Picky Eating: 6 year old boy with anorexia
A 6-year-old boy in the UK is the youngest person to be treated for anorexia. MetroDad at Babble writes:
According to an article from the UK’s Evening Standard, a study released today reveals that a six-year-old is the youngest boy to be treated for anorexia. The NHS study shows that in 2003, UK hospitals made 93 admissions of boys under 10 with eating problems, compared with 21 admissions of girls. While most of the girls were treated for eating disorders that were similar to those encountered by their older counterparts, the young boys were more likely to be suffering from selective eating, where they will only eat a very narrow range of foods.
From the time he was two years old, six-year-old Nicholas Pilcher ate nothing but cheese spread (Daieylea) for four years. While “sucessfully” treated at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, Nicholas (who is no 15) still has difficulties with eating and “struggleses to eat vegetables and eats soft cheese on all his sandwiches.” The Evening Standard also notes:
Dr Jon Goldin, a consultant child psychiatrist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: “There is a whole range of eating disorders that young children suffer from, including compulsive overeating, food phobias or fear of swallowing, and refusing to eat.
“Young boys are more likely to be suffering from selective eating, where they will only eat a very narrow range of foods.
“You do rarely get some who have the problem into adulthood.”
The statistics show that in 2003 hospitals made 93 admissions of boys under 10 with eating problems, compared with 21 admissions of girls. The number of individuals may be lower, with some children having multiple admissions.
A lot autistic children are picky eaters and seem to live on one or two foods (chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese). My own son eats a wide range of foods, thanks to a lot of teaching and coaxing and encouraging, though he often tends to want to eat only a limited number of things. I am not saying, of course, that autistic kids who are selective eaters have anorexia. While Malcolm Pilcher, Nicholas’ father, says that “‘We never got a conclusion on why he ate the way he did,’” I wonder what possible causes doctors and medical professionals might have considered.
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POSTED IN: Anorexia, Food and Diet
22 opinions for Picky Eating: 6 year old boy with anorexia
Leila
Jun 21, 2007 at 8:21 pm
I think anorexia is a totally different disorder from food selectivity. Anorexics may like a variety of foods, but they won’t eat because they are afraid to look fat. It’s a distortion in the way they see themselves, and not aversion to the flavor of particular foods.
If you have selective eating - like many of the autistic kids do - they might eat a good amount of food, but only the types that they like. My son as a toddler would eat an adult-size portion of things he liked, but he will skip a meal altogether if he does not like what is offered (OR if it looks a little “different”). He will only accept ONE BRAND of some of the foods he likes.
Maria
Jun 21, 2007 at 8:25 pm
When my daughter was younger, she preferred crunchy and crispy over soft and “slimy”.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 21, 2007 at 8:52 pm
I’m not entirely sure if Nicholas in the article had anorexia as you describe it Leila—-definitely food selectivity; not so much was said about Nicholas’ perceptions of himself or of his body.
Charlie is showing a definite preference for only one kind of soy ice cream—-and only in vanilla.
Daisy
Jun 21, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Then you have the children who are so dependent on routine that they must eat the same way at each meal — Amigo insisted on “Exactly 3 Foods” for years.
Aidoann
Jun 22, 2007 at 12:06 am
Anorexia is not eating enough and anyone can struggle with anorexia. Food selectivity seems to be fairly common among people on the autism spectrum.
For me, it’s not the taste of the food that matters, but the texture. I dislike the texture of bananas, but I really like things with a lot of banana in them.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 22, 2007 at 12:21 am
That’s really interesting—my son likes to eat frozen food while still frozen.
Lolasmom
Jun 22, 2007 at 12:29 am
Hmm. It’s not the first time we’ve seen autism linked to anorexia. Prof. Gillberg discussed the link between anorexia and ASD in girls, finding that a substantial portion of anorexic girls show ASD symptoms making them less receptive to typical eating-disorder treatments. See http://www.news-medical.net/?id=11436. (I found their short-hand version of why autistics don’t respond to family therapy offensive.) In other articles, Gillberg goes on to say that the girl/boy ratio may have to do with the different way girls present with ASD syptoms, i.e. fixation with counting calories is a manifestation of autistic perseverative behavior. See news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4630705.stm.
Anecdotally, the few girls I’ve known with anorexia have certainly seemed like BAP’s - slightly obsessive interests, socially reserved, sensory sensitivities, etc. Of course, its hard to tell what comes first - after all, anorexics work so hard to hide their disorder, that the secretiveness can turn into a shunning of all socialization.
Laura Collins
Jun 22, 2007 at 6:28 am
Some day - soon I hope - we will look back aghast at how crude our ability to diagnose and understand brain function has been.
Eating disorders are brain disorders, and clearly share traits or etiology with ASD. Better research and understanding of either will benefit both!
Aidoann
Jun 22, 2007 at 11:32 am
Wow… come to think of it, I used to like to eat frozen peas and carrots when I was younger, too, as well as licking pieces of ice.
-Aidoann
If You Deep Fry It, They May Eat It
Jun 24, 2007 at 12:44 pm
[...] foods leads me to wonder, if a deep fryer in every kitchen might be the way to solve the problem of picky eating habits; the cholesterol-endangering consequences of course make me nix such an idea just after formuating [...]
freya
Oct 28, 2007 at 12:15 pm
i went to school with him he always said he didn’t eat lots of things because he had his tonsils out aged 2 and went on to soft foods then and just couldn’t get off them. At the time no one in the class knew he was ASD though i thought he had it and wished i had that excuse myself being a very picky eater with anorexic tendancies (weight etc) and i’ve now been diagnosed with ASD
paige
May 19, 2008 at 8:24 pm
i am doing a study about anorexia and bulinia it is intresting to read about this toipc and the symtoms
paige
May 19, 2008 at 8:26 pm
and i am contuning this topic i always thought i wasent skini but after i heard about wat has happend to these boys and girls im happy the way i am
paige
May 19, 2008 at 8:27 pm
plz reply and say wat u thing
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 19, 2008 at 9:06 pm
@paige, thanks for writing here. I do think that anorexia is different from autism, though there are some overlaps as far as obsessive-compulsiveness, a need for control, and anxiety.
@freya, thanks so much for sharing that—-a lot to think about.
Storkdok
May 19, 2008 at 9:32 pm
My son definitely is a severe “picky eater” with less than 10 things he will eat for years. It is because of food texture, he now tells me. He is very skinny, hard to find clothes that don’t fall off him but are tall enough. We have tried to broaden his variety for years, and I am celebrating his eating pizza now for a few months!
I understand the texture problems. He would actually vomit if he chewed a texture he didn’t like/tolerate. I hated onions as a child, had a very limited diet, but the texture of onions was/is horrible! The “crunch” of a cooked onion is like no other. No one could or can hide it. My mother used to try, still does. Says she cut them up small, but is never small enough if not made into a paste. If I bite them, I vomit, the “onion crunch” is so repulsive to me. I like the onion taste, just not the crunch! So I understand my son’s aversion to certain textures. I am just hoping that he will, like me, eventually eat a variety of foods with only a few textures that are verboten.
I do think anorexia is not the same as a severe picky eater, which is not a body image problem. Probably, as you suggest, more of an OCD and anxiety issue, as well as a sensory issue.
Regan
May 19, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I’m not an expert, but I have one daughter with autism who has gone through various phases of picky eating (which she seems to have outgrown–knock on wood), and the other with anorexia, almost requiring hospitalization refeeding on 2 occasions (ditto). Although superficially I can see resemblances, and both share strong respondent and operant variables, my comment is that if you have a child with anorexia, you’ll know it and also know that it is a very different beast than selective eating and that anorexia is very scary both for the lengths of food refusal but also incredibly disordered thinking beyond simple body image issues, compounded by physical starvation.
As I said, not an expert, but with some first hand experience.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 19, 2008 at 10:12 pm
These are two weblogs about anorexia and eating disorders:
http://eatingwithyouranorexic.blogspot.com/
http://www.breakingthemirror.com/
freya
May 23, 2008 at 1:31 pm
since my previous comment and my diagnosis with ASD. I’ve suffered further with eating. I have though however come to the conclusion that my ASD effects the way i persieve my body and what others think of me and i also take things to extremes and have constant battles with numbers (often seen as ocd which is also linked to asperger’s) for instance a girl who is not fat says “I’m fat” perhaps i took this to mean fat was smaller than fat is. Hence this is drummed into me through teenage life and i am not happy with my body. However I have not liked my legs since i was 5…maybe i compare more than other small children did and the was Autism can affect the senses may have effected how i saw and responded to other children’s size.
Just something to think about.
hannah
Jun 6, 2008 at 9:59 am
i think that being anorexic is horrible and it makes you look really unhealthy.
my opinion is its not right and its making over weight people like me fell horrible xx
freya
Jun 10, 2008 at 12:38 pm
yes ok…but you have to remember it’s an illness not something someone is diliberatley doing to upset you, and yes it is unhealthy as is being overweight or even beig a normal weight if you don’t get the right vitamins etc.
xxxpaigexxx
Jun 17, 2008 at 12:30 am
this is a horrible thing to go through even stick thing they see themselvs as fa. they think every1 is agenst them because thay are trying to make them eat and gain weight while they think they are fat a very good book i read was
”anoxeris and bulimia”‘
it has real life storys about each topic from people ranging from the age of 13-35 its a realy good book and i realy think every1 should read it
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