My Child Won't Eat!

Gonzalez

Informations

• Publié par: Pinter & Martin
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 0001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781780660066
• Langue: English

Extrait

My Child Won’t Eat!
My Child Won’t Eat!
How to enjoy mealtimes without worry
Carlos González
My Child Won’t Eat!
First published in the US by La Leche League International Ltd 2005
This second edition first published in Great Britain by Pinter & Martin Ltd 2012
© Carlos González Rodríguez, 1999
© Planeta Madrid, S.A., 1999, 2004
Paseo de Recoletos 4, 4 a , 28001 Madrid (Spain)
Translated into English by Norma Ortiz Escobar, additional translation of the second edition by Lorenza Garcia
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-78066-005-9
Also available as an ebook
The right of Carlos González to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act of 1988
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade and otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Pinter & Martin Ltd
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Contents
Foreword by Pilar Serrano Aguayo
Introduction: Are there any children who do eat?
You are not alone
Why it hurts us so much
Why it hurts them more
Basic theory
Part I Causes
Chapter 1 How it all starts
Why do we eat?
How much does a child need to eat?
Eating to live or living to eat?
Why they don’t want vegetables
Many stop eating at one year
Others have never eaten well in their life
Those who are “barely on the chart”
What are weight charts and what purpose do they serve?
Growth in the breastfed baby
Not all children grow at the same rate
“Ever since he came down with that virus, he stopped eating”
Too much of a good thing
A child’s three defences
The problem of allergies
Is he really not eating a thing?
Chapter 2 Your child knows what he or she needs
Breastfeeding “a la carte”: why not to keep a regular schedule
Solids also “a la carte”
But won’t he stuff himself with chocolate?
Chapter 3 What not to do at mealtimes
Patience?
Night raids
Those hateful comparisons
Bribes
Appetite stimulants
Firsthand account
Chapter 4 Feeding guides
Recommendations from the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (ESPGAN)
Recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Science fiction and infant feeding
Part II What to do if your child won’t eat
Chapter 5 An Experiment that will change your life
Some important points
How not to force a child to eat
But does this really work?
Part III How to avoid the problem in the first place
Chapter 6 Breastfeeding without conflict
Clear advice
Trust your child
Offer the breast on demand
Crisis at three months of age
What can I do to increase milk production?
Why your baby won’t take a bottle
Why your baby does not seem interested in other foods
Chapter 7 Bottle-feeding without conflict
Bottles are also offered on demand
Why your child won’t finish the bottle
Chapter 8 Solid foods: a touchy subject
Some important points
Helpful (but not so important) hints
When mother works outside the home
Myths surrounding solid foods
Chapter 9 What the health care provider can do
Weight checks
Starting solids
Watch your language
Take the scale off the pedestal
Part IV Frequently asked questions
Appendix: A bit of history
Epilogue: What if we were forced to eat?
References
Index
Acknowledgements
The mothers’ stories that are included in this book come from letters that were received by the magazine Ser Padres ( Being Parents ).
Names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved. I am truly grateful to all those writers for the trust they have placed in me and for the many things they have taught me. An early version of the story “The Charge of the Nutrition Brigade” that concludes this book was published in the above magazine in February of 1998.
I would also like to thank Maite Fabregat, Joana Guerrero, Rosa Maria Jové, Margarita Otero, Cristina Ros, and Pilar Serrano for their valuable comments about the manuscript.
About the author
Carlos González, a father of three, studied medicine at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and trained as a paediatrician at the Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu. The founder and president of the Catalan Breastfeeding Association (ACPAM), he currently gives courses on breastfeeding for medical professionals. Since 1996 he has been breastfeeding correspondent for Ser Padres ( Being Parents ) magazine. He followed the success of My Child Won’t Eat!, with the bestselling Kiss Me!, published for the first time in English by Pinter & Martin.
To my mother, who fed me while sitting on the windowsill.
Foreword
In recent years the knowledge of appetite physiology has made remarkable advances. We marvel at the complex processes that regulate the intake of food. However, it is still amazing how many myths persist when it comes to a child’s appetite, and the numerous rules that are imposed upon infant and child feeding.
My first painful experience with these rules was when I witnessed my younger brother’s distress. I was about three and he must have been about two years old. That afternoon we were under the care of an aunt who was usually a kind and loving caretaker.
My brother refused to eat the banana that had been allotted to him as a snack. So she took him in her arms, pinched his nose, and when he had to open his mouth to breathe, she inserted the banana without a hint of compassion. She continued doing this in spite of his cries and struggles to get free until he finished the entire banana. I perceived this as an act of cruelty, the purpose of which I did not understand. If he were hungry, he would have eaten, and if he wasn’t eating it was because he wasn’t hungry! Even a three-year-old child understands this.
I could also tell some tales about the school lunchroom. Under the tables you could find almost anything: most common were slices of bread, oranges and hot dogs. Sometimes there were even whole eggs. I don’t know if the principal knew it, or if she thought the children ate all their food, but I’m sure the janitor was well aware of how much a child can eat.
After many years of study, I have confirmed my first impression. It is appetite that regulates the intake of food, and at least in children, it does so in a way that adequately meets their needs. Each animal species has food preferences that seem to be genetically determined. We are not the exception, at least before we acquire the habits of the times in which we are born. As the years go by we learn to eat according to different motivations: because it is Christmas or Easter or because we want to please our mother-in-law or look good in a bikini. Children, however, do not have preconceived ideas about how much or when to eat. Neither do they know (nor do they need to know) the doctor’s recommendations, nor the recommendations from the World Health Organization, nor how much the neighbour’s child eats. This is one reason they do not easily accept the rigid rules that are sometimes imposed on them.
Children do know. We should pay attention and learn, both in regard to food and in many other things. One time, before nursing my son, I asked in a loud voice (so that others in the room who were sceptical about my breastfeeding could hear): “Darling, do you want to drink some species-specific milk that has evolved over the course of millions of years until it’s perfect just for you? This milk won’t cause allergies and it will protect you from many illnesses.” Perplexed, he looked at me and said: “Nooooo, I wan nummies!”
This book, which is easy to read and scientifically sound, as well as respectful to mothers and their children, also shines because of its underlying philosophy about the parent/child relationship. My Child Won’t Eat will be of interest not only to those mothers who wish for a child who eats “properly,” but especially to all the children who dream of enjoying mealtimes as well as all other times with their mothers.
Pilar Serrano Aguayo, MD Endocrinology and Nutrition Specialist Seville, Spain
Introduction
Are there any children who do eat?
“My child won’t eat.” This, or some variation of this, is one of the concerns doctors are most often confronted with. Although in winter it must compete with coughs and runny noses, “bad eaters” become the focus of questions in a doctor’s surgery during the summer months.
Some mothers, like Elena, are only mildly worried:
My son, Alberto, turned one on June 20th. He is not a good eater. In fact I have to entertain him to get him to eat and even then he never cleans his plate. I don’t know if I should worry, especially since he is an alert and happy child and his doctor says he is healthy.
Others, like Maribel, are close to despair:
I have an almost six-month-old who weighed 2.4 kg (5 lbs 5 oz) at birth. She is now 6.4 kg (14 lbs 1 oz) at five months. The doctor told us to start introducing food: cereal, pureed fruit, etc. However, my baby refuses to eat the food. I try every day and I am lucky if she eats a tablespoon at a time. The end result is always tears, which makes me very upset and sad. I feel bad because I don’t know if I’m doing things right. I don’t like to scold her and I don’t want to force her to eat, but if I don’t, I’m afraid she won’t eat anything at all! Do you think I should wait a while before I try again? Anytime she sees a spoon she starts fussing. I feel guilty.
Would Maribel feel better