When most babies are first born, they drink and grow very fast, and mom and dad will feel very accomplished. However, at 4 to 6 months of age, more than 50% of babies experience anorexia. Why do babies become anorexic? What should I do if I don’t drink milk? Will it affect your baby’s health? What can I do to get through the anorexia period?
What is anorexia in infants?
Anorexia in infants refers to the phenomenon that infants suddenly have less milk or more and less milk, which is a manifestation of normal growth and development.
Infant anorexia is usually divided into pathological anorexia and physiological anorexia.
Pathological anorexia: If your baby has health problems, such as chronic diseases and acute infections, he or she will show less food, poor sleep and poor vitality. This belongs to the pathological anorexia period and needs to be sent to the doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
Physiological anorexia: While physiological anorexic babies are characterized by normal development and good vitality, only the milk is most temporarily reduced, and the appetite can be restored through a period of time.
Anorexia commonly occurs between 4 and 6 months of age, and some babies even have anorexia at 3 months of age. The duration of anorexia varies from person to person, ranging from 1 to 2 weeks to 6 months.
There are two stages of physiological milk aversion
Stage 1: At around 4 months of age
At 4 months old, your baby may have added complementary foods, preferring new flavors and temporarily losing interest in formula. Secondly, the baby’s body lactose enzyme starts to decrease, the taste sense of the tongue also starts to produce changes, and the appetite starts to change. In addition, the baby’s auditory vision has made a breakthrough, which makes him more interested in the outside world, and he tends to “mind his own business” as soon as there is a breeze, and his mind is not on breastfeeding.
Stage 2: 6-10 months of age
Most babies are teething at this stage. Due to itchy gums, babies tend to focus on chewing on the nipple while breastfeeding, leading to anorexia.
Causes of physiological milk aversion in babies
1.Curiosity
Curiosity about everything around them makes them easily distracted and unable to concentrate on drinking milk.
2. Preferring new foods to old ones
When babies accept other foods and feel the new taste, they will no longer like “milk” and want to try other foods.
3.Eating environment is not good
The environment is noisy, easily disturbed, wearing too many clothes, hot and stuffy at home, scolded, etc., which makes the baby feel uncomfortable or unable to concentrate on eating.
4.The growth rate slows down
Because the growth rate is not as fast as when the baby was born, the demand for nutrition and calories is not as great as when the baby was a newborn. In fact, physiological anorexia is not a change in the baby’s physiology, but as the baby’s age increases, the baby’s sense of sight and hearing gradually improves, and the baby becomes more sensitive to the outside world. The baby becomes more and more curious about the outside world, and his attention is more and more easily distracted.
Basically, physiological anorexia is more common, so it’s best for parents to put more effort and patience into observing and taking care of their babies, after all, they can’t express themselves yet, so it’s up to parents to understand the reasons and meet their needs with care.
Ten tips to deal with physiologically anorexic babies
Once the baby has become anorexic, parents are always particularly anxious, hoping that the days of feeding the baby longing for a war will pass soon. “Do everything you can to get your baby to eat” is the choice most parents will make, and the following practices can provide practical reference for parents suffering from baby anorexia.
1. Find the right bottle pacifier
There are so many pacifiers on the market, with different shapes, models and materials to suit the needs of different babies, so be sure to find the most suitable kind.
2, try to replace the milk powder
For not baby does not like the taste of milk, you can try to change the brand of milk powder, but must pay attention to one thing: to gradually and gradually change, that is, the new brand of milk powder and the old brand of milk powder first alternately eat, and then gradually reduce the amount of the old brand of milk powder, not all at once to change the brand. In addition, do not change frequently, if the effect is not good, to find the reason from other aspects.
3. Parents must stay relaxed and happy
The mother’s mood should be relaxed. If the mother is nervous and anxious, the baby will sense it and thus also feel nervous, thus affecting its appetite!
Therefore, when breastfeeding, parents should relax and maintain calm and gentle eye contact with the baby, so that the baby will have the best eating mood and the baby will be more focused on.
4.Create an ideal eating environment
The most basic thing is to observe under what circumstances the baby is feeding the most ideal, and to create a most appropriate feeding environment. Most babies are more likely to concentrate on breastfeeding in a quiet, less dry place. If possible, it is best to have only mom and baby in the room when feeding; the light of the small environment for feeding can be darker, and it is best to have no whistling sound of dry Judea; for individual super sensitive babies, you can temporarily unplug the phone line and turn off the cell phone when feeding.
5. Adjust your baby’s breastfeeding mood at the right time
Don’t let your baby do strenuous exercise some time before feeding. For babies who are fed according to a schedule, it is best to let the baby who is playing like crazy slowly quiet down half an hour before each feeding, so that the baby is more able to enter the state when it comes to breastfeeding.
Play some tricks to help focus your baby’s attention: for example, use songs to attract him, and over time you will figure out the rules – which songs are effective for feeding and which only have the opposite effect; or use some small props: a small square towel, an old pacifier or an old bottle! As if performing a ritual, find a few props that your baby can hold and feel at ease when it’s time to breastfeed. Choose a feeding position that is comfortable for your baby but only restrictive enough: a comfortable and restricted position makes your baby feel secure.
6.Lengthen the time between two meals
The time between breastfeeding and complementary feeding can be arranged according to the age of the month. Feeding should not be too frequent, do not give the baby anything to eat at least one hour before breastfeeding, and do not drink too much water.
For babies who are still so young, it is not suitable to take starvation therapy, it is better to follow a certain schedule to feed. If your baby refuses to eat, pay attention to hydration and drink some water that opens the net and strengthens the spleen, such as hawthorn water and tomato juice; if your baby eats a little, don’t mind too much if you eat more or less. If the baby shows hunger, the mother must not be overjoyed, or try to maintain a certain rule, not to give the baby a lot of milk and other food at once.
7.Try supplementary food
4-6 months old baby can try complementary foods, sometimes you can try to spoon feed some simple rice dessert, so that the baby is exposed to food sources other than the bottle, one more or less eat a little, and also to train the baby’s oral adaptability, the future acceptance of solid food will be better.
8.Promote appetite with medicine
If necessary, physicians can use some appetite-promoting drugs, which may be helpful for some children.
9. Vitamin supplementation
For babies who drink little milk, this is also a good method.
10.Increasing the amount of exercise for your baby
Take your baby out and about a lot; use some tools when you are indoors: usually more commonly used are baby pools, baby gyms, dalong balls, etc..
Spend some time on the baby’s movement: after the bath can do touch, you can teach yourself a little baby massage, in situ safer and better learn “pinch crest” can, you can also do baby passive exercise.