What is with the fat babies on Maury?

[deborah_r]

Is it real? Are there really 3 year olds that weigh 117 lbs? 9 month olds that weigh 36 lbs? I mean, I'm looking at them and I'm seeing them, but I'm still thinking, well maybe they are older than that and just have a young face.

And the worst thing is how Maury brings them on the stage wearing only a diaper! In almost every shot (on stage, on the street, at the park) the kids are only wearing a diaper. They are completely exploiting these babies.

This woman feeds her 9 month old 2 double cheeseburgers and french fries and root beer for lunch? One or two cans of ravioli at 1 am? How can a 9 month old even eat that much? But don't worry folks, she follows that bottle of ROOT BEER down with a bottle of formula!!!

OK, I shouldn't have watched, but the news ended and I was nursing Kai, and I didn't have the clicker....then it sucked me in. I did turn it off before the end, I swear!

[amp]

I saw that show was on today. I hate that show! And it's like the 5th or 6th time he's shown the same one. I also get a yucky feeling everytime he has them come out in their diaper and sing for the crowd. Feels like total exploitation to me. And what is with those mothers?! I know some of those parents claim a medical condition, and I wont' question that, but some flat out admitted feeding their kid whatever they want! I admit I watched it the first time, but now I can't change the channel fast enough! Ewww!

[MartiesMom2B]

Eww, I flipped through this on today too. I can't believe that mom thought it was ok to feed her 9 month old, 2 cheeseburgers fries, steak, a personal pizza for lunch. I was more flabbergasted to see root bear in his bottle. And then the ravoli and whitebread for his 1 AM feeding. That was too much!! And then the crude lady next to this mom cheering it on. Gross. I wouldn't want my 13 year old cousin to eat like this, much less a tiny baby. I think she's force feeding that baby.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[deborah_r]

Yeah, the root beer really killed me. Root beer is so bubbly anyway, then to drink it through a bottle? Kid must have some serious gas. I'd hate to have to change his diapers, and I'm sure with that kind of parent, he'll be in diapers until he's 8.

For one of the other girls they were listing what she ate during a day, and I thought I heard 5 or 6 sodas!!! No one should drink 5 or 6 sodas a day, definitely not a 2 year old.

The worst was a woman who said she hears her daughter STOP BREATHING a couple of times a week in her sleep, and the other mother that was PROUD of her grossly overweight baby said, "but she's beautiful" - totally disregards that the child could be dying from this, but she's beautiful, so that's all that matters. Who needs to breath when you are beautiful?

Child welfare should be sitting outside the studio to take their kids away after the taping

[Kate888]

I saw part of the show today too and I was shocked!! I felt so sad for those babies :( Feeding a baby that much junk food is a form of abuse...It's an outrage!

Kate
Mama to Maya 2-17-02

[egoldber]

The speech pathologist who works with Sarah told me that one of clients puts STARBUCKS COFFEE in her baby's bottle!!!! Can you believe??

[muskiesusan]

I hate these types of shows, total exploitation. What these parents are doing is child endangerment in my opinion.

When I first met my BIL, who had major weight issues, his parents were bragging how at 2 weeks of age he could eat bacon and eggs. He died of colon cancer at 31 and I can't help but think his diet as a child was related.

Susan
WAHM to Nicholas 10/01/01

[deborah_r]

Susan,

I'm so sorry about your BIL. That is terrible. I hope his parents were kidding about the bacon & eggs at 2 weeks - I can't imagine.

I definitely don't mean to make fun of these babies because I think it is really sad. But the circus-like way in which it is presented makes it hard to take it seriously. It seems to me that this is a serious enough issue that a child welfare agency should track these people down and do something to help these babies. I can't believe the parents feed them this way, brag about it, and exploit them on television.

I've seen these shows in the past, and I guess it never really clicked with me until I had my own baby. I never knew what a 9 month old was supposed to eat, so now that I do, it's even more obvious that he shouldn't be eating cheeseburgers and root beer!

[MartiesMom2B]

When did Maury Povitch became Jerry Springer-like. I felt bad for these kids and was wondering why no help is provided to these moms and teach them about the risks of obesity. I guarantee that all of those kids are going to get diabetes and have to deal with that for the rest of their life. These are the same women who are going to file a class action law suit agains McDonald's for making their children fat.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[muskiesusan]

I didn't think you were making fun of them at all! I too have been sucked into watching these types of shows, most of the time when I was bf as well. I just can't believe that all of the adults who make the show, the parents, etc think that it is okay to put these children up there.

And, unfortunately, my BIL's parents were not kidding about his diet. They thought it was great they could just feed him whatever they were eating and basically tried the same thing with my sister's baby. Some people just don't get it.

Susan
WAHM to Nicholas 10/01/01

[cara1]

What I don't get is how is the baby willing to eat all that? When DS is full, it doesn't matter WHAT I put in front of him, he pushes it away and won't eat anymore. So I'm not sure how much we can really call this force-feeding, you know? There's clearly something else going on here...

[starrynight]

It's sad for the kids because they are eating what's offered and really don't know better. I think these parents feed them all this food to shut the kids up. As soon as they cry, whine etc well just stuff them full of food. You have to tell a child no sometimes! People think it's so funny when they offer Alex (my almost 5 year old) soda and he says "No thank you it's bad for my teeth". It actually is cute to hear him say it but it's because he learned it from ME his parent the person responsible for his diet! I switch those shows off because they sicken me, one time I watched a whole episode and the mother said "I feed her to keep her quiet, I don't know what else to do with her and the junk food is cheaper." Um since when is a $4.00 box of sugar cereal cheaper than fruit or whatnot? I am not on a high horse either, I do allow sugar cereal and soda in moderation and never soda under the age of 3 in my house. Even then it's sprite only when we go out to dinner as a treat. And we do occasionally allow candy or cookies, my house isn't all natural all fruit but I would never allow my kid to eat more than I or my dh would. And I almost want to cry when I see soda in a baby bottle :(. And 117lbs at 3?? That kid will be on Maury in 20 years as the 1000 lb man who can't get out of bed! Gosh I didn't weight 117lbs until I was 17! And why doesn't he send these parents to parenting classes or at the very least a nutritionist who can tell them the actual dangers of this diet?

[momathome]

Yuck, I have seen that episode before, too, and it both disgusts and saddens me. Liza is 5 years-old and has never had soda. Only this past summer, she tried iced tea for the first time and discovered that she likes it so very occasionally, as in 2 or 3 times a month as a special treat, I let her have some. An old friend of mine came to visit with her 15 month-old and she put iced tea and soda in her baby's bottle. I nearly fell over, particularly sine Liza was 3 1/2 at the time and had never had anything but milk, watered-down juice, and water. And, yeah, you got to pray that social services interevenes on behalf of these children.
-Lauren

[Melanie]

This show came on yesterday and I couldn't switch it off quickly enough. I heard a snippet of the mother bragging about the junk she fed her baby...makes me want to cry for that child who is going to be picked on their entire life b/c their mother used them for attention. Reminds me of that munchausen-by-proxy disease.

[suribear]

My friend's nephew was around 80 lbs at 2. He has terrible eating habits, like dunking cheese pizza into ranch dressing (gobs of it). you name it.. the mom is not about to win any parenting awards. she's quite neglectful, in fact.

Kris

[heidi_timms]

I just saw an author on the Early Morning Show that writes about cases like this. They are actually thinking about renaming Adult Onset Diabetes,which is mostly brought on by weight issues/eating habits because overweight children are getting it too! This is horrible!

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey Ashlin
4/27/03

[cara1]

There already is something called MODY, Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young.