Patient's question:
My daughter is a little over one year old and can already walk. However, she loves eating things she finds on the ground and doesn't listen when I tell her not to, nor does punishment help. How should I educate her?Doctor's answer:
Hello! "Pica" or "" refers to a special preference that gradually emerges in infants and young children during the process of eating, where they engage in uncontrollable chewing and swallowing of foreign objects that are not supposed to be consumed. The etiology of pica is not yet fully understood, but clinical research has found that some children with iron deficiency anemia and a portion of those lacking zinc exhibit pica behavior. When their anemia and zinc deficiency are corrected, the symptoms of pica also disappear. Therefore, in clinical practice, administering iron supplements or supplementing zinc in the diet of children with pica sometimes yields significant therapeutic effects.Pica in children is a psychological abnormality characterized by compulsive behavior, often associated with parental neglect in caring for the child or an abnormal environment. Initially, children may take foreign objects to eat due to a lack of attention, which can gradually become a habit and develop into an. Thus, it is important to provide more care for the child and avoid treating their abnormal behavior with simplicity or harshness.