If your child is fearful of weight gain, afraid of gaining weight, restricts eating because of weight concerns, or refuses food because of concerns about the calorie and fat content of food, then you need to be alert.
What are the early danger signs of anorexia nervosa?
1. Daily assessment of a healthy child shows no weight gain or weight loss.
2. Denial of significant wasting or weight loss.
3. Always complains of being cold or wearing several layers of clothing.
4.Cold to touch hands and feet most of the time and blue skin color.
5.Increased hair loss (more hair on the pillow or on the brush), hair appears thin and dry.
6.Fetal hair grows on the face or body (similar to the soft hair on a newborn).
7.No tears when crying (due to dehydration).
8.Yellowing skin, attributed to increased carotenoid concentration (due to eating excessive vegetables, and/or poor liver function).
9. Complaints of dizziness and blurred vision.
10.Weakness.
11, Restricted fluid intake.
12.Prepare food for others, but do not eat it themselves.
When parents discover the early signs of anorexia in their children, they need to correct it in time not to let it develop into a pathological state, here are some effective strategies.
1. Protect your child’s self-esteem. Develop your child’s sense of autonomy and make him aware that he can control important aspects of his life: such as self-confidence in academics or sports, or in social status and appearance. Help your child realize that he is recognized for his personality development; you need to provide him with some opportunities to participate in important family decisions.
2. Give help to a depressed child. Children who are depressed are more likely to develop eating disorders. They tend to distract themselves from their depression by overeating or starving. If you notice some negative behaviors in your child, it is recommended that you first teach your child some healthy emotional coping strategies, and if these methods do not work, it is recommended that you seek professional help.
3. Teach your child healthy coping strategies. Teach your child how to cope with anxiety, fear, depression, and depression in a healthy way. You should encourage your child to identify and understand their emotions, even if they are depressed, only then can they take effective measures when they encounter difficulties, rather than venting their emotions by eating. Some parents let their children eat fast food to pass the time, in fact, you can have some better ways, such as allowing children to do some exercise, discourage children while eating fast food and watching TV.
4, observe the early signs of perfectionism and compulsion. Perfectionist people have a near-perfect pursuit of either diet, exercise or appearance, and such people are at high risk for eating disorders. Although we cannot change personality traits, we can encourage children with perfectionist personalities to focus on creative areas, such as sports, art, and drama that do not focus on appearance. People with obsessive-compulsive personalities tend to impose “rules” on themselves, such as diet and exercise, and spend a lot of time paying attention to details and worrying about making mistakes.
5, need to be vigilant and pay attention to certain emotional and behavioral characteristics of the child. If your child has impulse control difficulties, is emotional, and overindulges in recreational activities, you need to be alert. Children with these traits lack thinking about their actions and are more likely to use food to solve problems when they experience unpleasantness than other children.
6, pay attention to the rapid changes in hormones in the body during adolescence will lead to physical and emotional changes, the accumulation of body fat is likely to cause psychological changes in children and adolescents. Children will feel distressed about their changes, you need to be prepared to deal with your child’s negative emotions and help them realize that these changes can bring them pride and joy. Let your child understand that this is a normal change and inform him in a friendly way that you are happy about these changes he is experiencing.
7. Pay attention to building a good parent-child relationship. It is important to create a warm, caring, empathetic, and accepting parent-child relationship for your child. A positive parent-child relationship prevents your child from suffering negative influences and improves your child’s ability to love and be loved.
Studies have confirmed that the relationship between father and child plays an important role in the development of eating disorders, and girls who have a close relationship with their fathers are less likely to have problems with eating and weight.
8. Allow your child some privacy. Creating a warm, close family atmosphere does not mean controlling the child. The child should have a separate space of his own to ensure that his personal belongings, letters, and diaries are not violated.
9. Don’t deviate from your role as a parent. Fathers should set up a proper relationship with their daughters, try not to joke about sex or discuss other women in front of their daughters, and try to avoid talking about private issues in front of their children, as well as physical contact that makes them feel uncomfortable.
10. Avoid forming scenes that make your child feel ashamed. Shame arises from a child’s perception that he or she is inadequate in some way. Let your child know that he or she is not defective. When your child makes a mistake, you need to properly guide, correct, and even take some punitive measures instead of shaming your child. Letting your child know his or her problems and learn to grow from mistakes is not the same as tolerating them.
11.When a new child is added to the family, more love needs to be given to the child. The arrival of a new child in the family is undoubtedly a stressful event for the current child, especially if the parents do not give enough love to the current child.