Yes, forcing children to eat is an oppression and a disease. A mother''s love is an innate instinct that is available to all living things, including humans, but a mother''s love for her young and her fear of them may push them to eat excessively, which causes clear damage to the child''s health. In this regard, Dr. Najia Attia, a pediatric consultant, says that one of the most common problems we face in clinics for children, especially young children, is that parents often complain that their child is lean, even though his weight is very ideal. But when this is mentioned to the parents, we find the response that the children of their relatives are more overweight and obese, and from their point of view that these children are healthier unlike their own, and this is not true.
When placing the child on the approved sizes in terms of height and weight, we find that he is a very normal child, but nevertheless the mother continues to force him to eat even though most of the children are genetically large or small, so if the child is of a small size, it will not change formally despite his mother’s forced Him to eat portions of food.
Dr. Najia points out that the child may be forced to eat even though he ate, but he did not eat healthy food, rather he ate types of sweets, so the mother forces the child to eat, but he is full of these types, and yet she forces him to eat because from her point of view he did not eat Well.
The doctor notes that forcing young children to eat is one of the most important causes of childhood obesity, which has become widespread in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world in general, and it is one of the most difficult problems to solve, which requires effort from doctors and parents alike, and reminds that the child simply must be left on His appetite, if we put a small amount on the plate and finish it, we can increase this amount for him if he asks for it, and psychological threats to the child should not be resorted, such as if you do not eat everything in the plate, you will not play or take sweets.
Dr. Najia stresses that the mother should not be afraid that her child will not eat food for a long time, if the child is healthy and mentally active, and he plays games like the rest of his life, then the mother should not be afraid at all, and in no way force him to eat food. In some cases, the child may be in infancy and depend entirely on breastfeeding and eat little, so it should be noted that the child should be accustomed to normal food from the age of six months.
