Your Child Has Been Diagnosed with ARFID
What it means, and what happens next
Prepared by
Dr Melissa Bujtor
HCPC Registered Dietitian · AfN Registered Nutritionist (RNutr)
Paediatric Feeding Specialist
Being told your child has ARFID can bring a mix of feelings — relief that what you have been seeing finally has a name, and worry about what it means for the future.
Both are completely understandable. This guide explains what the diagnosis means, what support can look like, and what you can reasonably hope for.
What the diagnosis means
A diagnosis of ARFID means that, after a careful assessment, a professional has recognised that your child's restricted eating is significant enough to be affecting their nutrition, growth, or everyday life — and that it is not better explained by something else.
It is worth being clear about what the diagnosis is, and is not:
It is a recognised, named condition, understood in the clinical world and taken seriously.
It is not a judgement on you or your parenting.
It is not a fixed life sentence. A diagnosis describes where your child is now — it does not decide where they will be in the future.
It is not the same as an eating disorder driven by weight or body image. ARFID relates to difficulties with food and eating that may involve the sensory experience of food, low interest in eating or food, or fear of something going wrong.
For many families, the diagnosis is the thing that finally opens the door — to being believed, to the right support, and to understanding their child more fully.
Understanding your child's eating
ARFID can look very different from one child to another, but difficulties commonly relate to one or more of three areas:
The sensory experience of food
Some textures, tastes, smells, temperatures or appearances may be difficult or overwhelming.
Low interest in eating or food
Having little appetite or interest in food, eating feeling like an effort, or hunger cues being less noticeable for some children.
Fear of something bad happening
Such as choking, being sick, experiencing pain or another frightening consequence of eating.
Understanding which of these are relevant to your child helps shape the support that follows, because what helps one child may be very different from what helps another.
This is why ARFID support is never one-size-fits-all.
What support can look like
Support is tailored to your child and may bring together several different strands:
Attention to nutrition and growth
Making sure your child's nutritional needs are supported, including making the most of foods they already eat and using supplements where needed.
A structured, low-pressure approach to food
Supporting eating in ways that feel manageable for your child, reducing pressure and building from what already works.
Understanding sensory and emotional needs
Understanding how your child experiences food and eating, including sensory differences, fear or anxiety where these are present.
Support with feeding skills where needed
Some children may also need assessment or support with the physical skills involved in eating and drinking.
A team where needed
Depending on your child, this may involve a dietitian, psychologist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist or paediatrician working together.
Support for you
Feeding difficulties can affect the whole family, and part of good support is helping you understand what is happening and sharing some of that load.
There are recognised, evidence-based approaches to ARFID, and the field is developing quickly. No single approach suits every child, which is why support should be chosen and adapted around the individual child.
What you can reasonably hope for
Things can get better.
Support may help your child meet their nutritional needs, feel safer and more comfortable around food, experience less distress, participate more easily in everyday life and, where appropriate, gradually expand what they are able to eat. What meaningful change looks like will not be identical for every child.
We will also always be honest with you: no responsible professional can promise a particular outcome or timescale. Change is often gradual and rarely follows a straight line. There may be periods when things move forward and others when very little seems to change.
What matters is finding an approach that makes sense for your child, their needs and their experience of food.
Living alongside it, day to day
- Protect the foods that work. The foods your child already eats are valuable and important. Keep them readily available rather than removing them in an attempt to encourage other foods.
- Take the pressure out of mealtimes. Keep familiar foods readily available and avoid turning everyday meals into repeated tests of whether your child will eat something new.
- Expect life to affect eating. Illness, tiredness, school changes, travel, stress and changes in routine can all affect eating. Sometimes a child's range or intake may temporarily become smaller.
- Look beyond what gets eaten. Changes in comfort, confidence, communication and participation can matter too.
- Look after yourself, too. You do not have to have all the answers, and you do not have to do this alone.
Questions you might have
Will my child grow out of it?
ARFID is different from the common periods of food selectivity many children experience, and difficulties may persist without appropriate support. With the right support, however, meaningful change is possible.
Did I cause this?
No. ARFID develops through a complex combination of factors that differ from child to child. It is not caused by poor parenting or by something you have done wrong.
Will my child need this support forever?
Not necessarily. The type and amount of support a child needs can change over time. The aim is to help your child and family understand their needs and feel increasingly confident in managing day to day, while keeping appropriate support in place where it remains useful.
What if we get stuck?
Periods where things seem to have stopped changing can happen. They are useful information rather than a failure. They may tell us that something has changed, that the current approach needs adjusting, or that your child needs something different from us.
- Your team. Whatever comes up between appointments, you are welcome to get in touch.
- The clinic. To arrange an assessment or discuss whether we can help, contact Dr Melissa Bujtor — enquiries@drbujtor.com, 01732 453956, drbujtor.com.
- Beat, the UK's eating disorder charity — Helpline 0808 801 0677, Youthline (under-18s) 0808 801 0711, beateatingdisorders.org.uk.
- ARFID Awareness UK — information written specifically about ARFID for families: arfidawarenessuk.org.
Written by Dr Melissa Bujtor, HCPC Registered Dietitian, AfN Registered Nutritionist (RNutr) and Paediatric Feeding Specialist. This offers general information and is not a substitute for individual clinical advice. Your child's care is always tailored to them.
About the author
Dr Melissa Bujtor
A HCPC Registered Dietitian and AfN Registered Nutritionist with specialist expertise in paediatric dietetics, feeding development and eating disorders.
Dr Bujtor also holds a British Psychological Society-accredited Master’s degree in Psychology, bringing an understanding of behaviour, cognition and emotional development to her clinical work with children and young people.
She is a published scientist whose work spans research, policy and advocacy, and serves on the Board of Trustees of The Feeding Trust, helping to connect research, policy and clinical practice to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.
Her clinical practice combines evidence-based dietetics with a developmental understanding of feeding — looking beyond what a child eats to understand the factors that may be contributing to their difficulties.
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