Is this Arfid? Ds age 10

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My DS is almost 10 and has been 'fussy' since around 2/3. He has recently been very restrictive, saying he hates feeling full.

He eats 3 small meals a day. E.g.
Breakfast: 1 weetabix, small glass juice

Lunch: peanut butter sandwich on seedy bread, 1 x mini cucumber

Dinner: omelette (made with one egg), bread, radish, cucumber, rocket

He hates any kind of sauce so I will often make him a separate dinner. He often seems hungry but wont eat. Or he will stand at the fridge and eat some chocolate, but not take it to enjoy on sofa.

He tries to nibble his brothers food. Often nibbles cereal (dry).

Its just so hard knowing he is hungry but not allowing himself to eat. I'd say he is underweight.

He loves cooking. But we might bake cookies, and he will eat one. Our freezer is full of uneaten baked goods.

Not sure where to turn or how to help. Reading about Arfid and it rings bells. He also sometimes has anxiety around sleep & cant get to sleep.

Sorry- paragraph fail!

He might meet the criteria. I would ask to talk to the school nurse about your concerns if you are in the UK state system.

Dd is like this but she's autistic so I think that's the reason. The good news is that once they hit teen years it got a bit easier, mostly, though stress puts us back to square one.

I think my son has arfid. The only help we have had so far is 3 appointments with NHS dieticians over the years and an occupational therapist gave him oral motor exercises to try to desensitise his mouth.

For my ds there was lots of gagging and running away from food. Food really scared him. He is 13 and we are a good routine with what he eats, there is no stress around food, he eats what he eats and very occasionally will try something new. The dietician said I might have to accept he will always be like this.

I hope you can get some help. I went through my gp for the dietician and occupational therapist. But that was a long time ago things have probably changed now. I hope you can get some help or reassurance from someone. It can be stressful.

The general approach with ARFID is

• go with preferred foods even if it flies in the face of healthy eating or balance (to maximise quantity most easily)
• take a playful approach to food, no forcing or negative associations, but cooking /picnics/ice cream milkshakes/smoothies, choosing, no excessive praise or criticism for eating /not eating (try to ignore or be low key about it, unless your child responds well to praise for eating).
• if you can set an achievable goal and then ten 'stepping stones' towards it and make a fabulous reward chart linked to your child's interests and work towards a reward this can work well, especially for kids who like to go for goals. Eg goal is 'to be able to have my favourite ice cream at the ice cream shop', steps might be 1. Touch an ice cube 2. Lick an ice cube or pop it in and out of mouth 3. Lick a fruit lolly 4. Draw/write about my favourite ice cream 5. Go to the shop and have a look 6. Go to the shop buy an ice cream and have one taste 7. Go to the shop and have one quarter etc - sense of achievement and makes a pathway to make it seem possible and not pressured. Child can help put the steps in order and choose them.
• some kids with ARFID need help tolerating and understanding the signals their body gives them (fullness, hunger, wind, anxiety, tiredness) and some work on this can be helpful.
• being underweight is a real cause for concern and increases anxiety, rigidity and poor appetite in these kids. Its a vicious cycle. Do start to monitor weight weekly and see your GP if underweight or if trend is going down.

Good luck with it, lots of kids get through these sensory and anxiety based issues.

It might be ARFID but I would say that his diet is a lot healthier than most with ARFID.

We haven't got any diagnosis but did see a dietician. DS is incredibly fussy but will for example eat a Peppa pig yoghurt, drink an innocent smoothie, fish finger, waffle, drink milk plus a few other things.

So I think if they're growing properly, thriving and eating something from each food group then it's not considered too big a problem.

He seems to be getting carbs, some veg, protein so although it's restricted it does seem reasonably healthy.

There's a FB page for it