Comments on: Exclusively breastfed baby denied insurance unless he goes on a diet

By: Kitty

Kitty — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:03:21 +0000

WHOA! I am absolutely shocked and appalled. Just like other commenters, I had a baby who was very much the same – doubled her birth weight by 4 months, rather than 6 months (which is considered the norm) and was always in the 90th percentile for her weight (and around 80th for her height). We were PROUD of her! It meant she was healthy, not fat. If anything, a baby of that size would have less health problems for their age, not more.

The American health system has gone beyond a joke.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:18:26 +0000

As a note on the actual figures, a comment elsewhere says the article is wrong or misleading, he's actually 50th percentile for height, 90th percentile for weight, and 99th percentile weight for height. There's some clarification about which charts in response to lauredhel below that comment. Not that this changes the argument: (a) exclusively breastfed babies are being optimally fed and weight-loss dieting, a notorious failure in most other circumstances, is inconceivably silly in this circumstance (b) by definition, 1% of babies will fall in the 99th percentile, so it's insane to use percentiles as a measure of individual health (c) he's entitled to healthcare regardless of whether he's a big baby or not, a well nourished baby or not, etc.

By: This is what an ‘obese’ baby looks like « blue milk

This is what an ‘obese’ baby looks like « blue milk — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:54:39 +0000

[...] Apparently if we had lived in the United States of America she could have been denied health insurance on account of her weight. Utterly absurd. You have to read it to believe it. [...]

By: Gae Fenske

Gae Fenske — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:03:37 +0000

Oh, blimey – my first born was 10 lb 2 0z at birth and the ‘little’ so-and-so doubled that in four months on nothing but breastmilk. Breastfed to 6 months (plain wore me out!).

His sister was just under 8 lb (whew, and again whew) and was often in the clinic sister’s ‘bad books’ because she did not bung on weight quickly enough. She was perfectly happy, perfectly well, and perfectly content. Breastfed to 12 months.

Gae, in Callala Bay

By: amandaw

amandaw — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:08:46 +0000

They have to make it clear that it’s totally NOT THEIR FAULT (because having children which share traits you have is YOUR FAULT for inflicting their imperfect selves on this unsuspecting world!!!!)

By: rainne

rainne — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:38:07 +0000

They’ve backed down now, I gather, due to the bad PR.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hTm1p-cajzcmI2w_ROTot6L6lx8gD9B9S5800

It helps that the baby’s father is a newcaster for an NBC affiliate.

I’m still appalled, naturally. And I could have done without “the parents are slender” like, oh well then it clearly isn’t their fault that their baby is FAT – and it would have been okay to deny a baby health care if it did have overweight parents?

By: amandaw

amandaw — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:00:06 +0000

My husband’s parents are… not just thin, or slim. They are stick figures. VERY skinny. So is my husband. 5′9″, 120lbs.

He was also a very fat baby.

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I generally assume the weight of an infant or very small child does not necessarily correlate with the weight of the adult they will become, because I’ve never really seen it work that way. It always baffles me that people freak out about fat babies for this reason.

And thank you for the link!

By: Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup: No more about Nobel « PostBourgie

Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup: No more about Nobel « PostBourgie — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:46:23 +0000

[...] Hoyden relates the tale of a breastfed 4-month-old infant in the 99th percentile of height and weight who is being denied [...]

By: Doublethink in health care « Mom’s Tinfoil Hat

Doublethink in health care « Mom’s Tinfoil Hat — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:55:38 +0000

[...] tip o’ the chapeau to Hoyden About Town) Tagged with: Breastfeeding, Huh?, Rant leave a comment « Lamaze blog carnival [...]

By: calyx

calyx — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:34:53 +0000

GGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! fdaajasdfjkdlsjfkdlsjfdsf!!!!!! Must! Kill!!!

*ahem* America’s insurance companies make me verrryyy annngrrryyy.

I’m sad that even the article reporting on it couldn’t keep fatphobia out of its language.