The ease of having someone else feed the baby besides the mom aside, physicians agree that breastmilk is best for babies as "long
as mutually desired by mother and child." But I'm not here to
debate that, nor am I here to pass judgment on parents who choose to
feed their baby formula. I realize there is a whole host of reasons
that make up a parent's choice in important aspects of parenting such
as the decision to breastfeed or not to.
But this story brings up a number of issues. Three-week-old D'Angelo Johnson, son of 17-year-old LaToya Johnson, was airlifted to
a St. Lous-area hospital due to head injuries sustained when the
"children attempting to feed the baby a bottle grew frustrated when he
refused to take it", and, children being children, naurally whacked him
on the head with the bottle in their frustration.
Which leads to a lot of questions:
1. The mom is 17. Where is her support?
2. Children watching children? Three-week-old children? Again: no support.
3.
And, if I didn't make this clear: where was the support
here? Who informed LaToya about choices in feeding infants, about
caring for her new baby? Did someone hand her a brochure which
she likely didn't read and then call it a day?
How many heads of
babies like D'Angelo will be crushed beyond recognition because no one
bothered to give proper support to the family? How many other
families are in similar situations, making poor choices because they've
never heard of any alternatives and don't have any role models? I
know money is being spent in what to me was useless hospital education,
because I've been the recipient of it, but somehow, parents like LaToya
and children like D/Angelo are still falling through the cracks.
