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Is Zinconia Advisable For A 3-year-old With Poor Appetite And Poor Weight Gain?

Posted on Wed, 5 Dec 2018

Question: My child has poor weight gain and a bad eater. She often gets cold and cough, fever.pediatrician has advised to start zinconia syrup for immunity. My baby is 3years old and her weight is 11.3kg.please suggest should I give her 5ml of zinconia daily. I googled and got that zinconia is for XXXXXXX disease. Her activities and all are perfectly normal.its just the question of immunity and bad weight gain. Please suggest.

Answered by Dr. Pradeep Kumar Jain (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
You can give Zinc for 2 weeks, get one opinion from dietician

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

Most babies at this age are fussy eaters and because of increased playful activity the demand is more. This demand is not met properly if they don't eat adequately. Your child's weight is 11.3 kg which is borderline low for this age.

Here, I would request you to encourage him with frequent small high calorie foods. You can consult a dietitian for a proper diet chart based on certain questionnaire.

Also, you may get few investigations done like hemoglobin, iron studies and vitamin D/calcium level after consulting your pediatrician. Most of the babies in this age are deficient of these mineral and vitamins. Supplementation of iron, calcium and vitamin d also helps in proper growth.

You can give Zinc as it helps in improving immunity. It's not like zinc can be given only in XXXXXXX disease where there is some problem in copper metabolism. Zinc can be given 20 mg daily for 14 days.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Regards,
Dr. Pradeep Kumar
Pediatrician, Cardiology

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pradeep Kumar Jain (36 hours later)

Thanks a lot Doctor. I will give her zinconia 5ml once daily for 14days.To increase the immunity,what else can be done. Kindly advice.

Answered by Dr. Pradeep Kumar Jain (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Good diet is sufficient to provide immunity

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

Good nutrition is the key source of maintaining immunity. Supplement is needed only when there is immunodeficiency.
So I suggest that you not worry much. Consult a dietitian and pediatrician for a diet plan and rule out iron or vitamin-D deficiency which is common at this age.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Pradeep Kumar
Pediatrician, Cardiology

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad