Child's Eating Behavior: A Difficulty that Needs be Known and Overcome

Eating is one of the priorities of the body to stay alive, it is an instinctive act only in the first weeks of life and that, after that period, should become a learned behavior. During the first thousand days of life the child evolves through some stages related to feeding starting with nutrition through the umbilical cord in the intrauterine period, passing through a phase of exclusive liquid intake during the first six months of life, and then begin to receive other types of food that will challenge your senses and enhance your development until it is integrated into the family's food routine. In a short time, the child should learn how to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat to meet all of their physical and emotional needs. One of the problems that most often arise during childhood is the child that does not eat, leading to exaggerated concerns from family members. This article presents the main events related to feeding, from the characterization of hunger/appetite, the importance of chewing and swallowing processes during the child's neuromotor and emotional development, food selectivity and neophobia and the basic principles that must be observed to the child is fed correctly.