Early risk factors for eating disorders include having low self esteem and being dissatisfied with their body. Some other factors that you should look for if you suspect that your child has an eating disorders include:

>recent weight loss
>a fear of gaining weight or of being overweight
>purging behaviors (vomiting or using diuretics (water pills) or laxatives to lose weight)
>having a distorted image of their body's size or shape (for example, believing that she is >overweight even though she is at a healthy weight)
>a preoccupation with thoughts of food, calories and their weight
>restrictive eating patterns, which can lead to a failure to gain weight or to being underweight and >can include skipping meals, fasting, or eliminating entire food groups
>preference for eating alone
>amenorrhea (absence of menstrual cycles) or delayed onset of puberty and menarche
>being underweight, with a body mass index that is below normal. Use the body mass index >calculator to see if your child is underweight.
>exercising compulsively
>an extreme denial that there she may have an eating disorder
>withdrawal from friends and family
>wearing bulky clothing to hide weight loss
>has had a recent or past event in their life that was very stressful

You should have your child seen by a physician as soon as possible if you think she might have an eating disorder. At this visit, your doctor will probably perform a nutritional assessment, including taking a look at her eating patterns, daily caloric intake, measuring her height, weight and body mass index, and evaluating her for depression.

Your doctor will also try and rule out other causes of weight loss and decreased appetite, including other psychiatric disorders (depression, obsessive compulsive disorder), drug abuse, inflammatory bowel disease (which is usually accompanied by vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain), hyperthyroidism, diabetes (usually accompanied by frequent urination (polyuria) and excessive drinking (polydipsia)), and other medical problems. However, children with most of these medical problems don't have a preoccupation with food or a distorted body image.