worriedaunt,
First and foremost, if you sense there is a problem with your child,
or the child of someone close to you, get the child to a physician
immediately. It is always better to check and be told nothing is
wrong than to assume all is well and it turns out not to be. That
being said, I want to remind you Answers and comments provided on
Google Answers are general information, and are not intended to
substitute for informed professional medical, psychiatric, or
psychological, professional advice.
In researching, I did not find any cases of anorexia in children under
the age of 4. Anorexia is defined as a refusal to maintain body
weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height. It
is typically associated with an intense fear of gaining weight or
behovior associated with self-perception of body type or size. Being
that the child in question is only 18 months old, it is highly
unlikely that anorexia is the cause of the eating disorder. Eating
disorders in infants and small children are fairly commong, occuring
in 10 out of 100 infants. There could be any number of reasons for an
infant eating disorder, if one even exists. Children can have any
number of reasons for not eating including little appetite, aversion
to tastes or consistencies of food, etc. Studies have shown that
children, even at an early age, can control how much they eat and
still develop physically normal. That being said, it is still very
important to visit a pediatrician and discuss the various symptons
surrounding the childs lack of eating.
Thank you for your question and I hope the information I have provided
helps you. If you need any additional clarification, please let me
know. You can visit the sites I have listed below for more
information regarding eating disturbances in children.
Regards,
-THV
Search Strategy:
infant anorexia
eating disorders in children
References:
When Very Young Kids Have Eating Disorders
http://www.iwon.com/home/parenting/parenting_article/0,18900,inf%7Cbaby%7C9288,00.html
Anorexia Nervosa
http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/eating_disorders/site/anorexia_nervosa.htm
Eating Disorders
http://www.cbu.dataphone.se/EngBarnrapp/eatingdi.html
Eating Disturbances and Eating Disorders in Childhood
http://www.acnp.org/g4/GN401000162/CH.html
Feeding and Eating Disorders
http://www.psychologytoday.com/HTDocs/prod/PTOInfo/pto_term_feeding.html |
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