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Do you FORCE your Child to EAT BY THE CLOCK?

Do you force your child to eat at a specific time? Do you follow the clock or a hunger cue to eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner? This “eat by the clock” approach can potentially harm children’s digestive health (gut health) in several ways:

1. Natural Hunger Signals are Disrupted: Children have natural hunger cues as we have, and it will tell them when they’re hungry and when they’re full. Now if we ask them to override these signals and force them to eat when they are not hungry, their body’s cues will stop working over some time. This in turn can lead to unhealthy eating habits.

2. Limited Dietary Variety: Most of the time it’s observed that if we stick to a rigid diet plan we stick to a limited menu. If growing children consistently eat the same foods they might miss out on the opportunity to diversify their gut bacteria. Children have a habit of snacking at times due to their varied schedules and activities. If we restrict their snacking habits we are killing their opportunity to incorporate a variety of nutrient-rich foods into their diet, especially when their body has asked for it. I have a friend who’s a Brahmin. With due respect to the caste and religion, he shared with me that he was asked not to eat at any of his non-brahmin friend’s homes. This again tells me why it can be one of the reasons he had a bad stomach all his younger life, I may be wrong too, but let us agree that less diversity in foods and not eating even when you drooled at those foods isn’t the right thing to do for a growing child. 

Check out: Healthy Snack Options for Kids

3. Stress and Anxiety: There was a story put out by a food influencer asking what was their mealtime memory and most of the replies were on how mealtimes were stressful and how their younger self was always scared of it, with reasons like them being forced to eat what they did not like, pushed to eat when they did not want to eat but play… and the list went on. Stress and Anxiety-related eating can disrupt digestion and absorption of nutrients and impact overall gut function.

4. Potential Overeating or Undereating: Now we all know what we do to our children. It makes us very happy when we offer food and they empty their plate, it’s always a positive emotion to parents to see children eat more. This can be dangerous as we push them to eat more all the time. On the other hand, with rigid timing, children may also end up eating less as they are not hungry. Both of them are bad for them.

5. Nutritional Deficiencies: Deficiencies in essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients critical for growth and development can be seen in children who are forced to eat as we are not allowing them to eat when they want to eat. This is because their body stops releasing certain enzymes and juices needed to break down the food, leading to incomplete absorption of nutrients.

Do you force your child to eat by the clock?

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Respecting Hunger Cues for a Healthy Gut and Happy Eater:

From a very young age, we start calling our children Fussy Eaters / Picky Eaters and start force-feeding them by scaring them with the names of devils, the moon, the stranger uncle, the doctor, the police, and not. I request parents to allow their children to be in tune with their natural hunger and respect their fullness cues. Say yes to a Healthy Gut and Healthy Growth.

Video: Do you FORCE your baby or child to EAT BY THE CLOCK?

Video in Hindi: घडी देखके बच्चो खाना देना?

Video in Kannada: ಗಂಟೆ ನೋಡಿ ಊಟ ಕೊಡಬೇಕೇ?

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