What parents need to know about eating disorders
With the new year, many of us have resolved to lose unwanted weight. We'll try fad diets, workout to extremes and obsess over the numbers on our scales. So, it's probably no coincidence that National Eating Disorder Awareness Week is recognized the third week in February, hoping to balance the well-intentioned resolutions with the very real results of going too far.
During this important week, parents may be asking themselves how concerned they should be when they find their children also fixated on body image and the accompanying sense of self-worth.
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 42% of first- through third-grade girls want to be thinner than they are. Eighty-one percent of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat. And 46% of children between the ages of 9 and 11 are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets.
“We are definitely seeing an influx of young patients with eating disorders,” said Dr. Lacey Lemke, clinical psychologist and director of the Amita Health Center for Eating Disorders. “Though our program serves children 11 years and older, we have referred some as young as 8 years old for help.”
Lemke said she believes increased access to social media and bullying by peers have played parts in the increase.
“These children often talk about the impact that celebrities and social media have on their own self-image,” she said. “The younger we can catch the behavior, the better the outcome can be.”
Eating disorders are generally categorized as:
• Anorexia nervosa — severely limiting how much and what types of food are eaten.
• Bulimia nervosa — uncontrolled episodes of binging, followed by a means of purging, such as self-induced vomiting.
• Binge eating disorder — uncontrolled, eating an abnormally large amount of food in a short amount of time.
• Avoidant or restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) — extreme aversion or fear around certain foods or food groups.
• Other specified feeding or eating disorders.
Warning signs
Though many children can be considered picky eaters, there are signs parents should watch for to ensure their child isn't developing an eating disorder:
• Abnormal eating patterns, such as skipped or picked over meals or missing food.
• Unexplained weight loss.
• Restricting food intake, such as cutting back on food or skipping meals completely.
• Expressions of feeling fat and a focus on body shape.
• Overly excessive exercise.
• Consuming food secretly.
• Going to the bathroom immediately after meals.
The biggest indicator, she said, is a change in growth, such as falling below the norms for weight and height for their age group.
“It's never about the food,” Lemke said. “That's the most important message for parents. It's a matter of mental health. Telling your kids to ‘just eat' isn't going to help; it's about something deeper, understanding the child's emotional struggle.”
If you suspect your child could be dealing with an eating disorder, Lemke says a good place to start is with your pediatrician, who can determine if they're falling behind in growth and development. In addition, services such as the Amita Health Center for Eating Disorders are available 24/7 for consultation, as well.
• Children's health is a continuing series. This week's article is courtesy of Amita Health. For more information, visit care.amitahealth.org/eatingdisorders