Contents:
- Medical Video: 10 Foods You Should Never Eat
- Why are child cancer patients having difficulty eating?
- 1. Serve the food beautifully and unique
- 2. Invite children to prepare food
- 3. Eat a little but often
- 4. Increase the taste of food with spices
- 5. Make mealtime fun
Medical Video: 10 Foods You Should Never Eat
In addition to being in its infancy, child cancer patients must also maintain regular eating patterns and get balanced nutrition. Unfortunately, many child cancer patients whose appetite actually decreases so they have difficulty eating. This is feared to affect the healing process of cancer. Then how to persuade pediatric cancer patients to continue to eat?
Why are child cancer patients having difficulty eating?
In general, cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgery can have an impact on the loss of one's appetite, including children. Cancer itself can also make children lose their appetite.
In some cases, children may also experience it kaheksia syndrome, namely a series of symptoms in cancer patients characterized by loss of appetite, drastic weight loss, anemia, and nausea.
Parents and caregivers should keep trying all the ways so that children want to eat. The reason is, children who do not want to eat may just lack the calorie intake and nutrients that the body needs to fight cancer cells in the body.
Then how do you persuade a child cancer patient to eat heartily without stressing him? Check out the tips below.
1. Serve the food beautifully and unique
Beautifying the appearance of food as creatively as possible, be it by arranging the colors of food or adding a unique dinner plate decoration can be a trick so that children are interested in eating.
For example, forming white rice into a white polar bear, complete with eyes and nose. Can also shape the food like his favorite movie character. However, make sure the food served is balanced and healthy.
To be more enthusiastic when eating, invite children to choose their own cutlery at the store. Children may choose cutlery with their favorite cartoon characters.
2. Invite children to prepare food
Try to get children involved in providing the food they want to eat. Let the child choose and arrange the food as desired.
If the child prepares food or cooks, he will be curious as to what the results of his work are cooking and finally want to eat. That way, it is expected appetite awakened without having to force the baby to eat.
A few tips, it's good that you do not make children eat alone in bed like people who are sick. If the physical condition of the child is still capable, invite the child to eat together with all family members in the dining room.
3. Eat a little but often
It's better to eat small portions but more often than having to eat a lot three times a day. Schedule a meal approximately every two or three hours.
When food enters the mouth, it should be chewed slowly until it is soft. Only after that can the food be swallowed. You can also add grated butter or cheese to food to increase the number of calories in a child's diet.
4. Increase the taste of food with spices
The food of sick people doesn't have to be chicken porridge and oatmeal that tastes tasteless. Better, add garlic, shallots, leeks, turmeric, cumin, curry, ginger, cinnamon, red or green pepper to add to the taste of the cuisine.
Avoid foods with flavor enhancers (MSG), spicy soup, too oily, too sweet, or foods that have high fat content so as not to cause interference in the stomach and digestion of children.
5. Make mealtime fun
Every now and then, try combining family meal times with exciting games. For example, while eating your family, you play guesswork or connect words. If the physical condition of a child cancer patient is strong enough, parents can also take him out of the house so that his appetite increases.
When eating, do not discuss anything that will remind the child about the disease. Make the meal time a "sterile" time from discussing cancer. Try talking about things that kids like like characters in comics, funny stories, and so on.
So that children do not associate meal time as a tormenting moment, you should also not yell at children to eat, scold if the food does not run out, or yell when the child does not quickly eat.
