Pica
Channel: JAM paeds
Date: 16/11/2020

The term “pica” is derived from “Pica pica”, the Latin  word for the brown-billed magpie .(Shown on the background of title)This bird is famed for its habit of indiscriminate gathering and eating a variety of objects to satiate its hunger and curiosity. Pica refers to the persistent, compulsive craving for and the ingestion of substances usually considered inedible and the behavior is discordant with cultural practices and continues beyond the
normal developmental phase of occasional indiscriminate and experimental mouthing and swallowing over a period of at least one month . The condition is usually benign in children with normal intelligence but might have life threatening consequences.