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Kids Who Won't Eat: How to Help Children with Eating Disorders
The cheerful drawings depicted carrots, broccoli, and other vegetables, and the childish scrawl over them read, "Good Foods!" When 9-year-old Lily showed them to her mother, Maria Adams, one spring afternoon, Adams did what any health-conscious mom might: She grinned with pride. "Lily and her friend had started 'The Healthy Eating Club,' and this was their information packet," says Adams, of Columbia, South Carolina. "I was big on natural foods, smart fats, that sort of thing. I thought, 'How cute that she's taking after me.'"
Even more impressive was Lily's follow-through. Later that day, Adams served the girls a snack of ice cream. As her playmate gobbled it up, Lily primly pushed the bowl away. "It's a bad food, Mom," she said. Over the next few weeks, Lily started refusing all treats, and at mealtime, she moved more food around her plate than she put in her mouth. "I'm not hungry" or "I just want to eat healthy," she'd say, when her parents pressed her. After a few months passed and her pickiness persisted, Adams talked to Lily's pediatrician, who connected the family with a psychologist and a dietitian. The dietitian calculated that Lily was eating only 700 calories a day -- less than a third of what she needed. Adams supervised mealtime more closely, but when she managed to force her daughter to eat more than a few bites of vegetables or bread, Lily would ramp up her activity, racing her bike up and down their street, or sneaking in extra laps after swim practice. "It was like Lily suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to move," says Adams, who requested that we not use her or her daughter's real name for this story.
Within a year, Lily had grown 3 inches, but had not gained a single pound. She dropped from the 80th percentile to the 40th percentile on the growth chart. Previously a muscular little girl, she now had a jutting collarbone, prominent ribs, and a new layer of fine hair on her arms -- lanugo, which the body grows as a way to help regulate its temperature. Barely out of third grade, she was diagnosed as having anorexia.
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MOMS HELPING MOMS WORK FROM HOME! This is totally awesome! If there are any one in the U.S. or Canada who would love to work from home with a LEGIT health and welnes company then I highly suggest going to www.mommyathome.awugreen.com. You will NEVER touch inventory or Sell anything.
8/4/2011 09:09:25 PM Report AbuseEating Disorders, Media Portrayals, & the Well-Being of Small Children: http://jennyteacups.blogspot.com/2010/12/eating-disorders-media-portrayals-well.html
12/20/2010 08:32:47 PM Report AbuseWay to go Parents Magazine for reporting the only evidence-based treatment - the Maudsley method! Standard therapy is outdated, ineffective, and costly in dollars and your child's health! Research based Maudsley has recovery rates far superior and with fewer relapses. Try these books Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder, Eating with Your Anorexic, Brave Girl Eating, and Give Food a Chance. Maudsleyparents..org and F.E.A.S.T. has an incredible forum called Around the Dinner Table.
12/18/2010 06:47:31 PM Report AbuseI was interviewed for this story 2 years ago. At that time, I felt that Anorexia Nervosa was a chronic illness which had to be managed for life. Two years later, I don't feel that way. Our daughter is so fully recovered and living a normal life that I now believe that it is possible to fully recover from an ED. I believe that as long as my daughter keeps up her nutrition, stays at her target weight and manages stress in her life, she can live as a healthy person for the rest of her life. Maria
12/18/2010 10:47:04 AM Report AbuseI am Maria, the Mom in this story. I had a solid team of professionals working with us. However, our daughter would have not recovered as completely as she did had it not been for the support of FEAST, the organization mentioned by mamame and redhedgehog. Feast's Around The Dinner Table Forum helped me to apply the Maudsley philosophy in a practical way. The parents in the forum guided me day by day through the process of feeding our daughter to recovery.
12/18/2010 10:45:09 AM Report AbuseWhat an interesting article. My family and beautiful daughter have too been going through this awful process - it is a pernicious disease for any poor child (or adult). Thank goodness I found the informative, caring support I needed at FEAST & its 'ATDT' parents' forum (http://www.aroundthedinnertable.org).
12/18/2010 07:22:31 AM Report AbuseI'm so glad Maria's family found out about the Maudsley Method. Excellent support and up to date, accurate information about eating disorders for is available at http://www.feast-ed.org/ which has a parent support forum http://www.aroundthedinnertable.org/ especially good for families using the Maudsley Method.
12/17/2010 06:34:33 PM Report Abuse