Why does my son crave cement and not food?

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

As per the age of your child, his weight and height are fine. There is no stunting or wasting, indicating any malnutrition. The height of both parents would help in the assessment of his growth potential. Kindly mention the height of the mother and father also.

You have mentioned that he has pica, a condition in which a child craves non-nutritive substances like mud, cement, etc. It can happen when the child is anemic or has worms, for which you have given regular deworming and iron for treatment of anemia.

Have the symptoms subsided or still persisting? Have you ever gotten him investigated for anemia? If yes, can you please share the complete blood counts for the assessment of hemoglobin?

For the last six months, you have mentioned his bowel habits and abdominal distension. Is he having constipation? Passage of hard stools? Straining while defecating? Passage of streaks of blood in stools? Are the stools bulky, foul-smelling, sticky? Does he also complain of intermittent abdominal pain?

You have mentioned that the child is showing disinterest in eating. There are a lot of alternative and healthy options online that you can try to overcome monotony in food. Try making dishes that are colorful and incorporate his choices of vegetables at least every other day. You are doing right by incorporating chapati as a replacement for rice. But you need not rush. Give him time.

Since the age of five years, he has had allergic symptoms also. Is the condition controlled? Is he on any medications? If yes, please mention. Is there any history of asthma or allergy in the family also? Considering he has chronic symptoms, he needs to be investigated.

Please do CBC (complete blood count) with peripheral smear, Liver or kidney function tests, thyroid profile, and an abdominal ultrasound.

Kindly revert with the reports.

Thank you.