Eating and feeding disorder,  Infantile anorexia,  NoTube

NoTube Eating school day 8 (chapter 2)

Our 8th day at NoTube wasn’t eventful. We see a routine here, Elodie doesn’t eat much during the day but does try new things which is good. Back at the apartment she eats more while watching videos on YouTube. She still loves prosciutto and salmon sashimi, so we always have that in the fridge.

Like last year we see that families are feeling a bit better and feel they understand their child’s situation more by now, which makes it easier to help their children or at least guide them. It’s more tangible even though there is still a long way to go. Finally, being able to see light at the end of the tunnel, or just hope.

Elodie was a bit grumpy this morning due to a sleep deficit and maybe because her molars are coming through. Unfortunately, she didn’t sleep as long as expected during her nap. We still fall asleep every day during her nap.

The eating school is such a nice environment. You are being taken care of mentally and physically, they cook for you, meals are prepared, you don’t have to do the dishes. I sometimes call the eating school ‘all-inclusive eating school with kid’s entertainment holiday’. And even though we are very tired every day, the biggest difference compared to local therapies we tried is that it is not due to negative experiences.

During the men’s session they discussed how they are coping at home. It’s interesting to hear that all men worry about their wives (or partners) and their child, their mental state and how it influences theirs. The women are more obsessing about their children, how much they eat, what they eat, and very stressed in general which worries their husbands. Also, many men are putting their career on hold because of their child’s eating disorder they can’t travel, can’t make promotions, or can’t work the required longer hours for their job. Some even said they can forget about making a career by now. But they all agree that family comes first. Due to these problems you realize what comes first, and it’s not work. A stable family is the foundation for everything else.

NoTube has giving us back our quality of life. This is so important. And we are not at our end goal yet (normal eating child), but she has been making steps. Just to be able to see more than darkness is such a relief, to not drown every day, and being scared of facing a new day.

It’s good to see that there are sessions with men because they have less people to talk to. Friends don’t understand, and they normally don’t talk about these topics with each other. At least, that’s what I see around us.

Time really flies only a few days to go. We are glad we were able to come this time. And seeing the differences for us and Elodie. The team also said that we have come a long way and that they are very happy for us.

We are glad that we found NoTube on time, making eating progress is easier when the kids are younger and the refusal to eat is not a part of who they are yet. The older children here are making steps as well too though. They get a different sort of therapy because they are able to communicate. Depending on the personalized therapy sometimes the parents are with the child during therapy and sometimes without, but always in agreement with the parents.

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