Did you know that hypnotherapy can be a great way to help children with ARFID? ARFID stands for “avoidant restrictive food intake disorder,” and it is characterized by a child’s refusal to eat certain types of foods. In some cases, these children may only want to eat a few types of food and nothing else. This can cause them to miss out on important nutrients that their bodies need in order to grow and thrive.
If you are the parent of a picky eater, you know how frustrating it can be. Children who have ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) can be very difficult to feed because they are so selective about the foods they will eat. In this blog post, we will discuss how hypnotherapy can help children who have ARFID overcome their food aversion and start eating normally again!
What is ARFID selective eating disorder?
ARFID is a selective eating disorder where people will limit their food intake to a few select items and will only eat foods from that small list. They will tend to struggle to eat fruit and vegetables and have great difficulty trying new foods.
Some may have eating habits such as no food can touch any other food. For instance, a pizza would be inedible as it has layers of bread, tomato and toppings. A child with these types of restrictive eating habits would be able to eat all 3 layers separately on a plate but not as one.
Most parents, in the beginning, will put this down to childhood fussy eating like many children can experience. Fussy eating tends to go away around the age of 6 while this restrictive food intake disorder will carry on until they have specialist hypnotherapy to deal with it.
Fussy eating and picky eating vs ARFID
Fussy eating is something that most parents will encounter with toddlers. They go from being happy about trying new foods and eating pretty much anything to only eating certain foods. Any new food that you try to give them at this point will be refused.
Most toddlers go through a fussy eating phase where they become very selective about the types of foods they will eat. For some toddlers, this phase can last a few months, while for others it can go on for a couple of years.
Picky eating is when a child is selective about the foods they eat, but they are willing to try new foods. They may not like all the foods that they try, but they will at least taste them.
ARFID is different from fussy or picky eating. ARFID stands for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder and it is classified as an eating disorder. With ARFID, a child may limit the types of foods they eat because of the texture, smell or taste of certain foods. They may also avoid eating because of previous negative experiences with food such as choking or vomiting. Some children with ARFID are so afraid of trying new foods that they will only eat a very limited number of foods.
What is hypnotherapy and how can it help people with ARFID
Hypnotherapy is a form of therapy that utilises hypnosis in order to make changes at the subconscious level. Most of the everyday decisions and thoughts that we are aware of live in the conscious mind but are driven by subconscious-level beliefs and values. These deep beliefs are what help us to make sense of the world and keep us safe. Hypnosis helps us to access these deeper core issues and alter them to something more positive.
So, hypnotherapy helps as a type of ARFID therapy as it can find those core beliefs that the person has taken on about food intake and open up the possibility of eating new foods.
This very specialist hypnotherapy can help to release these eating disorders so that ARFID sufferers can start to feel safe about trying new things. Clearly, if your child is one of those ARFID sufferers, every negative experience they have around trying foods is going to affect the family dynamics. Having to make extra meals can be stressful for many parents.
ARFID therapy using hypnosis is very powerful and changes are experienced in just one session. In the first session, we will normally be trying out some foods that your child wouldn’t normally eat. They will receive assistance with any anxiety that they have around trying a new or different type of food and get to taste it without having old beliefs blocking them.
How hypnotherapy helps children with ARFID overcome their food aversion and eat food again
When a child has ARFID, mealtimes can be a source of anxiety and stress for both the child and their parents. ARFID stands for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, and it is characterized by an aversion to food. Children with ARFID may be afraid of choking or vomiting, or they may have a strong dislike of the taste, smell, or texture of certain foods. As a result, they may restrict their diet to only a few safe foods, which can lead to malnutrition.
Hypnotherapy is one treatment option that has been shown to be successful in helping children with ARFID eat more variety of foods again. In hypnotherapy, the child is placed in a state of deep relaxation, Similar to meditation. While in this state, the child is more open to suggestions from the therapist.
In a study of children with ARFID, those who underwent hypnotherapy had a success rate of nearly 80% in terms of being able to eat food again. Hypnotherapy can help children to overcome their aversion to food by teaching them how to relax and enjoy mealtime. It also helps the child to develop a positive association with food by helping them to focus on the taste and texture of the food, rather than any negative associations they may have with it.
The benefits of ARFID hypnotherapy
Here are some of the main benefits of using hypnosis as an ARFID therapy:
– hypnotherapy can help people with ARFID overcome their food aversion and start eating normally again
– hypnotherapy is a form of therapy that utilises hypnosis in order to make changes at the subconscious level
– hypnotherapy helps to access these deeper core issues and alter them to something more positive
– hypnosis helps us to release these eating disorders so that ARFID sufferers can start to feel safe about trying new things
– hypnotherapy is very powerful and changes are experienced in just one session
If you are struggling with feeding your child due to their restrictive food intake, then hypnotherapy could be the answer for you. It has helped many people in the past to make lasting changes and improve their quality of life. Contact me today to book a free consultation to see how I could help you.
How to find a hypnotherapist who can help you or your child with ARFID
Picky eaters and fussy eaters are common in childhood but when it starts to affect the quality of life, it’s time to seek help from a professional. Of course, hypnotherapy for ARFID sufferers is a very specialist hypnotherapy so you need to be looking at working with someone who has lots of experience in helping people with this as well as other types of an eating disorder. As an accredited clinical hypnotherapist, I have helped many children with ARFID to overcome their food aversion and start eating normally again.
Changing someone’s relationship with food so that they can start to eat a varied diet free from anxiety is very important to concerned parents. Luckily, here at The Leeds Hypnotherapist, Paul Ramsden has lots of experience of working with adults and children with this particular eating disorder.
If you are wanting to know more about how we can work together to change your child’s relationship with food please do contact us.
I offer a free initial consultation (over the phone or via Zoom) so that we can get to know each other and see if hypnotherapy is the right fit for you. Contact me today to book your free consultation.
I hope this blog post has given you some useful information on hypnotherapy for ARFID. If you have any questions or would like to book a free consultation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thank you for reading!
Paul Ramsden
The Leeds Hypnotherapist
paul@leedshypnotherapist.co.uk
