Imagine a day you are not having a good appetite, two people hold you tight and put a spoonful of your not-so-favorite food in your mouth, and they continue this for half an hour!

Sounds ridiculous, right? Replace yourself with an 18 month old toddler and  those two people by her parents. Now you can see a more familiar scene. The parents are feeding their child!

Force feeding has become a very common scene in many houses these days. My child doesn’t eat is the most common complain moms have. Is it really the case? Just think your child is a human being like you are, her body needs food and fluid to operate. It may vary how much or how frequently they need food, but the truth is no child will starve themselves. Experts say,

Continually offering a food after it has been refused or engaging in elaborate games to encourage feeding is seldom a successful method of ensuring appropriate dietary intake in the long run.

I have found resources that endorse,

forcing your children to eat when they aren’t hungry can lead to feeding problems and even eating disorders in the future. Also rewards and bribes around issues of food are ultimately not in the interest of developing long-term healthy attitudes toward food.

Things we can do are:Â
-Let the child to do enough of physical activites
-Follow a consistent routine
-Cut off too much of snacking in between. When thirsty offer water instead of juice.
-Bring variety in food selection
-Have meal together with our children
-Keep in mind that not everyday people have the same appetite

If interested please check out these resources:
Family Education
University of Washington Research