Yes, it is absolutely right that overfeeding and overpampering could be injurious to health. But being a parent you should know well whether your child is healthy or he or she is overfed by you or not. In this article, you can know in detail what are all these terms and what these terms actually mean.
This is very necessary to know about it. In this article, you get some points and characteristics that you should notice of your child to conclude whether your child is overfed by you or not.
Along with it, we will provide you with complete information and some tips to determine whether your kid is over-pampering or not. So read this article completely as this article will help you a lot.
So, One by one we are covering these topics and at bottom, you will get a proper conclusion about ‘how do you feel overfeeding and over pampering can be injurious to health‘ along with very important information for parents.
What is Overfeeding?
Overfeeding is a term that denotes overeating or eating more than the need of your body. This is mostly found in children at small age as their parents serve them a lot of food and also force them to eat more food.
In these cases, the child becomes fatty and inactive which also adversely affects the growth of the child. There are several children who become victims of diseases such as obesity at an early age because of their parent’s habit of overfeeding them.
Being a responsible parent if you do not want your child to either be too fat or too weak. So you must have to understand the correct signals that the body and activities of a child give you to determine whether your child is overfed or not.
If you take proper care of the diet of your child along with proper doctor’s recommendations as general awareness, the chances of overeating are almost zero.
However, any compulsion to reach a certain goal or goal of milk consumption can make overeating possible. Several studies and research proved that babies under 12 weeks old cannot control the flow of milk so it causes them to drink milk much more than the quantity they actually need.
Likewise, if a baby is used to being fed using a milk bottle so it is quite difficult to control the flow of milk. That is why doctors recommend mothers to feed their small babies with their breast milk as it is very nutritious for kids.
What are the Reasons behind Overfeeding?
There are several factors and some unknown reasons behind why most children get overfed and become victims of obesity.
The main factors and reasons behind overfeeding kids are given below along with a brief description about it. Every parent should know these factors so that they should prevent their kid from overfeeding and prevent their growth restriction.
1. Indirect link between diet and sleep
This is quite common in infants and also tends to be a habit taken over by parents. Babies may fall asleep on the mother’s breast during the first few months while feeding. But it can continue later in life and cause a connection to form in the baby’s mind between the two. This can cause a baby to want milk when he actually wants to sleep.
Later, if a baby is awake at night, he will not be able to go back to sleep unless he is fed again. Such repetitive scenarios can confuse parents with knowing when the baby is really hungry.
2. A subjective image of a healthy child
Safety is medically defined by a series of parameters and their actual values, but these may not apply to parents. For new parents, their opinion of a healthy child is governed by photos of babies who are a little chubby.
Some babies are naturally born with smaller, leaner bodies, and that’s healthy too. But parents can force the baby to drink more milk than necessary, in a well-intentioned attempt to fatten him up, leading to overfeeding.
3. Misinterpretation of cues indicating hunger
The number one mistake most parents tend to fall for. Babies only know how to cry, no matter how they feel. But parents are usually ready to interpret this as a sign of hunger.
Moreover, combined with the involuntary sucking activity, their opinion seems validated, which is not the real case. A child can usually engage in a sucking activity and scream just because they are bored or tired. If a parent chooses to feed their child every time they cry, there is a good chance that the little one is overfed.
4. Constant sleep interruptions
While the previous scenario might cause a baby to ask for food after his sleep is interrupted, a little one who typically has short sleep cycles that most would be even more dependent on feeding activities than anyone else.
Once a child wakes up, they need stimulation to stay awake and can get cranky quite often. All of this results in crying and moaning, which could cause a mother to offer her breast or formula.
Feeding automatically calms the infant, leading parents to believe the baby woke up because he was hungry, and further strengthens the links between feeding and sleep.
5. Feed in a hurry
This is usually a problem with most babies who are used to feeding later than usual, especially when they have been hungry for a long time. These babies grab the breast or bottle the moment they get it and quickly swallow huge amounts of milk.
In addition, the flow of milk from the nipple and the baby’s ability to suckle can greatly increase the flow. Such cases can cause a baby to feed much more than necessary, as it takes some time for the body to feel the feeling of stomach satisfaction.
Signs or symptoms that help a parent know if their child is overfed or not
1. Repeated burping even after a burping session
Roasting a child after being fed is highly recommended as babies end up inadvertently swallowing air while they are being fed. If your baby does burp later, even after burping after the feeding session, this could indicate gas in the stomach, which is the result of overfeeding. So parents can notice these characteristics in their baby to determine overfeeding.
2. A strong presence of problems related to the stomach
The consequences that adults face from eating a large meal are quite similar to those that babies face. Their stomachs may be swollen, cramps may occur, and some babies may even have diarrhea from overeating. Mothers can make it worse by feeding the child, even more so when he cries from stomach pain.
3. Visible and substantial increase in weight
Most mothers are happy to see their children grow bigger quickly. But if they gain a lot of weight, it may not be good for their health as there are many kids who grow very quickly. So, if your kid is also one of them. We recommend parents to reach to a doctor for advice because this rapid growth may be natural and in some cases, it is due to overfeeding. That is why we are recommending you to reach out to any doctor.
4. Reduced activity or movement in a baby
Was your baby energetic and loud enough earlier, but now seems to have fallen into a slow zone? This is one of the strongest signs of overeating. Drinking more milk actually results in low energy in babies which leads them to be lethargic all the time. That is why we suggest all mother’s in our early posts to feed their kids with their breast milk but not for a very long time. Because if any other feed her baby with breast milk for a long time so this may lead to overfeeding of the baby with breast milk. In these conditions, your baby might become lethargic or inactive. Mostly Breastfeeding babies usually suffer from such tendencies.
5. Inability to sleep through the night
Not all babies sleep through the night, but if the behavior seems unusual, your baby may be overfeeding. A baby’s nighttime sleep can only be interrupted if his body has calmed down and his diaper is unlikely to wet. But in some cases, many parents conclude that their baby is not sleeping at a proper sleeping time at night. This may be because of the mid-day sleeping habits of the baby or maybe also due to overfeeding. Being a parent if you notice it in your baby so you should take advice from any doctor as they could give you better advice regarding this.
6. Unexpected reduction in growth
It might come as a surprise to most parents, but overeating also has a negative impact on a child’s growth. Since the body is under tremendous stress that is caused due to the extra food. That gives them a lot of the nutrients, so that food gets dissipated in the poop or thrown away on the spit. This results in poor nutrition synthesized by the kid’s body, which has a negative impact on the growth of the baby. This is mostly found in kids who are overfed by their parents at an early age.
What are the Ill-effects of Overfeeding?
We all know that overfeeding is very harmful to our health but in the case of children or small babies, it is very harmful. As if any baby is overfed so this may harm them in a very adverse manner. Some reports showed that the main ill effects caused in kids due to overfeeding. These ill-effects are given below:
- The child becomes the victim of obesity which gives birth to several diseases in the future.
- Several children do not grow properly due to overfeeding as well as papering.
- The growth of a child reduces very rapidly and the child becomes inactive.
- Overfeeding might affect the mental growth of kids.
- If any kid is overfed by their parents so this might creates several health issues for them in the future. As many diseases take birth in their body due to overfeeding.
- Any kid who is overfed or a victim of obesity has more chances to feel loneliness, depression, sadness, etc.
How to Prevent your kid (baby) from Overfeeding?
1. Every parent should recognize their baby’s natural signals and feed them according to them.
2. Do not try to feed your child when he starts crying because this may be harmful to your kid. As babies do not cry only when they are hungry, there might be any other reason behind it. So you must try to calm the baby by cuddling, talking, etc.
3. Every parent should monitor the sucking activity of their children using a pacifier or a safe toy.
4. Mothers should be aware that they should not feed their baby with breast milk for a long time. As after 20-40 minutes of active breastfeeding, babies self-detach from their breasts or got slept. But in case your baby is not doing this so, you should feed your baby according to you.
5. To get proper knowledge about how much time a mother should feed her baby with breast milk. You can contact any one of the following people. As they can give you proper advice regarding it to prevent your baby from overfeeding.
(a) Any Doctor
(b) Breastfeeding counselor
(c) a lactation consultant
6. Parents should manage their time properly so that they could spend some of their time with their child and also focus on his/her physical stamina and capacity to perform any sport. As sports are very essential for children to stay fit and healthy. You should also increase your stamina.
Now, we hope that you got the term Overfeeding completely, and also we read about the factors responsible for it in kids. We also talked about the Ill-Effects of Overfeeding any kid or baby and some ways to prevent your kid from overfeeding.
So, we recommend all the parents to be aware and responsible enough to prevent their kids from overfeeding as this might leads to spoilage of the future of your kid. There is one more term that is “Pampering”. This is also a condition or situation that spoils kids.
So being responsible parents you should also know about it. We described all about pampering, the ill effects of pampering, and tips to prevent your kid (baby) from overpampering.
What is Pampering?
Pampering means a condition that is provided by parents to their children to make them feel more and more comfortable. This can be done by parents by providing them with each and everything that they demanded.
Through this, we do not want to say that parents should not provide their children with things they demand but instead of this, we are only advising parents to fulfill their children’s wishes but not all as this makes them over pampered.
Nowadays over pampering is the thing that spoils many children. It’s something to give someone special treatment, to make them as comfortable as possible, and to give them what they want. All this is mainly done by parents for their children but it spoils them. Being pampered creates weakness because children believe that others should do everything for them.
One of the greatest gifts you can give your children is to help them develop the “I am capable” belief. Children feel empowered when they learn that they can survive the ups and downs of life.
What are the disadvantages of Over pampering?
There are several disadvantages of over-pampering. Some of the main disadvantages that might affect your kid’s future badly are given below:
- Kids become careless regarding their important things.
- They do not take anything seriously even if they remain careless in the future.
- Kids who are pampered do not understand the value of money and they spend it without thinking even once before spending it.
- Kids who are pampered have fewer chances to become successful in their future as they do not understand the value of anything.
Points to prevent your kid from Over Pampering?
- Parents should not provide everything that their kids want as this makes them become pampered easily.
- It is right that parents should provide things that their kids that they want but not all things.
- Do not try to provide them too much comfort as if parents provide them a lot of love so this increases the chances of their kids becoming pampered easily.
- Being a responsible parent you should fulfill your children’s wishes as much as you think are enough for your kid. Because if any parent is fulfilling each and every wish of their kids so this may make them pampered.
Conclusion
Being a responsible parent you should be neither too soft nor too harsh with your kids. But be very aware of their health as well as mental status because today’s mistake might affect your kid’s future.
We are sure that now after reading this complete article you got the answer of how do you feel overfeeding and over pampering can be injurious to health. So, Be a responsible parent. And If you have any doubts so share with us in the comment box below and Follow our blog for more such interesting articles.