Dawaa Reference

Clinical reference

Eating Problem in Children

Treatment options, dosing, cautions and Egyptian brands from the shipped Dawaa Reference card.

Evidence status

Checked against the sources named below

Sources2 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 against1 document
  • No dose - no medicine is given for this in primary care

Verified date2026-08

Presentation reference

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

SourceStatPearls "Pediatric Feeding Disorders: Recognition, Diagnosis, and Management" - disease-level clinical article

Presentation findings are traced to the source above.

1

NO DRUG THERAPY IN PRIMARY CARE (ASSESSMENT & ADVICE)

1st line
Adult dose and duration

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

Paediatric dose

Children follow the same pathway: assessment, explanation and follow-up. No primary-care medicine is implied.

Dose 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.

Cautions
  • 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.