Mum ‘force fed’ young son ‘out of desperation’ before finding out he had serious disorder

A mum-of-two “force-fed” her young son “out of desperation” as he would “rather starve” than eat new foods until the age of two - until she discovered he had a selective eating disorder.

Grace Willis, 43, from Bedfordshire, is the mum to nine-year-old twins, who go by their pseudonyms Theo and Lily online. She found feeding her prematurely born children “stressful” as it was important that they put on weight.

At three months old, Theo refused to feed, making Grace feel “utterly hopeless” as a parent, and after meeting with a dietitian, she realised she was putting “too much pressure” on her child to eat. Theo’s aversion to food continued, often gagging whenever he tried new foods, and at age two, he was formally diagnosed with a selective eating disorder as he would not eat anything “that had a smell to it.”

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Over time, Grace began implementing a more laid-back attitude to meal times, and Theo’s eating habits have improved dramatically – he is now only particularly fussy about “anything creamy”. In 2019, Grace decided that she wanted to help other parents who are going through similar struggles with their children, and launched her blog, Happy Little Eaters, which encourages “giving the child control of their hunger levels” and their food preferences.

“I don’t feel great about saying this, but we force-fed him out of desperation,” Grace said. “I now want to highlight the dangers of doing that, but at the time, as a parent, you only want to do what is best for your child, and I just felt utterly hopeless.

“We did things like distracting him when he was feeding and changing the formula but nothing was working. My anxiety was just horrendous,