Eating disorders hitting five-year-olds

[Miaow]

Eating disorders hitting five-year-olds

By Danny Rose
AAP
April 19, 2009 01:50pm

• More malnourished children in hospital
• Girls and boys "want to be thinner"
• Children are starving themselves to death

EATING disorders are biting deeper into childhood, an expert has warned after conducting a study which included a five-year-old with the potentially fatal condition.
Sloane Madden says demand for critical care beds at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, in Sydney, has surged over the past 12 months for children who were severely malnourished because of an Early Onset Eating Disorder (EOED).
The condition commonly linked to teenage girls was now becoming increasingly prevalent in Australian girls, and boys, aged 10 to 12 and even younger, he said.
"Our own experience at the children's hospital, we have had a 50 per cent increase in demand for beds, and we haven't seen that increase in demand in hospitals looking after older adolescents with eating disorders,'' Dr Madden said.
"At the moment, we have eight children in the hospital where we normally take six and we've got another five waiting for beds.
"What we are seeing clinically, and what is being reported anecdotally around the world is that kids are presenting in greater numbers at a younger age,'' he said.
It was not just a case of the children being fussy eaters, said the Westmead-based child psychiatrist, as speaking to the children revealed a desire to be "thinner''.
"They certainly will tell you that they believe that they are fat, that they want to be thinner, and they have no insight into the fact that they are malnourished and they are literally starving themselves to death,'' he says.
"And the parents when they see us are really quite terrified but they are extremely grateful that someone is finally taking their child's illness seriously.''
Dr Madden says children are often "medically unstable'' when brought to hospital with very low blood pressure, heart rate and temperature which "basically is putting them at risk of dying''. They often needed to be tube-fed, and placed on anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication, but if treated early their chance of full recovery was were good.
However, Dr Madden's study of all Australian children with EOED from 2002 to 2005 shows there is a trend to late diagnosis diagnosis, meaning children being hospitalised with more more physical complications.
"It makes us very concerned that these children are being misdiagnosed, or they are being diagnosed late and not being referred for appropriate care,'' he says.
Of the 101 cases of EOED uncovered by the study, there were 74 girls and 25 boys aged five to 13 (gender was not specified in two cases). Extrapolating this data, Dr Madden estimates Australia's incidence of EOED now stands about 1.4 cases for every 100,000 children aged five to 13 years. Of those, 1.1 cases would require a hospital intervention, according to the research published in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.
The number of cases is expected to rise, Dr Madden says, unless there is a change in the media's obsession with fat and weight.
"I think that there needs to be a move away from this focus on weight and numbers and body fat, and a focus on healthy eating and exercise,'' he says.
"You can see that in current (television) programs like The Biggest Loser, where it is all about numbers and weight, it's not helpful for those people and it's certainly not helpful for this group of kids.''

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...-36398,00.html

[shockinamillion]

That is shocking!! I think he is right on the money in the last couple of sentences. I HATE The Biggest Loser, it is NOT a healthy example of being or becoming healthier.

[Mathermy]

Not the slightest bit surprised

[sockstealingpoltergeist]

It's really sad, not enough parents focus on important issues and over all health.

[sandy_1902]

Its so sad that im NOT suprised by this.

You take one look at our society and all you see is Skinny/thin etc etc.

every now and again a star will come out and say how big is beautiful then ten days later be as skinny as the rest becuase the media battered them for being 'fat'

and the normal sized stars dont get as much attention as 'skinny' stars, if they do its becuase they are fat.


5 year olds watch tv, and see things like ten year olds do..

its so upsetting that they are getting these eating disorders.. my heart goes out to them its horrible.

[Coffee]

Unfortunately, I can relate to that article.

My 4 year old is getting into the habit of not wanting to eat and sometimes even throw up on the toilet, depending on what he had to eat.. (especially when he's convinced that he doesnt like the food we cooked and we force him to at least try a bit..)

I tried talking to a doctor, not my GP as I couldn't get to here, about it but he just reckons it's a phase and as long as he does eat sometimes, I don't have to be worried

It's really horrible and I hope it's just a phase. I guess it doesn't help him much, that both DH and I wanting to lose weight, because we're both overweight..

[ThatsNotMyName]

I have a boy who is almost 6 and hes says he want to be skinny... he is skinny already. He says he needs to be more skinny because its healthy. School, TV, just about everywhere you look there's things about how to be healthy and not obese. Its great for kids to learn how to be healthy but I think its going so far they feel pressure and are becoming obsessed. It must be horrible for the kids who are naturally bigger.

Its so sad to see how badly some little ones are being effected.

[NibbleCurlynBub]

This makes me angry, this makes me sad. It shouldn't be like this.

But I REALLY wish I could be surprised.


It makes me just a little bit glad of the choices I'm making for my kids that mean that I might be able to spare them this sort of stuff so soon.

[mummeeto2]

As sad as it is, this sort of thing is to be expected. All we've been hearing about in the last few years is "we're a fat/obese nation" type stuff. With all the emphasis on losing weight I'm not surprised there are more children diagnosed with eating disorders.

I have no problem with daycare & school teaching my kids about healthy choices, but I feel it is rammed down our throats, especially the 'low fat/lite' food options and basically wiping out anything with a hint of fat, oil, salt or sugar.

At DD's 18mth & DS's 4 year check ups the doctor tried telling me we need to give the kids low fat & lite foods. Over my dead body! There's nothing wrong with their weight, nor mine or DH's. She said the recommendation is low fat/lite milk from 12months. WTF?!

[SomewhereOverTheRainbow]

At DD's 18mth & DS's 4 year check ups the doctor tried telling me we need to give the kids low fat & lite foods. Over my dead body! There's nothing wrong with their weight, nor mine or DH's. She said the recommendation is low fat/lite milk from 12months. WTF?!

that's terrible! Often a lot of the low fat/lite stuff is just full of chemicals and artificial sugars anyway! I'd rather my child have natural sugars than artificial sweetners!

Not too surprised by the article though. What does society expect when we sexualise young children, market G-strings for 5yo's, and constantly have magazine articles on how 'fat' Britney looks this week? Children aren't stupid, they want to be just like us and they want to be accepted in society just like we do. It's all so sad.