Baby only takes small feeds

Bottle Feeding Problems - Why Your Baby Squirms, Appears Uncomfortable – Baby Care Advice

When your baby squirms, appears uncomfortable during a feed, fusses, cries or refuses a bottle, seemingly fights the bottle despite being hungry, it can be challenge to figure out the cause. The timing and type of behavior she exhibits provides vital clues.

Signs of bottle-feeding problems

Does your baby display troubled behavior in relation to bottle-feeding, such as….

Refuses a bottle
Turning away from the bottle.
Refusing to close her mouth around the nipple.
Holding nipple in the mouth but not sucking.
Taking only a small amount and then refusing more.
Screaming when placed into a feeding position or at the sight of the bottle.
Milk pouring out of baby's mouth.
Feeding too quickly.
Feeding too slowly.
Falling asleep before the feed is completed.
Coughing and spluttering when feeding.
Not consuming as much milk as expected.
Wanting more milk than expected.
Throwing up large amounts of milk.

Then there may be steps you can take to remedy the situation and get your baby to calmly and happily take a bottle.

Behavioral reasons

‘Behavioral’ means baby’s behavior is in response to the circumstances rather than a physical cause. Behavioral reasons are the most common of all reasons for infant feeding problems. There are numerous behavioral reasons for a baby to experience feeding problems and/or display problematic feeding behavior. Common reasons include:

1. Misinterpreting baby's cues as signs of hunger

Does baby at times refuse feeds?

Does she take only a little and not want more?

Babies are in an oral stage of develop. Sucking is the primary way babies soothe. They also learn by sucking and mouthing objects. Many babies have a strong desire to suck for reasons that extend beyond hunger, such as tiredness, boredom, discomfort and soothing. There may be times when you mistake your baby’s desire to suck for these reasons as hunger.

Newborn babies have an active sucking reflex. This means a newborn baby may accept a feed even when she’s not hungry, and she might guzzle down the bottle because she cannot choose to not suck when her sucking reflex is triggered. Once her sucking reflex has disappeared (usually by 3 months of age) she will willingly take only the amount she wants to take.

If you have mistakenly interpret her fussing or desire to such as hunger and offer her a feed, she might take a little and refuse the rest, or she refuse from the start. If you try to make her drink more than she wants, she will understandably get upset and fuss, cry and pull back from the bottle.

WHAT TO DO

See Hungry baby for more reasons why babies often appear
See Infant reflexes

2. Unrealistic expectations

Is baby not drinking as much as you expect?

Is she fussing if you try to get her to finish a bottle?

In around one third of consultations I have had with parents regarding an infant feeding problem, I found that parents were trying to make their baby drink more than he or she needed. In some cases, this was because of errors made their health professionals. They either failed to adjust calculations as baby matured or failed to consider baby as an individual. As a result, overestimated baby’s milk requirements.

If you think your baby is not drinking enough milk (breast milk or infant formula) you’re naturally going to feel concerned. If your concern translates into trying to pressure her to drink more than she wants or needs (gently or otherwise), you’re going to upset her. So it is very important for your peace of mind and your baby’s enjoyment at feeding times that you have realistic expectations about how much she needs.

WHAT TO DO

See How much milk does baby need for standard estimations for age and weight, and reason why a baby might take more or less than recommended.
Follow your baby's feeding cues. Don't try to make her take more when she indicates she has had enough.

3. Tiredness

Is your baby at times too tired to eat effectively?

Does she often fall asleep while feeding?

Sleeping and feeding are closely related when it comes to the needs of babies. Both are equally important to a baby's health, growth and development and feelings of wellbeing. You are no doubt aware that if your baby does not feed well she might not sleep well. But are you aware that the opposite is equally true. If she’s not getting enough sleep this has the potential to negatively impact on her feeding.

Physical fatigue can cause baby to fuss during feeds or falling asleep before the feed is completed. If you have a hungry/tired baby on your hands, tiredness will usually win out.

WHAT TO DO

Ensure baby gets enough sleep.
Feed her before she becomes too tired.
Aim to establish a flexible feeding and sleep routine to minimize the risk of feeding and sleep times clashing.

If your baby is often irritable and not sleeping enough, (see Overtired baby for signs and symptoms) you might find that resolving any underlying sleeping problem will cause feeding difficulties to spontaneously resolve once she receives adequate sleep.

See our sleep section.
Download or order a paperback copy of my infant sleep book Your Sleepless Baby: The Rescue Guide. There you will find comprehensive information on the reasons and solutions to various infant sleeping problems.

4. Distractibility

Is your baby too busy looking around or trying to play to want to feed?

Is it hard to keep her focused on feeding?

Babies over the age of 4 months can easily become distracted while feeding. They are often much more interested in the activities going on around them than they are in feeding.

WHAT TO DO

Feed your baby in a quiet environment away from noise and distractions of other children.

5. Feeding management

Some feeding problems can be related to what may appear like insignificant details but which can make feeding difficult or uncomfortable for a baby. For example, how you hold your baby will affect her ability to feed from a bottle. If her head is too far forward or too far back or her neck is twisted this can make it difficult for her to suck or swallow.

WHAT TO DO

See How to bottle-fed a baby

6. Feeding aversion

Does your baby refuse to feed even when hungry?

Does she scream at the sight of a bottle or when placed into a feeding position?

Have you resorted to trying to feed her while asleep?

A baby can develop an aversion to feeding when past feeding experiences have taught her that feeding is unpleasant, stressful or painful. Typically, baby is diagnosed with reflux and/or milk protein allergy or intolerance to explain her aversive feeding behavior. However, a behavioral feeding aversion (related to feeding management rather than a physical cause) is a far more common cause of infant feeding aversion.

A feeding aversion is the most complex of all infant feeding problems. An effective solution relies heavily on accurate identification of the cause.

WHAT TO DO

See Feeding aversion for more information. Or purchase or download a copy of 'Your Baby's Bottle-Feeding Aversion: Reasons and Solutions'.

7. Feeding equipment

Does your baby gag, cough or splutter during feed?

Does baby make clicking sounds while feeding?

It could be the nipple is too long, too short, too fast or too slow.

The most important piece of feeding equipment is the nipple. The nipple needs to be the right size and speed for your baby's size, age and sucking ability. If the nipple is too long, too short, too fast or too slow for your baby, she may experience feeding difficulties and express her frustration by fuss or crying.

WHAT TO DO

See Feeding equipment for more information on choosing a feeding nipple.
Experiment with nipples of different lengths, shapes and speed.

8. The nipple ring is screwed too tight

Does the nipple collapse in your baby’s mouth as she feeds?

Do you find that air rushes into the bottle once the bottle is removed from her mouth?

It's possible her feeding difficulties could be due to the nipple ring being screwed on too tight.

In order to maintain a neutral balance in air pressure within the bottle air needs to be able to enter the bottle to replace the void left by the milk the baby is removing. If the bottle is vented, this is achieved via the venting system. However, in the case of a non-vented bottle, the only ways air can enter the bottle are between the nipple ring and the rim of the bottle and through the holes at the end of the nipple. While sucking, a baby will maintain a seal over the holes at the end of the nipple with her tongue and prevent air entry in this way. If the nipple ring is screwed down tightly this also prevents air entry.

If air is prevented from entering the bottle, this causes a negative pressure to build in the bottle. As the pressure builds, baby need to work harder and harder to extract further milk, until such time and the air pressure is returned to normal. The effort required to suck against the negative pressure can cause a newborn baby to tire and fall asleep before completing the feed. An older baby may simply give up or express her frustration.

WHAT TO DO

The nipple collapsing (not all will) or stopping to burp baby allows air to enter through the holes and neutralize the pressure. But you don’t want to wait for this to resolve the problem. By then baby is already tiring or getting frustrated. See ‘Collapsing nipple’ for ways to manage this problem.

9. Feeding patterns

Is your baby often take only small amounts, refuse more, but then wants to feed again an hour or two later?

Some babies develop a grazing or snacking feeding pattern where they will only drink small amounts of formula at a time and then want to be feed frequently, possibly every hour or two. Although this will not cause any problems for a baby, provided she drinks enough formula in total over a 24 hour period, it can become very tiring for parents to keep up with her constant demands for feeding.

WHAT TO DO

Try to encourage your baby to take as much milk as possible within 45 minutes. But don't try to make her feed if she doesn't want to. Stop sooner if she does not want to continue.
Ensure baby gets plenty of sleep.
Avoid allowing baby to fall asleep while feeding.
Support your baby to extend the time between feeds, by offering a little water, a pacifier, a nap, playing with her, or taking her for a walk. Aim to encourage her to wait at least 3 hours from time you started her previous feed, but only if it's reasonable to do so without distressing her. If necessary extend the time between feeds gradually. As your baby gets used to going longer periods between feeds she will gradually take larger amounts at each feed.

10. Excessive night feedings

Is baby feeding more often at night than you would expect?

Unless your baby was born prematurely or is very small for her age, developmentally she no longer requires feeding during the night beyond the age 6 months. If nighttime feeding continues past this age its not going to harm her but it could have a negative effect on her appetite and feeding patterns during the day.

Your baby only needs a certain number of calories in her day (24 hours) to provide for her growth and energy needs. If after the age of 6 months she continues to receive calories from nighttime feeds this will dampen her appetite during the day and she will not need to drink as much formula during daytime feeds. You might find she is content to go for long periods of time between feeds (which is usually what would happen at night). She might fuss or refuse some of her daytime bottles when they are offered simply because she's not hungry at the time. Or she might graze during the day.

Nighttime feeding will cause your baby no harm, so if you're happy to continue feeding her during the night there's no reason to change a thing. However, it is important that you don't expect her to consume as much milk during the day as she may have otherwise taken if she did not feed at night.

Many babies will give up night time feedings on their own accord, but others will continue to wake and demand feeds overnight for months and possibly years while parents continue to provide feeds at night. Usually the reason babies continues to demand night feeds beyond the age of 6 months is because they have learned to rely on feeding as a way to fall asleep, or because their internal body clock gets turned around - where the baby has decreased appetite during the day because of the continued night feeds and as a consequence of small feeds during the day the baby wakes hungry during the night. Body clock problems can easily become a cyclical pattern that will continue over the long term unless parents take steps to change the situation. Healthy, thriving babies who continue to demand feedings at night beyond the age of 6 months often require guidance and support from parents to cease feeding at night and turn their body clock around to a normal day-night feeding pattern.

WHAT TO DO

Aim to cease overnight feeds after 6 months of age. However, before attempting to do this it's important to address any feeding to sleep issues your baby might have. She would need to learn to fall asleep in a different way before you will be able to successfully encourage her to cease night feeds.

11. Starting solids early

Have you started giving your baby solids before the age of 4 months?

Have you been advised to start solids early?

6 months is the recommended age for starting solid foods. Although a small number of babies may benefit from solids prior to this age, it's generally not recommended to start a baby on solid foods before the age of 4 months. An early start on solids has the potential to cause bottle feeding problems because solid foods may decrease the baby's appetite for milk (breast milk or formula).

WHAT TO DO

If your baby is less than 6 months old, either cease or reduce the amount of solids you offer to see if this helps to improve the situation.
See our article on starting solids.

12. Solids eaten before or between formula feeds

Do you give baby solids between or before bottle feeds?

If solids are offered prior to bottle feeds, either directly before or mid way between feeds, when it's time for your baby's bottle feed she might be feeling full from the solids, in which case she's probably not going to take much milk from her bottle.

WHAT TO DO

For babies 4 - 9 months (when milk is still the most important food) offer solids 15 - 20 minutes after bottle feeds.
For babies 9 - 12 months (when solids are becoming increasingly more important to a baby's diet) offer solids shortly before or shortly after her bottle, whichever you find works best. Babies at this age are often down to 3 bottles per day plus 3 main meals and 1 or 2 snacks.

13. Too much solids

Does your baby love solids so much that she would rather eat solids than drink milk?

In these early stages of learning to eat solids (4 - 7 months) solids are not needed to add value to a baby's nutritional intake, rather they are offered primarily to provide learning experiences. The baby is exposed to new food proteins that help prime her immune system. She gets to discover new tastes and textures and become accustomed to eating from a spoon. It is at this age that babies are most willing to accept new tastes. So variety rather than quantity is what solids are about.

Many babies, particularly very young babies, experience difficulty self-regulating their dietary intake. Some babies will continue to eat solid foods for as long their parents keep offering. Some babies will prefer eating solids compared to drinking formula. However, too much solids and not enough milk is not a balance diet for a baby. It may be necessary for parents to limit the amount of solids they offer in order to encourage their baby to have a greater appetite for milk feeds.

WHAT TO DO

See our article on estimating how much milk your baby needs to make sure she's getting enough.

14. Weaning difficulties

Does your breastfed baby refuse bottle-feeds?

Does your baby have a breast preference?

While some breastfed babies willing accept milk from a bottle many will not, at least not straight away.

Difficulty weaning from breast to bottle is rarely resolved by finding the 'right' feeding nipple. (All feeding nipples will feel equally foreign to a breastfed baby. ) Nor does a solution lie in finding a formula with the 'right' taste. All formula will taste strange to a breastfed baby). The difficulty associated with weaning to a bottle most often lies in the fact that bottle-feeding requires a very different sucking action to breastfeeding. While breastfeeding the movement of your baby's tongue milks the breast, where as bottle-feeding requires a sucking action. A baby who has been exclusively breastfed beyond the age of 3 months will often refuse milk from a bottle because it "doesn't feel right" and she doesn't know how to suck from a bottle.

It takes time and practice before a breastfed baby learns how to suck on a bottle.

WHAT TO DO

Try offering expressed breast milk in a bottle initially. (Don't be too optimistic and put too much in to start with. It would be a shame to waste it).
A soft flexible nipple often works better.

NOTE: Many breast fed babies will refuse to accept a bottle while they are still being breastfed at times. They will simply wait until a breastfeed is offered. For these babies it will be the case of breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, but not both.

How we can help your baby take a bottle

Your Baby's Bottle-feeding Aversion book
Baby Care Advice consultation
Rowena Bennett's Online Bottle-Feeding Aversion Program

‘Your Baby's Bottle-Feeding Aversion’ book

In my book, ‘Your baby’s Bottle-feeding Aversion’, I have described physical and behavioral reasons for babies to develop an aversion to bottle-feeding. How to identify the cause and the solutions to match. Included are step-by-step instructions on how to regain your baby’s trust and resolve a feeding aversion caused or reinforced by repeated pressure to feed.

While the book was written for bottle-fed babies, many nursing mothers have found that applying the same strategies has also helped them to successfully resolve a breastfeeding aversion.

You might find that reading this book is all you need to do to understand the steps you need to take to resolve your baby’s feeding aversion and get him back to the point of enjoying eating until satisfied.

Baby Care Advice Consultations

If you would like an individualized assessment of all reasons for infant feeding problems, not just feeding aversion, we also provide a consultation service. Baby Care Advice consultants have extensive experience in pinpointing the cause of feeding aversion and other behavioral feeding problems such as those related to equipment and the parent’s feeding practices. (For more on what’s included in a consultation).

By Rowena Bennett, RN, RM, CHN, MHN, IBCLC.

Rowena's Online Bottle-Feeding Aversion Program

Six time-saving modules to help your family enjoy feeding again with Rowena's step-by-step plan. Enjoy additional tools to manage anxiety, troubleshoot any issues, introduce new carers, how to manage illness/teething and much more.

Module 1: Understanding feeding aversions
Module 2: Identify the cause
Module 3: Prepare for success
Module 4: How to resolve your baby's bottle-feeding aversion
Module 5: What to expect
Module 6: Troubleshooting
BONUS: Guided meditations

Bottle-feeding problems and solutions | From Tiny Tot to Toddler

Babies can sometimes have trouble feeding. Usually, the problem is temporary. The first thing to do is observe your baby. Try to get a feel for her temperament as well as her feeding and sleeping routine.

Your baby sleeps a lot

If your baby sleeps a lot, you probably wonder whether you should wake her to feed. Knowing what’s best isn’t always easy. You can follow her routine and let her sleep if she

Wakes up on her own to feed
Is an active and effective feeder
Pees at least 6 times and passes at least 3 stools a day
Is calm and seems satisfied after feeding
Has regained her birth weight and continues to put on weight

In this case, there is nothing to worry about. Babies each have their own routine that develops over time.

You may need to wake your baby up to feed her if she sleeps a lot.

Photo: Marie-Ève Bolduc

Some babies sleep so much they may skip some feedings, especially during the first 2 to 3 weeks. This means they will have a hard time getting all the milk they need. If your baby sleeps a lot and doesn’t show the signs described above, you need to stimulate her to drink more.

What to do?

Keep an eye out for signs that she’s sleeping lightly (she’s moving, making sucking motions, or moving her eyes beneath her eyelids) when it will be easier to wake her up.
Stimulate her: talk to her, massage her back, legs, arms, etc.
Leave her in an undershirt or diaper: babies drink less when they are warm.
See a professional if you’re worried or see no improvement after a few days.

Your baby drinks very slowly

Babies can’t always suck effectively at the start. This is more common among babies who were born a few weeks prematurely (between 35 and 37 weeks of pregnancy). Even full-term babies may need a few days or weeks to get the hang of things. This situation usually improves with time. Be patient: your baby is learning. Some babies, however, will continue to drink slowly even as they get older.

What to do?

Change to a faster nipple.
Stimulate your baby as she feeds by rubbing her feet and tickling her back and sides.
Run your finger under her chin and across her cheeks to stimulate her.
Change her diaper or change her position for a few minutes.

Your baby often chokes while drinking

If the nipple you are using flows too quickly and your baby has too much milk in her mouth, she may choke (i. e., she swallows noisily, coughs and spits up a little milk).

What to do?

Change to a slower nipple.
Take short feeding breaks.
Avoid laying your baby on her back during feeding since milk will flow into her mouth even when she’s not sucking. Try to feed her in a near-sitting position so that the bottle is tilted only slightly downward (just enough for the nipple to fill with milk and not air). Your baby will then be able to drink at her own pace.

Your baby regurgitates a lot

As long as your baby is happy and putting on weight, regurgitation (“spitting up”) is generally nothing to worry about (see Regurgitation).

Some babies drink very fast, and their stomachs expand too quickly. This makes it easier for them to regurgitate, especially if they are very active and start moving around right after feeding.

If milk is coming out of the bottle too quickly, your baby will drink too much just to satisfy her need to suck. If she regurgitates a lot, the nipple on the bottle may be too fast.

What to do?

If your baby is in good spirits and gaining weight, there’s nothing to worry about. You don’t need to do anything.

If regurgitation seems to be bothering her, watch her drink. If necessary, try these strategies:

Change to a slower nipple.
Take short feeding breaks.
Try to burp her more.
Avoid laying your baby on her back during feeding. Try to feed her in a near–sitting position so that milk will flow into her mouth more slowly.
Try to keep activity to a minimum right after feeding.

It’s best to see a doctor if your baby

Seems to be in pain
Projectile vomits several times a day
Wets fewer diapers
Isn’t putting on enough weight

Your baby refuses the bottle

Your baby normally breastfeeds, and you want to bottle‑feed her? If she has trouble bottle-feeding or refuses to altogether, see the tips on Combining breast and bottle.

Eats small meals...

Forums

20.10.2012 09:29

My son is 5 months old, on IV, I decided to introduce complementary foods at six months. Eats every 2 hours a small bottle (120 ml). On the jar of the mixture it is written that children at his age should eat much less often and more than 200 ml at a time. But he didn’t: (I tried to transfer him at least to the schedule after 3.5 hours and give him more - he doesn’t eat, he spits up too much ((how to teach him to eat more and less often? ..

Vaska's mother

10/20/2012 10:37

None. Wait until he can eat like that. Most importantly, make sure that the total amount of the mixture per day does not exceed the age norm.

Iraqi♥ C. G.

10/20/2012 10:45

does not exceed, just if you multiply 120 ml by the number of times...

Vaska's mother

10/23/2012 13:26

I also think that all these norms on banks are something in between, and each child is individual

Mother of Misha and Veronica *

10/23/2012 18:40

even at the age of 1.4 years, my IV will not eat 200 ml at a time and he still eats every 3 hours. And you can’t explain to him that he SHOULD eat much less often. From 6 months he began to eat 120 ml each, before that only 60-100 ml each. Do not try to stretch the child's stomach. If he eats the daily norm and the weight is normal, then everything is fine.

Elephant Killer V.I.P.

20. 10.2012 20:32

Author, can I come to you under the flank? The same story ... the child is almost 5 months old, eats 120 grams, the rest is nothing ((((eats 600-800 ml per day, this is very little, 4 pediatricians had gastric , they say that if the weight is normal, then you shouldn’t bathe, but I’m worried ((((what should I do?

nyusek +

10/23/2012 18:40

don't sweat it. Weight is normal - everything is fine. Do you want to raise a boar?

Elephant Killer V.I.P.

10/23/2012 20:04

I don’t want a wild boar, he just doesn’t eat the daily dose and over the past month he has gained 200 g (although we started giving complementary foods + massage, I think the weight got up because of this), while he gained weight For my age, I don't know what's next.

nyusek +

23.10.2012 21:16

why did they start complementary foods so early? On complementary foods, children no longer gain weight, and some even take off. And do you consider the daily dose of mixture + complementary foods or is it only mixtures of 600-800 gr?

Elephant Killer V.I.P.

10/23/2012 22:16

Together with complementary foods (we eat only zucchini so far, we started a week ago), the gastroenterologist said to introduce, and the field began.

nyusek +

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Small child: a problem or a peculiarity?

Photos: Depositphotos / Illustration: Julia Zamzhitskaya

Eating difficulties or selective appetite most often occur in children from one and a half to four years old. Often this is not a sign of health problems, but simply a feature of the child's eating behavior. Together with a pediatrician, a psychotherapist and a nutritionist, we find out why children are naughty at the table and how parents should act in this situation.

Why does a child have problems with nutrition

First you need to understand what is considered a problem that threatens health, and what is a temporary phenomenon or whim. Nutritionist Alexandra Sitnova in the book “PRO nutrition for children. Without Tears or Persuasion" says that parents tend to call their children "babies" when they do not meet their subjective ideas about how much to eat. For example, they expect a child to eat a full bowl of soup, a second and compote every day for lunch, while half a serving is enough for him to get enough. According to surveys, more than 50 percent of parents of healthy young children are convinced that their child is not eating well.

In such cases it is useful to keep a food diary of the child. Often it turns out that everything is in order. A baby can eat often, but in small portions, or get a lot of liquid food that parents do not consider food, explains pediatrician Olga Kuleshova.

Sometimes problems come from early childhood, when eating habits are just beginning to form. Olga Kuleshova advises not to give the child sugar-containing foods and salt until a year old. The concentration of fructose or sucrose in fruit juices exceeds the amount of fruit that a child could eat separately, and there are no healthy dietary fibers in them. If a child drinks juice regularly, his receptors will get used to sweet food and the rest of the food - even natural fruits - will seem insipid and tasteless. Salty foods are also addictive.

Temporary problems with appetite are the result of jumps in the development of the baby or external stress, says Anna Korshunova, psychotherapist, head of the Center for the Study of Eating Disorders. Getting used to kindergarten, quarreling with adults or with friends leads to nervous disorders, especially in children with a sensitive nervous system. Then not only nutrition is disturbed, but also the general well-being of the baby. Often a child in a state of internal anxiety refuses to eat at all, follows elaborate eating rituals or chooses mono-nutrition. For example, he only eats dishes of the same color and consistency, or only fruits and drinks.

If talking with a child does not help to calm down or adaptation to kindergarten is difficult, this is a reason to seek help from a psychotherapist. By the way, the situation is reversed with food in kindergarten: the child eats better than at home, because no one in the group will persuade everyone in the group to strictly observe the regimen.

There are cases when children refuse food that is too soft, too hard or crunchy because of increased sensitivity of the oral mucosa. After eating, such a child may experience nausea, pain, and other discomfort.

Some foods are difficult to digest and assimilate due to lack of enzymes. Therefore, nutritionist Lidia Ionova recommends grinding food so that it is easier for a child to digest it. For example, to cook meat dishes not in pieces, but in the form of cutlets or dumplings.

Lack of appetite may be one of the signs of an infection that is accompanied by fever, runny nose, cough, sore throat, and sometimes nausea or vomiting. If the baby is simply naughty, refusing to eat, then he does not present other complaints.

Daily ration norms for a preschooler

For normal development, a child's daily diet must contain the necessary nutrients:

animal protein;
complex carbohydrates;
fruits;
vegetables;
fats;
vitamins;
minerals.

It is important that food covers the energy expenditure of the baby during the day, especially after sports and active games. On average, energy consumption in children aged one to seven years is 80-100 kcal per kilogram of body weight (from this calculation, the serving size in kindergarten is formed). In the process of growth, a child with a normal appetite increases daily energy intake, while children with selective appetite lose weight as they grow older and grow more slowly than their peers.

It is important to observe the drinking regimen. For children from three to seven years old, the daily need for liquid is about 60 ml per kilogram of body weight.

Five or six meals are required per day, three of which are basic: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pediatrician Olga Kuleshova advises to follow the “plate rule” for a balanced diet: vegetables or salads take up half the serving on the baby’s plate, a quarter of the plate is protein, and the remaining quarter is a side dish. The “cam method” will help you measure portions. For example, a child over a year old needs five cups of vegetables and fruits, five cups of cereals, two cups of protein foods, and three cups of dairy products per day.