29 February 2024 , 10:36
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A three-year-old boy hasn't eaten in over a year because he is "terrified of food".
Little Oliver Taylor was diagnosed as clinically malnourished and dehydrated when he was two years old. Throughout 2023, he had to be fed for 10 hours at night and four hours during the day using machines. Oliver still relies on his gastrostomy tube for all his food and drink. It's been 17 months since he last ate anything by mouth.
He has a condition called avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID. According to Beat, a charity that helps people with eating disorders, ARFID is when someone avoids certain foods or eats less food overall. Oliver's mum and dad, Emma and Matty Taylor from Pensby, Merseyside, want to share their son's story to raise awareness. They hope this will lead to more help for children like Oliver.
Oliver Taylor with his parents Emma and Matty (Emma Taylor)Emma told the Liverpool Echo: "We want to urgently raise mass awareness of ARFID so that it can be better understood. Contrary to some misconceptions, ARFID isn't affected by a person's beliefs about the size and shape of their body and someone with the condition doesn't restrict their food intake for the specific purpose of losing weight.
"Yes it's an eating disorder but children as young as two can be diagnosed. For Oliver, who is also autistic, it's very much about sensory issues and fear. He is absolutely terrified of food." After four months with a NG Tube, Oliver underwent surgery in April last year when a more permanent tube was fitted into his stomach.
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
Mum Emma added: "Yes he's gained a third of his body weight in almost 12 months thanks to tube feeding but you can imagine the impact on him and our family. He still gets very distressed around food and we miss out on a lot of things like family meals and birthday parties."
Oliver sees a specialist dietician every month who helps the family try to tackle Oliver's fear around food but to him, it's the scariest thing in the world. Emma said: "Too many people have said that he'll eat when he is hungry but Oliver won't, he will literally starve himself. It's been well over a year now since he's put any food in his mouth at all."
Oliver is fed using tubes (Emma Taylor)Husband Matty is passionate about raising awareness of ARFID and is taking on the Liverpool Half Marathon next month. Emma, who works as a regional finance manager based at Novotel Paddington Village in Liverpool, added: "Matty is no runner but he'd do anything to help others understand what Oliver is going through. My employer Legacy Hotels and Resorts and Hotel General Manager Howard Lewis have also been so good in enabling me to work and maintain caring for Oliver. I'm so grateful."
All the money raised from Matty's marathon will go to Alder Hey Children's Hospital and ARFID Awareness UK. To donate, click here.