Why is my baby drinking so little and what should I do? Don’t worry, if your baby is not sick and anorexic, he may be entering an anorexic phase. If you use the right method, you don’t have to worry about your baby growing up! Why does baby become anorexic? At around 3 months of age, your baby’s ability to absorb protein from milk increases, thus increasing the workload of the liver and kidneys, which can cause “fatigue” over time. This can lead to a decrease in appetite and a lack of interest in breast milk, i.e. anorexia. Physiological and psychological factors When your baby is anorexic, you should first observe whether it is caused by physical discomfort. If it is accompanied by vomiting, constipation, bloating, diarrhea, fever and other symptoms, you should seek medical treatment immediately. 2, psychological factors Because from birth, babies drink the same kind of food every day, after a period of time, may produce an aversion to drinking milk, which is also the baby is reminding parents that it is time to give him something different to eat. If your baby is active and in good spirits, and only has a slightly poor appetite, parents should not worry too much. When babies are 4 to 6 months old, their curiosity grows day by day because the muscle tone of the neck is better and they start to feel novelty about things around them, which will distract them from eating. If you don’t add complementary foods properly and use small spoons to train your baby’s oral coordination, your baby may only drink milk and not want to eat solid food later, and there will be obvious anorexia and nutritional imbalance. Breastfeeding mothers should not stop breastfeeding when their babies become anorexic, as long as they are provided with soft and liquid foods at the same time, they can breastfeed until 2 years old. Does anorexia have any adverse effect on my baby? As long as your baby is drinking enough water, there is no need to worry about it. How long does anorexia usually last? The anorexia period usually lasts for about 10 days and half a month, after the baby’s liver and kidneys have rested and recovered their functions, the baby will like to eat milk again. How do you know if your baby has entered the anorexia stage? This is a question that many parents are confused about. The most obvious symptom is that your baby is eating less milk. Therefore, you can calculate the amount of milk your baby drinks every day. The amount of milk your baby needs every day Generally speaking, the formula for calculating the amount of milk for babies within 4 months of age is based on the baby’s weight and the number of meals per day. (weight × 120-150 ml) ÷ meals/(day) = amount of milk for one meal Example: A 4-month-old baby weighs about 6 kg and drinks about 6 meals a day. (6 kg × 120-150 ml) ÷ 6 = 120-150 ml per meal Growth & Development: Corresponding growth curve table Whether the baby grows well or not is a matter of concern for many parents, if it happens to be anorexia, will it affect the development? Your baby’s physical and mental motor development, such as head control and muscle tone, and interpersonal interaction are normal if they are in line with his age. As for height, weight and head, they are different from one baby to another, so there is no need to compare them with other babies. Whenever you take your baby to a health clinic, the health care provider will measure and record the data. You may want to compare these data to the growth curve in the child health booklet and see if they are in the normal range. Assuming that your baby’s growth curve has always been around 50%, there will not be much change at first when the anorexia period comes. Normally, between 25% and 75% is an acceptable range. However, if your baby eats very little and does not add extra nutritious food or supplements, the growth curve will drop, possibly from 50% to 10%, which means that the anorexia has affected your baby’s growth. In fact, if you want to know more about whether your baby’s growth is normal or not, you can get a lot of information by making good use of the Child Health Handbook! Parents may want to review the handbook to see if their baby is doing what he should be doing for his age. How to help your baby get through the anorexia period 1. Don’t force your baby to eat when he or she refuses to eat milk Let your baby decide for himself or herself how much milk to eat and how much time to eat, as your baby will eat the amount of milk according to his or her own digestive capacity; many parents are worried that their baby will not grow up with too little to drink, so they use force. But this practice will instead make the baby fear of eating. In fact, as long as the baby’s height and weight are within the acceptable range, it is not necessary to force him to drink milk. Parents should think about how to help their babies accept semi-liquid supplemental food instead of forcing him to drink milk. 2. Change the way of feeding When your baby shows signs of milk aversion, parents can start by improving the way of feeding, taking a more spontaneous approach, without working according to the table. Take a small number of meals as a principle, and wait for the baby to eat when he or she wants to. Try to keep quiet when feeding your baby to avoid distracting him, you can also dilute the milk or feed your baby when he seems to be sleeping; you can consume your baby’s energy through games, such as massage, physical activities, etc. When he runs out of energy and feels hungry, the eating situation will also be improved. 3. Create a dining environment The environment for eating is as soft and quiet as possible. Because this stage of the baby began to feel curious about the outside world, dining if someone is teasing him, or a lot of toys to attract his attention, sound, baby will find these things more interesting than eating, naturally do not want to eat. 4. The size of the nipple hole should be appropriate. Sometimes babies drink less milk because the hole of the nipple on the bottle is too small, which makes the baby sucking not smoothly, so the amount of drinking is reduced. The best speed is usually 1 drop per second, but it is not good for your baby if the milk does not drip out or drips too fast. Don’t change the formula often When you see that your baby doesn’t like to drink milk, parents may directly think: Is this brand of milk powder that your baby is tired of drinking? You can change to another milk powder, but the speed of replacement should not be too frequent, the baby will not have time to adapt. If you want to change to a new brand, do not change all at once, it is best to mix and match with other brands of milk powder, and observe the bowel movement for a week, if the bowel movement is normal, it means good adaptation, then you can change to a brand new milk powder. After entering the anorexia period, the effect of changing the brand of milk powder is limited. If there is no improvement after one or two attempts, you can give up using this method. 6. Add supplemental food at the right time. 4 months old baby, or mainly breast milk or formula, supplemental food can eat about one or two meals, so when the baby is bored, may give him a little new to try. You can start with rice flour or diluted juice, and then add vegetable purees and fruit purees one after another. But remember to follow the principle of adding one at a time, starting with 1 small teaspoon and gradually increasing the amount. Try each supplement for 3 to 5 days and observe your baby’s condition. If he doesn’t like it or if there is a skin rash or thinning of the stool, it is recommended to hold off on adding this supplement and try again after a while. If you have a family history of allergies, it is recommended to feed your baby breast milk or partially hydrolyzed formula until he is 6 months old, and then add complementary foods, with the addition of complementary foods that are hypoallergenic as a priority. Take it easy with anorexia. The mood and stress of the caregiver will be directly communicated to the baby, and when the caregiver is anxious or forcing the baby to drink, he will feel it and resist. As long as your baby is healthy and normal in all aspects and is not sick, parents can relax and face the anorexia period with a natural attitude, instead of fighting a painful battle with your baby to eat. What are the cases of anorexia that need special attention? Acute respiratory tract infections cause nasal congestion, and babies are unable to breathe when sucking milk, which can lead to milk aversion.