Seven years old girls with eating disorders

Girls aged seven ‘have anorexia’

Girls as young as seven or eight have been treated at Great Ormond Street hospital for eating disorders, a senior consultant has confirmed.

Dr Jon Goldin said cases of anorexia and related conditions were “very rare” in such young children, but had been seen over 20 years at the hospital.

Great Ormond Street, the famous children’s hospital in central London, has a special unit for treating young children with eating disorders.

These could include the onset of puberty, a “perfectionist” personality type and genetic reasons. In a minority of cases, children had been abused, he said.

For others, cultural issues and expectations – a belief that to be beautiful you must be thin – might play a part. (full news here)

There are so many factors that can contribute to this disorders and I must say that parents have a big  influence.  If the moms are constantly on a diet, worrying about their figures and forego their health for the sake of beauty, it is natural that their daughters will follow their footsteps.

With eating disorders on the increase, it is irresponsible to be glorifying unnatural images that put impressionable girls’ and women’s health at risk,” she said.

‘Young women need role models that look like real women, not stick insects on a catwalk.”

So, moms with young daughters, are you unconsciously sending out the wrong message to your daughters?  Will their health be comprised?