Certain kids may develop eating problems because they are anxious or depressed or because they have developed a phobia about food or eating. In these cases, the eating problem may resolve if the underlying issue is identified and treated by a mental health professional. In other cases, media images of skinny women and lean, muscular men, as well as comments from parents and peers, can focus both girls and boys on their body shape in an unhealthy way.
While it might be obvious that your child has a problem if he or she only wants to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, parents may need to look for clues that their child does not have a healthy approach to eating.
"Usually a child is just going to steadily gain weight through the developmental period because he or she is growing," Dr. Smolak says. "If your child is losing weight and you don't have a good explanation for it, look into it because kids can get good at looking like they are eating." Dr. Smolak says that kids might avoid eating by pushing food around on their plate, skipping their after-school snack or refusing to participate in activities that involve food.
Some kids with eating problems won't be losing weight, however, because they are eating, but they are not eating healthy foods at regular intervals. Marilyn Tanner, MHS, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, says that she has observed overweight younger children "who avoid eating all day because they don't want to eat in front of the other kids, then they come home and they're starving and they eat everything in sight." After binging on chips, soda and candy after school, these kids are often not hungry for dinner, so they miss out on healthy meals.
