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Selective Eating: Symptom, Disorder or Normal Variant

Institute of Child Health, London, UK

Deborah Christie

The Adolescent Unit, Middlesex Hospital, London, UK

Louise Randall

Royal Free Hospital, London, UK

Bryan Lask

St George’s Hospital Medical School and Huntercombe Manor Hospital, UK

Selective eating is the little studied phenomenon of eating a highly limited range of foods, associated with an unwillingness to try new foods. Common in toddlers, it can persist into middle childhood and adolescence in a small number of children, most commonly boys. When this happens social avoidance, anxiety and conflict can result. This article describes a sample of 20 children with selective eating who presented for help to a specialist eating clinic. We outline the presenting features and associated phenomena for the group, suggest an approach to treatment, and explore from a theoretical point of view where this symptom, disorder or normal variant fits into the spectrum of childhood eating difficulties.

Key Words: eating disorder • feeding problem • selective eating

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 6, No. 2, 257-270 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/1359104501006002007


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