Cathy writes for www.livesnet.com, a site offering good baby gear reviews and tips on baby parenting. You can contact with her by email her at cathy@livesnet.com.

Parents worry when their babies don’t eat well. Babies are notorious for pushing food off their high chair, spitting out successive spoonfuls of vegetables, and generally reacting negatively at feeding time. Parents are equally notorious for trying to force babies to eat more. It can become a minor war with the insistent parent forcing food upon the child, and the child bellowing loudly and angrily, forcing his mouth shut, or spitting out food. When should a parent worry and what should a parent do?

Force feeding is never the answer. Feeding time should be an enjoyable experience for the child, not a fearsome activity or a punishment. Sometimes babies don’t eat because they are not as hungry as you’d like them to be. Different children have different metabolisms requiring less food. If your baby has regular visits to the pediatrician and is deemed to be progressing normally, don’t worry too much about his eating habits. If he is healthy, happy, and active, he is undoubtedly eating enough.

Don’t compare your child’s eating habits with those of other people’s children. Metabolisms differ and different families have different body types. If you and your spouse are normally thin (called ectomorphic body type), your child will most likely not eat as much as a neighbor’s child if the neighbors are big boned and stocky (called endomorphic body type). To make sure that your baby is eating as much as he should, consider following a few of the feeding suggestions given below.

Feed your baby on a schedule. He or she will get used to eating at a certain time and look forward to it.

• Don’t give snacks between meals, especially sweet ones. These can become preferred to the actual needed meal.
• Be patient when feeding the baby, even if he or she is resistant. The baby can sense your tension while feeding, and reject the food.
• If a baby refuses to eat at a scheduled meal, or eats less than expected, don’t offer any more food until the next scheduled feeding time. Hunger is a great incentive to eating.
• When you find foods that the baby likes, if they are nutritious, be sure to include them often when you plan the baby’s diet.
• When the child is very young, routine is important. Try to feed in the same place, in the same high chair, at each meal. This is comforting to the child. Of course this is not always possible. The key is “when possible.”

If your baby’s failure to eat properly results in considerable weight loss for his or her age, consult a pediatrician. Most children, however, will eat enough to maintain their health. Most parents find themselves worrying more about overeating and obesity as the children develop. As stated above, if your baby has regular checkups and is developing normally, don’t worry. Never force a child to eat. In a short time, as he enters the toddler stage and beyond, your concern will change from ensuring that he gets enough to eat, to ensuring that he avoids eating junk food.

You can read another article by Cathy here (Review of Best Baby Food Processors).

Parents have tons of things to worry about once they have a child. Not the least of which is their baby’s health. So, every few months when we take our baby to the doctor for a well-child appointment, we are eager to find out how our child is measuring up—quite literally! Parents are endlessly intrigued by their child’s height and weight and the percentiles of each.

Interestingly, most of my friends have babies that fall into two camps: very high on the weight charts or very low on them (sidebar: many parents like to say that their kids are “off the charts” but use of this term is a big pet peeve of mine. In reality, very, VERY few kids are actually off of the doctor’s charts. And if your child is, then chances are he/she has a serious problem of some kind. So, let’s agree to a moratorium on the “off the charts” talk ). I know very few people who have kids right in the middle. So, some of my friends are concerned that their kids are too heavy and may need to lose weight while others are desperately trying to help their children pack on the pounds. There’s a girl in my son’s music class who is in the 1^st percentile for weight, and I know two boys who are in the 99^th percentile. Whew!

But the big question is, what should you do if you find your child to be at either end of the spectrum? How are parents helping their kids gain weight? I have heard that avocados, peanut butter, and whole milk can help kids gain weight (if your child likes them). In terms of weight loss, I know that some doctors recommend switching kids to lowfat milk, cutting out all greasy foods and junk foods, and giving your kids lots of time for exercise. But I’m no expert on either issue since my son dropped from the top of the charts as a newborn to the middle of the charts as a 1-year-old.

If your child is underweight, how are you trying to help him gain weight? Conversely, if your child is on the heavy side, how are you helping her lose weight?

Thanks to Regan for this blog topic idea!