My five month old crawls. She is pulling herself up into a standing position and has even taken a few steps. She is falling off the growth chart but is as healthy as can be. Her 2 year old sister started crawling at 4 months and was furniture cruising by 6 months. She fell completely off the growth chart for almost a year when she turned one. There was nothing wrong with her despite how hard they tried to find something wrong with her. She is healthy, she is strong, she is perfect. However, she needs extra calories because she burns so much. She needs whole milk for its extra fat content. She drinks a pedisure a day because like most toddlers she eats small amounts and some days nothing at all so she needs the extra nutrition. She eats her veggies (loved broccoli) and most days her meats (chicken seems to be a favorite here). We do not fry most of our foods. Its baked or grilled. We buy as much natural fresh foods as possible. She is active and healthy. So what is my point?
Society is lazy. It has made it ok to be fat and unhealthy. People feed their 9 month old babies french fries. Instead of following the rainbow method of feeding, Gerber baby food gives mainly bland choices. Their mixed foods are two simple choices mixed together. They dont branch out and neither do the parents which cause children to become picky. Our lives are "busy" so its easier to grab something and bring it home instead of taking out the time to make it. People tend to give their children high in fat foods because its faster more often instead of taking out time and giving them something healthy and teaching them that fast food is ok in moderation.
Here is just how screwed up things are. When G was 6 months old she had to have her blood drawn. She had a fever without a cause so they were checking for a virus. Poor baby screamed. It took myself and two other nurses to hold her down while a third nurse took the blood. After it was all said and done I was holding her and soothing her. She was calming down fairly quickly. An older nurse who had been at the doorway came over and said to her "Oh poor baby. You need to tell momma to take you straight to Mcdonald's and get you some fries." She was 6 months old and this woman wanted me to get her some fries. She than looked at me and said that her 6 month old grandson loves them. I just smiled politely. Moving forward a few months, I take her to her WIC appointment and she has barely gained a pound. They lecture me telling me she is not eating enough and needs to be feed more fatty foods. One woman said "Give her Mcdonald's if she'll eat it." I never did and thankfully that was our last visit with WIC. I had hoped forever, but then number two came along. Fast forward a little more. Miss G has not gained a pound in three months. Her doctor said give her anything she will eat. Give her ice cream. I told him the type of ice cream we buy, which was an all natural brand, and he told me that its perfect because the all natural brands are actually higher in fat. He did not recommend fast foods or fried foods, just foods like avocados that are higher in fat. I liked this doctor. Fast forward to now and WIC. I was told G needed to remain on whole Milk and keeping up a pedisure a day would be best for her. I dont know if anyone reading this has ever bought pedisure but it can be expensive. So we get a voucher from WIC for it. It was also stated by my Peds. Doctor to put her back on Whole Milk. I called the office asking what I needed to bring them for this to happen and they told me a subscription would work just fine. So I do this. I am then informed that they can not give a child over 2 whole milk. It is against their rules even with a doctors note. I asked what I am suppose to do then. The nurse said to me "Well you can add some butter in her food." Butter...I mentally bitched slapped her. Next she proceeds to tell me that the only difference between whole milk and 2% is its fat contain... Really.... She is partially right. The other difference is that 2% is more proceeded than Whole Milk, which means more is done to it, more is taken out of it, which than means more has to be added back into it which is yet another process. I have the benifit of being on a military base, which means that though I am on WIC I do not have to get that crappy Great Value stuff that Wal Mart offers. I am actually able to get a rather healthy close to organic milk but that still doesnt mean that their 2% is just as good as whole Milk. I wish so very badly to be off WIC and hopefully we will be able to in a few months once we are out of the Army. Anyways back to my conversation (you'll have to forgive my heading off topic, I just watched L fall asleep while playing in her Jumperoo). She then tells me that her weight is perfect for her height and that honestly she doesnt even see the need for the max amount of pedisure we are getting...really? I forgot you were her doctor and know every last detail about this child. You were the non existent person standing silently in the corner the other day at her check up right? And you know she has grown since the last time you checked her height over 6 months ago. Her height is now in the 20% but her weight is just barely there. Freaking moron.
Because of uneducated people and heathly options most often not being an option on the kids menu these days, toddlers are obese. Because of that the American Socity of Peds. has made a law that no child on WIC over the age of 2 shall be allowed to have whole milk for any reason, or at least thats what this nurse told me. I cant even go to the store and buy yogurt that isnt reduced fat or fat free. I get hell from doctors and nurses saying my children are too small (until they review their records and this new peds. being the exception) and yet when I try to give her things to help put more weight on her, I have almost zero healthy options. WTF?
OK little side rant here. Bumbo, we have one, we love it. Used it for G and she would try to wiggle her way out of it, but I never just left her there unattended, I am not a moron. I will admit to having her on the table with the little tray attached so that I could feed her, but again I never walked away. There was no way she could have harmed herself in this seat...unless of course I walked away which I did not. So how can people sue over being an epic fail at the first rule of parenting? If you order a steaming hot cup of coffee and take a huge gulp and get burned you cant bitch about it because you ordered a steaming hot cup of coffee. You are putting a child in a seat that has no restraint. Common sense should state that leaving said child in said seat with no one around or out of grabbing distance is not a good idea. We put L in her's to take a bath with her sister. Because she is only 13 lbs and this seat was not designed to be put in water unless held down by a heavier child it floats. HUGE drowning risk IF I left her unattended, which I do not. My husband also discovered that over time our Bumbo took on water due to a small hole (this thing was handed down after use with two other children) so now it does not float, but that doesnt mean I'm going to walk away and let a 2 year old be the judge of weather or not her sisters head should remain under water should something go horribly wrong. Some people should not have children. And you know they recalled these once before to change the warning label which now states not to leave children unattended in them. Am I the only person who reads that shit and takes it serious? Personally after that recall and the updated warning label any lawsuit filed after that should have been thrown out. Read the freaking warning label. We told you not to leave your kid unattended or on high surfaces. Did you listen? No? Well that sucks good luck living with knowing it was your own damn fault.
So in conclusion to my rantings of the evening, I leave you with this. My children dont grow up quickly. They dont grow much at all. They do however sneak up on me (tip toeing as G says), giggle behind shower curtains, bang on bathroom doors, roar loudly in public places, fall asleep while jumping in jumperoos, and destroy my living room in 2.5 seconds. They have conversations together in their own language (though G speaks in full clear sentences), whine more days than not, plot their dangerous stunt of the day, and rock Sammy's nerves more than my own. They ride Sammy like a horse, pull Sid's hair and G carries her around by the throat saying "I got her I got her". Despite the age difference they act like sisters, loving each other one minute and fighting over a doll the next. They are my perfectly petite little red headed girls and I am most certainly positive that they are horrible little ninjas.
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