Young viral star highlights struggles of rare food disorder
Young viral star highlights struggles of rare food disorder
Eight-year-old Hannah and her mother are on a mission to educate the public about ARFID, a disorder that sparks major fear and aversions to many common foods.
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Do better ABC. The mother of this child is using this and her daughter as a grift. She exploits her, leaves all the bullying comments up, all her crying videos make double the views and she knows it. You are encouraging child exploitation. This girl will have to live the rest of her life with every waking move online to be picked apart and ridiculed. If she reaches an age to give proper consent and share her own journey, that’s one thing. Parents can raise awareness without using their kids as their cash cow.
I’m really proud of her! I’m 28 and have a fear of trying new foods too. It really does ruin a lot of your life. I’ve made some progress over the years. I eat a few vegetables now so yay! But doctors definitely didn’t care when I grew up, as long as you were not too over or under weight they’d said she’ll grow out it….im 28…I still haven’t grown out of it. I wish I could just blink and not be afraid anymore. What I’d do just eat normal things like pizza. I wish I could enjoy meal times rather than it just be a chore to keep me alive basically.
It's not exactly rare. Just not well known so loads of people are either misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all.
wow… i just realized my brother could have had ARFID as a kid but was forced my strict parents to "get over" it
They should re name this Gordon Ramsey disorder
I feel so bad for this girl. Her mom has been exploiting her for years. She clearly feels uncomfortable filming the videos.
It sounds like hypnosis may be helpful or possibly a feeding tube.
Anna, Daemon says hi and he has the disorder too. You are amazing.
Well i thought i was just a picky eater. Im not scared of food but since a child theres loads i don't eat. Its either the taste smell or texture or all 3
I'm surprised they didn't get her a tube.
I'm sick of parents exploiting their kids with medical issues on social media.
"It's for awareness" ok great, think of another way to spread awareness of arfid that doesn't involve broadcasting your child's most vulnerable moments on the internet.
I can relate to the part about textures
Exploiting a child for parent income. All of her medical care can be done without Instagram.
Congrats sweetie! I watch you on Instagram and read the comments of all of the people you have helped. You are unbelievably brave! I do not have ARFID but still learn something from you every day. thank you for sharing your journey and the wisdom you have gained through therapy. You are a teacher for us all! Big hugs from Oregon ❤
poor baby
Is this a type of OCD
I didn’t think this was super rare. I’m autistic and have mild ARFID and my fiancé is also autistic and has much more serious ARFID struggles. It’s a common thing in autistic individuals.
Hannah doesn’t have the discernment to know how being on you tube will affect her life. It’s bad enough she has this disease. She doesn’t need to be exploited online. Let her lead a normal life. This is a job people.
As someone who has been in eating disorder recovery for a decade– this is so important. There are 7 different types of eating disorders. I've met MANY people in treatment both inpatient and outpatient and IOP that have had this. Anorexia and BED are the only well known eating disorders but there are many and often have overlapping and can morph from one eating disorder to another. ARFID is especially common among the neurodivergent population and differs from anorexia in that it is UNINTENTIONAL restriction. the barriers to food usually more sensory related or trauma related as well. It doesn't usually have the body image distress component as well but is still as serious and debilitating and has the same PHYSICAL repercussions because restriction is restriction whether it is unintentional or not. Disordered eating is disordered whether it's intentional or not.
5% of children is not rare. Even 0.5% is not rare. ARFID is, unfortunately, quite common. I'm not going to say inflammatory things about what causes it, but it's certainly not good that it's so prevalent
First-world problems. Most children in the extremities of the developing world don't have the option of having this problem.
1 new food each day? Wow! That's impressive when someone has ARFID! Way to go Hannah!
She is so cute and brave! ❤
one. arfid isnt that rare at all. its simply not very well known among professionals nor is it well researched (ive been in an arfid fb group and it has 20k+ people, with a parents specific one being at 19k). its very common in neurodivergent people
two. dont use children as influencers ffs
My daughter had failure to thrive 16 years ago. She is 16 now and has overcome it. As a baby she always had a hard time eating. Her doctor accused me of not trying hard enough to feed her. We went to feeding clinics for year's only for her to refuse to eat. No matter what foods she had presented she never wanted to eat. Her first birthday party she didn't even touch her cake.
The fact that she's willing to try the foods is great! I usually hate seeing kids' personal stuff online, but if this helps her, good. Maybe this gives her strength.
When I nearly died from the food poisoning I got a few years, for 2 years I had struggled with arfid because my stomach never healed properly so I was terrified of eating. Every time I ate it would hurt my stomach, eventually I got diagnosed with arfid as an adult. Things are much better now, my stomach is finally healing and I can eat more things now without being scared of being in pain.
I'm an adult and I have ARFID and honestly I'm so proud of this little girl I struggled daily with new foods and so im so proud of her
My son almost got a gastrostomy tube from this-he is 6 and is just beginning to eat food, little Caesar’s pizza and strawberry pieces
I suffer from this condition my entire life. I would never wish this condition to anyone else as this affects my life severely.
Boo Hoo! kid! people in 3rd world countries cant even afford to eat!
another case of child exploitation online!
Sweet young girl
Does anyone remember Vanessa from DR Phil? No one believed her, Not even her husband believed her
I always felt bad for her. Glad this disorder is getting noticed!
I'm a little surprised and disappointed to see this featured by GMA. I don't feel like she, like any other minor, is able to actually consent to being featured on the internet. Many of the videos seem forced. Perhaps what she needs is a private network of other children and adults and not for her struggles with ED to be featured on social media. The amount of predators, mean people and people seeking content with the actual intent to fuel their own ED is unreal. I'm very disheartened by this kind of content that features children. And that also is saying very little about the strange impression I have of the mother. It's just not right. Have we already forgotten the Ruby Frankie situation – or Gypsy Rose? Remember, we can't see what actually happens behind closed doors once these influences turn the camera off.
Please feature less content like this.
Edit: grammer
I have arfid I only eat 7 foods
Aside from the eating disorder. Her hair appears very nice and thick. Whatever she is eating instead. She is getting enough nutrients to grow that beautiful hair
A child shouldn't be the mascot for an ED. And shame on her parents for posting videos of her crying and gagging on food. They cant be so naive that they dont know exactly what type of men are drawn to those videos of their daughter
I follow the account on IG. The account is run by her mom and Hannah is the only person recording the videos. It’s great awareness and I think it helps many people. Her therapist said this is not an eating disorder but an anxiety disorder. I think it’s brave that she is even doing this so publicly!
An 8-year old child should not be the face of a complex eating disorder. Some of her videos are distressing; she is visibly upset when trying a fear food; her mom is in it to cash in. Hannah is a sweet, thoughtful kid who needs to be protected, not exploited by a wannabe stage mom with dollar signs in her eyes. Why else would she tag food companies in her Instagram and TikTok posts. This is wrong on so many levels; does her mom not realize (or even care) that her daughter's eating videos can end up on the wrong side of the internet? Does she not care she's setting up her daughter for bullying at school? I'm not sure an 8 y/o is in a position to give consent for the most vulnerable part of her life to be made public though social media (her Instagram account has 1.4 million followers and counting).
The new diagnosis for picky eater
I consider this a picky eater
What rare eating disorder does she have again
I have great fear for yoghurt and I have tried to overcome it but its not working.
Great that individuals with problems like this are finally getting recognition & treatment!
I am sorry for Hannah's struggles with ARFID. HOWEVER, How brave of This young lady to bring awareness to this rare Eating Disorder. And I Wish the Best For you Hanna❤
I can almost guarantee this disorder is caused by having super sensitive tastebuds. I have that problem & cannot eat a lot of common foods. The texture is a big hurdle for me too. I don’t know why but having sensitive tastebuds manifests itself in a lot of varying symptoms. Almost everyone that has food phobias has sensitive tastebuds (& more numerous).