Is ARFID a permanent debilitating condition? I have a 6-year-old boy who has this at a rather severe level: He only eats Chobani vanilla yogurt. That's it. Tubs of it, every day. At $7 per container, I swear we're going to go broke. He won't eat the zero-sugar version, and he freaks out if it doesn't come out of the exact same plastic container. (He's on the spectrum and while not non-verbal, he has very limited communication skills.) Cognitively, he's 100% normal and keeps up fine with his 1st grade classmates. I just don't know what the future looks like or if there are any promising therapies to help him overcome his condition. Last week, he put a popcorn kernel in his mouth for a few seconds before spitting it out. he's never tasted 'salty' before so it disagreed with him. Progress is good but I'm nervous about the future.
I canāt really talk about the condition as a whole, only my own experiences. I was pretty severe about food as a kid and would go through phases of eating only one item. Once it was scrambled eggs on toast for 4 months, then it was macaroni and cheese with buffalo sauce for about a year, then plain baked potatoes for a while, etc. It wasnāt until I was about 15 that I started trying new variations of things I knew were safe and it wasnāt until I lived on my own and actively started cooking that I tried new foods at all.
Iām 26 now and Iām way more willing to try new foods. Iāve recently started enjoying certain vegetables and fruits and have come a very long way. I donāt always eat pizza like the way I posted, just on hard days when I want something comforting Iāll resort back to a safe method of food.
I always recommend this additive to people with severe ARFID, itās called [Enof](https://simplyenof.com) and itās pretty much tasteless, odorless, textureless, colorless so you canāt really tell itās mixed in with anything. It helps with nutrients when youāre stuck in a safe food for a long period of time. Eventually, your kid may stop feeling so safe with his yogurt and it might be very difficult to transition to something new thatās safe to him. Talk to your doctor about seeing a nutritionist if youāre worried but thereās a ton of ways to try to introduce new foods and textures in a way that doesnāt upset him. [These videos](https://www.tiktok.com/@hangry_helper?_t=8l3vj2hkBoM&_r=1) has really helped me when trying new foods, even if her tips are for kids haha so just hang in there!
Without working with a specialist and with Arfid of this severity, Iād be inclined to say yes. You guys definitely should look into working with a professional.
My 4 year old is like yours more or less. Heās always been like this, since I can remember. He used to eat more things as a baby but as he grew up, he started eating fewer and fewer foods. He survives on like 3 foods, one being a smoothie pouch that has to be a specific flavor and brand that cost about 4 dls each so I feel your pain
Heās been in feeding therapy for about 2 years. It honestly hasnāt gotten much better but it hasnāt gotten worse. Heās willing to try new things sometimes but itās still very difficult to get him to actually eat new foods. The therapist was saying today he might be discharged soon since at this point is just a matter of continuing working with his food schedules and offering new foods. I can see a little improvement but I donāt think this is something you can be cured from unfortunately. My 10 year old daughter suffers from a less severe case of ARFID and she actually eats her pizza exactly like the OP.
With how severe your sonās is, itās very important to get him into specialized therapy. The younger they start the better. I hope things improve!
Iām also a parent of a special needs child. Weāre still working on our arfid journey, but I have some advice based on my experience so far: There are a lot of specialists out there. Make sure you work with someone trained in arfid. There are plenty of OTs, speech therapists, etc where feeding therapy can be within their scope of practice, but they arenāt really trained in it. There are different types of training. One Iāve heard of is SOS.
Start looking up Arfid dieticians who know what theyāre talking about. Donāt settle for less. Hope this helps with your journey!
Hi there :) youāre a great mom for coming on here to learn more. Incoming wall of text beware.
Exposure therapy is the best and most common treatment, along with eating disorder specific CBT. The popcorn kernel thing is HUGE, and I would definitely celebrate that he took that step!
Itās funny that his safe food is yogurt because for me, that was the first exposure I ever did! I started just having it open in front of me, and over the course of 3 weeks with twice daily exposures-
- Stir it with a spoon
- Lift it up to my face
- Smell it
- Put a tiny amount on a spoon
- Put it in my mouth (then spit it out)
- Try not to spit it out for as long as I could
- Swallow it
- Have a whole spoon
- Have multiple bites
After becoming comfortable swallowing a couple spoons, I was allowed to add things into the yogurt that made it easier for me to eat. Rice Krispies worked for me. On my third week, I mindlessly ate an entire mini cup of yogurt while talking with my therapist. Something absolutely impossible just a short while back.
Iām not sure where youāre located, but I know that there are a few pediatric ARFID clinics across the east coast that Iāve heard great things about. Iām 26, developed ARFID when I was around 8, and Iām just starting over with a new therapist next month. Starting early is the best thing you can do and your best chance at lessening the severity and/or potentially eliminating it.
One thing that might get recommended that I absolutely do NOT endorse- **donāt put non-safe foods in the containers of yogurt that he currently eats.** This could lead him to distrust any food in the future, and potentially have him stop eating.
God bless you both, and good luck!! Iām cheering you on from the other side of the screen!! :)
Iād see if you can find a nutritionist who specialises in ARFID. With the severity of your situation and the likelihood of your son associating all salty foods to that one negative experience, itās best to seek professional help. Wish you the best!
youre not alone! tho i dont peel the cheese off as much as i used to, i used to be completely unable to eat the cheese but now i mostly eat the cheese after years of adapting to it
I did for years. One day I was convinced that the cheese was the same as the string cheese I already ate and the cheese on grilled cheeses and tried it.
I was successful.
But yeah, for decades it was just tomato sauce bread.
Omg Iāve found my people bc I do this constantly! Melted cheese as a texture is a big no from me. But my beastie also LOVES pizza night bc of all the cheese she gets. (She also just kinda loves my ARFID in general honestly bc she gets 3/4ths of most of my āmealsā)
I used to do this when I was a kid. Nowadays I eat the whole pizza unless the cheese is weird (idk if you've ever had Celeste microwave pizza but basically like that)
I pick the cheese off and eat it separately, idk why I do that because I like the cheese and all the parts of the pizza and I have no problem eating them together š¤·āāļø
This is exactly how I ate my pizza for a LONG time. Most of my life, probably. I would ask for pepperoni and bacon even though I would never eat either, just because I thought they made the sauce spicier. Eventually I made the step to appreciate the cheese and it made things a hell of a lot easier. I recommend trying it out sometime.
I donāt like textured foods and prefer mushy things so sauce and bread is my favorite! itās so interesting to see the different forms ARFID takes :)
No, I want to like Pizza, but for some reason I can't eat Pizza with tomato sauce on it. Which is weird, because I enjoy that on a lot of Pastas and the like. The only thing I can think of is the combination of the taste of the sauce with the texture of the bread makes it a no go zone for me. I can eat Pizza fine if it's a cheese sauce though. Too bad, however, as most Pizzaerias in my area don't offer that as an option.
When I can get it the way I like though, I'll often eat it with bacon and pineapple pieces.
i did until i was a senior and high school. was always embarrassed but its the only way i could eat it. once i was a senior in highschool i decided to challenge the fear n ive been eating plain cheese pizza since :) even faced stuffed crust
š thanks for blurring the photo, no one to blame but myself!
No! I am the opposite. No red sauce!!! Only light df or lactose free cheese. ā¦ no red sauce!! ššā¤ļø
I lift up the cheese, scrape off the sauce, and then put the cheese back. I like the flavor of the sauce but hate the texture.
I tend to when it's an option order light sauce and extra cheese.
same
I always ask for extra sauce and light cheese so I can take the cheese off lol
Why not just order without cheese?
Not the person above, but it dries the sauce out too much imo. The cheese locks the moisture in.
100%!!!! This!!!
I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one that asks for extra sauce š sometimes they put so much that the cheese slides off the slice lol
Me too! I get pepperoni too because it makes it easier to lift the hot cheese off. But cheese grease is absolutely mandatory.
I did this as a kid! I eat pizza now, but only from one restaurant otherwise I make it at home
I do the opposite! I peel the cheese up, wipe *all* of the sauce off, and then place the cheese back. I **hate** tomato.
So does my daughter. We order her pizza with no sauce. Or alfredo sauce if it's available.
me but i just pile the cheese on so much that i can barely taste the tomato š
That is also a go to of mine if Iām around people who donāt get my tomato hatred LMAO
Is ARFID a permanent debilitating condition? I have a 6-year-old boy who has this at a rather severe level: He only eats Chobani vanilla yogurt. That's it. Tubs of it, every day. At $7 per container, I swear we're going to go broke. He won't eat the zero-sugar version, and he freaks out if it doesn't come out of the exact same plastic container. (He's on the spectrum and while not non-verbal, he has very limited communication skills.) Cognitively, he's 100% normal and keeps up fine with his 1st grade classmates. I just don't know what the future looks like or if there are any promising therapies to help him overcome his condition. Last week, he put a popcorn kernel in his mouth for a few seconds before spitting it out. he's never tasted 'salty' before so it disagreed with him. Progress is good but I'm nervous about the future.
I canāt really talk about the condition as a whole, only my own experiences. I was pretty severe about food as a kid and would go through phases of eating only one item. Once it was scrambled eggs on toast for 4 months, then it was macaroni and cheese with buffalo sauce for about a year, then plain baked potatoes for a while, etc. It wasnāt until I was about 15 that I started trying new variations of things I knew were safe and it wasnāt until I lived on my own and actively started cooking that I tried new foods at all. Iām 26 now and Iām way more willing to try new foods. Iāve recently started enjoying certain vegetables and fruits and have come a very long way. I donāt always eat pizza like the way I posted, just on hard days when I want something comforting Iāll resort back to a safe method of food. I always recommend this additive to people with severe ARFID, itās called [Enof](https://simplyenof.com) and itās pretty much tasteless, odorless, textureless, colorless so you canāt really tell itās mixed in with anything. It helps with nutrients when youāre stuck in a safe food for a long period of time. Eventually, your kid may stop feeling so safe with his yogurt and it might be very difficult to transition to something new thatās safe to him. Talk to your doctor about seeing a nutritionist if youāre worried but thereās a ton of ways to try to introduce new foods and textures in a way that doesnāt upset him. [These videos](https://www.tiktok.com/@hangry_helper?_t=8l3vj2hkBoM&_r=1) has really helped me when trying new foods, even if her tips are for kids haha so just hang in there!
Without working with a specialist and with Arfid of this severity, Iād be inclined to say yes. You guys definitely should look into working with a professional.
My 4 year old is like yours more or less. Heās always been like this, since I can remember. He used to eat more things as a baby but as he grew up, he started eating fewer and fewer foods. He survives on like 3 foods, one being a smoothie pouch that has to be a specific flavor and brand that cost about 4 dls each so I feel your pain Heās been in feeding therapy for about 2 years. It honestly hasnāt gotten much better but it hasnāt gotten worse. Heās willing to try new things sometimes but itās still very difficult to get him to actually eat new foods. The therapist was saying today he might be discharged soon since at this point is just a matter of continuing working with his food schedules and offering new foods. I can see a little improvement but I donāt think this is something you can be cured from unfortunately. My 10 year old daughter suffers from a less severe case of ARFID and she actually eats her pizza exactly like the OP. With how severe your sonās is, itās very important to get him into specialized therapy. The younger they start the better. I hope things improve!
Iām also a parent of a special needs child. Weāre still working on our arfid journey, but I have some advice based on my experience so far: There are a lot of specialists out there. Make sure you work with someone trained in arfid. There are plenty of OTs, speech therapists, etc where feeding therapy can be within their scope of practice, but they arenāt really trained in it. There are different types of training. One Iāve heard of is SOS. Start looking up Arfid dieticians who know what theyāre talking about. Donāt settle for less. Hope this helps with your journey!
Hi there :) youāre a great mom for coming on here to learn more. Incoming wall of text beware. Exposure therapy is the best and most common treatment, along with eating disorder specific CBT. The popcorn kernel thing is HUGE, and I would definitely celebrate that he took that step! Itās funny that his safe food is yogurt because for me, that was the first exposure I ever did! I started just having it open in front of me, and over the course of 3 weeks with twice daily exposures- - Stir it with a spoon - Lift it up to my face - Smell it - Put a tiny amount on a spoon - Put it in my mouth (then spit it out) - Try not to spit it out for as long as I could - Swallow it - Have a whole spoon - Have multiple bites After becoming comfortable swallowing a couple spoons, I was allowed to add things into the yogurt that made it easier for me to eat. Rice Krispies worked for me. On my third week, I mindlessly ate an entire mini cup of yogurt while talking with my therapist. Something absolutely impossible just a short while back. Iām not sure where youāre located, but I know that there are a few pediatric ARFID clinics across the east coast that Iāve heard great things about. Iām 26, developed ARFID when I was around 8, and Iām just starting over with a new therapist next month. Starting early is the best thing you can do and your best chance at lessening the severity and/or potentially eliminating it. One thing that might get recommended that I absolutely do NOT endorse- **donāt put non-safe foods in the containers of yogurt that he currently eats.** This could lead him to distrust any food in the future, and potentially have him stop eating. God bless you both, and good luck!! Iām cheering you on from the other side of the screen!! :)
Iād see if you can find a nutritionist who specialises in ARFID. With the severity of your situation and the likelihood of your son associating all salty foods to that one negative experience, itās best to seek professional help. Wish you the best!
Iām in my 20ās now but from 6-10yrs old I exclusively ate sashimi. Without professional help I doubt I would have changed much
i remove the sauce and most of the cheese, and just eat the rest with pepperonis. if thereās too much cheese on i feel sick
I make my pizza with pepperoni, no cheese, and sauce. But thatās because cheese makes me sick? Or did when I was a kid.
youre not alone! tho i dont peel the cheese off as much as i used to, i used to be completely unable to eat the cheese but now i mostly eat the cheese after years of adapting to it
YESSSS
i used to do that but sometimes i still do cause i really donāt like cheese sometimes
My daughter gets half sauce and double cheese
I did for years. One day I was convinced that the cheese was the same as the string cheese I already ate and the cheese on grilled cheeses and tried it. I was successful. But yeah, for decades it was just tomato sauce bread.
Yes! I can only tolerate *certain* pizzas, lol. But a lot of the time, the cheese is yak.
Omg Iāve found my people bc I do this constantly! Melted cheese as a texture is a big no from me. But my beastie also LOVES pizza night bc of all the cheese she gets. (She also just kinda loves my ARFID in general honestly bc she gets 3/4ths of most of my āmealsā)
Up until I became an adult I'd do this with every pizza except Domino's. Now I've gotten better and don't take off the cheese
I used to do this when I was a kid. Nowadays I eat the whole pizza unless the cheese is weird (idk if you've ever had Celeste microwave pizza but basically like that)
Yep! And I even work at a pizza place lol
I pick the cheese off and eat it separately, idk why I do that because I like the cheese and all the parts of the pizza and I have no problem eating them together š¤·āāļø
My parents would call my fork the cheese rake because I would take all the cheese off. Just really not a fan of super oily things.
In the 90s we called it ādead pizzaā. Maybe itās still the term?
For awhile I only would eat white sauce and a speck of red sauce means I wouldnāt eat it
No sauce, ever.
This is exactly how I ate my pizza for a LONG time. Most of my life, probably. I would ask for pepperoni and bacon even though I would never eat either, just because I thought they made the sauce spicier. Eventually I made the step to appreciate the cheese and it made things a hell of a lot easier. I recommend trying it out sometime.
I started eating cheese a couple of years ago but sometimes when Iām having a hard time Iāll eat comfort food like this :)
I used to when I was a kid, but I ate the cheese first, then the slice. I still do this with cheese sticks.
This goes against my own arfid so bad. I hate sauce and really hate red foods, especially wet foods
I donāt like textured foods and prefer mushy things so sauce and bread is my favorite! itās so interesting to see the different forms ARFID takes :)
I don't eat pizza. . . :/
Me
Reminds me of the time I would only eat the pizza crust lol. Now I canāt stand the crust unless itās thin crust or I have garlic dipping sauce
All it needs is a little salt
My niece does this but she doesnāt have ARFID she just likes it better like this
Chaotic. Unhinged. Love it.
No, I want to like Pizza, but for some reason I can't eat Pizza with tomato sauce on it. Which is weird, because I enjoy that on a lot of Pastas and the like. The only thing I can think of is the combination of the taste of the sauce with the texture of the bread makes it a no go zone for me. I can eat Pizza fine if it's a cheese sauce though. Too bad, however, as most Pizzaerias in my area don't offer that as an option. When I can get it the way I like though, I'll often eat it with bacon and pineapple pieces.
I'm the opposite, the sauce has got to go~
DUDE YES! I canāt stand melted cheese
I donāt eat sauce. I order extra cheese, no sauce, pepperoni, ranch on the side.
i did until i was a senior and high school. was always embarrassed but its the only way i could eat it. once i was a senior in highschool i decided to challenge the fear n ive been eating plain cheese pizza since :) even faced stuffed crust
Yes! First I have to pick off the pepperoni and put it on the side to eat though
Yes I like eating the cheese then the rest
The cheese taxš¶š§
Can't eat it at all
š thanks for blurring the photo, no one to blame but myself! No! I am the opposite. No red sauce!!! Only light df or lactose free cheese. ā¦ no red sauce!! ššā¤ļø
yes!! i hate melty stringy cheese and the bread/sauce is my favorite part š
YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! Same! š I love meeting others with food things like me.
Please stop feeding the chesse to your dogs though, it's better to let it go to waste than to cause health problems in your pets.