Does your child have ARFID? What is it and how patches could help:

Have you heard of ARFID (Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder)? According to the eating disorder charity Beat, there are over 60,000 people in the UK living with AFRID, and it particularly affects people on the autistic spectrum (around a third of people with AFRID are autistic).

Here at PatchWorks, we don't pretend to be experts on autism, or eating disorders, but we do know a lot about supplements, and how they can support health in someone whose nutrient intake is lower than it should be. We're also frequently contacted by the parents of autistic children who swear by our patches to address any nutritional gaps:

"My son wears your patches and he has Arfid which is avoidance restrictive food intake disorder and is autistic and lives on chicken nuggets. He has gone from needing a blood transfusions and a feeding tube to being stable wearing your iron and kids multivitamin patches. Where ever we go I tell people about them as they have been life changing for us!"

In fact, we've received so much positive customer feedback on how helpful patches are for anyone with sensitivity around swallowing, or food texture, taste or colour, that we thought it would be helpful to share more information on how our patches work, and how they can help if your child is struggling to get the nutrients they need because of dietary restrictions.

Why are patches helpful if your child has ARFID?

PatchWorks products deliver all the nutrients via the skin, so there's no need to taste or swallow anything. You'll find all the info on how to use our patches work here, but in a nutshell: you just pop a light, comfortable patch onto your child's skin. The patches are hypoallergenic, soft, and so undetectable that some parents apply them at night and children don't notice. Here's a review from a parent who does just this:

"I bought the Kids MultiVitamin Plus Topical Patch for my autistic daughter who has ARFID, I put one on her upper back while she is asleep and she is none the wiser. Honestly a brilliant product!"

Your child just needs to wear the patch for 8 hours and then you can remove it. Don't worry, patches have just the right amount of stick so they'll stay on, but aren't difficult to peel off like a sticking plaster can be. That's it!  A stress-free way to top up nutrients if your child has ARFID.

What is this eating disorder and what are the symptoms to look out for?

If your child has ARFID then they'll avoid certain foods or might manage very little of whatever you can get them to eat. Children with ARFID aren’t just being ‘fussy eaters', research shows they are likely to have an extreme sensitivity to the flavour, colour, smell, and texture of foods.

Signs your child could have the disorder include having little interest in mealtimes, not enjoying eating, or having anxiety around choking. They might skip meals, or avoid social situations where there will be food, like play dates or parties. This can lead to eating only a very narrow range of foods, with kids often favouring carbohydrates and processed 'beige' foods, and refusing fruit and vegetables. Many children with the condition are only comfortable eating the same meal every day.

Having this kind of tricky relationship with food can then lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, weight loss, fatigue, and low energy.

Which vitamin and mineral deficiencies are most common in children with ARFID?

Levels of vitamins B1, B6, B12, A, and D, and calcium are often reported to be low in children with ASD and ARFID. And many children with (and without) AFRID generally don’t get enough vitamin E, potassium, and choline in what they eat either.

Taking a supplement is a great compromise if you can’t get your child to eat vitamin and mineral-rich foods. It’s not a substitute for nutritious food but will give you the peace of mind that some of the gaps in your child’s diet are being plugged. Our Kids Multivitamin patch contains B1, B6, B12, A, D, and E, plus minerals including potassium, choline, and calcium. So this is a great patch to start with if you think your child might have ARFID.

For more tips on how to support your child, read part 2 of the blog here:

https://patchworksuk.com/blog/does-your-child-have-arfid-what-is-it-and-how-patches-could-help/