Signs That Your Child May Have An Eating Disorder

     We have all heard that eating disorders are dangerous – even life-threatening. They can occur in children, adolescents or adults and they can cause chronic poor health along with an increased risk of early death. They occur more often in girls and women (nine times more common in females), but it is important to remember that they can happen in young boys and, when they do, they can be subtle and hard to detect. Eating disorders can occur in both athletes and in non-athletic obese adolescents. In males, an eating disorder can present with intense body-building and use of muscle-enhancing drugs.

     A common eating disorder is anorexia with food restriction causing loss of weight and distorted body image of being fat when the child is obviously thin.
These children usually have an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Female athletes often can have problems with their menstrual cycle. Another eating disorder is bulimia in which a child’s weight may be normal or even above normal but the child goes through cycles of binge eating followed by trying to compensate for the binge by self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives or diet pills or excessive exercise. Another less common eating problem is food avoidance where the child doesn’t have body image distortion, doesn’t have fear of gaining weight but does severely avoid and restrict themselves from eating many foods because of other fears and concerns.

     One of the first signs of an eating disorder that parents can watch for is a lack of growth or weight gain in a young child or adolescent. At this age, growth should be obvious over a six-month period and, if the child doesn’t need new clothes, is actually smaller, has delayed puberty or has interrupted menstrual periods, the child needs to be evaluated by their caregiver.  A parent may hear repeated comments from the child about weight, eating, or dieting. There may be obsessive exercise or body image distortion (“I’m so fat!” when the child is actually thin; “I wish I had a better build” when the child is already very muscular).

     A child with an eating disorder can also have physical changes. Along with irregular periods, the child may have cold intolerance, dizziness, fainting, or complaints of chronic fatigue. They may complain of problems swallowing, recurring abdominal pain or constipation. They may have hair loss, bones that obviously protrude, swelling of their ankles, or erosion of their teeth enamel from vomiting.

     Treatment of eating disorders can involve not only the child’s physician but also a nutritionist and a psychologist or psychiatrist. Restoring weight by adequate food intake is the first goal. The child may need extra vitamins and minerals in addition to extra calories. Along with restoring weight and health, the psychological healing needs to be addressed. A system called family-based therapy has been proven to be effective and is used by many eating disorder centers in the country. Because these behaviors can be very difficult to treat and can easily recur, it can be important to have contact with a program which specializes in eating disorders, incorporates the necessary specialists and allows the patient to return during times of relapse.