Arfid - what to do?

[CatOnJupiter]

I've posted on here before about dd5's weight gain issues. We are still struggling with this. She has actually lost weight again and is still below the 1st centile.

We've done all possible health checks (that us and gp could think of) and everything seems to be fine. No health issues that are causing her lack of appetite/ lack of weight gain. So it has to be behavioural, ie it has to be something that we have done to make eating very unpleasant for her.

Anyway, someone suggested arfid (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) and it really fits her well especially this (taken from the beat website): "In some cases, the person may not recognise that they are hungry in the way that others would, or they may generally have a poor appetite. For them, eating might seem a chore and not something that is enjoyed, resulting in them struggling to eat enough. Such people may have restricted intake because of low interest in eating."

I just don't know what to do next? How do we deal with this? And how do we get her to eat more?

Does anyone have any experience with this? Any have any children with arfid? What did you? How do you get a child to want to eat or at least to not hate it so much?

Just bumping. Does anyone have any idea?

Get your GP to refer to a dietician. DS was given weight gain high calorie drinks on prescription and also extra calories via a powder added to his food.

@CatOnJupiter ive treated children with arfid and quite a few end up being tube fed for a period of time because their growth can be affected.

Have you spoken to your GP about what you think it is ? Sorry you're going through this

I have this. I have high calorie milkshakes on prescription that has actually allowed me to have a healthy weight for once.

There’s a national specialist camhs team that sees children with Arfid at the Maudsley not sure where you are but might be worth asking for advice. You would likely need to see camhs for an assessment which I realise is easier said than done.