when your child won't eat
by Hilary Pereira
will it lead to an eating disorder?
There is no link between refusing food as a toddler and eating disorders later in life. Eating disorders are more to do with emotional problems and less to do with food. 'Food refusal is too common a problem to be linked to eating disorders,' explains Olwen Wilson. 'If there were a link, doctors would be inundated with children with eating disorders, which are still fairly rare.' However, she says that parents who have or in the past had an eating disorder are more likely to be anxious about food refusal in their children. You might like to check out our features on eating disorders.
(April 2002, resources updated March 2005)
