My 3.5-year-old has reflux and dislikes eating. Please help.

Question

Hi doctor,

My son is 3.5 years old and has reflux problem. He vomits almost everyday. There is no pattern to his vomiting. I am failed to understand that what triggers it. He is never hungry and does not like to eat.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com,

The problem here does not seem to be reflux but it seems to be more of a behavior issue. Children this age are usually content with chips, chocolates, outside food and beverages that they get and do not want to eat home cooked food and often behave like this. The only way out in these cases is to stop intake of these outside food items and wait and watch. Do not give even if the child keeps crying. Also, do not force the child to eat anything initially. Let the child get hungry. Eventually over a period of a month or so, the child will realize that his demands of outside food are not being met and the only way to satisfy hunger is home cooked food. This is a slow, gradual and painful process (painful for the parents) but it works well. Also start the child on supplements like syrup Calcimax P (Calcium) 5 ml twice a day and syrup Zincovit (multivitamin) 5 ml once a day for 3 months (to drink at least 0.26 gallons of water daily with the above medications).