I see a number of patients in my outpatient clinic. 8 out of 10 times the parent wants to know if there is some medicine to make their child eat better.

If you are one of them, read on.

Firstly there is no medicine to create hunger. So if you have been given medicine by either " english medicine doctor " or " Ayurveda" doctor then it is of no use.

Children always eat when they want to eat and how much they want to eat. This notion of my child has to eat a lot to be healthy is only going to lead to long term obesity and bad eating habits.

Steps to help your child eat well (not more food):

1. From a young age make sure that children get to eat by themselves. This should begin as early as 1 yr and definitely, most children should be eating by themselves at 2 yrs of age.

2. Children food still should contain a lot of carbohydrates, so if you are expecting your child to eat all vegetables all the time please rethink.

3. Distracted feeding (eating while watching TV or any electronic device) should be avoided. NOT BY THE CHILD BUT BY THE PARENTS. Children eat more and tend to get obese when they eat by distraction.

4. To help yourself please do not ask the doctor for " medicine to make a child eat better". As plenty of parents ask for this, the pharmaceutical industry has started promoting some preparations for the same. But I don't think that these are well-established methods to "create hunger"

5. Instead, the best help would be to learn from other parents and kids who eat well. Eat with the whole family. Eat without electronic distraction. Eat on time. 

All the above statements are my own observations and suggestions for healthy eating.