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Parents’ Importance of Being Involved in Re-Feeding Process of Eating Disorder Recovery
Contributor: Crystal Karges, MS, RDN, IBCLC Director of Content and Social Media at Eating Disorder Hope/Addiction Hope
For a child who is recovering from an eating disorder, many physical, mental, emotional, and psychological consequences must be addressed through treatment. Restrictive eating behaviors in particular starve the body of crucial nutrients needed for functioning and survival.
Early forms of treatment for eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, involve a phase of “re-feeding” the body, or replenishing the body to a baseline level and from a malnourished state.
Understanding the Process of Re-Feeding
The process of re-feeding can vary in duration and intensity depending on the severity of the eating disorder and subsequent medical concerns. Re-feeding often refers to the process of weight restoration.
For some patients who are chronically ill as a result of an eating disorder, such as anorexia, weight restoration and re-feeding must occur through inpatient treatment and/or via feeding tubes.
However, with adolescents recovering from anorexia nervosa, family based outpatient treatment has been shown to be an effective form of weight restoration and re-feeding [1].
For adolescents who are medically stable, family based treatment, also known as the Maudsley Method is an evidenced based approach towards re-feeding that empowers parents in the process of weight restoration and healing from an eating disorder.
Parents can be the best allies for recovery for an adolescent struggling with an eating disorder. There are three important phases of treatment implemented through family based treatment in which parents play an important role, including:
- Taking responsibility of decisions of when, what, and how much the ill patient eats, as well as behaviors around food.
- Carefully giving control back to the child after weight restoration is achieved
- Working alongside clinicians to restore normal relations between family members [2]
Working With a Specialized Treatment Team
Clinicians who specialize in the family based Maudsely treatment approach can be helpful in guiding parents through the process of re-feeding their child.
This can be either through working with a treatment center that implements the Maudsely approach or with a therapist or clinician who has had specialized training as a family-based therapist. Parents can play an instrumental role in the re-feeding process of their child through family-based treatment.
Community Discussion – Share your thoughts here!
If you have been through family based treatment for re-feeding, how did this help your recovery from an eating disorder?
References:
[1]: Murray SB, Le GD (Family therapy for adolescent eating disorders: an update. Curr Psychiatry Rep 16:447.2014).[2]: “FBT” and the “Maudsley Approach”, http://www.feast-ed.org/?page=FBT_MaudsleyApproach
About the Author: Crystal is a Masters-level Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with a specialty focus in eating disorders, maternal/child health and wellness, and intuitive eating.
Combining clinical experience with a love of social media and writing, Crystal serves as the Special Projects Coordinator for Eating Disorder Hope/Addiction Hope, where her passion to help others find recovery and healing is integrated into each part of her work.
As a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Crystal has dedicated her career to helping others establish a healthy relationship with food and body through her work with EDH/AH and nutrition private practice.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on July 12, 2016
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com
