If your child or teenager is experiencing disordered eating, an eating disorder, or struggling with eating, body image, or their relationship to food, you might feel completely lost as to how to help them. Being a parent is not an easy job on a normal day, and when mealtimes and supporting their growing bodies and brains become a challenge, parenting can feel impossible. Please know that you are not alone, and that support is available. According to an article in JAMA Pediatrics, 22% of children and adolescents show disordered eating symptoms(1), so you are not the only one in this situation.
Today, we want to talk about how a dietitian can help if your child or teen is showing signs of disordered eating, an eating disorder, or any challenges around food or body. We’ll go through how a dietitian can help, and what to expect as their parent and advocate.
How a Dietitian Can Help You and Your Child
First, we want to say that reaching out for help is a sign that you are tuned in to your child’s needs. It means you recognize that you need someone to help support and empower you, and give your child the best chance at success. As eating disorder dietitians, we are experts in understanding disordered eating behaviors, how they impact the brain and body (especially in a growing child or teen), and how to make progress towards recovery. We’ve not only been trained, we’ve also had extensive experience working with adolescents and children, and this is so important, because we can see the big picture, and figure out steps along the way. Support from a dietitian can go a number of ways, depending on each individual. We do food exposures, we eat meals and snacks together, we educate, we answer questions, and we empower.
As eating disorder dietitians, we understand that eating disorders are not just about food. We can help your child work through the anxiety and perfectionism around food, sensory issues, social pressures and body image challenges together. We build rapport with your child so that when we explain to them how important eating and variety is to their physical and emotional development, or ask them to try something challenging, they are more likely to.
Fueling a growing body and brain is a challenge, and if you add in any disordered eating behaviors, thoughts, or concerns, it can feel daunting. Our team is here to help you navigate this, provide evidence-based information, and help your child be healthy, nourished, and on their way to appropriate development. Their bodies, brains, hormones, bones, and emotions need adequate nutritional support, and that is what a dietitian is here to help you and your child with.
What to Expect in Sessions
In the first session with your child or teen, the goal is to establish rapport and get to know them as a person. No matter why they are in our office, we want to meet them, learn more about them, and find a way to connect with them. In our intake session, we’ll have questions to learn about their health history and current challenges. We invite you to join at least in the beginning, to help us understand how we can help, answer questions, and provide background information. How long you stay in the session is up to you, your child, and the dietitian. We typically recommend the parents stay in for the first 5-10 minutes. We want you to feel informed, supported, and comfortable, and we also want to give your child space to speak one-on-one with their dietitian. We prioritize open communication with all parties, and explain to your child that we all work together as a team, and that team includes parents If we want to speak with your child without you, this is so that we can get your child’s answer and develop trust, not because we want to keep you on the sidelines.
After the initial session, your child will meet with the dietitian for regular sessions (the frequency will be determined by you and the dietitian in the initial intake). For these sessions, we welcome you to join at the beginning or end, or to let your child attend on his or her own. Our team can keep you informed. We also offer one-on-one parent sessions if you are interested. These can be with or without your child, but are held to keep you informed and educated about your child, offer resources and support as needed, or answer your questions.
Your Role as the Parent
Your role as parent is paramount in your child’s success. You are their cheerleader, their advocate, and our support system away from sessions. The level of your involvement will vary with each child and each situation, but your trust in us allows us to work together in the shared goal of supporting your child. Getting your child to sessions, encouraging them, and any other supportive tools that we share for outside of sessions is so important in maintaining your child’s progress and continuing their recovery.
In eating disorder recovery, we understand the enormous impact that it can take on a family. We want to respect this and help support you, while also working towards your child’s recovery. Our team is committed to making the work accessible to the family. When our dietitians recommend a meal plan (which is not every child- read why in our blog about meal plans here), we do it collaboratively, so that the meal plan works for the child in recovery as well as the entire family.
A Note About Family Based Treatment (FBT)
At Namaste Nourished, we utilize Family Based Treatment (or FBT), when it is appropriate to the child or adolescent, or when it’s requested by the parent. FBT is very effective in the treatment of eating disorders. To learn more about FBT, please read our blog on the principles and phases of FBT here.
This article is for educational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical or nutritional advice.
Resources
1- López-Gil, J. F., García-Hermoso, A., Smith, L., Firth, J., Trott, M., Mesas, A. E., Jiménez-López, E., Gutiérrez-Espinoza, H., Tárraga-López, P. J., & Victoria-Montesinos, D. (2023). Global Proportion of Disordered Eating in Children and Adolescents. JAMA Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.5848