Imagine if every time you turned away for a few seconds, your child picked up a stone and swallowed it.
That’s the reality for families caring for youngsters with pica – an eating disorder that causes a compulsion to eat non-food items.
Speaking to FEMAIL, three families from around the UK, have revealed how they cope with the daily battle of keeping their children with pica safe – including a toddler, four, who tugged out and ate her own hair, before taking a liking to electrical wires.
Elsewhere, a ten-year-old boy ended up in hospital and almost died after eating a large pile of stones, which caused such damage to his intestines that doctors have warned he may need a colostomy bag.
And a concerned mother told how her youngster, 10, not only strips the walls of paint and plaster, but also eats chunks of skin he has gauged out of his feet.
Dawn Lee, 56, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, told how her grandson Jude Lee-Ridsdale, 10, was taken to hospital one evening when doctors discovered his stomach was full of stones. Pictured, in hospital
Leanne Parker, 41, from Bracknall, Berkshire, says her son Ronny (pictured), 10, eats his own feet
Joanna Price, 45, from Coleville, Leicestershire, says daughter Paige Perry, almost four, has taken a liking to electrical wires. Pictured, Paige eating through a wire in her home
‘MY SON EATS HIS OWN FEET!’
Leanne Parker, 41, from Bracknall, Berkshire, never knows quite what she’s going to find when her son Ronny Parker, 10, pulls off his socks.
The youngster has had pica all his life, and his current compulsion involves chewing the skin off the soles of his own feet.
‘He literally gauges out chunks of skin and puts them in his mouth,’ explained Leanne. ‘I’ve told him repeatedly to stop doing it but he can’t help himself, it’s like an addiction.
‘He claims it doesn’t hurt but sometimes they look so sore – as if he’s been rubbing them with a cheese grater.’
Leanne explains that her son Ronny (pictured together) gauges out chunks of skin from his feet and puts them in his mouth
Ronny has had pica all his life, and his current craving is chewing the skin off the soles of his own feet (pictured)
It was pre-school staff at Ronny’s nursery who first alerted his mum to his unusual appetite eight years ago.
‘He was always putting things in his mouth, but a lot of toddlers do that,’ said the mum-of-four. ‘But the difference with Ronny was that he was actually swallowing things rather than just mouthing them.
‘The nursery staff would tell me not to worry if Ronny’s poo was blue, green, or red. He had a thing for eating crayons and sucking on paint brushes.
‘It was them who first suggested to me that he might have Pica. I’d never heard of it so I went home and Googled.’
Now, Ronny’s schoolmates say things have ‘been Ronny-ed’ when they find a chewed pen or a book with pages missing.
‘Ronny will eat all sorts of strange things,’ explained Leanne. ‘Dog food, cat food and cigarette butts. If we go out for a pub lunch he’ll pick off chewing gum stuck under tables.
‘He’s chewed all the paint off his bedroom walls; everywhere around our house you can see bite marks and pieces of paint and plaster missing. He goes through phases – his current favourites are toilet rolls and the wax from oil burners.
‘Pica can be dangerous, yet so many people don’t even know about it. It’s very misunderstood and there’s very little support out there for families.’
Ronny goes through phases when it comes to his compulsions, with his current favourites being toilet rolls and the wax from oil burners. Pictured, his feet following a craving
The ten-year-old has even chewed all the paint off his bedroom walls (pictured), and put bite marks around walls of the house
Leanne (pictured with Ronny) has spoken out to warn others about the dangers of pica and to raise awareness because it’s ‘very misunderstood’
‘MY GRANDSON’S LOVE OF STONES NEARLY KILLED HIM’
Grandmothers are used to dishing out child-rearing advice, but Dawn Lee, 56, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, had no idea what to say when her daughter called her worried about her grandson Jude Lee-Ridsdale, 10, one evening.
‘She told me they’d been lying in bed together, when she’d felt a hard lump around Jude’s stomach,’ explained Dawn. ‘She said she could feel it moving under his skin.
‘I told her to take him to A&E and I’d meet her there.’
Jude has severe autism and Dawn is usually his full-time carer to enable his parents to work.
In 2016, aged six, Jude (pictured in hospital) underwent surgery at Sheffield Children’s Hospital to remove a large pile of stones from his gut
Jude’s compulsions have caused such damage to his intestines that doctors have warned he may need a colostomy bag. Pictured, some of the stones that were found in Jude’s stomach
When they got to hospital x-rays showed something shocking. Jude’s stomach was full of stones.
‘We knew he liked to put stones in his mouth,’ said Dawn. ‘We also knew he swallowed the odd one because they turned up later in his nappy. But we had no idea just how many he had been eating – they’d all got blocked in his insides.
‘The doctors were absolutely astounded.’
Jude underwent surgery aged six, in 2016, at Sheffield Children’s Hospital to remove a large pile of stones from his gut.
‘He was diagnosed with pica,’ said Dawn. ‘When they did his surgery they even found a piece of the doctor’s stethoscope that he’d obviously eaten in hospital while no-one was looking.’
Dawn says that she now knows when her grandson Jude (pictured together) has eaten too many stones as he will tell her he needs a doctor
Dawn says that while she and the family watch Jude like a hawk, it’s ‘almost impossible’ to stop someone who is so determined to eat something. Pictured, together over the park
Jude has since undergone three further procedures to remove blockages from his abdomen. He has caused such damage to his intestines that doctors have warned he may need a colostomy bag.
‘We watch him like a hawk, but he’s so quick,’ said Dawn. ‘Trying to stop someone eating something when they’re really determined is almost impossible. He can pop a stone into his mouth in the blink of an eye.
‘I actually know when he’s eaten too many of them now – he’ll come to me and say “I need a doctor”. We’re terrified his habit might kill him if he takes it into adulthood.
‘Pica is a condition that most people don’t know anything about. Even some of the doctors we’ve seen haven’t come across it.
‘For Jude and our family pica has been life-changing. Even something simple, like a children’s party, can be difficult. He pops and swallows balloons if he can. It affects every part of our lives.’
DAUGHTER’S LOVE OF ELECTRICAL WIRES COULD STOP HER GOING TO SCHOOL
Joanna Price, 45, from Coleville, Leicestershire, and her daughter Paige Perry, almost four, were sitting watching Paw Patrol two years ago when Joanna first realised something was wrong.
‘She was putting strands of hair in her mouth,’ said Joanna. ‘I thought she was just sucking it; I’ve seen lots of toddlers sucking their hair. But then she violently tugged at a chuck, chewed it and swallowed it.
Joanna Price says daughter Paige (pictured) started off by tugging out her own hair and eating it, before turning to electrical wires. Pictured, eating through a wire in her home
Paige’s worried mother has had to cover every wire in the house with plastic casing – including the likes of phone chargers (pictured) and television cables
‘I tried to stop her so she jumped off the cushions and ran round to hide behind the back of the sofa. I crawled in after her and found her viciously yanking out chunks of hair and wolfing them down. The following day she had bald patches and her nappy was full of hair.’
Joanna had to fight to her get daughter diagnosed with pica.
‘She chews wallpaper off the walls, eats fluff, paper, toothbrush bristles but nobody would believe me,’ she explained. ‘In the end I actually made a video of her eating her own hair and showed it to the doctors.
‘I have to be so careful with things like clothes shopping. If there’s anything attached to her clothes externally, like zippers or buttons, Paige will swallow them.’
And now, Joanna has a new worry – electrical wires.
Paige’s parents are worried that her pica could stop her from attending a mainstream school as her wire-eating makes her a ‘health and safety risk.’ Pictured, one of the electrical wires Paige has eaten
Paige chews wallpaper off the walls, eats fluff, paper and even toothbrush bristles. Pictured, eating paint off the walls in her house
‘Pica seems to come in phases,’ she explained. ‘She gets a taste for something and then eventually it passes. Her new favourite thing is an absolute nightmare; she’s taken to chewing electrical wires.
‘Phone chargers… television cables… anything like that. We’ve had to cover every wire in our house in plastic casing. She chewed through a phone charger that was plugged in – all the way through the wire – and gave herself a small electric shock, but that still didn’t stop her.’
Now, Paige’s parents are worried that her pica could stop her from attending a mainstream school.
‘She was being assessed because they say her wire-eating makes her a health and safety risk,’ said Joanna. ‘Doctors don’t take pica seriously, but in our case it could affect Paige’s education.
‘I really want to raise awareness – people don’t understand the severity of conditions like pica.
They see funny stories of people eating strange things and don’t realise how serious it can be for that family. It has such a huge impact on the whole household.’