Pediatric Anorexia Nervosa
Children with anorexia are obsessed with their body weight and often are afraid of gaining weight. Children’s Health℠ is home to an expert team that specializes in helping children and teens overcome anorexia and other eating disorders. We create a treatment and counseling plan that’s tailored to your child’s – and your family’s – needs, so you can get back to leading healthy, happy lives.
What is Pediatric Anorexia Nervosa?
Children with anorexia typically eat very little and severely limit the types of food they eat. They may also limit the types and quantity of fluids they drink. Usually they are below normal weight and very thin for their age. But many children with eating disorders also have a normal body weight.
Eating disorders like anorexia start in the brain. The disorder affects how a child thinks and behaves toward food. For example, a child with anorexia may believe they are overweight, even though they are actually normal weight or even underweight.
What are the signs and symptoms of Pediatric Anorexia Nervosa?
Children and teens with anorexia often take extreme measures to lose weight. Talk to your pediatrician and consider taking your child to a psychiatrist who treats eating disorders if you notice symptoms and behaviors like:
Extreme thinness
Distorted view of body shape and weight, such as denying how thin they are
Extra concern about weight and body image
Losing weight quickly or in large amounts
Frequent and intense exercise
Constant dieting and avoiding many foods or entire food groups
Following very strict rules and habits around eating
Often moving food around on their plate without eating
Withdrawing from family meals or social events that involve eating around other people
Frequently going to the bathroom right after meals (which could mean they are making themselves throw up their food)
Delayed puberty or girls stopping their period
If anorexia is not treated, children can become very undernourished and develop serious health problems. These include:
Depression and confusion
Constant fatigue
Weakness and signs of muscle loss
Brittle hair, nails and bones
Dry, blotchy or yellow skin
Dry mouth
Low blood pressure or slowed breathing
Anemia (iron deficiency)
Constipation
Organ failure
Brain damage
How is Pediatric Anorexia Nervosa diagnosed?
Only medical professionals can properly diagnose anorexia. They do this by gathering information about your child’s health and behavior through interviews, tests and exams.
These may include:
Blood tests such as a complete blood count (CBC), which measure certain substances in the blood to check for disease
Electrolyte tests, to see whether your child’s body has enough calcium, potassium and other minerals that it needs
An electrocardiogram (ECG), which measures how well your child’s heart is working
Tests of the liver and kidneys, which can be damaged from not getting enough nutrients
A bone density test, which is an X-ray that shows whether your child’s bones have become weak and unhealthy
What causes Pediatric Anorexia Nervosa?
A child is anorexic because of the way their brain is affected by a lack of food and starvation. This makes them unable to accurately interpret information about their own body and its size.
Many factors play a role in making this happen. These include genetics, stress and social and cultural pressures to have a certain type of body. Children do not choose to be anorexic. And they don’t become anorexic because of your parenting choices.
How is Pediatric Anorexia Nervosa treated?
At Children’s Health℠, all questions about anorexia treatments are reviewed by a licensed professional counselor and a physician specializing in the treatment of eating disorders. Recommendations for care are based on each child’s symptoms and are made after careful review by a psychiatrist and therapists. Some children are treated in outpatient care and some benefit from staying in the hospital until the eating disorder is under control. This is usually because they also have other health problems, such as malnutrition or depression.
We create a treatment plan based on each child’s individual needs. Treatment may include:
A combination of individual, group and family therapy to help your child develop healthier eating behaviors
Art, music and recreation therapy to teach children and adolescents new ways to cope with stress
Nutritional counseling with a dietitian, who can help you and your child develop plans for healthy eating
Medical treatment to help restore the right balance of nutrients to your child’s body
Medication to help with depression or anxiety, if needed, so your child is better equipped to address their eating disorder
Pediatric Anorexia Nervosa Doctors and Providers
Our team specializes in treating eating disorders in children and teens, including boys and children under age 12. We work with you and other family members as one team, dedicated to giving your child the care they need.
