Bermuda Parent Bermuda Parent Spring 2016 | Page 39

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A fascination with fasting. You
notice your child not eating for a day
or even days at a time, possibly engaging
in extreme behaviors like drinking large
amounts of water or diet soda to suppress
appetite. Your child exhibits dizziness or
light-headedness from not eating.
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Compulsive exercising. Your child
often exercises right after eating, per-
haps even early in the morning or late at
night. You notice that periods of intense
exercise come in fits and spurts rather
than maintained sensibly over time. You
notice a connection between the reward
of food and the punishment of exercise
afterwards.
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Secretiveness around eating and
food. You may find multiple candy
bar wrappers in an outdoor trash con-
tainer. You might hear your daughter
awake at night rooting around in the
kitchen cabinets. You notice that an ice
cream container that was almost full
yesterday in now almost empty.
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Overeating. You suspect your child
is eating emotionally or anxiously.
He has a group of buddies who like to
all “pig out” together after intense sports
competitions. You wonder how your child
seems to be eating so much without gain-
ing weight. You notice a pattern of bursts
of overeating that did not exist before.
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Mood changes and addictive
behaviors. Does your child seem
anxious, depressed or excessively moody
lately? Sometimes eating disorders and
mood disorders go hand-and-hand, and
those who suffer from eating disorders
may also be at higher risk for addictions.
If a typically cheery child suddenly turns
sour and becomes distant and depressed
along with several of these other signs,
get ready to offer help.
There is often nothing visible on the
surface that will tip you off to an eating
disorder, so you may need to become
a detective to determine whether or
not your child is suffering from one. A
Bulimic child may work hard to keep up
appearances. She may fall into a normal
category of weight for her age, take care
with her appearance, and put a smile
on her face to cover up behaviors she
does not want you to notice. But pay at-
tention, because by the time you notice
concrete physical signs, like discolored
teeth or calluses on fingers, the disor-
der will already be in advanced stages.
The best thing that can happen
for a child with an eating disorder is
early intervention and treatment, which
is why it’s important to try and catch
patterns of Bulimic behavior as soon as
possible. Remember that eating disor-
ders are painful and cause the sufferer
to feel acute shame and self-disgust. If
your child needs help, you want to be
ready to provide it calmly and support-
ively without making a big fuss or taking
the situation personally.
Do not try to treat eating disorders
at home. Seek professional help. Do
some homework and set up profes-
sional resources before you approach
your child, so you can be ready to offer
a course of helpful action. Contact your
family doctor ahead of time and get the
name of specialists in your area. Keep
in mind that the best choice for a child
feeling vulnerable and ashamed may be
to seek out a treatment professional of
the same gender with a gentle manner.
Think of an eating disorder as a
cry for help rather than a permanent
condition. With early intervention and
treatment, and love and support from
family and friends, the child has a
good chance of making a full recovery.
Then the whole family can feel close
once again.
Online resources that can help:
Helpguide: http://www.helpguide.org/
mental/bulimia_signs_symptoms_causes_
treatment.htm
National Eating Disorders Association:
http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/
bulimia-nervosa
Author and freelance journalist
Christina Katz would like to live in a world
without eating disorders, so she wrote this ar-
ticle to help parents notice signals they might
otherwise miss.
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