, strong, the poured soup will cause a lot of enthusiasm and will be quickly eaten without any persuasion. The main thing is to offer the child the same soup at the next meal, and not another dish.

A child who suffers from a lack of appetite should not have any snacks between main meals: no apples, no oranges, no sweets.

Such "easy prey" should not be in his reach. This rule must be observed by all family members, it will be especially difficult for grandparents, but we must hold on.

You should not impose your meal schedule on your baby - breakfast, lunch and dinner may not coincide with his regimen. Try not to offer him food at all for at least a day. At the same time, walk, play in the air, but do not say a word about food. The child himself will ask to eat, and will eat everything that you offer him, with excellent appetite.

You will learn more about what to do if the child does not want to eat in the following video.

• Doctor Komarovsky

Problems with poor appetite in a child are familiar to many families. Sometimes the whole family (grandmother, mom, dad) excels in tricks that allow you to feed the baby at least a few tablespoons of porridge or soup. Persuasions, promises, and threats are used. In many cases, they are in vain, refusal to eat may be accompanied by vomiting. This, of course, worries parents, and they are trying to find out why their child does not eat well, is he healthy.

Sometimes the refusal concerns some individual products (eggs, meat, cottage cheese or vegetables), other children eat any food very badly. "Little girls" refuse to try new food, which sometimes forces the mother to feed the child with monotonous food, which he agrees to eat.

As a result, these children develop a deficiency of nutrients, trace elements and vitamins that the body needs, which can be hazardous to health. The child may lag behind in weight and height. Protein deficiency is of particular danger, and.

Children who do not receive good nutrition are more susceptible to infectious diseases. Scientists have proven the link between malnutrition and poor school performance. Such students have problems with memorization, ability to concentrate, understanding new material.

Causes of lack of appetite in children

The baby may refuse to eat during the teething period, as the meal causes him pain.

Parents' complaints about poor appetite in children are most often heard by pediatricians. It is very important to establish the reason why the child does not eat well. They can be different, they can be divided into several groups.

1. Physiological reasons may be:

• child's illness;
• teething;
• hot season;
• untimely introduction of complementary foods;
• too large portions of food (satiation occurs when eating a smaller portion);
• monotonous food tired of the child;
• inability to chew food, etc.

1. There can also be many psychological reasons:

• force-feeding of a child by parents;
• absence of mother (her exit to work, etc.);
• stressful situation for the child (adaptation to kindergarten, school, etc.);
• change of residence;
• family conflicts;
• the birth of another child, etc.

Translated from Latin, the word "appetite" means desire, getting pleasure from food. Loss of appetite in a child can occur at any age. Forcing children to eat is wrong. You need to understand the cause and eliminate it.

Small children can be divided into 2 groups: the child wants to eat, but cannot; or does not want to eat, but can.

Children from the first group have no problems with appetite. They can eat poorly or little for the following reasons:

1. Premature babies get tired quickly and therefore give up their breasts, gain weight poorly. Such crumbs should be breastfed more often or supplemented with a spoon or syringe until they are able to suck out a full portion of mother's milk themselves.
2. Short frenulum of the tongue.
3. Inflammation of the oral mucosa, gums during teething.
4. Violation of nasal breathing as a result of a cold.
5. Flat nipple or too tight breasts in the mother.
6. A change in the taste or smell of breast milk due to the use of spices by a nursing mother can cause the baby to refuse the breast or worsen appetite.
7. The temperature of the food offered (very hot or cold food) can negatively affect appetite in older children.
8. Eating habits, unwillingness to eat this or that food.

Timely clarification of the cause (independent parents or with the help of a pediatrician) will help eliminate it and solve the problem.

Children from the second group can suck, chew, swallow food, but do not want to eat due to lack of appetite.

The reasons for a decrease or lack of appetite in them may be:

1. Somatic:

• and bacterial infections with severe intoxication syndrome, fever cause a decrease in appetite, which will be restored after the child recovers;
• diseases of the digestive tract, such as (inflammation of the gastric mucosa), enterocolitis (inflammation of the intestines), malabsorption syndrome (malabsorption of nutrients), liver disease, can lead to a persistent decrease in appetite and the development of malnutrition (insufficient body weight);
• deficiency of trace elements in the body, such as iron (with the development of anemia), zinc;
• hypovitaminosis;
• endocrine disorders;
• chronic diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

In any case, a thorough examination of the child is required. The disease should be diagnosed and treated, and the appetite will be restored upon recovery.

1. Non-medical:

• irrational nutrition (frequent snacks, excessive consumption of sweets, too high-calorie or fatty foods) - such nutrition suppresses gastric secretion and reduces the feeling of hunger;
• forced feeding contributes to the formation of a negative attitude towards food;
• lack of walks in the fresh air;
• minimal activity of the child, lack of physical activity.

1. Psychogenic factors:

• excessive custody of the child;
• family troubles.

In some cases, parents worry about their “little kids” in vain: the child satisfies the needs of the body with less food than calculated by scientists according to nutritional standards. The main thing at the same time is that he does not lag behind in development, normally gaining weight.

Some pediatricians believe that children intuitively choose the foods that the body needs on this moment: for some time the child can willingly eat apples or bananas, cottage cheese or kefir, and then asks for something else. diet useful products may change during the week. Many children prefer to eat little, but often - and this is the diet that is most beneficial.

Nutrition that is complete in quantity and quality is an indispensable condition for proper growth and development. child's body. Nature provides all the conditions for this: from the first minute of birth, a child has a well-developed sucking reflex and is able to digest and assimilate nutrients.

Often the onset of food refusal coincides with the introduction of complementary foods. new food, its unfamiliar smell and color can cause a negative reaction in the baby. The child refuses to eat, and the mother stubbornly continues to feed him. The more actively the child resists, the more inhibition of the food center develops; the secretion of saliva and digestive juices stops.

If such a situation is repeated for several days, then a negative reflex appears already at the mere sight of a plate or spoon. This is the peculiarities of the child's psyche. That's why it's so important to understand that force-feeding a baby means even more perpetuating appetite suppression and increasing aversion to food.

Some parents try to feed the baby using TV, books, toys, turn the meal into a theater or a game. You should be aware that such measures distract the child and inhibit the function of the digestive glands.

All vital processes in the human body occur in a certain rhythm and order. With properly organized nutrition, appetite is also manifested. After eating, nutrients enter the bloodstream, which leads to inhibition of the food center located in the brain, to a decrease in the activity of the digestive and salivary glands.

And only after 3-4 hours the composition of the blood will change, since the nutrients will be carried to the tissues, which will be a signal to excite the food center. Digestive juices and saliva will begin to stand out - the body is again ready to digest food and requires its intake. So there is an appetite, that is, a desire to eat.

That is why it is important to observe the intervals between feedings. Older children need to follow the same daily routine. It becomes clear that the child does not have an appetite for snacks between meals, which are offered to him by compassionate mothers and grandmothers after eating an insufficient, in their opinion, portion of food.

What should parents do

If a child who eats little is stunted and gains weight poorly, he needs a doctor's consultation and examination.

If the child eats little, but his height and weight indicators are normal, then the parents should not have any special worries. If the child is healthy, then the reason poor appetite lies in the wrong mode and catering.

For such children, it is necessary to organize and observe the daily routine and nutrition. At the same time, one must not forget to provide the child with the opportunity to express motor activity(in the form of exercises in the morning, outdoor games, swimming, massage).

In such cases, the only correct tactic is: to feed the child in accordance with his desire. The offer to eat should not be intrusive, but calm and affectionate. When refusing food, you do not need to force or persuade. The child should be told that the next time it will be possible to eat at such and such a time. It is necessary to remove all food from the table before the next meal (after 3-4 hours).

Parents should stock up on endurance and patience, as this method may not give results immediately. Experts consider such a “therapeutic and educational hunger strike”, firstly, not dangerous for the health of the child, and secondly, the only appropriate way to deal with lack of appetite and the ability to restore it.

Between meals, you can only give the child boiled water to drink. And, kissels and, milk and sweets, cookies and tea, children should receive only at the time set by the diet. Otherwise, these products, not giving full saturation, interrupt the appetite. It is advisable to give the child's favorite dishes for dinner.

Determining the cause of poor appetite is up to the doctor. But to observe that the child eats with appetite is the task of the mother. The re-education of the “little girl” requires patience - after all, it can take several weeks.

If a poorly eating child lags behind in weight and height, it is necessary to conduct an examination. Blood and urine tests are prescribed, a study of feces for a coprogram and eggs of worms, consultations of a gastroenterologist, endocrinologist or other specialists (psychologist) may be needed.

If somatic diseases are detected, their complex treatment is carried out, which will include vitamin and mineral complexes (Vitrum, Jungle Baby, Pikovit), preparations containing levocarnitine (Elkar). Levocarnitine improves the absorption of energy by the tissues of the body, increases the secretion of digestive juices, normalizes appetite, and helps to eliminate the lack of body weight (hypotrophy).

With an older child, you can discuss what he would like to eat before starting cooking, but at the same time offer a choice of 2 specific dishes that are healthy for him (for example, for breakfast or), rather than chips or cakes. This gives children a sense of independence, an understanding that their tastes are taken into account, but at the same time the food will be healthy.

It is not recommended to console a child who is upset by something with food (be it sweets or ice cream). This kind of distraction can form a clear connection between food and comfort. In adulthood so simple and yet nice way“Jamming” your problems and difficulties with tasty foods can turn into a problem of overweight. And the problems will not disappear, no matter how tasty the food is.

Summary for parents

Problems of badly eating children concern many families. They are also trying to solve them in different ways: someone excels in inventing tricks, and someone tries to force-feed children. Parents should understand the futility and harm of such methods of dealing with "babies".

This does not mean that you should not pay attention to poor appetite. First you need to establish the reason why the child does not eat well. This may require the help of a pediatrician. If health does not suffer, then you should change your attitude to the child's nutrition and adjust the regimen of his day.

If you find a disease that caused poor appetite, you should come to grips with its treatment. In any of these cases, you can succeed and restore your appetite. Then the child will enjoy the food.

“School of Dr. Komarovsky”, the theme of the issue is “I don’t want to eat”:

Tell me, please, how can we correct the child's appetite?

Already 1.5 years, and eats a very limited set of products. No amount of persuasion and threats will force you to eat normally.

I'm afraid that he lacks vitamins, but I don't know how to fix the situation.
Irina.

Hello!

A good letter and a good question that I cannot leave unanswered.

You know that in order to develop normally, the child must receive good nutrition.

However, very often mothers of grown children come to my consultations, faced with poor appetite.

A child is not something that is difficult, but it is simply impossible to feed him.

So, let's discuss what to do if the child has a poor appetite and how to solve this problem.

What is appetite and the causes of its violation

A person instinctively chooses the food that his body requires. Appetite is based on the feeling of hunger, which occurs in the hypothalamus.

It should be understood that young children (6 months and a little older) do not eat out of hunger. They may well fill up with breast milk, but they still begin to ask for food from their mother's plate.

It's an interest in food. The most powerful incentive for a healthy appetite. If food interest is disturbed, there are problems with appetite

Why is the child not eating well?

The causes of poor appetite are medical and pedagogical.

Pedagogical reasons include:

• snacks between feedings, especially sweets;
• excessive and irregular feeding;
• if they are accustomed to cartoons while eating, but they are not turned on;
• no reward for food;
• the child is not in the fresh air and moves little;
• Bad mood.

Attention! If you promise to buy good food new toy or turn on the cartoon, then you make a big mistake. The habit is formed quickly, but getting rid of it will not be easy.

In addition, children may not eat well during the heat, with untimely introduction of complementary foods, from the fact that it is difficult for them to chew. Also, babies do not want to eat when they are given too large portions and monotonous food.

There may be psychological reasons as well.

1. parents force-feed the child;
2. if there is no mother nearby;
3. stress during the period of adaptation to a kindergarten (an important article on the topic: Adaptation to kindergarten >>>);
4. family conflicts or the appearance of another child.

Loss of appetite can be temporary or permanent.

• A short-term disturbance may be associated with the quality of food, with the organization of nutrition, lack of drinking and the monotony of dishes;
• For a long time, appetite can be disturbed due to intoxication of the body and gastrointestinal disease, with problems with the nervous system.

What causes poor appetite?

If the children in early age eat poorly, this can lead to problems in the mental and physical development. Since the baby does not receive all the nutrients he needs from the products, he may lag behind in growth and development.

When a student is malnourished, he does poorly in school. Serious refusal to eat leads to anorexia.

Important! The most vulnerable are children under the age of five. From poor nutrition and lack of nutrients, they become anemic and often fall ill.

Also, monotonous and unbalanced nutrition can cause damage to health.

If the baby does not eat well for a long time, then it can be clearly said that he is malnourished. At the same time, the child's body does not receive all the necessary nutrients that it needs for development and growth.

Inadequate nutrition gradually leads to a decrease in immunity and low body weight, the baby often gets sick and gets tired quickly, learns poorly and develops poorly. Poor nutrition can lead to serious consequences for the health of the baby.

Attention! Many parents give their baby any food, even harmful, believing that the main thing is to replenish the amount of food. However, this blunder, because such tactics lead to the fact that the baby quickly gains weight, which only aggravates his health.

Causes of poor appetite by age

1. In infants, appetite decreases with improper introduction of complementary foods;

If during feeding you overfeed your baby, force-feed and distract his attention while eating with cartoons and games, then you will get a problem with appetite after a while.

1. Children older than a year and kids preschool age they eat poorly, if the diet is disturbed, they interrupt their appetite with sweets, in the interval between the main meals;

At any age, appetite decreases with:

• acute and chronic diseases;
• low hemoglobin and endocrine diseases;
• cardiovascular disease and liver problems;
• poisoning;
• excess vitamin D;
• while taking medications.

How to improve appetite

If a child does not eat well, how to increase his appetite? To begin with, you need to diversify the menu, pay attention to serving and make sure that the baby is not afraid that he will be forced to eat.

1. Appetite usually improves if the child eats together with all family members. You can feed him with other children or at a common table;
2. In this situation, it is more important to eat a more nutritious meal;
3. It is necessary to cook foods that excite the appetite;
4. For normal operation intestines, it is important to give cereals, fruits and vegetables;
5. For appetite, the baby should be in the fresh air, play outdoor games, play sports and undergo hardening procedures;
6. Joint cooking will help raise the appetite of the baby.

In no case do not scold the baby at the table and do not force him to eat, this only discourages the desire to eat.

You can invite older children to make a “false choice” by offering him pasta or mashed potatoes, vegetables or porridge.

When you feed your baby, follow some rules:

• try to eat food with the whole family;
• make sure that the baby does not interrupt his appetite;
• do not allow the child to eat in front of the TV;
• plan your baby's daily routine so that he works up an appetite.

The problem with appetite during a latent chronic illness is eliminated by a pediatrician after a complete examination.

All children are individual, so the approach to eliminate the cause of poor appetite is different for everyone.

However, there are a few secrets that you may find useful:

1. Make sure that the child does not snack between meals;
2. Do not allow to knock with a spoon and play with food;
3. Try to focus your baby's attention on eating;
4. If the baby does not eat any foods, then introduce them little by little into the main dish, after mashing them;
5. Do not force feed;
6. Control how a small person chews and swallows food, do not put a spoon in his mouth until he has managed to open it for the next portion of dinner.

Write your questions about children's nutrition in the comments.

What nutritional or complementary feeding difficulties do you face? What worries you the most?

There are different ways to perceive the fact that a child is malnourished food on a plate. Modern parents try to adequately respond to this situation, but grandmothers have a different opinion. It is believed that the child is hungry, he lacks nutrients, the child must eat everything. There are no established nutritional standards, recommendations are made. A separate baby - a separate metabolic period, respectively, a different need for incoming food.

Toddlers (1-2 years old): food should be supplied 4 times a day: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea after sleep and dinner. Older children (3-7 years): nutrition should provide vitamins and beneficial substances to prepare the body for sharply increasing mental and physical stress. Calories contained in food must be sufficient to ensure all processes. At 3 years, 1540 kcal is enough, and at 7 years the figure increases to 2350 kcal.

It is wrong to assume that a child has a poor appetite and is malnourished based on his weight. There is no relationship between the two factors. If the baby is gaining weight normally, he harmonious development, there is active communication and games, regularly goes to the toilet - there is enough food, there is no need to increase appetite.

Loss of appetite can occur for various reasons - not related to diseases or indicative of impaired function. internal organs baby.

Loss of appetite can lead to complications:

• With a decrease in hunger, body weight decreases to a critical point - cachexia. With an increased feeling of hunger, obesity develops.
• Inadequate intake of nutrients leads to the appearance of cracks in the skin. Excessive incoming food causes scarring in places of stretching of the skin with obesity.
• The function of the body is reduced.
• Reduced appetite leads to dysfunction of the internal organs due to lack of adequate nutrition.
• The processes of growth and development of the child are disturbed, mental activity decreases, memory deteriorates.
• Psychological discomfort, sleep disturbance.

The unwillingness to eat in a baby occurs when you feel unwell, then all the attention of parents and the doctor is directed to eliminating the source of poor health.

Pain in the mouth

The kid refuses to eat and is naughty because of pain in the mouth. Stomatitis causes the appearance of small ulcers on the oral mucosa, which do not allow chewing food normally. A sore tooth or inflamed gums will interfere with the normal processing of food. Pain in the throat when swallowing will lead to refusal to eat.

It's difficult to breathe

Colds in children are often accompanied by the formation of snot. The child breathes through the mouth, it is problematic to eat. Every adult has experienced a stuffy nose and knows that in such a situation, the appetite disappears completely.

Food intolerance

In this situation, we are not talking about allergic reactions of the child's body, but rather, about breastfeeding baby (0-6 months). The introduction of new products into the diet is always a burden on the digestive organs. Intolerance to one of the introduced products can lead to refusal to eat.

In older children, the appetite disappears at the sight of jelly, semolina, etc. An attempt to feed a child with unpleasant food leads to gag reflexes and whims.

General physical malaise

Colds and infectious diseases cause loss of appetite in an adult, even more so in a child. Virus and fever, the baby does not eat - it is important for the body to fight the infection, and not to digest food. An attempt to feed a violently ill child will lead to a deterioration in his physical and moral condition.

After an illness, the child's body is weakened, reduced appetite is a normal phenomenon.

Violation of the diet

This often leads to refusal to eat.

Causes associated with whim

The above causes are easily diagnosed and solved. But the child is healthy, there is no pain, but he eats badly or requires tasty food. This is already whims.

Consider the advice of Dr. Komarovsky on the violation of appetite in the younger generation.

Eat what I want

Trouble in education. The child demanded candy instead of tasteless porridge and his desire was granted, then the situation repeats itself. This is called selective appetite, it has nothing to do with a healthy call to eat.

Recovery correct behavior kid enough to stick strict rules food intake. He doesn’t want to eat porridge, which means that breakfast is over, and the baby must wait for lunch, he didn’t eat soup for lunch - the next meal will be at dinner. Important: snacks are not provided between meals, they avoid talking about food.

If adults believe that in this mode the children's body will remain hungry, they are mistaken. Human body designed in such a way that it can endure a long hunger strike. During this time, the child will form eating habits.

Snack

An unjustified decrease in hunger is associated with snacking between main meals. The kid did not eat lunch, after an hour he gets a sandwich, ran around and found a sweet drink. Dinner time comes, appetite is gone.

Returning home, in the absence of parents, the schoolboy eats a large piece of sausage, and the proposed bowl of soup remains untouched. Parents advice: do not give children the opportunity to snack.

In a teenager, the frequency of snacking increases many times over. It is difficult to correct an understanding of food that has not been formed before the age of 16 in adulthood.

Individual development

The needs of an individual baby are individual. One runs, jumps, restless - at the same time thin, no matter how much he ate. The other is quiet, calm, moves little, but is well-fed and eats little. Measuring the compliance of nutrition with the needs of the child is not the amount of food consumed, but the quality and level of development of his growth, mental qualities.

In this case, the advice of Dr. Komarovsky is useful: if the child eats little, but is mobile, active and develops correctly, the only ones in need of treatment are the baby's parents.

Loads

The younger generation involved in sports and active physical activity does not complain about. The child's body is a solid lump of energy, designed to be spent. By spending, you need to replenish energy reserves and there is an increase in the desire to eat.

Food through power

Forcing an adult to eat unloved or superfluous food will lead to rejection and resistance. So is the child: having satiated with half a portion, the second one - eats through force. Parents, trying to feed the child, go to tricks, persuasion.

Food that has not entered the body at will is difficult to digest and undergoes incomplete assimilation. At the same time, the functioning of the digestive organs is disturbed, diseases develop.

Methods of treatment

Parents often wonder what to do to increase their children's appetite. A situation related to the whim of a child or wrong upbringing adults, is solved at the level of pedagogy and psychology. Moreover, both the baby and the parents are affected.

More serious is the issue of loss of appetite due to illness.

Medical treatment

Any medications should be taken as prescribed and under the supervision of a doctor, in particular a pediatrician. Children's bodies react differently to medications.

More often, in order to increase appetite, doctors advise homeopathic complexes with magnesium salts and calcium salts.

Among the medications that work to increase the desire to eat, they offer:

• Elcar is a vitamin that normalizes the work of the stomach, is involved in the digestion of food and in metabolism.
• Lysine is an amino acid necessary for growth, the production of hormones, antibodies, and other enzymes.
• Glycine is an amino acid that reduces tension, aggressiveness, improves attentiveness, and reduces the desire to eat sweets.

The pharmaceutical industry produces vitamins to increase appetite in children. The pediatrician prescribes a medicine or a mixture of medicines for the best treatment effect, based on the characteristics of the child's body.

If there is no desire to give the child chemicals, it is permissible to replace with berries: lingonberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc. Products must be fresh and ripe.

In infants, medications do not increase appetite. The baby's body is able to determine the amount of nutrients needed. The refusal of the baby to eat is caused by inappropriate foods in breast milk. Having found out which ingredient is not suitable, the mother should exclude it from the diet and replace it with another.

The first feeding also carries the risk of reducing appetite. Possibly the wrong menu. Try a different ingredient and see the reaction. Then continue to add new food and switch to a full meal.

Treatment with natural remedies

Nature comes to the aid of parents in the struggle to increase the appetite of their children. The body's receptors responsible for the feeling of hunger are activated with the help of a cherry, a little raspberry, a carrot, a piece of an apple - half an hour before the main meal.

They have stimulating properties:

• Chokeberry - rich in vitamins and microelements, sugar and organic acids. Helps the entire gastrointestinal tract, removes toxins from the body and improves immunity.
• Strawberries are the main source of minerals for the child's body. Helps to deal with colds, improves digestion, increases appetite.
• Blackcurrant, kiwi, citrus, etc.

Prevention

To prevent a decrease in appetite, preventive measures are taken. Frequent walks will help raise the appetite in children ( Fresh air helps to "work up" the feeling of hunger), as well as physical activity, the main thing is to choose the right set of exercises.

Preventive actions in case of already impaired functioning of the digestive organs or dysfunction of other organs that have affected appetite. The resulting disease requires a full and adequate treatment. Ways to deal with the difficulties that have arisen are prescribed by the pediatrician after an examination and identification of the source of dysfunction.