Most children are somewhat fussy when it comes to their eating habits but one young boy seems to have taken things to the extreme.
Ben Simpson is 15 years old and for the majority of his life, he has eaten nothing but sausages. This dietary habit occurred when his mother, Wendy Hughes, first weaned him from breastmilk. Ben showed an early partiality to sausages and he began to eat them three times a day, drinking water to wash them down.
His mother was about to throw in the towel but she decided to get in touch with the behavioral therapist. David Kilmurry was contacted, and he claimed that he could ‘cure’ that dietary habit. It seems as if he suffered from Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, so he needed to slowly vary his diet to something that was healthier.
During the time that Ben was eating sausages, he would sometimes eat a handful of them at every meal. His mother was spending about $70 per month on bags of Richmond skinless sausages. She said: “For each meal, I give him about four or five sausages. They come in packs of 16 and we go through a few of those a week. I get fed up with buying them.”
“I knew I had to try something different. He is always moaning and complaining that he is tired.”
After meeting with the therapist for the first time, she said: “I came across David on Facebook after my friend suggested having Ben hypnotised. Because we live in Swansea and David is in Coventry, we did it all over Facetime. We had one session which was about two hours and then we did a follow-up appointment and that was it. I didn’t think it would work as Ben wouldn’t try any food at all. He wouldn’t try a bite of anything.”
His mom was surprised when her son started eating new foods again. “Now, if I give him something he will pop it straight into his mouth not before he asks me what it is. We are getting to the stage where he’s not afraid to try things. Before, he just wouldn’t at all. He would flat out refuse.”
Ben had certain difficulties during his prior eating habits, such as not fitting in well at parties because he wouldn’t eat finger foods. His mother said that he would just sit there, crying or would not go to where the food was.
“If we went to a friend’s house he just wouldn’t eat anything,” she said. “He’d say he wasn’t hungry and it was just a nightmare.”
After being treated, Ben can finally start trying all the different types of foods. Wendy said that she is so thankful for the help.
