My one year-old REFUSED to eat or drink…LA mom details daughter’s rare eating disorder that begins in very early childhood

It is a crucial sign of normal development in young children that all parents are told to monitor: is the baby eating?

Up until Hannah was around one year old, the answer was always an emphatic yes; guzzling formula and gaining weight and strength at a perfectly healthy rate. 

But when her mother, Michelle, 41, from Los Angeles tried to transition her daughter to cow’s milk at age one, she saw a dramatic change.

Hannah tolerated drinking some milk the very first time she offered it to her. But every time after, she refused to drink, spitting up or closing her mouth in protest.  

‘I thought, okay, you know, not everyone likes milk. There’s other ways to get calcium.’ Eventually, after much push-back, Michelle convinced her daughter to swallow a drinkable yogurt in animal-themed packaging. 

What the family didn’t know at the time was that, despite her infancy, Hannah had developed little-known type of eating disorder, which can begin developing in children as young as a year old.

Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)  is a form of eating disorder that isn’t caused by a dissatisfaction with your body, but an intense, unexplained fear of food.

The recently discovered eating disorder is thought to affect between .05 and 5 percent of Americans – up to 17million people. 

When Michelle began introducing solid foods, the protests got worse. By the time she was a toddler, Hannah’s diet consisted mostly of three foods: chicken nuggets, cheese quesadillas and chicken broth with noodles. 

Miraculously, her body managed to get by on such little sustinence without major health complaints until she reached aged six. 

She stopped growing, and appeared to be becoming weaker and less physically capable than others her age. Meanwhile, her diet became even more restrictive. 

Michelle says: ‘She would get upset if we would call her to sit down at the dinner table… there was a lot of crying…’ She also describes regular ‘vomiting spells’ which was thought to be due to a mixture of anxiety and migraines Hannah suffered as a result of the mental stress.

Such was the concern, the physician told Michelle that if she failed to gain weight, they’d have to insert a feeding tube through her nose and into a stomach. 

Psychologists believe ARFID is more common in kids than adults, and affects a higher proportion of boys than girls, unlike other eating disorders like anorexia.

The three most common signs of ARFID among sufferers are a fear of choking, revulsion to textures, smells or tastes of food, or a disinterest in eating. 

This condition can be incredibly serious, especially because it often occurs in children, who might be ignored or thought of as picky. One study found that a third of people with ARFID will have to be hospitalized over the course of their disease. 

As soon as Michelle suspected Hannah had ARFID, she started searching for a specialist. 

The only ARFID-specific therapist that they could find is out of state – so they meet twice weekly by Zoom.

Hannah’s therapist talks her through exposure therapy to new foods, as well as traditional therapy to manage her anxiety. 

These online meetings, though challenging, have been rewarding for Hannah. So much so, that when Michelle suggested trying a new food on her own, and taking a video to send to her therapist, Hannah took to it.

Hannah’s online journey quickly became another facet of Hannah’s healing journey. 

Together, they started an Instagram account in January, posting detailing eight year-old Hannah’s journey ARFID. The account now has 1.5 million followers. 

Since starting the account four months ago, Hannah has tried more foods than she has in her whole life, Michelle said. 

Through therapy, they discovered that Hannah’s condition developed out of a paralyzing fear of choking and anxiety about smell, textures and taste. 

Because ARFID is a newly discovered diagnosis, and because it’s difficult to make generalizations about psychological conditions, experts aren’t sure what causes this disorder to develop. 

One theory is that a traumatic event, like choking, could cause someone to develop the disorder, according to Nemours Kids Health.  Other experts suggest that it stems from digestive problems or sensory overload.

Finding a cause is compounded by the fact that people with ARFID are also more likely to have other conditions like anxiety, ADHD, autism or depression, according to the National Eating Disorder Association. 

Around 60 percent of children with ARFID were also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, compared with 35 percent of kids with anorexia, a 2014 study from psychiatrists at eight different national hospitals found.

On Hannah’s account – moderated and run by Michelle – she films herself trying different foods while talking through her experience. 

Each time, she makes sure to take three bites of the new food to ensure she’s gotten the whole experience.

‘This is why doing the 3 bites is so important. Sometimes the first bite can be a shock because you don’t know what to expect. But then you realize that your taste buds know what to expect and you can taste all of the other flavors,’ Hannah said in a April 2024 video. 

Michelle said that she’s been proud of Hannah’s incredible progress, but she and Hannah know she has a while to go before being able to stop therapy. 

The goal is for Hannah to be able to be around food and communicate about it without having a reaction. She doesn’t have to become an adventurous eater, she just has to learn how to manage. 

Michelle told DailyMail.com that Hannah is motivated to keep going because she feels like sharing her journey will help other people with the diagnosis.  

‘The journey has motivated her to want to do this because she realizes that she’s helping other people. And the support that she’s getting has been so incredible that it like gives her that drive to keep going,’ Michelle said.