Are you concerned that your preteen or teenager may have an eating disorder?<\/p>\n
You aren\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n
Eating disorders among teenagers<\/a> are rising in our country. One report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> showed that hospitalizations for eating disorders sharply increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among adolescent girls. (Boys, too, can develop eating disorders.)<\/p>\n Parents across the country are finding that their children are struggling with issues about weight, image, and self-esteem and often ask pediatricians for help.<\/p>\n As a board-certified pediatrician, I am dedicated to raising awareness about the symptoms of eating disorders, especially during this Eating Disorders Awareness Week. If you are concerned about your child, reach out for help.<\/p>\n Untreated eating disorders can have devasting consequences: Every 52 minutes, one person dies as a direct consequence of an eating disorder<\/a>.<\/p>\n Parents, pediatricians and mental health professionals always have been concerned about eating disorders among adolescents, but the increased isolation and stress of the COVID-19 pandemic was so\u00a0 tough on many kids that more adolescents developed eating disorders.<\/p>\n Remote learning, loneliness and isolation, and spending more time on social media seem to have contributed to a spike in disordered eating. On social media, kids regularly see images of thin celebrities and supermodels \u2013 and want to look just like them.<\/p>\n Increased attention on weight-loss drugs has kids wondering about their own weight and what they can do to be thinner.<\/p>\n People with anorexia nervosa<\/a> limit what they eat to try to lose weight. There are two types of anorexia:<\/p>\n How would a parent know whether their adolescent has anorexia nervosa?<\/p>\n Adolescents with bulimia<\/a> eat an extremely large amount of food in a short period of time, and then induce vomiting or take diet or laxatives to rid the food from their bodies. This is similar to binge\/ purge anorexia, but a key difference is that people with bulimia can be overweight or normal weight<\/strong> \u00a0whereas those with anorexia are underweight.<\/p>\n Many people with bulimia don\u2019t have obvious symptoms, but parents may notice that their child goes to the bathroom after meals or has calloused knuckles from forced vomiting.<\/p>\n If you notice signs of anorexia or bulimia in your child, you should be concerned. Try to have an open and honest conversation with your child<\/a>. Try not to judge them or accuse them. Avoid talking to them about dieting or specific numbers on a scale.<\/p>\n You might say: \u201cAre you concerned about your weight?\u201d or \u201cI have noticed that you aren\u2019t eating very much. Is there anything going on?\u201d<\/p>\n Tell your child that you plan to reach out to their pediatrician so that together you can come up with a treatment plan.<\/p>\n Your child\u2019s pediatrician plays an important role in making an eating disorder diagnosis and developing a treatment plan. Because eating disorders are mental health conditions, therapy is almost always an important part of treatment.<\/p>\n Some kids do well talking with a nutritionist and a therapist in an outpatient setting. Other kids many need hospitalization and\/or the help of an inpatient residential treatment program. Ultimately, having the support of the family is vital to helping the child recover.<\/p>\n Recovery can take weeks to months to even years. Some teens will recover completely, and others may struggle with eating challenges as adults. Getting help at the earliest signs of an eating disorder can lead to better outcomes.<\/p>\n\n This blog<\/a> was originally published by the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are you concerned that your preteen or teenager may have an eating disorder? You aren\u2019t alone. Here’s what you should do if you think your child may have an eating disorder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[627,629,699,710,72],"class_list":["post-4884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-issues","tag-anorexia","tag-bulimia","tag-eating-disorders","tag-pediatrics","tag-teens","ages-teen"],"metadata":{"_edit_last":["6"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["default"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["106"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["292"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Concerned that your preteen or teenager may have an eating disorder? 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I was once a patient at Kaiser Permanente and I am happy to be a part of the team as a physician!\nIt is important for my patients to know that I am devoted to providing the best level of care while building a safe and inclusive environment for everyone.\nRead more at: {{https:\/\/mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org\/mas\/providers\/daynaukwuoma}}"],"post_featured_author_bio_link":["https:\/\/mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org\/mas\/providers\/daynaukwuoma"],"post_featured_author_image":["https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Ukwuoma-Danya-scaled-e1740689647132.jpg"],"post_featured_author_role":["YES"],"_thumbnail_id":["4887"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["eating disorders"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["74"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1741988057"],"wpfp_favorites":["238"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"ase_mapbox_style":["openstreet"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4884"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4936,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884\/revisions\/4936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Many Kids are Struggling with Eating Disorders
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\nAnorexia Nervosa<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
Here are signs to look for:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
Bulimia<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What Should You Do If You Think Your Child Has an Eating Disorder
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\nGetting Help for Eating Disorders<\/strong><\/h3>\n