A boy who had only eaten chocolate and chips his whole life finally started eating properly, thanks to hypnosis.
Eight-year-old Rocco O’Brien gobbled down a Cadbury chocolate bar, Nutella spread and Pringles salty crisps, washing them down with Nesquik milk.
When his mother, Heidi, tried to give him other foods, he screamed and got sick, and even the smallest amount of chicken nuggets or vegetables would make him cry.
Desperate for help, Heidi, 45, contacted David Kilmurry, a hypnotherapist who specialises in treating compulsive eating disorders.
Rocco was diagnosed with Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and underwent intensive hypnotherapy.
After a few two-hour sessions, his diet began to expand and now he has 10 different foods he wants to try.
Heidi, 45, from Ipswich, said: “Rocco’s food preferences began as soon as he started solid food.
“Everything made him nauseous and he avoided certain foods.
“I was one of those old-fashioned mums who weaned him at four months instead of six. I tried again after that but he didn’t want food.
“He wasn’t just refusing food, he was disgusted by food. We couldn’t go to a restaurant, he couldn’t be in the same room as food – the smell, the look.”
“When I opened his hand to put the pasta in, he just screamed as if I had put a spider in his hand.
“He didn’t eat anything. He just had some chicken nuggets and cried six months ago.”
“He has sensory processing disorder and his senses are heightened. He’s bombarded with every sensation. He’s afraid to touch most foods.”
“He would just drink milk from a bottle. That’s all he was drinking. We weaned him off the bottle.
I drink milk at around 6 o’clock.
“I went to a nutritionist and he recommended Nesquik powder because it has lots of vitamins.
“The experts weren’t interested, they were awful.
“I found out about ARFID and my nutritionist and psychologist agreed that’s what it was. They’d never heard of it.
“I was a mother and they looked at me as if I was in the wrong. They told me to starve my son. I was fighting them.”
“I felt like people thought I was a bad parent, that was all that went through my mind.
“My first worry was that it’s just sugar. If I give him some drops to put in his milk, he’ll notice.”
“He is autistic and a lot of autistic kids are on the beige diet, which is far worse.
“He was on a beige diet of dry cream crackers and bourbon biscuits. Then he started to switch to chocolate — Coco Pops and chocolate.”
“His diet consists of chocolate spread sandwiches, Coco Pops, Quavers, salted Pringles, breadsticks and rolls.
“It depends on his mood. He might have two Pringles in the morning. Maybe a Coco Pop in the evening.”
Heidi, who runs a property management company, said she was just lucky that she was eventually able to turn to hypnotherapy to help Rocco overcome his eating disorder.
Heidi, who has four children with husband Chris, 45, added: “We were camping in a caravan park a few weeks ago and were looking for something to eat and the girl in the shop asked me about Rocco.
“She asked if he had ARFID and said she did but had been cured since meeting David. I booked a session with him for Rocco that night.
“In just two sessions he tried baby spinach, apples and pears – things he would never try.
“Rocco does one, two, three: he cuts it into three small pieces, just so he can get a little bit in his mouth.
“Before, I would pile them on his plate. He tried different crackers at home, with different textures.
“He loves it now. He’s trying different things, like crackers.”
Hypnotherapist David said: “It has been a pleasure meeting and working with Rocco and his family. They have come a long way to get to this point, which is an achievement in itself given they have autism.”
“Rocco was so relaxed immediately after hypnosis that he happily ate the food. It was a joy to watch him eat a pear as if he’d been doing it his whole life.”
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