what do you think of force feeding your baby?

I think it is a horrible horrible idea on so many levels. You didn't say how old your litle girl is but if she is refusing to eat even when you know she should be hungry then you need to take her to the Doctor asap! As in TODAY! There are many reasons why she may be refusing to eat and you need to find out why. Simply trying to force her is not an option. You also didn't say if she is simply a slow eater and you are trying to get her to speed up. It can be frustrating at times when they are being slow but eating is one of the few things in life she has control over. You didn't says if she always acts this way or if there is one food item that she is refusing to eat. Is this a new behavior? Was it just a day or two that this went on or is it longer than that. You stated that you can tell she's losing weight so my guess would be this issue isn't new. If she is losing weight then again she needs to be medically evaluated as soon as possible. Take her to the emergency room if you don't have a primary care doctor for her. Her growth, brain function and vital organ development and motor coordination will be adversely effected if she is not getting proper nutrition. I got my master's in Child Developmental Psychology and was also pre-med at Tuft's University so I am advising you based on my own experience with our daughter and my educational and professional background. I also started babysitting at 12 and did so thru college to help pay for my college. Even a new born infant understands what hunger is and they do know the connection between feeling hungry and food or bottle feeding. That is one reason they cry to get our attention and to let us know they need to be fed or changed or have gas or need to be cuddled. When was the last time she went to the doctor's and how was her weight and eating behavior then? Trying to force food into her mouth is abusive and it can traumatize her psychologically for life. She may develop a severe eating disorder and also have trust and love issues. I hope that you read this with the understanding that I am not trying to come across as mean. I am alarmed by your question and that you haven't taken your child to be evaluated. It also sounds like this is your first child and may need to take some parenting classes as that might make things much easier for you to deal with. Your frustration comes thru clearly but what about hers? Take care and let us know when you have had her evaluated and what the results were.

I don't like the idea of force feeding. To me it is no use eating food you can't enjoy and who knows, maybe babies feel the same way. Give them some time and they will come around.

spoiled311 hi do not force feed an normal baby,if she is brain damaged and cannot eat, thats something else, but you sound like' your baby is normal, so let her get hungry and she will cry then sneak a bit of food into her mouth. she will soon be eating as she will find that it eases her hunger pangs. I had to force feed my litle girl as she was brain damaged but thats not fun for either mom or child, and be so glad you have a normal baby, she will get hungry and she will eat. How old is she? Are you starting her on baby food too early? that might be part of the problem ? talk to your pediatrician and see what he or she has to say. dont force feed that will just make more problems.another thing if she has some favorites to eat use those to feed her for now but see her doctor,

Oh no..I don't think that's a good idea. Most doctors tell you that they will eat when they are hungry. Don't fret. She may feel like she's losing a little weight but that's ok. Children often lose weight when they start walking and become more active. It's not a big deal that she's just picking. Children go through growth spurts and they will eat a ton during these. Then..they won't eat as much for a while. Please ask your doctor before you try to force her to eat. I know it's hard because we worry so much about them but I was worried about mine over their appetite at one time too. They seemed to barely eat a thing.

I remember a friend of mine mentioning this a while back. Her baby had some kind of stomach problem. So first thing Id do is go back to the doctor to make sure nothing is wrong. Obviously, something is physically wrong. If not, maybe try to find something sweet to get her to WANT to eat. I dont know anyone who wont go for sweets or chocolate! Hope this helps and you find out whats wrong with your baby soon.

I hope you are consulting with your doctor about your baby's weight. Otherwise, trust your baby to know when she wants to eat! Babies are instinctual creatures, they will eat if they are hungry. It's your job to provide her with healthy, appropriate foods, lots of options, and then let her decide. If you are still at the baby food stage, try a variety of foods. It will be frustating for you but unless there is something physiologically wrong with your child, that is she has a developmental issue that prevents her chewing or swallowing, mealttimes should be a time of positive interaction with your child. She doesn't get to control much in her life, I don't think eating is something to get in a battle about.

Oh no! never force feed her as it may really traumatized her. You are right about saying that she may take food in a negative way if you do it on her. Yeah I think you need a lot of patience over there and find ways on how to entice her from appreciating eating. I think all she know right now is exploring and experimenting and playing. Eating is really not a priority for her because she doesn't connect that eating is already a part of her life now. I have a theory that because babies got used to having no experience of eating when they were in your tummy for nine months that they feel it is not necessary when they got out of this world. Tips on how to feed her is to integrate food with playing. Show her how food is cook and how yummy it is and the likes. Maybe since she is a girl you could give her toys like cooking set and play with her while putting real foods in it or something like that. In my case since I have a boy, we are playing like the sppon is a plane and wants to enter his mount to land. He enjoyed playing like that but eventually got bored over time so we have to find other ways to let him enjoy eating again.

for me forcing the baby to eat is not the best way..but if you dont have any choice then you can do it. i think its the best to give her vitamins too

Hi, I agree with you. Sometimes, it may hurt their little hearts which are weak, so it is better to guide them to eat.We can find that they must cry if we carry out force feeding, even become agitaged.That's terrible.

How old is your baby? Perhaps your baby is the picky type. Allow her to be so. But if she is losing weight, it must be time to see the pediatrician. I hope there is no problem there and probably she needs vitamins only. Force feeding though is out of the question. It will traumatize her and might even cause bulimia or anorexia in the future.

Maybe force feeding can be done as a last resort and not really as a daily thing. the child will surely get traumatized by that. I think if it really can't be avoided then at least explain to the child that you are only doing it because it's what's good for her and not as a punishment or something to hurt her. it's really hard to just force a child to eat every single mealtime without explaining anything and for sure it will affect her growing up.

Force feeding is done when the baby refuses to eat nutritious food but wants something that it likes. No way! It jolly well eat what Mama decides and when it becomes an adult no one will force feed it but I have observed a seventeen year old being force fed by her mother just before she was going for her exams!!The girl would be busy mugging something from her book and the concerned mother literally spoon feeding her. I did not have a digital those days. Else that would have been a picture for the guinness book of world records!

I have a 3 years old cousin which doesn't like to eat, he likes to drink though which is why we need to spoon him with a bit force, or else he won't eat properly.

Force depends on the situation . suppose the baby is not hungry then we should not force feed . but some babies dont eat at all in such cases there would be no other go other than forcing the feed . . . i would that only as the last option . even at that situation if the baby cries i wont do force feeding .but in sometimes the baby may not eat since they may having some illness but we should feed the baby in those situations because only if the baby is fed we would be able to give medicine . so force feeding depends always on the situation,,,

we have a four year old son and sometimes he does not want to eat. maybe he is not in the mood. but my wife tries to get his attention and try other variety. for example cookies, or fruits or anything healthy that he can eat. sometimes kids has moods too like us. lucky that our son eats apples or banana instead when he is not in the mood to eat rice.

I don't really agree on force feeding food because I think the baby will cry if she's hungry. Then, only give her the food. But I do agree on force feeding water because babies often dislike drinking water. As water is too important to maintain her health, I think it's OK.

Force feeding sounds like it could work as a last measure, but I don't think it should be something done on a daily basis whenever a baby is hungry...If you stuff a spoonful of food into their mouth when they don't want, they might choke on it or something, which is never any good. I think a better solution would be coaxing them into opening their mouths and eating. This way, they do it willingly and also, when they realize their hunger ease appeased, they associate food with hunger, and so realize the importance of eating...