A child who has great difficulty eating certain foods due to their texture, color, smell or taste may have an eating disorder, which needs to be identified and treated correctly. Generally, these children show a strong aversion to some foods, wanting to vomit or throwing tantrums to avoid eating.
It is normal for almost all children to go through a phase of decreased appetite around the age of 2, which ends up resolving without any specific treatment. However, children with eating disorders tend to show greater selectivity in what they eat right from the introduction of the first foods, not being able to vary much in the type of food they eat, or in the way they prepare these foods.
Main childhood eating disorders
Although they are uncommon, there are some eating disorders that can cause a child to only eat a certain type of food, with a certain texture or at a certain temperature:
1. Restrictive or selective eating disorder
It is a type of disorder that usually appears in childhood or adolescence, but can also appear or persist into adulthood. In this disorder, the child limits the amount of food or avoids its consumption based on their experience, color, aroma, flavor, texture and presentation.
The main signs and symptoms of this disorder are:
- Significant weight loss or difficulty reaching the ideal weight, depending on your age;
- Refusal to eat certain textures of food;
- Restriction of the type and quantity of food consumed;
- Lack of appetite and lack of interest in food;
- Very restrictive food selection, which can worsen over time;
- Fear of eating after an episode of vomiting or choking;
- Presence of gastrointestinal symptoms such as stomach upset, constipation or abdominal pain.
These children tend to have problems relating to others due to their eating problems and may have significant nutritional deficiencies that affect their growth and development, as well as their performance in school.
Find out more details about this selective eating disorder.
2. Sensory processing disorder
This disorder is a neurological condition where the brain has difficulty receiving and responding appropriately to information that comes from the senses such as touch, taste, smell or sight. The child may be affected in just one or more senses, and therefore a child with this disorder may respond exaggeratedly to any stimulus of the senses, making certain sounds, certain types of tissue, physical contact with certain objects and even some types of food.
When taste is affected, the child may present:
In this case, the child has extreme food preferences, with very little food variation, may be picky about brands, resists trying new foods and cannot eat at other people’s houses, avoiding spicy, spicy foods, sweets or salads.
It is possible that he will only eat foods with a soft consistency, pureed or liquid, after the age of 2, and he may find foods with other textures strange. You may also have difficulty sucking, chewing or swallowing for fear of choking. And you may resist or refuse to go to the dentist, complaining about the use of toothpaste and mouthwash.
In this situation, the child may prefer foods with an intense flavor, such as excessively spicy, sweet, bittersweet or salty, even feeling that the food does not have enough seasoning. And you can say that all foods have the ‘same taste’.
It is also possible that they chew, taste or lick inedible objects, frequently eating their hair, shirt or fingers. Unlike oral hypersensitivity, children with this disorder may like electric toothbrushes, enjoy going to the dentist, and drool excessively.
When to go to the doctor
In cases where signs and symptoms of an eating disorder are evident, the ideal is to seek help from a pediatrician as soon as possible, so that the change can be assessed. In addition to the pediatrician, an evaluation by a speech therapist and even a psychologist may also be recommended, who can carry out therapies that help the child to slowly get used to new foods.
This type of therapy can be called systematic desensitization, and consists of introducing foods and objects into the child’s daily life that help them overcome the type of disorder that has been identified. There is also a therapy called “Wilbarger Protocol in the mouth”, where various techniques are carried out to help the child develop greater sensory integration.
A consultation with a nutritionist is also recommended, due to food restrictions, which can cause poor nutrition, and an individualized nutritional plan must be drawn up, with the possibility of using supplements to provide the calories the body needs.
What to do to make your child eat everything
Some practical advice to get your child to eat a greater variety of foods or in greater quantities are:
- Offer new foods preferably when the child is hungry, as they will be better accepted;
- For the child to accept new foods, you must try to get them to eat these foods, not giving up before trying around 8 to 10 times, on different days;
- Combine favorite foods with less popular ones;
- The child usually eats better if he chooses some foods at the meal, at least 2;
- Prevent the child from drinking a lot of fluids immediately before meals;
- The time to eat should not be less than 20 minutes and more than 30 minutes, enough time for the child to recognize the feeling of satiety in their body;
- If the child does not want to eat, he should not be punished, because this reinforces the negative behavior, the plate should be removed and he can leave the table, but at the next meal he should be offered nutritious food;
- It is important that the child and family are seated at the table, calmly, and it is important to have fixed times for meals;
- Take the child to buy food at the market and help with choosing and preparing meals and how they are served;
- Read short stories and stories about food.
Check out these and other tips in the following video:
In cases where a disorder is evident, it is possible that the process of regulating eating habits takes weeks, months and, sometimes, years of treatment before your child can enjoy food in a ‘normal’ way, have adequate nutrition and adapt, It is very important to seek help from health professionals, such as a pediatrician and psychologist, for these situations.
