Feeding a baby correctly is very easy because there are very few rules that must be followed for it, but those few rules exist for something and Failure to comply can put a baby's life at risk.
I speak of the specific case of a baby suffering from a mental disability because against the recommendations they received to feed their baby, they decided to do so with a different preparation and concentration in the bottles.
She is the third daughter and they decided to feed her according to their customs
The parents of the girl and two other children, natives of Mali and residents in Spain, have been sentenced to three years in prison and disabled in their role as parents, accused of a crime of injuries with serious imprudence in the care of their daughter little.
The girl was born by caesarean section, premature and underweight. In the hospital everything went well, the parents followed the recommendations they gave them there and left the girl having a good state of health, to continue their care at home, under the protection of their family.
Already at home, after a period in which the girl received breast milk, they began giving her milk powder for babies. The problem is that parents they were not careful when establishing the correct concentration of dust and water, and also added to the bottles other substances such as rice, cereals, oil, cocoa and salt, all food contraindicated in the first months of life.
The family was being monitored by the social services of the Moià municipality, because of the precarious situation in which they lived, receiving food aid and assistance services. On many occasions they were explained the correct way to prepare the bottles, but the parents decided to continuously ignore these recommendations and feed the baby according to their beliefs and culture, in what they considered to be positive for the girl.
But the girl had to be transferred to the ER
The parents, seeing that the girl was not well, took her to the Primary Care Center of her town, from where she was referred to the emergency department of the Vall d'Hebrón hospital in Barcelona, where she was admitted to the ICU, as we read in Estrella Digital " with a picture of severe hypernaremic dehydration, with respiratory failure, metabolic acidosis, kidney failure, hypothermia and neurological depression. "
Almost a month after admission she was discharged diagnosed of "encephalopathy due to metabolic disorder with insufficient visceral functions", which is estimated to evolve to a severe mental retardation, practically in a vegetative state.
The parents were brought to justice and at the trial it was understood that there was no intention to harm the child, but that yes there was imprudence, especially considering that social workers had repeatedly explained to them what is the appropriate way to prepare a bottle.
Feeding a baby is very easy
As I said at the beginning, feeding a baby properly is very easy. As easy as give breast milk at birth, or failing to give artificial milk following the preparation instructions that the manufacturer marks on the can. While doing so the risk to the baby's health is minimal.
If instead we do experiments, such as parents who paid attention to a doctor who recommended giving vegetable preparations and whose baby ended up with scurvy, or as these parents whose daughter has been in a very serious situation, the health risk is evident , because the immature body of a newborn is not prepared to tolerate the same foods that adults can eat.
The proper concentration of dust and water
So that there are no mistakes, in order to avoid risks, the manufacturers of baby formulas (artificial milk) establish that it should be added a small spoon bowl included in the can for every 30 ml of water. If you have to give more milk to the baby, then 60 ml with two saucepans, or 90 ml with three saucepans are prepared, but never 75 ml with two and a half scoops, because the medium will be done by eye and the concentration may be wrong.
What happens if we do it by eye or do not respect the concentrations? Well, what we put our baby's health in danger. A bottle in which there is little dust (as is the case in African countries, which do their best to make milk cans last longer, because it costs them a lot of money) will cause the baby to be poorly fed. If it is very watery, in fact, you can enter state of malnutrition.
If there is more dust than it touches for the amount of water we put (if we put, for example, three buckets for 60 ml), then the baby will be receiving a very concentrated food, little water in comparison, and may enter a state of dehydration, as happened to the girl we have talked about, in a table that was also harmed by the introduction of other foods harmful by age.
So you know: never, never, make the bottles by eye.
