No child's appetite: what to do?

Often, the child's poor appetitequite trivial reasons: the child is not actually hungry, he is too tired, he is capricious, he interrupted the appetite with sweets or snacks. Forced feeding can also lead to problems with appetite. But even in these cases, the child is more likely to eat reluctantly, and not at all refuses to eat. After a while the body takes its own, and the appetite returns.

However, if the child does not want to eat for several days or eats extremely reluctantly, it's worth worrying. Prolonged lack of appetite may be a symptom of a beginning illness, for example, ARI. It happens that at the initial stage other symptoms are absent or the child does not recognize them, but the lack of appetite is more difficult to hide.

If there is no appetite in the child, do not rush to scoldhis for whims: perhaps it's just the reaction of the body to the onset of the disease. The child himself did not understand that he was sick, but his body already signals this. therefore just in case, measure the child's temperature, check for a rash, ask if it hurts something.

As soon as the remaining symptoms of the disease appear, you can go to the pediatrician, he will diagnose and prescribe a treatment. During illness it is necessary to feed the child with easily digestible food, give as much liquid as possible (water, not too acidic juices, broth). As soon as the child heals, the appetite should be restored.

Also, lack of appetite can be associated with emotional stress. Children are very sensitive to problems, but notcan always throw out their emotions and keep everything in themselves. Therefore, stress manifests itself physiologically. So when there is no appetite for the child, there is reason to suspect that he has some problems in school. And also - to pay attention to the atmosphere in the family: maybe you have small quarrels with your husband and seem normal, and the child perceives them hard.

What to do in this case? First you need to find out the cause of stress and eliminate it. Maybe I'll have to attract classhead, school administration, child psychologist - it all depends on what exactly oppresses the child. And while the child copes with stress, feed him with delicious food, which he usually eats with a hunt.

Of course, "tasty" does not necessarily mean "harmful" It is not necessary from the very childhood to accustom the child to seize stress with sweets. Your children probably have their favorite dishesfrom the number of useful, that's them and cook. But trying to teach a child to eat food that he does not like, or offer new dishes is not the best solution. Let the appetite come back first, and then you can expand the diet.

To stimulate appetite, you can give the baby herbs. Help improve appetite, for example, seedsdill, anise, fennel, coriander, cumin. Pour any of these seeds with boiling water, cover and insist for 10 minutes. If desired, you can add a spoonful of honey to the drink to sweeten it. It is advisable to give the child this drink an hour before meals. Usually weeks of regular use are enough to see the first results.

If no appetite in a teenage child, you need to be especially careful: Now anorexia and bulimia are the lot of not only models, but also ordinary schoolchildren. In pursuit of a slender figure, girls (and even boys, although much less often) can inflict irreparable damage to their health. If a long absence of appetite in a teenager is accompanied by weight loss, you should always contact a specialist.

In most cases, a short loss of appetite - not a cause for concern, do not immediately run with the child to the doctor. But if the child refuses to eat for several days in a row, and also if loss of appetite is accompanied by irritability, weight loss, symptoms of the disease, without consulting a doctor can not do.