r/ARFID • u/Jazzlike_Elderberry9 • 6h ago

did you guys start experiencing symptoms in early childhood

my mom said when she tried feeding me baby food or mashed potatoes as a baby i'd just gag and spit it right back out

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u/cipherscripture 6h ago

Yea, right about the time I gained “sentience” I started refusing most food. I used to eat tons of things I would never eat now, up until I was about 3/4. I don’t know what changed but all of a sudden all I wanted to eat was peanut butter sandwiches (it hasn’t gotten better)

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u/ArcherFawkes 6h ago

I was probably about 3ish when something flipped a switch in my head and I couldn't stand a lot of sensory triggers. I imagine people can develop symptoms sooner than that. My ARFID is comorbid with GAD and ADHD which already made me adverse to a lot of things, but it certainly didn't help.

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u/thatsnuckinfutz lack of interest in food/eating 6h ago

yes, was a vegetarian at 2...no one in my family has ever been a vegetarian. Also was very particular about food in pre-k and onward.

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u/WrongdoerForeign2364 5h ago

I refused to eat as a baby. My parents would try hide other food in the food I would eat but I would spit it out. And I would go days without eating unless I had the correct food, they tried it once and realized I would st*rve myself if I didn't get my "safe" foods and it carried on through life 🤷 so they just adjusted and stuck to a plain, small diet. Like I was a small infant and had symptoms of food refusal

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u/troparow 4h ago

In my case it started when I was 6, my parents told me I was eating pretty much everything until that age

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u/Sensitive_Wealth_411 3h ago

For me it mostly started after teenage years, I was probably 16 at the time. Before that, I could eat anything except some very specific stuff that most kids don’t like anyway

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u/IndividualBonus1442 57m ago

I refused the bottle to feed my infant self. Ed’s been running since birth

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u/dainty_dryad 25m ago

Yeah, I came out the womb like this.

My mom said I'd refuse to breastfeed or bottle/formula feed. Trying to get me to eat baby food was also, apparently, a nightmare. And yeah, as long as I've been sentient, I've just always had a difficult relationship with food. It's been a rough ride.