Bulimia Nervosa

You said that you were concerned that your child seems unable to stop eating once s/he starts. Your child may eat a lot of high calorie food in one sitting. For example, s/he may eat a whole pizza, a half gallon of ice cream, and a dozen donuts at all once. This type of eating is called "binge eating". Your child may then try to get rid of what s/he ate by:

• Throwing up
• Using laxatives
• Not eating (skipping meals)
• Exercising too much

Even though your child eats too much and tries to get rid of it, s/he is probably not over or underweight. His/her weight may go up and down a lot. Your child has done this as often as 2 times a week for the past 3 months.

Children with this problem are most likely to vomit to get rid of food. Older children may use laxatives to try to lose weight. They may also exercise a lot to try control their weight. Teenagers are more likely to try to hide this behavior from adults.

Your child may have an eating problem called Bulimia. This type of problem is becoming more and more common in teenage girls and young women. It is a pretty common problem in the US. About 2 out of every 100 young women have this problem.

Sometimes family members do not know that their child has these problems. A child may hide it from others. If you think that your child has this problem it is very important to get help right away. Children who throw-up like this can end up with some big medical problems. Your child's doctor will tell you some ways that you can get help.

American Academy of Pediatrics (1996). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Primary Care. Elk Grove Village, Illinois: Author.

Adapted in part from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fourth Edition (1994).

AACAP Facts for Families
Available:
http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/eating.htm
(April 8, 2004)