Feeding Problems Often Encountered When Weaning and Eating Solids
When you start weaning and when you begin introducing solid food to your baby, you may encounter a few feeding problems. This is absolutely normal. Not many babies wean without making a fuss or begin to eat solids without acting suspicious about the food. What is important is that you have patience and be perseverant about both weaning and eating solids.
Here are some problems you may encounter:
- Allergies and Intolerance: Being allergic to the food or having an intolerance for the food may be a cause for a lack of appetite or for weight loss.
- Being Sick: When babies are sick or not feeling well, they may not feel like eating. This is especially true if the baby is congested. They don't want to close their mouths to feed. In this case, you have to try and make your baby feel better so that they eat.
- Crying: When a baby cries it usually means they're hungry. However, if they cry after being fed, it may mean there is trapped wind. Try burping them or moving their legs so they pass gas. Prolonged crying after being fed could be due to colic.
You know your baby has colic when the have a flushed face, a clenched fist, legs pulled up to their chest, and cry for two to three hours on most days, often in the early evening. Colic tends to start in the first few weeks after birth, but disappears after the 3rd or 4th month. One in every four babies gets colic.
- Diarrhea: Often happens when a baby is a bit sick or if they are allergic to food they've just ingested. Sometimes it happens after having just switched to formula or solids.
- Poor Weight Gain: Right after your baby is born, they will lose a little weight. Soon after that, however, they should be putting on weight every two weeks if they are being fed correctly. While there is no ideal amount of weight gain or ideal baby weight, your doctor should be able to tell you if your baby is putting on too little weight. Sometimes you will notice it yourself.
Poor weight gain can happen as a result of babies not wanting to wean or rejecting solids. Remember, though weaning and solid foods are important, it is more important that your baby eats. Make sure you feed your baby every two to three hours
- Posseting: This is when a baby “spits up” a bit of milk after being fed. Usually it is a very gentle act and happens soon after feeding. This is very normal for babies. However, if they do this more than four times a day, and if they bring up more than just a little, this could be a sign of reflux.
- Vomiting: Different from posseting, vomiting is when your baby brings all of their food back up. It often happens a bit longer after feeding and is a very forceful action and is larger in volume than that of posseting. It also often smells bad.
If your baby is over three months old and they vomited without any other symptoms (like fever), just give them some cooled freshly boiled water to help them. However, if your baby is vomiting regularly, if they are younger that three months old, if there is blood in the vomit, or if they have diarrhea at the same time, it is best to see your doctor. |
