The little girl who is literally eating the house she lives in.

She has a rare eating disorder that makes her choose furniture over food. 

Image: Stock Photo

Nikki Cook always knew something was not quite right with her daughter, Charlotte.

Those typical childhood nuances of mouthing everything in sight seemed a little bit more extreme than the average one-year-old.

The first sign was when the living room carpet seemed to mysteriously become thinner – and her daughter, Charlotte’s nappy was filled with the evidence.

“I realised she was eating it then but I wasn’t really worried,” Nikki told Reveal Magazine.

“My older daughter Evelynne had always bitten Velcro when she was a baby but she’d quickly grown out of it. Even my health visitor said it was just a phase.”

Nikki, from the UK began to find patches in the carpet throughout the house – and even holes in Charlotte’s many stuffed toys.

She grew increasingly concerned.

“I had no idea what to do,” 42-year-old Nikki said. “She was chewing right through to the stuffing inside the toys and eating that too. The doctor didn’t seem to be taking me seriously and, however much I told Charlotte not to do it any more, it didn’t make any difference. She’d look like she didn’t understand or just smile and keep on doing it.”

“I tried putting pepper and chilli powder on the carpet, telling her it would make her ill, and even physically stopping her from eating things, but nothing worked.”

The specialist immediately diagnosed Pica.

Pica is an eating disorder in which sufferers compulsively eat non-food items – usually ice, chalk or dirt.

For Charlotte, who is now aged five, it is fibrous materials.

Have you heard of Pica?

I hadn’t, until my son too was diagnosed with Pica when he was little.

He was eating unheard of amounts of sand, chalk and dirt. His little eyes would literally zero in on the exhaust pipes of cars and he would try to lick them.

Around the age of 18 months he was diagnosed with Pica by an eagle eyed pediatrician. In my son’s case it was caused by an iron deficiency. Luckily for us a course of iron supplements later and his pica was cured.

Sadly for Charlotte’s family a solution isn’t that easy. Charlotte was also diagnosed with autism at the time which complicated the issue.

Now the strawberry blonde girl with the impish grin is still consuming anything fibrous – even her car seat.

"We can't keep replacing everything she eats. When she first ate the carpets, we replaced them with ones with a shorter pile, but that hasn't stopped her. Now we have wooden floors downstairs but we can't afford to remove the carpets upstairs too. It's the same with the sofa and cushions she's eaten," Nikki told Reveal.

Charlotte even ate a sofa worth over $5000.

Part of the concern for Nikki is the health implications of consuming the items. "The doctors had very little advice as how to deal with it, and it's a real worry. I'm terrified she's going to choke, or if there's a big ball of fluff building up inside her.”

As a part of her autism they struggle with getting the five-year-old to eat many regular food substances.

"It's also really difficult to try and get her to eat regular food. She doesn't mind yogurt or chicken nuggets with chips, but she only eats these as and when she wants. The doctor said she is the correct weight and height for her age but I'm terrified having this condition is affecting her health."

What Nikki and Alastair want is more awareness for the hardly talked about disorder, pica.

“We want to make people aware of the condition because it is rarely publicised, “ she told The Daily Mail. “Some people make me feel as if Charlotte is a freak but she is my daughter and I would do anything for her.”

Pica affects roughly 30% of children aged between one and six. Frighteningly it can lead to serious health problems, such as lead poisoning.

Have you ever had any experience with Pica?

For more information on Pica you can visit this page here, or contact The Butterfuly Foundation.

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