velvetpage: (Default)
velvetpage ([personal profile] velvetpage) wrote2004-09-21 07:58 pm

Heart Patients in the Making

I saw a mother, her baby (about one year old, I think) and the baby's father, presumably, on the bus today. The mother weighed at least three hundred pounds. Now, I am no featherweight, but neither will I ever look like that! I wouldn't care what she had looked like, though, because that's between her and her doctor. The problem was the contents of the baby's bottle and food tray.

Pop and French Fries, respectively.

Now, my daughter has had the occasional sip of pop. Most of the time, it was her aunts giving it to her, and I protested loudly. She has never had pop (as far as I know) in a glass, and if I ever learned she had been given that by my sisters, they would be fired as babysitters, at least for a while. The occasional French fry has come her way, too.

The problem here was that the baby was given a whole fast-food carton of fries. Not the small carton, either. A super-size one. When the mom realized that the baby had apparently finished her fries, she took the bottle and filled it with coke from her own glass.

I have trouble believing that a) there was no reasonably baby-appropriate food in the child's diaper bag; b) the mother appeared to consider these offerings baby-appropriate; c) this didn't appear to be a first or an occasional thing; there was no sign of exploration, only the same nonchalance the baby would have expressed at finding milk in the bottle; and d) that the father was doing nothing about it, either.

Parenting should be a required course in high school.

[identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com 2004-09-22 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
The baby appeared to be normal weight so far, so it may have been an aberration. But still - I'm glad Elizabeth likes sautéed mushrooms, and whole wheat pasta, and green pepper, and berries of all kinds. She's developing good eating habits.

[identity profile] anidada.livejournal.com 2004-09-23 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
Let's hope the kid grows up okay in spite of the bad start. *sigh*

Isn't it great when they'll eat all kinds of good stuff? The bunster eats way better than we do *sheepish grin*. Blueberries and grapes, for the longest time, and she's been keen on pears and apples, orange segments, bananas, and so on. Pickles are a big thing of late, though we try not to give her too many. She's into Petit Danones these days. It's neat to watch her plow through them and ask for more. No worries about appetite, there! But she's not keen on most veggies, oddly enough... What do you find works best -- steaming, sauteeing, raw, boiled?

[identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com 2004-09-23 01:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Sweet veggies seem to work best - she'll eat the carrots or peas and leave the beans on her tray. Also, finely chopped green pepper, fresh, and just about anything sautéed in a bit of olive oil. I've been making mushrooms that way lately - olive oil, garlic, some lemon-and-herb club house seasoning, and the button mushrooms, sliced. She has yet to leave one behind. Basically, if I'm eating it, she eats it, and as long as I give her enough time, she'll do a good job of it.