Know why your child is not eating anything
- Updated on 04 Nov 2020
- Parents Corner
Contents
A Balanced Diet Plan for kids & Reasons they Refuse To Eat Anything
Watching your child commencing a hunger strike and sliding the plate on a dining table for not getting the perfect taste served during mealtime could be an ordinary scenario for many parents. It might be a complex task when you try to maintain a proper diet plan for your kids. You strain your every nerve to include all the nutrients, vitamins, proteins, and minerals in their diet plan and prepare delicious meals, but the result is that your child refuses to eat.
There may be many underlying reasons for children not eating anything. Let’s try to find out these reasons to fix them and maintain and follow a proper diet plan for your children.
ADHD
ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a condition in which children face difficulty concentrating, impulsive behavior, and hyperactivity. ADHD affects childhood, and often, it continues until adulthood. It can be a common reason behind picky eating habits in children or children not eating at all. Although it hasn’t been scientifically proved that ADHD occurs due to diet, you can make changes in your children’s diet plan if your children are suffering from this condition.
Making changes in diet plans can help children in this condition because there are some foods and eating habits that help the brain function better and minimize the effect of symptoms in children.
For instance, include vitamin-rich food like meat, fish beans, etc., protein-rich food like oranges, apples, grapefruit, pears, mineral-rich foods, and foods rich in Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet plan.
Some foods to avoid are candies, products made of white flour, honey, sugar, potatoes without skin, white rice, etc.
Disordered Eating
Another reason why children don’t eat it due to weight-gain issues. When children think that they are gaining weight and are aware that eating is the main reason behind weight-gain, they need to lose weight, stop eating, or eat considerably less food. In such a condition, you need to help them overcome the weight-gain mindset, and instead of pressuring them to eat, include healthy foods in their diet plan that help them reduce weight and provide energy.
Some picky eater children are also underweight. Feeding underweight children is a challenge. Growing children need a health-diet, and you can include food that is rich in childhood-nutrition in their diet plan. This will help the underweight children in gaining weight.
Diet Plan for kids: Eating Only Favorite foods, also known as Food Jag
This is a very common reason for children not eating food. It could be that children eat only their favorite foods are very reluctant to eat food that they don’t like. This implies that a child is eating the required amount of food but is not eating different foods that are good for childhood-nutrition. You need to take the initiative to make children eat good food for their nutrition and include them in their diet plan to make sure they have a healthy diet.
Kids get bored with The Same Diet Plan
If you serve your child the same food every day, then it is natural that he/she may be bored with it and won’t feel about eating it. This is the same with adults as well; if served the same food daily, even adults won’t eat it and could start disliking it.
Include different meals in their diet plan; you can repeat one kind of meal after 3-4 days but don’t serve the same meal daily. This is important to maintain a healthy diet for children.
Too Many Snacks In A Day: Unhealthy Diet Plan for kids
If the child is eating too many snacks in a day between his meals, he would be full at the meal. Along with setting their routine for meals in the day, set the snack time as well. If you don’t set the routine, then this problem may not be solved. There should be a specific time when the snack should be offered, and the habit of eating snacks randomly is a must to avoid. It is difficult for children to develop a routine for themselves, so parents play a big role in setting a routine for their children.
Very Large Portions Of Food
If a child is served with large portions of food, they feel swamped and won’t feel the need to eat food. Even if you serve food that is good for a healthy diet, they won’t eat it looking at the large portions of food. This can happen with the adults as well when they don’t feel the hunger looking at large portions of food on their plate. Serve your children with small portions of the food that is on the table. You can serve them more later on but start with small portions of food. They will start eating again, and you will be able to maintain a healthy diet.
The Child Is Not Hungry
The child is not hungry is a simple yet surprising reason behind him not eating food. Their appetite could be inconsistent, and they won’t simply eat someday because of not feeling hungry or may eat more than needed because they are too hungry. Even after including their favorite food in their diet plan, they won’t eat, which may worry you. One simple way of making your child eat in such a situation is to serve them food and warn them that they won’t get food after mealtime.
Feeling Pressurized
Parents are worried about childhood-nutrition and want their children to have a healthy diet. There may be instances when they start forcing their children to eat food. For example, a mother compelling her child to eat the yoghurt even when the child is already full. So in such a situation, the child may feel that he is under pressure and may not want to eat food. Similarly, if parents keep a close eye on the food, replace food on the plate, and constantly complain about the child not eating food. This habit may turn the child off, and he will step back and won’t eat. Let your child eat at his speed and let them add a different variety of foods on their plate in their own sweet time.
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