Why My Baby is Not Eating Enough

I have reached that stage with my daughter where she wants complete control of everything she eats. If I offer her anything, she either grabs the spoon and throws it as hard as she can or she clamps her mouth shut and doesn’t open it. But when I do give her the bowl and spoon to eat, she just wants to throw it all over the place and play with the food rather than eat it. All this made me think that maybe she has no appetite left, or is it? Well, as a curious parent, I got on my research and found that there are a number of reasons why my baby is not eating enough and here are a few.

1Picky Eating Habits

The first thing you have to realize is that like every human tendency, kids also prefer specific tastes. Most kids won’t like to eat anything bland. Try to add a bit of flavor to everything you want your child to eat and see if it makes any difference.

As for my daughter, she hates it if I give her boiled veggies but if those same veggies are added in a bit of home-made white pasta sauce, she would keep asking for more. Not only that, I try to give her boiled dal with only a bit of salt (no spices or tadka), but she prefers eating one with tadka and flavor. So I know what gets her to eat and what doesn’t.

You, as a parent, have to be experimental with stuff before you finally figure out how to lose your baby’s picky eating habits.

2Far Too Many Distractions

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Kids get distracted way too easily. It is extremely important to avoid and keep all the distractions away when your baby is eating. Whether it is his favorite toy, your cell phone or anything that she finds amusing or plays with, keep them all away from his eyes. The more distractions you keep in front of him while feeding, the more he will run away to grab them all.

What works best for me and my daughter is that she will only have a proper meal if there are no phones, toys and people around. So whenever it’s time to feed, I take her to our room and close the door, lay the mat and she eats satisfactorily.

3Filled Up Tummy with Snacks

Another thing that we mostly ignore is that we tend to fill our baby with light snacks before his meal time. These snacks could be anything from chips to (home-made) cookies
and even fruits. Remember that snacks are not supposed to fill up their tummies, rather just to keep them from being overly hungry.

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If your baby has already eaten his fair share of these snacks, then there is a good chance he would not want to eat at meal time. So keep an eye on the quantity of snacks you give your baby. Not only solids, if you feed your baby milk before meal time, it is highly likely that he will resist eating food after that.

4Forceful Eating

One thing that we tend to ignore is the fact that kids, at times, want control of their eating. That means their eating habits are largely dependent upon their mood quite simply. If you try to force feed your baby, it is likely that he may either want to spit up or not eat at all. So as a parent you have to let the child be sometimes.

If your baby doesn’t want to eat once in a while, don’t try to force food upon him. When he is hungry, he will ask for it himself.

Do You Have Any Questions Regarding Eating Habits of Your Child? Speak To Our Expert

Although you should keep all these things in mind and not worry too much if your baby isn’t eating properly, but also remember that if it goes on for too long, consult your doctor. There could also be an underlying cause of it as well.