The family of a four-year-old girl who suffers from restricted diets is worried that she will be admitted to the hospital in the face of severe shortages across the country.
Ava Gamble lives in Naborough, Leicestershire and suffers from a range of medical conditions, including avoidance or restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID).
Her diet is very narrow, including oven-baked sea salt Walker potato chips, Toast waffles, a fruit puree, almond milk and a prescription vitamin blend.
Due to a breakdown caused by an IT upgrade, Walkers was short of potato chips for one month.
Ava’s mother Michelle is at a loss and spends a few hours a day looking for potato chips.
She told British Broadcasting Corporation Her daughter would rather go for a drip than eat the food she doesn’t like.
“It’s really hard when your child depends on a certain food and you can’t get it,” Michelle said.
“[Me and my husband] Go to the store to find potato chips for an hour or two every day.
“We have a big family and everyone is taking care of them.
“Potato chips don’t have great nutritional value, but salt helps. This allows her to drink more.
“[If she doesn’t have them] This made her really fall asleep, she was lying down without enough energy. “
“Our biggest fear is that we have to go to the hospital. If we can’t find these potato chips, it is a 100% possibility,” she added.
“It makes me very, very anxious. Things that seem simple mean a lot to her.”
In an interview with Standard, Michel explained that Ava has complex care needs due to a rare genetic disease called Cohen syndrome, which affects only 1,000 people in the world.
She said that ARFID is often misjudged and it has nothing to do with “junk food or poor parenting.”
“Compared to me, more people are in a more desperate situation, fighting for appointments, referrals, and diagnosis,” she added.
Many parents of children with restricted diets are also struggling to obtain potato chips.
Potato chips are generally favored by people who use ARFID because they are consistent.
Walkers has apologized for its supply problems.
A spokeswoman said: “We are doing everything we can to increase production and get people’s favorites back on the shelves.
“We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.”
What is ARFID?
The characteristic of ARFID is to completely avoid certain foods or food groups and/or restrict the quantity (eating in small quantities) eating patterns. Avoidance and restrictive diets cannot be due to lack of available food or cultural norms (for example, someone fasts or chooses not to eat certain foods only for religious or cultural reasons).
The difference between ARFID and other restrictive eating disorders is:
*ARFID is not affected by a person’s perception of the size and shape of their body.
*Persons with ARFID will not restrict their food intake for the specific purpose of losing weight.
*ARFID does not have some other behaviors that may be related to anorexia, bulimia, or OSFED, such as excessive exercise.
