Baby Nearly Starves, Diluted Formula To Blame
As if we needed any more proof that these are tough times: a Florida mother recently found out the hard way why you must never dilute baby formula to “stretch it.” Jeri Moss, a 23-year-old mother of two, was trying to save money when she watered down her infant son’s formul, adding far more liquid than the powdered carton’s instructions called for. She says she did the same with her toddler daughter, with no ill effects. But five-month-old La’Damian, who weighs just eight pounds, was admitted to a local hospital suffering from malnutrition and water intoxication. He survived, but it could have gone either way. “Another hour, he
would’ve been dead,” according to the doctor at the Tampa hospital that treated the baby.
But according to the article:
Cindy Morris, environmental administrator for the Hillsborough
County Health Department, said Moss has been receiving WIC benefits
since June 23. Each time, she received the allotted amount of
assistance: vouchers for nine cans of formula a month. The allotment
includes both powder and premixed formula.
Morris said federal law prohibits WIC from giving more. “It’s never meant to cover 100 percent of the nutrition,” she said.
To which I have to respond, why not?
Related: FDA Sets Standard for Melamine in Formula
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If a parent qualifies they can apply for food stamps and WIC both. It’s funny that the majority of us have cell phones, big screen televisions, video games, i pods, electronics, etc no matter what our income, and say we can not afford formula. I think a lot of us have screwed up priorities.
I have read several articles on this sad situation and I am angry at how many of them insinuate that somehome WIC is to fault for this mom not having enough formula. Why doesn’t WIC cover 100% of a child’s nutrition?? Well for starters the name of the program is the Special SUPPLEMENTAL Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Second, Americans spoke up when they elected Bush that they didn’t want their taxes raised and this is a federally funded program. Maybe this situation will draw awareness to the importance of this program so it can be funded higher in the future. (Although I personally feel it should never provide 100% of an infants needs). I worked for WIC for 2 years and these articles that quote the Director of Pediatrics where this child was treated “putting down” WIC are the icing on the cake for how under-appreciated the hard workers in this program are by the some of the medical community. I have no doubt that the WIC program was following this child for being underweight and doing everything they could to assist this mom. I appreciate the mom sharing her story – it will prevent this tragedy from happening to others.
And I was working full time by the way
When I was on WIC I not only got plenty of formula every month for my boys- but before when I was breastfeeding I was GIVEN a $250 breastpump free of charge through WIC.
The water is even more damaging if it contains fluoride. All infant formula, concentrated or not, must not be mixed with fluoridated water, according to the American Dental Association, the Centers for Disease Control and the Academy of General Dentistry. This puts babies at high risk of developing dental fluorosis – yellow discolored teeth which is the body’s outward warning that too much fluoride was ingested. Unseen is the damage fluoride ingestion causes to bones, thyroid and kidney function. Also, over 20 studies link even low level fluoride ingestion to lowered IQ
http://www.FluorideAction.net/health
Since fluoride is neither a nutrient nor required for healthy teeth, it must be avoided. Instead these poor children are being way overloaded.
Fluoride should be removed from all water supplies immediately, If parents don’t know that they shouldn’t super-dilute infant formula, they certainly are unaware of the danger to their babies that fluoridated tap water delivers. Obviously, we can’t trust our health departments and legislators to properly inform people – because they already haven’t done so. Dental researchers have warned as early as 2000 that infant formula should not be mixed into infant formula.
Look at the back of a toothpaste tube. Fluoride is a poison.
Take action to stop fluoridation here: http://congress.fluorideaction.net
Fluoridation 101
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
Fluoridation News Releases
http://tinyurl.com/NewsReleases
“Since the case became public, Orlowski said, offers of formula, food and help for the family have poured into the hospital.”
Dear Jenn.
GREAT IDEA! LET’s SEND HER MORE FORMULA SO SHE CAN SELL IT! WHY CAN’T SHE OR HER BF GET A JOB? WHY IS IT MY JOB TO TAKE CARE OF THESE LOWLIFE CREATURES?? Babies should be taken away from her and given to people who can care for them. Anyone who would go get their highlighted while their infant looked like an Auschwitz survivor does not deserve parenting privileges and do some time for neglect.
ALL IN ALL, AFTER READING THE CRITICISM AND COMMENTS…HAS ANYONE THOUGHT OF LENDING SOME ASSISTANCE TO THIS MOM IN NEED??????????
bunny,
I just don’t see how a reasonable person could not know this was a dangerous situation. A) It says not to dilute the formula right on the side of the can. You don’t need an advanced degree in baby care to find this out, and I’m not sure what else can be done to “spread the word” if people aren’t even willing to read THE CAN THE FORMULA COMES IN. B) The baby was five months old and weighed eight pounds (and was not, as far as I know, a preemie). Again, I don’t think it takes a wealthy or elite person to figure out something is wrong with that picture, and this is a woman studying to be a *medical assistant*.
I’m not saying that she did this on purpose or is otherwise a bad human being, but if somehow she managed to convince herself that this was an OK corner to cut, then she was dangerously wrong; it simply was not, and anyone with any sense should have known that.
She has highlights in her hair, she is attending a non accredited university where she is studying medicine and she is on foodstamps as well. This is her second child. I truly believe she was selling the extra formula on ebay for drug money, please do a google search and check this out. How could you watch your child wither away into a seizure while you get HAIR HIGHLIGHTS. This is pure simple ABUSE and those children deserve better than that witch.
Also, it’s not like she just diluted it a little bit. She was giving her baby a lot of water. I don’t see what stopped her from reading the can itself. It seems more likely to me that she figured it would be ok, despite the warnings, because she isn’t aware of any adverse effects in her older child.
I’m on WIC right now. I get 9 12.9 oz cans of formula a month. That’s enough for a baby to get 28 ounces of formula a day. Slightly less than the recommended amount, but I don’t know how little this boy actually had. People DO sell their formula. I see it on eBay all the time.
The WIC program includes many hours of nutrition counseling and education – mandatory education. If you want the coupons you have to have the meetings. If you tell them that you’re having a hard time feeding your children, they will point you in the right directions to get help.
I feel terrible for what happened to this little boy, but I really can’t excuse it.
It’s repeatedly stated in the article that the mother didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to do this. Isn’t “abuse” something you do intentionally? She also was brave enough to share her story to make sure that other women know what she didn’t and don’t do the same thing.
Looking down your nose at someone who’s clearly sorry she screwed up, screwed up unintentionally, and who for god’s sake nearly lost her child is just cruel. If you care about babies, help spread the word about how diluting formula is dangerous, and look into ways to encourage lawmakers to expand WIC so that poor moms don’t have to even consider going to these lengths to stretch their food stamps.
bunny, yes this is very, very sad but in the end this is an example of poor parenting. Before you feed an infant anything you MUST read the label and this woman did not because if she did she would have seen that it clearly says do not dilute! In diluting she put her infant in harms way. I think everyone on here is feeling compassion towards the infant but disappointment with the actions of the mother. I think we must be careful when blaming people
In this economic downturn, we can look forward to more and more new stories getting affluent women congratulating themselves on how much better they are than the poor.
Of course, with the economy being what it is right now, perhaps some of you will have wealthier women looking down on you and judging your tragic situations harshly without knowing the details. I hope that’s not the case, for the sake of your kids.
Have some freaking compassion.
I want to be sympathetic but … it says clearly on the cans that not using the correct proportions of powder to water can be dangerous. If I had a starving baby there is no limit to what I’d do to get food for him/her. I’d take odd jobs, I’d visit every charity in town, I’d try to get my doctor to get me formula samples, I’d sell everything in my house that could possibly earn a dollar or two. If none of those things worked, I’d beg or turn myself in to Social Services. I do feel bad for the mom because I’m sure she feels awful, but I feel worse for the baby.
No matter how poor I was, I would never consider stretching my baby’s food- fundamental common sense should tell anyone that. She should not have had a second child when she can barely afford the first. I do applaud her for putting her story out there to educate other women who are in a similar situation.
Different types of formula come in different size cans. I have no idea what size these cans are, but after breastfeeding my twins for three months, we switched to formula. The cans I used were about the size of a can of soup, and we went through around 10 cans a week. Halve that because I had twins, and you’re at 5 cans a week times 4 for a month and you need 20 – not 9! All I’m saying is we don’t know the specifics here so it’s hard to know where to place blame. Clearly, the parents here are not without blame (an 8 lb five month old???), but there may be other factors to consider as well.
I kept my receipts (out of curiosity) and added it all up when we were done. We used formula for 9 months, and we spent $1380. Like Knitty, we could afford it, but I couldn’t help wondering and aching for the families who couldn’t.
As a mother of 3 very healthy boys, I know how much formula you go through in a month – it’s roughly a can a week. If she gets 9 cans a month and you only need 4, what did she do with the other 5????? Besides, what did her pediatrician say at the 1, 2 & 4 month wellness check ups that are FREE!!!
It IS a heartbreaking situation… but I agree – isn’t there a part of you that would “know” that the baby didn’t look right? I BFed but the one dusty can of formula in my pantry, I am almost sure, told you NOT to water it down.
I didn’t realize both parents weren’t working. Was there a reason the father wasn’t working? Could he not have gotten a simple job at Walmart to pay for the baby’s formula??
I would let myself starve, I would work nights, I would probably sell myself to feed my baby. I guess I don’t feel as sorry for her as I should….
It is pure stupidity not to notice that something is very wrong when one’s child is weighing in at only 8 lbs in their 5th month of life. Could she not feel the child’s body and make the connection before it getting to the point of going to hospital?
You may not have a choice to be poverty-stricken – you darned well have a choice to bring a child into this world that you cannot afford to feed!!!!!
Knitty, I think you are right in that I shouldn’t judge when I haven’t been in that situation – a situation that must be unbelievably hard to endure. I think it was unfair of me to use such harsh words.
I do think, though, that parents should be responsible for their children’s health and well-being at all income levels. Maybe the mom’s income level has prevented her from accessing information about babies (i.e. not to give them water), and maybe she wasn’t able to take her baby to any doctors for the first 5 months of his life. Maybe she had not one person or book to give her the information needed to care for her child properly. It seems, though, that she would have known her baby was underweight. Neither of the baby’s parents are working, which must be very tough. The mom is in school though, and as important as education is, basic nourishment is more important. There is a hot line she could have called if her child was not gaining weight or if she desperately needed more formula. When you see that your child is not all right, you talk to other people, seek help, find out what you can. The chief of pediatrics at the hospital said, “He looks like he was in a concentration camp.” These were all the things I was thinking when I first read the story. I do think, though, that the real problem is the cost of formula and the failure of society to provide appropriate information to parents. When I left the hospital with my babies, I had a thick stack of pamphlets, papers, etc. about basic baby care. There was also plenty of free information in multiple places where I live. I don’t know where she had her two children, or whether there was any information or any libraries where she lives.
Manjari, this isn’t “appalling child abuse”, it’s poverty. The mother 1) didn’t have enough money to cover her needs and 2) clearly stated that she didn’t know diluting the formula was dangerous. As a social worker I could detail “appalling child abuse” for you, but I’ll spare the thread. Poverty is something that more of us may well get better acquainted with as the economy goes south; I hope you don’t even have to suffer the misery of making such hard choices or the misery of having more affluent people point at you and shriek “abuse.”
I used to work at a homeless shelter and this was OFTEN an issue for our clients. We had several babies come into shelter clearly malnourished due to watered down formula.
I’ll add to gpgirl’s comment – we actually can’t (or shouldn’t) criticize ANY mothers for not breastfeeding. You have no idea why other mothers are using formula, and, frankly, it’s really none of your business.
And how do you know “sad” if she tried to breastfeed bt, couldn’t. Not all babies latch well and not all moms are able to produce enough milk. My son did not gain weight on exclusive BFing no matter how hard I and five LC’s tried.
Kris, I was going to write the same thing. We cannot criticize low-income mothers for not breastfeeding. They do most likely have jobs where it is impossible to pump, and they probably have to go back to work right away.
WIC isn’t allowed to provide all of the formula a baby would need because it is a supplemental food program, i.e. not welfare, and so can help a family get by, but can’t provide all the food a baby would need. I believe they also aren’t able to provide the entire amount of formula has to do with the fact that many groups have blamed WIC for lowering breastfeeding rates among low income women by providing another (less optimal) food source.
Many mothers on WIC are working and do not have jobs conducive to pumping (or money for a pump), which accounts for how many WIC families need formula.
It’s too bad she wasn’t breastfeeding; it’s free.
I had to switch to formula for my daughter at three months, and I was appalled by how much it cost. My husband and I are lucky and can afford it, but I couldn’t stop wondering what we would do if our income was less. We were spending at least $120 on formula alone.
I know she had problems paying for the formula, but that is still appalling child abuse. When your 5 month old is 8 pounds, you have to realize that watering down the formula is not ok. Starving a baby is not acceptable. I think it is awfully sad that she wasn’t able to get the correct amount of formula for her baby, and that no one told her not to give the baby water.
Isn’t 9 cans of formula a month plenty?