14 DAY TRIAL // Charlotte Cook, a four-year-old girl from Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, suffers from a rare disorder that makes her want to eat all kinds of items made of fabric, like soft toys, sofa fabric and even carpets.
The tendency to eat non-food items is relatively common in children and adults with autism or other developmental disabilities. And little Charlottle has also been diagnosed with autism.
Her parents are very worried about the situation and fear that this disorder could prove fatal to her.
“It’s very serious. Our worry is that it will get clogged up internally and cause her harm. My worst nightmare is that she will go to sleep and it will get clogged up and she won’t wake up,” her mother Nikki said to Daily Record.
Charlotte can't stop eating the fabric-made objects in her home, and her mother says that she already ate the carpets in three rooms of the house.
Even more worrying is the fact that the girl is digesting most of the items she munches and she hardly eats any normal food.
The first signs of this rare eating habit and her autism began to appear when Charlotte was one year old. That's when her parents realized she liked to chew on the rug in their front room.
“We removed the rug, thinking it would solve the problem, but then she started on the carpets. We have tried putting stuff on the carpet, like cherry powder, to try and stop her, but that doesn’t seem to work either,” her mother added.
Pica is a rare condition characterized by an appetite for substances that have no nutritional value, such as dirt, ice, clay or paint. The disorder is very dangerous and could lead to serious consequences, like poisoning.
Pica disorder occurs most often in children and pregnant women, but it is usually temporary. Treatment can help patients avoid the potentially serious side effects of this disorder.
However, in Charlotte's case experts have advised her parents to remove every potentially harmful object that the girl might eat from the house and give her rubber toys instead. Her parents say they cannot afford to do this and that this solution simply doesn't work for their daughter.
Some experts believe that Pica disorder is caused by a mineral or iron deficiency, though it is also classified as a mental disorder. Around 30 percent of the children with autism also suffer from this rare eating habit, which could lead to choking, digestive problems and parasitic infections.