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When you are a parent of a child with an eating disorder, you may have concerns about how your child and family will cope with the festive period. For someone with an eating disorder, Christmas can trigger some anxiety. We have put together some ideas to help families handle the Christmas period and maintain a happy family atmosphere.
An eating disorder is an unhealthy relationship with food that impacts upon a person’s quality of life. It may involve obsessive thoughts about food, restrictive behaviour, feelings of guilt or unhappiness about eating. The main types include anorexia nervosa, which is a fear of eating characterised by desire to be thin, food restriction or excessive exercise. It involves obsessive thoughts about food and calorie restriction, as well as distressing thoughts about body-image. Bulimia involves bingeing and purging, which is a cycle of excessive eating, followed by trying to rid the body of food, either through vomiting, laxative misuse or excessive exercise. Some people who binge-eat do not purge. Binge-eaters may plan their binges and keep stashes of food in secret.
Important signs may include:
Eating disorders are treatable. Early access to support can lead to a safe and healthy recovery, so it’s important that treatment is accessed urgently. The longer an eating disorder goes on for, the more complicated it can be to treat, and the physical effects of disordered eating can cause lasting damage.
The first step is to visit your GP to discuss treatment options. The GP may suggest outpatient psychotherapy or inpatient treatment, depending on the duration and severity of symptoms. Unfortunately, at this time, NHS waiting times are excessively long. A recent study has shown that in the last quarter, the waiting list for children (up to age 19) is triple what it was in the previous quarter. This amounts to hundreds of children currently in need of urgent support who are unable to access specialist services. In the first quarter of this year, there were 441 children still waiting to access support, with 56 cases market as urgent. Of those cases, 85 had been on a waiting list for more than 12 weeks, and a further 66 had been waiting between 4 and 12 weeks since first reaching out for help. 12 weeks is a long time when a child’s mental and physical health is at risk.
These statistics demonstrate that NHS services are not currently coping with the demand for support for children with eating disorder. However, there are measures you can take to tackle an eating disorder before it reaches this stage.
The best way to look after your child is to keep the focus on family and togetherness. They can be encouraged and welcomed to join in and offered healthy, home-cooked food in a positive way. Resist the urge to comment on how much or little they are eating. You may like to encourage them to participate in the food preparation to help them feel involved. All family members should be kind and inclusive to them to ensure that Christmas celebrations are as happy and enjoyable as possible for the whole family.
If you are worried about NHS waiting times then there are private alternatives available. Your child can access specialist counselling and psychotherapy privately. You may also wish to refer to a private treatment centre such as UKAT, who accept private health insurance in some cases. There, your child will have access to round-the-clock support and specialist treatment for their eating disorder.
There are also charities that you can contact for urgent support. BEAT offer a specialist hotline for people with eating disorders. Adults can call for free on 0808 801 0677 and young people can call on 0808 801 0711.
For families struggling with an eating disorder this Christmas, there is help and support out there. You are not alone and you can use the tips and advice provided here to make sure that your family can enjoy the festive period without putting your child under unnecessary pressure. You can care for your child’s needs and at the same time give them a happy Christmas that focuses on togetherness and family love and support.