| |
You are here: Experts > Kids > Health for Kids > Pediatrics > eating problem
Expert: Mary Pat, R.N. - 11/8/2009
Question
Hi Mary
my 7 month old daughter doesn't like open her mouth for food.....when she sees spoon , she closes her mouth tightly....and I feed her by force ( the thing that I hate)....we've started soup,potato,cereal,yogurt for her since she was 5 month..and also she eat formula since she was 1 month(I didn't have enough breast milk)....but she doesn't eat milk good too...her weight is fine (about 9 kg) but the way of her eating is going to kill me......what can I do ?...I really want to change her to be a good eater..I am concerned about her if she eat like that until toddler .....please help me....
Answer
Dear Nasim:
Try and allow your baby to feed herself. Place a mound of soft food like mashed potato on her feeding tray and allow her to touch and play with the food with her hands. Eventually, and hopefully, she will take some to her mouth. Babies tend to put everything into their mouths. If she repeatedly begins to put food into her mouth then you use the spoon and sneak a little spoonful into her mouth too. This is time consuming but once she gets a taste of the foods and she realizes she can feed herself then she may eat more by spoon from you. You can try this with soft cooked and mashed vegetables like carrot and fruit like mashed banana. The food has to be able to be mashed and also needs to be sticky to stick to her fingers.
Force is never a good option as it will make her more resistant to eating.
Mary Pat
Add to this Answer Ask a Question
|
|
