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OSD and Eating Disorders

Stupidlyoptimistic's picture

Submitted by Stupidlyoptimistic on Wed, 01/08/2014 - 9:51pm

SD10 has been mentioning her weight and her desire to lose weight off and on for two years now. A few weeks ago I asked DH if I could talk to SD10 about eating disorders the next time she brought up weight issues. Well, tonight SD10 told me she had lost 2 lbs this week. She went from 83 to 81 lbs. She's 10 yo and appr. 4'9. Her weight is fine. She was happy about losing weight. :O I've lived with an eating disorder since I was 12. I don't want to watch her go through this. DH and I sat SD10 down and showed her a couple of pics of women with eating disorders. I also gave her a brief run down of my experience with eating disorders. I don't think she took it too seriously, but hopefully, she will at least have something to think about. Did we do the right thing? Would y'all have done anything different?

Comments

Starla's picture

Submitted by Starla on Wed, 01/08/2014 - 11:56pm

That can be a tough issue to deal with, is she in counseling? Personally, I wouldn't show pictures bc I would be nervous that she may want to get that skinny especially if she has low self esteem. Is something in her life feeling out of control for her or does her BM often express to your SD that she wants to lose weight? Does anyone in your SD's family on either side have eating disorders?

It sounds like your intentions are good and I would suggest that you find and or print up some information that covers the damage eating disorders cause on the inside and educate her with that and maybe even see if her doctor thinks she would benefit from vitamin supplements.

Good luck, she is lucky to have you by her side. Wink

Bojangles's picture

Submitted by Bojangles on Thu, 01/09/2014 - 8:15am

In my experience with an anorexic and bulimic teen the point when you really need to start worrying is when they lose weight WITHOUT talking about it. Sadly it sounds like your SD is reacting to the pressure on girls body image, but talking about diets and losing a couple of pounds does not necessarily signal an ED.

The best way to address it is probably to equip her with information about where that body image pressure comes from and how it affects girls, so she can understand why she is feeling that way and learn to filter some of those negative messages out. I imagine there are some very good teen and pre teen books on these issues which you could get for her to read. Focus on teaching her about healthy eating and lifestyle and try not to create pressure over eating and weight. I would avoid putting ideas about eating disorders in her head. But I would also be careful about her online activity - there is a horrendous amount of pro anorexic content on teen social networking sites, with images and blogs that could drive even a healthy adult to start competitive weight loss.