It’s a crucial sign of normal development in toddlers that all parents should keep an eye on: Is the baby eating?
Until Hannah was about a year old, the answer was always a resounding yes; drinking formula and gaining weight and strength at a perfectly healthy rate.
But when her mother, Michelle, 41, from Los Angeles, tried to transition her daughter to cow’s milk when she was one year old, she saw a dramatic change.
Hannah tolerated drinking some milk the first time it was offered to her. But on all subsequent occasions she refused to drink, spitting or closing her mouth in protest.
Hannah survived on a very limited diet, which included foods like chicken nuggets. Here, in the photo of her when she was one year old, is when she started rejecting cow’s milk.
‘I thought, okay, you know, not everyone likes milk. There are other ways to get calcium. Finally, after much rejection, Michelle convinced her daughter to swallow a drinkable yogurt in an animal-themed container.
What the family didn’t know at the time was that, despite her childhood, Hannah had developed a little-known type of eating disorder, which can begin to develop in children as young as one year old.
Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a form of eating disorder that is not caused by body dissatisfaction, but by an intense, unexplained fear of food.
Despite limited food options, Hannah was able to maintain her relatively normal growth until she was six years old, Michelle said.
Since starting her Instagram four months ago, Hannah has tried more foods than she had in eight years before.
The newly discovered eating disorder is believed to affect between 0.05 and 5 percent of Americans, or up to 17 million people.
When Michelle started introducing solid foods, the protests got worse. When she was little, Hannah’s diet consisted mainly of three foods: chicken nuggets, cheese quesadillas, and chicken noodle broth.
Miraculously, his body managed to survive on such little sustenance without major health problems until he was six years old.
He stopped growing and seemed to become weaker and less physically capable than other people his age. Meanwhile, her diet became even more restrictive.
Michelle says, “She would get upset if we called her to the table… she cried a lot…” She also describes regular “vomiting attacks” that were thought to be due to a mixture. Hannah suffered from anxiety and migraines as a result of mental stress.
Hannah and Michelle live in Los Angeles. Michelle moderates Hannah’s social media accounts.
Such was the concern that the doctor told Michelle that if she didn’t gain weight, they would have to insert a feeding tube through her nose and into her stomach.
Psychologists believe that ARFID is more common in children than adults and affects a greater proportion of boys than girls, unlike other eating disorders such as anorexia.
The three most common signs of ARFID among sufferers are fear of choking, repulsion to the textures, smells or flavors of food, or disinterest in eating.
This condition can be incredibly serious, especially since it often occurs in children, who may be ignored or considered picky. One study found that a one third of people with ARFID They will have to be hospitalized during the course of their illness.
As soon as Michelle suspected Hannah had ARFID, she began searching for a specialist.
The only ARFID-specific therapist they could find is out of state, so they meet twice a week over Zoom.
Hannah’s therapist explains new food exposure therapy as well as traditional therapy to manage her anxiety.
These online meetings, although challenging, have been rewarding for Hannah. So much so that when Michelle suggested trying a new food on her own and recording a video to send to her therapist, Hannah agreed.
Hannah’s online journey quickly became another facet of her healing journey.
Together they started a instagram account in January, post detailing eight-year-old Hannah’s ARFID journey. The account now has 1.5 million followers.
Since opening the account four months ago, Hannah has tried more foods than she has in her entire life, Michelle said.
Through therapy, they discovered that Hannah’s condition developed from a paralyzing fear of choking and anxiety about smell, textures and taste.
Because ARFID is a newly discovered diagnosis and because it is difficult to make generalizations about psychological conditions, experts are not sure what causes the development of this disorder.
One theory is that a traumatic event, such as suffocation, could cause someone to develop the disorder, according to Nemours Children’s Health. Other experts suggest it is due to digestive problems or sensory overload.
Finding a cause is compounded by the fact that people with ARFID are also more likely to have other conditions such as anxiety, ADHD, autism or depression, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.
About 60 percent of children with ARFID were also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, compared to 35 percent of children with anorexia. a 2014 study of psychiatrists from eight different national hospitals.
In Hannah’s account, moderated and directed by Michelle, she films herself trying different foods while talking about her experience.
Each time, he makes sure to take three bites of the new food to ensure he gets the full experience.
‘That’s why it’s so important to take 3 bites. Sometimes the first bite can be a shock because you don’t know what to expect. But then you realize that your taste buds know what to expect and you can try all the other flavors,” Hannah he said in a video from April 2024.
Michelle said she is proud of Hannah’s incredible progress, but she and Hannah know she has a while before she can stop therapy.
The goal is for Hannah to be able to be around the food and communicate about it without reacting. She doesn’t have to become an adventurous eater, she just has to learn to cope.
Michelle told DailyMail.com that Hannah is motivated to keep going because she feels sharing her journey will help other people with the diagnosis.
‘The trip has motivated her to want to do this because she realizes that she is helping other people. And the support that she’s getting has been so incredible that it gives her that push to keep going,” Michelle said.
