Early Childhood Eating Disorders - What Are They?
Signs Of Feeding Disorder, Rumination Disorder And More

Early childhood eating disorders include feeding disorder, rumination disorder and pica. What does it take to prevent these eating disorders in children?

One of the most alarming aspects of children with eating disorders (ED's) is that these kinds of illnesses often predispose an infant or toddler to developing an ED during adolescence or even adulthood.

With early childhood eating disorders an added complication is the fact that they may not be able to verbalize (or even recognize) what's wrong. Heck, even some adults have a hard time with that ;)

Although eating disorders are very difficult to treat in young kids, the good news is that with early detection, you can learn to manage them effectively, and possibly even prevent teenage anorexia or bulimia.

Feeding Disorder And Adipsia - Early Childhood Eating Disorders

When talking about early childhood eating disorders, one type of feeding disorder is called adipsia where a child may lack the desire to drink liquids or simply not feel thirsty at all.

For the most part though, feeding disorder occurs when a child is unable - or refuses - to eat.

Also falling within this category are the picky eaters with food phobias who go for long periods of time without eating certain foods based on type, texture or color.

A child with food disorders may take a very long time to eat, or they might have difficulty swallowing, which is a separate condition known as pediatric dysphagia.

It's important not to confuse feeding disorder with anorexia. Although the two are similar in some ways, they are not the same thing.

All of these problems can cause a child to become malnourished very quickly, so medical treatment is imperative. Doctors will also advise if there are any psychological and/or behavioral issues that need to be addressed and treated.

Other Early Childhood Eating Disorders - Rumination Disorder, Pica

Rumination disorder and pica are other common eating disorders that occur during early childhood.

With pica, a child may refuse to eat food, but instead will consume objects such as paper, hair, string, plaster, etc. Read more about pica eating disorder.

Rumination disorder is usually diagnosed in children under one year old. Similar to chewing and spitting, an infant will regurgitate partially digested food and re-chew it. They might then spit it out, or swallow it a second time.

Not exactly pleasant, I know, but it is a genuine problem. The question is, how do we treat or prevent it?

Children often mimic the words and actions of their parents and as such, the parental role models in the family have a huge responsibility. They are shaping the child's body image, self esteem and his/her eating behaviors for life.

For this reason, developing your own healthy sense of self, plus improving communication and interaction with the child will go a long way to treating early childhood eating disorders. It could also prevent them from carrying it into adolescence and adulthood.

What is infant anorexia?

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