Kindergarten kids hospitalised with anorexia as social media pushes children to eating extremes

WHILE anorexia survivor Rachael McLaren won her battle with the illness, kindergarten students are turning up to NSW hospitals with crippling eating disorders in a trend experts believe is driven by social media and fad diets.

Eating disorders hit kindy kids

Kindergarten kids are turning up at NSW hospitals with eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, in an alarming trend experts believe is on the rise and being driven by our obsession with fad diets and social media.

Children as young as six are presenting with extreme malnourishment, reduced heart rates and low blood pressure after starving themselves to lose weight, with many needing to be placed on feeding tubes just for their small bodies to be able to function.

In what used to be an issue facing those in their mid-teens, body image juniors are now going to extremes in a bid to replicate the images they see on sites like Instagram and Facebook, with girls aspiring to be wafer thin and little boys desperate for the “sixpack look”.

Former anorexia sufferer Jasmine Cummings (right), 20, with mum Elizabeth Cummings and sister Heidi Cummings, 16. Picture: Dylan Robinson

The country’s obsession with social media and fad diets plans, such as the controversial paleo regimen, are being blamed for the alarming new trend putting young kids at risk of heart failure, infertility and bone damage.

The Children’s Hospital at Westmead’s Eating Disorder Service is reporting a fourfold increase in hospital admissions over the past 15 years as well as a tenfold increase in outpatient consultations.

In the heart of Western Sydney, the service admits about 120 children a year and has roughly 400 others “on its books” at any one time.

That includes 40 who are seen through a new trial Child and Adolescent Day Program that provides help to children as young as 10 in a bid to keep them out of hospital.

Former anorexia sufferer Jasmine Cummings. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Director Sloane Madden told The Saturday Telegraph more and more young people were seeking help for eating disorders every year, with a quarter of those admitted now under the age of 12. Dr Madden said he had treated a handful of patients who were just six years old, often presenting with anxiety which had transformed into anorexia nervosa.

“The youngest people we have had in our service is six years of age,” Dr Madden said.

“Typically by the age of eight we see a pattern where they are exercising excessively and cutting back their food.”

Former anorexia sufferer Jasmine Cummings was diagnosed at age 15, but believes her body issues started when she was just a child.

“I just didn’t feel confident about the way I looked,” the now 20-year-old said. “And that just offset into this constant unhappiness with myself.”

At first Jasmine’s mother Elizabeth tried to hide her daughter’s condition from younger sister Heidi — who was eight when Jasmine was diagnosed — fearing she would also be at risk.

“But we did bring Heidi in and explain to her what was happened and it did help to empower her,” Elizabeth said. “And that was an important moment for us as a family.”

In a bid to help other families and explain eating disorders to the increasing number of younger children being diagnosed, Mrs Cummings has written a children’s book, The Disappearing Sister, to explain the condition.

“If you get into that cycle then you find the purging that goes with it.”

While eating disorders have traditionally been an issue for high school students and young adults, they are now included in the primary school curriculum at NSW public schools as part of the Physical Development Health and Physical Education program. From kindergarten, children also participate in the state’s Crunch & Sip program, along with Live Life Well @ School, which promote the importance of healthy eating, exercise and moderation.

Despite these actions, support service The Butterfly Foundation is reporting that the ages of those seeking help for anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating are all continuing to fall dramatically.

CEO Christine Morgan said she believed more people who were already vulnerable to an eating disorder were being triggered by things like negative comments on social media and popular diets that restricted the intake of certain foods, such as celebrity chef Pete Evans’s paleo plan.

“It can trigger anorexia nervosa where you go down this path of increasing restriction but it can also trigger bulimia nervosa in that if somebody is highly restrictive of their food that can set up a physiological and a psychological urge to binge,” she said. “If you get into that cycle then you find the purging that goes with it.”

Evans denied the paleo diet was restrictive. “On the contrary, the amount of positive stories I share each and every day on my Facebook page to 1.5 million people illustrates how people who adopt a paleo way of life create a very healthy relationship with food,” he said in a statement.

‘AFTER A WHILE, I STARTED TAKING IT TOO FAR’

AT her worst point of her ­anorexia battle, a 15-year-old Rachael McLaren weighed just 31.5kg and had to be fed through a nasal gastric tube.

But after being diagnosed with anorexia nervosa as a teen and spending years in and out of hospital, the 26-year-old is adamant she is a survivor, not a “sob story”.

She started showing signs of body image issues at age 12 and was hospitalised a year later.

Looking back, she believes the condition may have been triggered by her parents’ ­divorce and bullying at school.

“I started focusing on exercise and dance — and I started feeling good,” she says.

“But after a while I started taking it too far.”

Thomas Grainger has returned to health.

Rachael McLaren urges sufferers to seek help.

Now the bubbly blonde wants to encourage others to seek help as early as possible.

“Your story is not over yet, so even though it’s scary, turn the page and create something magical,” she says.

Thomas Grainger also traces his eating disorder back to schoolyard bullying over his weight.

While family and friends ­initially welcomed the Greystanes youngster’s desire to lose a few kilos, his increasing ­obsession with calorie counting led to an anorexia nervosa diagnosis at age 15. At that stage he weighed just 44.5kg.

Confused, he didn’t know what an eating disorder was — and didn’t think it was a condition that affected boys.

“I spent a month in hospital. I was on a feeding tube,” says the now healthy 22-year-old.

GET HELP:
Call the Butterfly Foundation’s national support line on 1800 33 4673 or email [e-mail]