A mum-of-two “force-fed” her young son “out of desperation” as he would “rather starve” than eat new foods until the age of two - until she discovered he had a selective eating disorder.
Grace Willis, 43, from Bedfordshire, is the mum to nine-year-old twins, who go by their pseudonyms Theo and Lily online. She found feeding her prematurely born children “stressful” as it was important that they put on weight.
At three months old, Theo refused to feed, making Grace feel “utterly hopeless” as a parent, and after meeting with a dietitian, she realised she was putting “too much pressure” on her child to eat. Theo’s aversion to food continued, often gagging whenever he tried new foods, and at age two, he was formally diagnosed with a selective eating disorder as he would not eat anything “that had a smell to it.”
