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Parents Lose Kid for Withholding Sugar
It sounds like rather good parenting to most people, but an English couple actually lost their child to social services for refusing to load him up on sugar.
Lisa and Paul Hessey told the Sun they spent four months in the courts trying to get son Zak back after he was taken for their refusal to feed him junk food.
Doctors had reportedly told the Hesseys to give Zak chocolate, cake and potato chips to increase his weight. This after Lisa took him in for a medical visit because she didn’t think he weighed enough. The two-year-old was about seventeen and a half pounds, when doctors said he should be closer to nineteen and a half. When she balked at the suggestion, the social workers were called in and took Zak off to foster care.
The hospital’s still saying it acted in the child’s best interest, but we’ve yet to find a reputable source that suggests the best way to feed your child is a diet of chocolate and chips. Even ultra skinny kids.
If anything the treats will generally fill a child up and prevent them eating the appropriate foods that will keep them growing.
Has your kid’s healthcare provider ever suggested junk food as a cure?
Image: pink sherbet via flickr
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14 Comments
PlumbLucky commented on Dec 08 09 at 9:45 amNo. And my child’s pediatrician has absolutely no issues with where his weight is as it has tracked along the 25th %ile since birth. What a crock this is!
Knitty commented on Dec 08 09 at 10:05 amThe Sun is a tabloid.
Stephanie commented on Dec 08 09 at 10:55 amI know a mom who’s son is below 1% on the weight charts, and his doctor said essentially the same thing. Feed him hamburgers and fries for every meal if that’s what it takes to get his weight up.
Stephanie commented on Dec 08 09 at 10:56 amI know a mom whose son is below 1% on the weight charts, and his doctor said essentially the same thing. Feed him hamburgers and fries for every meal if that’s what it takes to get his weight up.
Alison commented on Dec 08 09 at 11:24 amMy daughter has failure to thrive due to some stomach and mouth issues. Her dietician told us to add fat to everything she eats in the form of butter, oil, etc. and to give her canned fruit instead of fresh since it is made with sugar. I’m a bit of a health food nut, so I wasn’t to happy about the canned fruit, but you do what you have to get your kid’s weight up. I have no problem with adding fat though, as a baby needs 50% of their calories to come from fat for proper brain & eye development.
JCF commented on Dec 08 09 at 11:35 amMy son is low on weight charts, but our doctor isn’t worried because he is growing and eats a healthy, balanced diet. I do know a mom who feeds her son (on doctor’s orders) Pop Tarts, candy, Hot Pockets, etc. to get him to gain weight. I’d find another doctor ASAP if I ever got that kind of advice.
Lucky commented on Dec 08 09 at 11:54 amWe had a doctor suggest we mix mayo into my 1 year old’s veggies because he was in the tenth percentile. I ignored her and we’ve since changed doctors. I have no idea why doctors are more concerned with averages on a chart than with healthy lifestyle.
jenny tries too hard commented on Dec 08 09 at 12:34 pmHow weird. My doctor told me to add cheese, butter or eggs to everything where I could stomach it when my boys were underweight. He also suggested milk shakes, but emphasized that too much sugar and simple carbs would not help them gain the “right” weight, that protein calories would help them gain muscle instead of fat. Made sense to me.
Laure68 commented on Dec 08 09 at 3:45 pmSince this is from the Sun, I do wonder how accurate the information is.
FireMom commented on Dec 09 09 at 10:55 amI also doubt full accuracy because it’s from The Sun. That said, an appropriate way to help a child gain weight without resorting to junk food would be with natural fats found in avocados and other such (awesome!) foods. Our youngest son had weight gain issues. Lots of healthy food and a wide variety of it and he’s now a healthy two year old who is actually on the curve. Like another mom said in these comments, if it was suggested that I feed my child candy/sugar/excess, I would simply find another doctor.
I’d be interested in knowing the full story here. The UK has a bad history, and rather recent, for taking children away for ridiculous reasons but, at the same time, when the stories break, they always leave out pertinent information. I’d really be interested to see what else is “up” here or if this is another case that needs fixed immediately.
beth commented on Dec 09 09 at 11:09 amDoctors often know very little about nutrition. I would not take their advice on food and would instead be asked to be referred to a nutritionist (although nutrition science itself is pretty weak). Anyway, to the person who was afraid of mayonaisse for her kids — mayo is actually a perfectly acceptable food. it’s just oil and eggs, which have important fats for kids. Mayo got a bad rep in the 80s when people feared eating cholesterol, but actually they’ve found that eating eggs and other foods high in cholesterol does not affect your cholesterol levels, and in fact, the avoidance of fats and cholesterol could be contributing to obesity. See what I mean by nutrition science being weaK?
Eve commented on Dec 09 09 at 11:17 amThere *has* to be something to this story that’s being left out! Maybe the mom made other comments that had people worried…like saying she’s not giving the kid *anything?*. I don’t know. The obvious reaction this piece gets from people tells me something’s missing. My overweight/inactive doctor suggested any calorie would do. I disagreed but figured he was just clueless about nutrition in general, and actually got better advice from the RN who suggested calorie-dense “real food” be snuck into his food as much as possible that DS doesn’t eat outright.
mamazee commented on Dec 10 09 at 6:38 pmMy third child was also “failure to thrive” at 18 mo – he’d gone from 100th percentile to 10th percentile. The doctor told me basically the same thing – whatever he will eat, give it to him!
He is still super lean, hardly any body fat. He also has a lot of allergies and anemia, which i think contributed to his quick metabolism and low weight.
I think the part that’s important isn’t “they wouldn’t feed him junk food” but “they wouldn’t even TRY something other than what they were doing, which wasn’t working”. Then again, i think it has to be a very drastic situation before you take a child from his parents, and being low weight isn’t it. If he is so malnourished that it’s abuse, that’s one thing, but just being a skinny kid shouldn’t mean you lose your child…
Anonymous commented on Dec 15 09 at 7:10 amAnd what the hell was wrong with adding in fats? Olive oil and nuts come to mind.
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