Overeating in children

Many parents encounter eating disorders in children. Some complain that the child does not want to eat anything, while others, on the contrary, note increased gluttony. Overeating in childhood causes many problems that negatively affect the health of the growing body.

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Causes overeating in a child

The main reasons for binge eating in children:

• Overfeeding – the wrong approach of parents to the child’s diet leads to the child regularly eating more than the norm. And this is not surprising, since there is still an opinion in society that for good health it is necessary to eat a lot, especially for children.
• Harmful products – if a child regularly abuses sweets, carbonated drinks, fatty and fried foods, this causes excess weight and negatively affects the condition of internal organs.
• Water deficiency – some parents teach their children to quench their thirst incorrectly from childhood. This starts from infancy, when instead of water, the child is given milk. At an older age, children drink soda and other sweet drinks, which significantly increase the daily calorie intake.
• Violation of the eating regimen – long breaks between meals lead to the consumption of food for future use. This problem is especially relevant for school-age children.
• Psychosomatic factors – an eating disorder can be an attempt to eat away stress, calm down or reward.

Read about other reasons for overeating in this article.

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Symptoms overeating in a child

Uncontrolled food intake in childhood causes many painful symptoms, including high temperature. As a rule, hyperthermia occurs with additional symptoms:

• Nausea and vomiting.
• Stomach ache.
• Deterioration of general well-being.
• Weakness and lethargy.
• Diarrhea.

The painful condition may be associated with overeating expired or improperly prepared foods. Temperature also occurs with food allergies and poisoning. The task of parents is to determine what caused the child's deterioration.

If the fever is due to overeating, then to speed up the digestion process, the child should be given an enzyme preparation. If there is a risk of poisoning, then activated charcoal should be taken, and in particularly severe cases, induce vomiting and seek medical help. Read other signs of overeating here.

Overeating in infants

The problem of overeating in newborns is familiar to many mothers. It occurs in both breastfed and bottle-fed babies. Since the baby is not able to say whether he is full or hungry, he expresses this through his behavior. The task of parents is to pay special attention to this and not try to feed the baby at the first cry or capricious behavior.

Signs of overeating in newborns:

• Weight gain that is not appropriate for age.
• Excessive regurgitation after feeding.
• Frequent requests from a newborn to be breastfed end in profuse vomiting.

Based on the above symptoms, the main factor in overfeeding children is vomiting, that is, regurgitation of recently eaten food. This symptom is due to the anatomical features of the gastrointestinal tract of newborns. The stomach of infants is horizontal, and the sphincter that connects the esophagus and stomach has a reduced tone.

At the same time, pediatricians advise not to be afraid of child overeating during lactation, since the newborn's body independently determines the amount of food it needs. To avoid overeating, it is strictly forbidden to limit the baby's food. The less often the breastfeeding, the more each time the baby will eat and burp. It is also necessary to observe the frequency of feeding the newborn, taking into account the peculiarities of the child's digestive system.

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Overeating formula

Since a newborn cannot regulate the process of satiation with artificial formula, which is unnatural for him, very often this leads to the problem of overeating. Feeding an artificial baby requires special care and compliance with certain rules.

• The process of digesting the formula takes twice as long as the digestion of mother's milk. Based on this, the breaks between feedings should be long so that the child has time to digest what he has eaten. It is recommended to maintain a three-hour interval between feedings.
• When choosing a nutritional mixture, carefully study its packaging, composition and application features. It would not be superfluous to consult a pediatrician.
• Do not force the child to eat the entire prepared portion of the mixture, especially if he refuses. Overfeeding leads to stretching of the child's stomach and gastrointestinal disorders.
• The baby should suck the formula out of the nipple himself. If the food spills out easily, this leads to the baby not feeling full, and due to overeating, the baby's intestines experience increased stress. At the same time, the formula should completely fill the nipple to minimize air swallowing and regurgitation.

Failure to follow the above recommendations leads to the development of disorders of the child's digestive system. First of all, the enzymatic apparatus is depleted. Because of this, food entering the intestines is not processed by enzymes, which causes gastrointestinal disorders and disruption of healthy microflora.

With regular overeating of the mixture, the child becomes restless and lethargic. Gas and loose stools appear. In particularly severe cases, intussusception may develop, that is, intestinal obstruction, the treatment of which involves surgical intervention.

Overeating while breastfeeding

If a newborn consumes only mother's milk, then his body independently regulates the process of saturation. Based on this, overeating breast milk is almost impossible.

• Mother's milk is the most valuable product for a baby. At the same time, the composition of this nutritious liquid changes as the baby grows.
• The baby takes the breast not only to eat, but also to calm down. The woman's task is to regularly put the baby to the breast.
• The composition of milk is easily absorbed by the child's body, of course, provided that the mother does not consume allergenic products and adheres to a healthy diet. Mother's milk is quickly digested.

It is very important to follow the schedule of putting the baby to the breast so that he does not feel hungry. It is untimely feeding that leads to the child eating more than the norm and starting to regurgitate the excess.

A child regurgitates due to overeating

A baby burping after eating is a physiological reaction that indicates that the baby's stomach is getting rid of excess. That is, the newborn independently regulates the amount of food eaten. At the same time, burping does not have a negative effect on his well-being.

If the baby is bottle-fed, regurgitation may indicate overeating. In order to protect the baby from this problem, it is necessary to adhere to strict feeding times and not allow the baby to go hungry.

Another possible cause of regurgitation, which young parents perceive as overfeeding, is air entering the stomach. During sucking, the baby can swallow air, which causes the recently eaten food to come out. To avoid this problem, the mother should correctly attach the baby to the breast and ensure that the bottle nipple is completely filled with the mixture.

Overeating in Teens

The problem of overeating in adolescence most often has a psychological subtext. Excessive food consumption can indicate severe teenage stress, since the body is subject to hormonal changes. The child is looking for his place in the group and begins to fully feel his gender. This can be accompanied by various complexes, which lead to eating away the "problem".

If the eating disorder is a one-time occurrence, then there is no need to worry. But if overeating occurs regularly and ends with vomiting, then you should consult a doctor. This is due to the high risk of developing bulimia in adolescents. Another alarming factor of uncontrolled food consumption is a sign of drug or alcohol use.

The task of parents is to closely monitor the psycho-emotional state of the teenager and organize a healthy diet for him. Of no small importance is a favorable background in the family, the violation of which can also cause eating disorders.

Prevention

In order to protect a child from overeating and its complications, it is necessary to carefully approach the child's diet. The task of parents is to organize a diet with natural products that do not put an increased load on the gastrointestinal tract and do not disrupt the digestion process.

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