The Baby Who Is Always Hungry

WATCHING what you eat can be an everyday struggle � but for one little lad it's a matter of life or death. Little Alfie Mazeika suffers from a rare condition which causes him to be hungry ALL the time. In fact, the two-year-old's mother Norma fears that Alfie could die from over-eating as a result. She said: "You can't leave him alone with food. He would eat and eat. He would basically eat himself to death. He's never full."He's up during the night, crying with hunger."It's heart wrenching, knowing he's fighting for something you can't give him. "Feeding him is the most natural thing to do. I can't comprehend that starving feeling he has 24/7."He's started going in bins. We had some mouldy bread in the bin and he tried to get it out and I had to grab it off him."At just two-days-old, Alfie was diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome which means his brain does not receive a signal to say he is full. And his condition means that he can also be violent to the people around him."The doctor told me he will be a monster because he'll want things he can't have and his hunger is painful so he'll fight us," said Norma, 45."He said we'll have to lock the fridge and the kitchen in the future. He will be very violent as he gets older. It's quite scary." Alfie � who is learning sign language because he also can't talk properly � eats his main evening meal with the rest of the family but tries to grab food off their plates.She said: "Literally in the past two months, when I go to get him out of his seat after dinner, he's started hitting me. He doesn't want to finish." Alfie, from Halifax, Yorks, started nursery two weeks ago and support workers watch him all the time.He can't play with kitchen or cooking-related toys and Norma even had to ask staff to cover a cupcake-patterned tablecloth. She tries to give him low fat food and few carbohydrates because the syndrome means that he has slow metabolism, so doesn't burn calories quickly."He is overweight now but he's not obese. It's going to be a battle to keep his weight down," Norma said.The syndrome affects one in ten thousand and there is no known cure for it.