A fussy schoolboy who would only eat chicken nuggets and other beige food has been cured in time to enjoy a Christmas dinner thanks to hypnosis. Noah Young, who refused to eat fruit and vegetables, suffers from Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and once threw up just from eating a carrot.
The football-mad youngster has suffered from ARFID since he was 18 months old and has refused to eat food not in his select diet since. Eating something new or different can make the boy gag or even be sick in serious cases.
Noah's breakfast consisted of toast with jam, pancakes or dry Cheerios without milk. Lunch would be a ham sandwich or jam sandwich or plain pasta and for tea, Noah would tuck into chips and chicken nuggets, pizza, or a plain chicken wrap.
But now the picky schoolboy has taken steps to fix his condition after his parents sought the help of a professional.
Noah's mum Caroline, 35, from Duffield, Derbyshire, said: "When Noah was 18 months old he just got more fussy.
"He got sent home from school when he was six for being sick after they tried to make him eat carrots. He ended up being sick, they tried to encourage him to eat his fruit and vegetables.
"He was getting worse, we tried to make him eat a bit of lettuce and he just ended up throwing up.
"He was overthinking it, he was gagging, and then he just threw up.
"He used to have pasta with the sauce but then he just wanted it plain. Everything is plain. With potatoes, he won't eat them unless they're chips."
The mum continued: "I just assumed it was fussy eating as everything says that. Trying to get him to eat anything good was a challenge, he would be crying and gagging.
"When it started getting bad we noticed he wasn't growing. We were trying to find someone to deal with it. I was worried he wasn't going to develop.
“He ate plain pasta, ham sandwiches and jam sandwiches, crisps, chocolate, pizza, chicken nugget, all the beige junk foods.
“He would go to bed without eating when we were trying to get him to eat things. That's when we thought it was more than fussy eating."
Luckily Caroline read an article about a woman suffering from ARFID who got help from a professional, so she contacted him to help Noah.
After just one three-hour session, ARFID expert David Kilmurry was able to get Noah to eat new food for the first time in over seven years.
Mum of-three Caroline, who works in social media, added: "It was David Kilmurry, I saw him on social media and a girl just wanted something similar and he helped her.
"The doctors just assumed it was fussy eating. David got him eating oranges, mangos, cherries, he was really good. He did magic tricks to keep him calm. He kept breaking it up to encourage him.
"We saw him just two weeks ago, on the first session he got him eating it. He bases it on meditation and he was calm.
"We'd been trying for years and he's got him to do it straight away.
"David was the same as Noah, he had the same issue as Noah. It's all very little bites, but he's eating it.
"He's given us a diary and we have to do a 1,2,3 rule. We've got to do 50 foods by December 17.
"He's still got his normal diet but now he'll have an orange or a cherry for a snack instead of a biscuit. He's having peas and sweetcorn in small portions.
"He's encouraging him to eat better. If he can eat over 50 types of food he isn't classed as ARFID.
"He's tried 22 types of food now. It's mainly fruit, but it's good progress."
Mum Caroline was worried Noah's limited diet would stunt his growth due to his current small size but she remains quietly confident he can shoot up soon.
She added: "He’s small, my son who is two and a half years younger is taller him. It's definitely affecting his growth. When you see all the lads at football, he's nowhere near their size.
"When we were on this football thing on Sunday they had a huddle and he got lost in the middle.
"Hopefully it will progress, it's difficult for him to progress. It's time and patience, I'm happy he's even trying them.
"He hasn't been sick, he realises it's not going to hurt him. He was trying them.
"He's massively pleased he's trying things, you can see he's proud."
Does your child suffer from Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder? Please get in touch at webfeatures@trinitymirror.com if you'd like to share your story.
