# Eating Problem in Children

- Category: chronic
- Review status: reviewed (every claim checked against a document named on this page)
- Sources: ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) - condition scope only, no dose · No dose - no medicine is given for this in primary care
- Verified date: 2026-08

## Verified against

- No dose - no medicine is given for this in primary care

## Treatment metadata

- No drug therapy in primary care (Assessment & Advice)

## Complete treatment card

```text
EATING PROBLEM IN CHILDREN
Sources: ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) - condition scope
         only, no dose · No dose - no medicine is given for this in primary care
Review status: REVIEWED against the source listed above  (2026-08)

IS IT THIS? - reference only, to read alongside your own examination
  SYMPTOMS - what the patient reports (10)
    - Choking, vomiting or bringing food back up suggests a blockage or a motility problem
      [vomiting]
    - Refusing food may mean allergy, intolerance, or a sensory aversion
    - Ask about feeding milestones, such as moving from purees on to solids
    - Ask the carer how the infant is fed, with what technique, and in what position
    - In older children ask about mealtime tantrums and refusal, and about emotional or psychiatric
      symptoms  [temper tantrum]
    - In adolescents ask about body image, eating patterns, bingeing, restricting and over-
      exercising
    - Ask how carer and child get on at meals, and about family strain, mental illness or stress at
      home
    - Unpredictable routines or not enough food in the house belong in the history
    - For an infant, go back to pregnancy and birth: maternal illness, delivery problems, gestation,
      birth defects
    - Ask too about breathing or neurological disorders, past admissions, feeding tubes and special
      formulas
  SIGNS - what you find (7)
    - Look for unusual facial features or a cleft palate, small jaw, or uneven face
    - Check the back of the nose and the mouth for structural abnormality
    - A tongue of abnormal size or tone, or a poorly coordinated swallow, means oral-motor
      dysfunction
    - Signs of undernutrition: low weight for age, wasted muscle, skin changes
    - The abdomen may be tender, the bowel sounds altered, or a mass palpable
    - An olive-shaped mass in an infant points to pyloric stenosis  [stricture]
    - Test tone, strength and coordination, which may uncover cerebral palsy or a stroke
      [paralysis]
  TESTS (7)
    - Assessment has to cover four areas: medical, nutritional, feeding skills, and behaviour and
      family
    - A modified barium or videofluoroscopic swallow looks for blockage, aspiration or swallowing
      difficulty
    - Oesophageal manometry separates primary from secondary causes of difficulty swallowing
    - Endoscopy watches the pharynx and larynx while food is being swallowed
    - Allergy testing where food allergy is a possibility
    - Head CT when a stroke is the suspected cause
    - Bloods to gauge nutrition and to pick up deficiency or anaemia
  IF NOT THIS - what else fits (1)
    - Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are separate: they turn on disturbed body image
  Source  StatPearls "Pediatric Feeding Disorders: Recognition, Diagnosis, and Management" -
          disease-level clinical article
  Status  traced to the source above

1. NO DRUG THERAPY IN PRIMARY CARE (ASSESSMENT & ADVICE)  [1st line]
   Adult    Covers feeding difficulty or food refusal in children, most often behavioural or a
            normal phase of picky eating; the GP assesses growth and offers feeding advice,
            referring to a paediatrician or dietitian if growth falters or a medical cause is
            suspected. - Assessment and advice
   Peds     Children follow the same pathway: assessment, explanation and follow-up. No primary-care
            medicine is implied.
   Source   No dose - no medicine is given for this in primary care
   Why      Covers feeding difficulty or food refusal in children, most often behavioural or a
            normal phase of picky eating; the GP assesses growth and offers feeding advice,
            referring to a paediatrician or dietitian if growth falters or a medical cause is
            suspected.
   Caution  No medicine is prescribed for this in primary care. The value of the consultation is
            recognition, explanation and follow-up, and referral if the red flags above appear.
            RED FLAG - Faltering growth or weight loss, persistent vomiting or difficulty
            swallowing, or signs of an underlying medical illness such as reflux or food allergy:
            refer for assessment.

Prices are indicative (dataset snapshot 2026-06); verify with the pharmacy.
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Dawaa Reference is a reference for prescribers, not a medical device, and does not replace clinical judgement.

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