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What Causes Loss Of Appetite And Nausea In A Child?
Question: My 7 years old son is a fussy eater. He still has to be fed by parents hands and does not generally like to eat by himself. His energy levels and activity levels are still satisfactory.
Whenever we have tried to get him introduced to new foods, fruits etc he is unable to get used to them. So much so that he often vomits out the new type of food even if we add it in his diet without his knowledge.
Recently we observed this with XXXXXXX ayurvedic medicine Chaywanprash. Even if added to his diet without his knowledge - it would get vomitted immediately he detects the taste.
Is this some kind of psychological issue? How can we break this habit and make him to try a wholesome diet.
Its a huge task to give him his diet every day as almost everything has to be hand fed into his mouth.
Your advice would be helpful.
Regards,
XXXX
Whenever we have tried to get him introduced to new foods, fruits etc he is unable to get used to them. So much so that he often vomits out the new type of food even if we add it in his diet without his knowledge.
Recently we observed this with XXXXXXX ayurvedic medicine Chaywanprash. Even if added to his diet without his knowledge - it would get vomitted immediately he detects the taste.
Is this some kind of psychological issue? How can we break this habit and make him to try a wholesome diet.
Its a huge task to give him his diet every day as almost everything has to be hand fed into his mouth.
Your advice would be helpful.
Regards,
XXXX
Brief Answer:
You need to be supportive.
Detailed Answer:
Thankks for asking on HealthcareMagic.
I have gone through your query and understand your concerns. I do not think that this is a psychological issue. Rather, it is more likely that the excess salivation and the exaggerated gag reflex is responsible for the child throwing up. Rather than giving items like chawanprash which have a strong and discrete taste, it would be more preferable to experiment with things that taste similar but could differ slightly in consitency, taste, texture, hotness or coldness etc. You can gradually bring these changes so that there is no abrupt change in the nature of the food and hopefully the child will adjust. You need to be supportive and need to give it some time.
Each child is unique and they need your support in adapting to the changes. As regards the daily feeding exercise, tell him stories, make him shift his focus, set a grade of non-food rewards (of items which perhaps you would have given him anyway), avoid punishments. Find an exercise that he enjoys. Tell him that you will allow him to do it if he takes the food a certain number of times. Tell him that you will give him stars each time he eats without a fuss. After he collects a certain number of stars would would reimburse him with some simple reward (delayed gratification). If you do it properly you would gain proper cooperation from him. You can definitely visit a child psychologist and he would be able to suggest other methods about how to deal with such children.
Let me know if I could help further.
Regards
You need to be supportive.
Detailed Answer:
Thankks for asking on HealthcareMagic.
I have gone through your query and understand your concerns. I do not think that this is a psychological issue. Rather, it is more likely that the excess salivation and the exaggerated gag reflex is responsible for the child throwing up. Rather than giving items like chawanprash which have a strong and discrete taste, it would be more preferable to experiment with things that taste similar but could differ slightly in consitency, taste, texture, hotness or coldness etc. You can gradually bring these changes so that there is no abrupt change in the nature of the food and hopefully the child will adjust. You need to be supportive and need to give it some time.
Each child is unique and they need your support in adapting to the changes. As regards the daily feeding exercise, tell him stories, make him shift his focus, set a grade of non-food rewards (of items which perhaps you would have given him anyway), avoid punishments. Find an exercise that he enjoys. Tell him that you will allow him to do it if he takes the food a certain number of times. Tell him that you will give him stars each time he eats without a fuss. After he collects a certain number of stars would would reimburse him with some simple reward (delayed gratification). If you do it properly you would gain proper cooperation from him. You can definitely visit a child psychologist and he would be able to suggest other methods about how to deal with such children.
Let me know if I could help further.
Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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