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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I'm the parent of a child who had ARFID.   He dropped in BMI percentiles from 25th% (normal for him throughout childhood) to less than 1%  It was NOT anorexia.  But the treatment was to get more calories into him, within what he could accept in terms of texture and taste.

His pediatrician told me not to worry, relax, don't be the food police etc too.  Switch to whole milk and push the avocados etc.  Useless.  Until it became clear that he wasn't gaining weight and wasn't eating, and then she had absolutely no advice except to refer me to an eating disorder therapist and try to convince him to eat more foods.

Once I realized the seriousness and severity of his malnourishment, I stopped him from all exercise.  No Boy Scout hikes or swim events or kayaking overnights.  No walking to the bus stop (which for us was almost a mile.) He had to focus on refeeding.  My comments to you about stopping ballet are coming from experience, and if I seem at all harsh or angry, it isn't with you at all.  It is with your doctors who unfortunately sound a lot like my child's doctor and the doctors of so many people I know who have had similar experiences.  For some reason doctors do not seem to take lack of calories seriously until it is almost too late.   (They seem so fixed on preventing obesity and kids snacking on junk food that as long as your kid tells them he's eating broccoli and drinking water instead of juice they are happy.)

I got the best advice in terms of increasing calories in the diet without filling up  (high calorie/low footprint) from a discussion forum for parents of kids with eating disorders called aroundthedinnertable.

The parents there mostly deal with diagnosed anorexia.  There are parents of young children as well.  Some of the young children have what is called atypical anorexia.   This is where they aren't eating enough, but don't have the body dysmorphia issues that occurs more typically in later teen years.   It's not always easy to tease out whether an issue is anorexia, or ARFID, or atypical anorexia.. but the treatment is the same -- more calories.

There is one particular parent who used to post on the discussion forum and her child reminds me a LOT of your child's story.   I don't know if you would be interested in reading it but here's her most recent discussion:

https://www.aroundthedinnertable.org/post/census-poll-please-reply-below-if-your-kid-is-the-subtype-of-arfid-that-is-10081248?pid=1308034008

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