When he was two, Ethan Crowe almost choked on a biscuit.
Although he was fine, the incident left him terrified and he slowly became more and more frightened of food.
Eventually, the only thing Ethan, from Camberley, Surrey, could eat was Vegemite spread on bread.
Desperate mum Michele, 46, struggled for over a year to persuade her son, now seven, to vary his diet.
And when the teacher heard about people being hypnotised to beat their food phobias she decided to book an appointment with hypnotist Elaine Hodgins.
Initially, she wasn’t sure it would work but after a few sessions, Ethan was able to eat normally and he has now transformed his diet.
The-mum-of-three said: ‘He would eat Vegemite toast for breakfast and lunch and nothing else.
‘We had many, many dinner times where there was crying and shouting, trying to get Ethan to eat things he didn’t want to.
‘It was quite scary. If he touched certain foods at all with his tongue he would immediately choke and gag.
‘Sometimes he would be sick into his plate because he was gagging so much.
‘He’d only eat just a handful of foods. If he was sick or ill he couldn’t take any medicine so we had to hide it in food for him.’
Before he turned two, Ethan had been exploring eating new food but after the choking incident, his feelings around meal times completely changed.
She said: ‘We think it all started when he had a choking incident when he was small.
‘He was sat on his dad’s lap and began to choke on some biscuits.
‘It was quite traumatic. It took us a few goes to get the food dislodged as he was going bluer and bluer.
‘From that point, he started to choke on other food and refused to eat food at all.
‘It was quite scary and then we realised he was doing it out of a phobia.
Eventually, Ethan couldn’t touch anything other than a few safe foods: plain pasta, plain pizza, fish fingers and cubes of cheese, but at his worst point, he’d just eat only Vegemite and bread.
Michele sought the help of hypnotist Elaine Hodgins who treated Ethan using a specialist programme of children’s books, puppet lessons and drawing.
The idea was to place Ethan in a trance – as children are too young to be put into a hypnotic state – and then make suggestions to him about what food he was able to eat.
Michele said: ‘Ethan started behaving differently.
‘He’s a shy child and when Elaine started reading him stories he went into a different, dream-like state.
‘After each session, we had time in between and I’d cut pieces of food into small pieces and he would eat them.
‘Gradually, things have improved.
‘She’s made a massive difference to us. Ethan now eats most things.’
Elaine said: ‘Children with avoidant resistant food intolerant disorder like Ethan have a real phobia for eating anything they are unsure of and tend to stick with their safe foods which are usually white or beige foods.
‘Children, up to the age of around 9-years-old, live totally in their subconscious minds so I don’t need to do anything apart from telling them a little story or play a game with them to get them to trust me and then they open up and tell me what’s worrying them or making them fearful or anxious.
‘Once I know what it is that’s the root cause of the problem I can then treat it.
‘Ethan sat and listened to a little story I told him. Michele was convinced he wasn’t listening at all but I told her not to worry, that his subconscious mind would be taking in the important bits which would mean he would soon start eating.
‘Within a few sessions Ethan was beginning to try new foods and his fear had subsided.
‘I see many children like Ethan every day at my two clinics in London and Berkshire.
‘The biggest problem of course, with children who won’t eat, is the fact that they are not receiving all the necessary nutrients, vitamins and minerals which help them develop – some children have even been known to go blind due to lack of vitamin A in their diet so it is quite a serious problem.
‘Ethan is now a strong healthy seven-year-old who loves his food.’
Have you overcome an unusual phobia? Let us know at metrolifestyleteam@metro.co.uk.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/20/boy-scared-food-ate-vegemite-sandwiches-treated-puppets-12089033/
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