u/AilurosLunaire

My niece (age 15) has ADHD and always had behavior problems. Now she seems to have an eating disorder. I discovered her puking last night immediately after eating and put the pieces together on her behavior lately. My husband and I have already alerted the parents early today and offered help affording therapy.

For the past few years she has worn baggy clothing even in summer. She is rail thin and underweight. She barely eats, is extremely picky, and sometimes eats a lot in one sitting or makes excuses not to eat even after not eating all day. Her moodiness and tiredness has gotten much worse recently and she has insomnia. She also rushes to the bathroom after meals and stays for a long time, is constantly cold, and often sick.

Her younger brother constantly calls her fat despite us getting on to him and it obviously troubles her. I find candy wrappers in her laundry when I clean her clothes while watching her and her brother. She once had a container of cake icing hidden in her room that her mom found.

One thing I want to know is what she is using to induce vomiting when she stays in the bathroom after eating the times I did not hear her puke so I can counter it somehow. What other self harm habits do I need to watch for? How do I gently but firmly give her the help she needs to get over her eating disorder besides cooking recipes that combat malnutrition? I have extremely sensitive hearing. If she was vomiting as loudly as she did last night when she thought no one was around, I'd have heard her much sooner.

I worry if she maybe has some sort of laxative hidden or if she has been puking quietly for years and how to stop it. How do I not restrict her from using the bathroom as needed, but also prevent her running to the bathroom after eating to vomit? She has me worried about the long term effects of her habits.

My husband and I watch our niece and nephew while their parents work. These kids take picky eating to a new level. They decide they no longer like food on a moment's notice. I don't even know where to begin on the shenanigans tonight.

The niece refused to eat after not eating all day until my husband asked what would it take for this skin and bones anemic teenager to eat. Cookie dough. Not the made to be safe to eat kind. And a whole pack. When told no, but she can have SOME of the edible kind, she said she didn't want to wait. She wanted it now. She came downstairs, refused all vegies, complained of hunger, and only ate a tiny bit of salmon she previously liked and complained. Then ran back upstairs and made concerning retching noises I need to get her mother to take seriously because I am very concerned.

The nephew who previously loved salmon and ate carrots was 'allergic' to it all today. He wanted a leftover fast-food burger. My husband made him eat what was cooked. He only ate a few bites and pretended to choke like it was killing him. Neither has had lunch or breakfast, apparently. They largely refused dinner save for what we made them eat. When I brought up my concerns on their eating habits, their mother just shrugged and said she'll just let them eat pizza rolls.

I wonder why they don't ever eat healthy without a huge fight and are underweight. It should not be this hard to feed two kids. They continuously try to refuse meals in favor of trying to live solely off of junk food. Their parents deny they are picky eaters and let them have their chips, pizza rolls, and mayo straight from a jar.