What should I do if my baby doesn’t like to eat complementary food during the teething period?

This is the 3576th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

When a baby who loves to eat suddenly stops eating, what do you think is the reason? Is it because of your poor cooking skills? Or is the baby deliberately making things difficult for you? Probably none of them. Today, I will tell you in detail about a major obstacle to your baby's eating - teething.

Babies in the teething period will have some abnormal daily behaviors. When the following behaviors occur, parents should be sensitive and take the initiative to check whether the baby is about to or is teething.

Changes in daily behavior

◆ Signs of obvious redness and swelling of the gums;

◆ The baby always likes to chew things, such as hands, tables, and tableware;

◆ Frequent drooling;

◆ During the teething process, babies will feel discomfort in their gums, but because they cannot express themselves yet, they will become irritable and angry.

Changes in eating behavior

Some babies are reluctant to eat in the middle of complementary feeding. They start humming after a few bites, hold rice in their mouths, spit out food, and even almost refuse to eat. Have you noticed? Babies also have various little emotions during the eruption of deciduous teeth!

When we learn that our baby is in the teething period, what kind of help can we provide?

Parents can try the following relief methods:

Method 1: Provide soft food such as paste, porridge, noodles, and thick soup; add eggs, meat paste, fish paste, vegetable paste, etc. to increase the nutritional density of the food;

Method 2: Serve the food after it has cooled, or serve it with cold food (e.g. yogurt, pureed fruit);

Method 3: When the child eats a small amount at the main meal, you can provide some more food during the snack;

Method 4: Choose harder food or refrigerated teethers for your baby to chew. This can not only relieve the child's gum discomfort, but also help chewing and stimulate the development of the alveolar bone. Mothers can also use gauze dipped in cold water to help massage the gums. Babies can choose teething sticks without added sugar and salt. Mothers who love baking can also choose to make their own.

Method 5: Some older babies are reluctant to be fed by their parents, especially when they are fed with a spoon, but they are not yet able to eat with a spoon. We can put food such as paste, porridge, granular noodles, and soup into a sucker or straw bowl for the baby to eat by himself.

The discomfort of teething will not last long and will usually gradually ease after the teeth come out. When the baby's appetite starts to improve, you can slowly return to the previous complementary food! When we know why the baby has these symptoms and how to improve them, all that's left is to wait patiently.

Teething Food Tips

① Sweet and tasty vegetable and fruit strips

When babies are teething, their gums often feel uncomfortable. We can use fresh fruits and vegetables to make delicious snacks, which can not only relieve the discomfort of the baby's gums, but also supplement their daily vitamin needs, killing two birds with one stone.

Ingredients: carrots, cucumbers, apples, pears, dragon fruit and other fresh fruits and vegetables.

practice:

1. Wash the carrots, steam them, peel them and cut them into strips.

2. Or cut the washed fruits and vegetables into small strips and let your baby hold them in his hands to eat.

Vegetables and fruits should be light in taste, such as carrots, cucumbers, apples, pears, dragon fruit, etc. Fruits that are too sweet, such as lychees and longans, should not be given to babies.

②Oatmeal and dried fruit teething bars

During the period of 16-20 months, the baby's 20 deciduous teeth gradually grow out. At this time, they can not only swallow food by themselves, but also gradually show their own preferences for food. In many cases, they prefer chewy food.

Ingredients: 250 grams of assorted oatmeal, 30 grams of unsalted butter, 60 grams of honey, a little salt, and appropriate amount of dried fruits (dried cranberries, pine nuts, sunflower seeds).

practice:

1. Place muesli, dried cranberries, pine nuts and sunflower seeds in a mixing bowl.

2. Add butter, salt and honey to the pot, heat over low heat until slightly boiling, and mix well.

3. Pour the cooked syrup into the oatmeal and mix well.

4. Pour the ingredients into a square baking tray lined with baking paper and press them firmly with a tool.

5. Place the baking tray in the preheated oven and bake at 170℃.

6. After baking for 20-25 minutes, move to a cooling rack to cool, then cut into appropriate sizes according to personal preference.

Author: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Tongji Hospital, Shanghai

Gao Yun

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