This is an automatically translated article.
Many children normally eat well, but when teething, they refuse to eat, even skipping meals. No matter how you comfort your baby, it still doesn't work. So what should you do when your baby is teething and refuses to eat?
1. Why do children stop eating when teething?
The truth is that children do not want to stop eating, but the unpleasant feelings that occur when teething are the main causes of anorexia in children. In order for the teeth to come out, the children's gums are often swollen, some children are also inflamed, red, and even ulcerated, so it will be very painful.
In addition, the area around the child's mouth may have a rash, the child may have a mild fever, digestive disorders, heat rash, cough, runny nose... Along with that is the state of continuous saliva production to soothe the gums. baby's swelling.
For these reasons, it is also very difficult for children to want to eat. So, you should be very skillful in taking care of children during this period to ensure their health and avoid weight loss due to children not eating when teething.
2. Teething baby refuses to eat, what to do?
The pain in the gums will make the child feel uncomfortable and change his mood. So spend a lot of time with your baby, cuddle, talk or play games with your baby to make him feel secure and comforted because you are always with him.
To reduce the feeling of itchy gums for your baby, you can gently massage your baby's gums and teeth with clean hands. Since your child may have a low-grade fever or have a bowel movement, you need to give him plenty of fluids to replace the lost body fluids.
When teething, children will have signs such as fever or mild diarrhea, this is a whole-body reaction of the baby because in young children. Teething fever in young children has the following characteristics: The baby has a fever in episodes, the child may also have pasty, viscous stools 3-4 times a day, fussiness, anorexia ...
Những cơn đau nhức lợi làm các bé mọc răng không chịu ăn uống
About 2-3 days later, when the new teeth have sprouted from the gums, the symptoms of fever, mild diarrhea gradually decrease and then completely disappear. Many cases of children's fever are caused by an infectious disease, so first of all, it is necessary to take the child to a medical facility to find out the cause of the fever and have appropriate treatment.
If the child has a fever above 38.5 degrees, they can give fever-reducing medicine according to the correct dose before taking the child to a medical facility. In addition, you also need to note the following:
Timely bring down the child's fever by applying warm compresses, dressing the child in comfortable and cool clothes, suitable for the ambient temperature so that the heat can escape easily. . Supplement nutrition for children by feeding more children, giving them more filtered water, can use a clean cotton swab to dip the water into the child's lips and mouth so that the child does not dry out his lips and avoid dehydration. Give children soft foods so that they can eat easily, supplement natural calcium content (from fish, shrimp, seafood...) in their daily meals. Maintain oral hygiene for children: Drink filtered water after eating, wipe your mouth with a soft towel, brush your baby's teeth...
3. How to feed children when teething?
During the teething period, you should not rigidly force the child to eat by all means because doing so only makes the baby afraid to eat and the meal is like a "torture" session for the baby.
To ensure the nutritional needs of children, each meal needs to have enough 4 food groups, which are starch, protein, fat, green vegetables, and processed foods that the child likes. You need to avoid solid foods, so you should prioritize soft, finely ground, dilute foods such as porridge and soup so that children have less to chew and easy to swallow.
You can feed your child many small meals so that he does not lose weight. You also need to be careful not to give your child foods that are too hot or too cold because they are not good for the development of teeth.
When teething, children will need a lot of calcium, so you should remember to add foods with high calcium content to your child's diet such as: Eggs, milk, cheese, shrimp, fish, beans... In addition, You also need to give your child extra juice to supplement the necessary vitamins.
Parents also need to design meals according to the child's age, should not give them too much or too little. At the same time, it is necessary to have a variety of foods for children. When changing foods for your baby, you need to change slowly, alternating between new foods and foods that your baby likes. It is not recommended to prolong the time of eating pureed foods for children.
Cha mẹ nên bổ sung thực đơn giàu canxi và chất dinh dưỡng cho trẻ bỏ ăn khi mọc răng
When children have anorexia due to teething, they should eat many small meals, liquid and soft foods that are easy to digest. In combination with the main meal, children need to drink enough water, especially milk, fresh fruit juices to provide energy, vitamins and minerals during teething. At the same time, you should also supplement with micronutrients that children are at risk of deficiency such as zinc, selenium, vitamins of group B, vitamins A, D... as directed by the doctor.
You should not force children to eat, but need to provide them with a variety of meals, and how much children eat depends on whether the child's body can absorb it or not. Children will eat an appropriate amount of food according to the body's ability to absorb and digest, any force can lead to the opposite effect.
If the child is still developing normally, gaining weight and gaining height well, it means that the amount of food has been provided enough. With your skillful and dedicated care, your baby can still get enough nutrients and not lose weight when teething.
In addition, parents should also apply some methods of changing habits and improving nutrition to support the child's teeth to develop better.
Besides, parents also need to supplement their children with essential micro-minerals such as zinc, lysine, chromium, selenium, vitamin B1, ... to fully meet the nutritional needs of children. The addition of these essential vitamins also supports digestion, enhances nutrient absorption, improves anorexia, and helps children eat well. Parents can simultaneously apply dietary supplements and functional foods derived from nature for easy absorption. The most important thing is that improving your baby's symptoms often takes a long time. Combining many types of functional foods at the same time or changing many types in a short time can make the baby's digestive system unable to adapt and completely not good. Therefore, parents must be really patient with their children and regularly visit the website vimec.com to update useful baby care information.
