And you thought you had a picky eater? Take heart. 19-month-old Alex Tesoriero has never tasted food.
Born 11 weeks premature and weighing just 437 grams, tubes may have kept him alive but they have also left him with a physical aversion to having anything near his mouth or face.
Quite simply, he won’t eat and paradoxically, little Alex is still fed through by tube directly into his stomach.
While his parents and doctors have desperately worked to get food into him for the past year, they’ve made no progress. He doesn’t even want to be kissed by his parents.
"Trying to get Alex to eat is the worst part of my day and everyone ends up in tears," said his mother, 31-year-old Lisa Tesoriero, in the Australian town of North Balgowlah.
"Alex has chronic lung disease and remained on oxygen for the first 12 months of his life, so he has always had tubes stuck to his face. When we try to feed him he either won't open his mouth or he'll just freak out."
Poor mite has never known hunger, as he is fed by tube every two or four hours. His aversion is a direct by product of spending the first five months of his life in hospital, where his prematurity caused a long list of complications, from being resuscitated three times, to having 10 blood transfusions, a collapsed lung and fractured wrist. He has also had an operation to repair an inguinal hernia.
So the next time your tot turns his nose up at what’s for dinner, spare a thought for little Alex and his parents.
"
Is anything sacred on the world wide web these days? Apparently not. In a blog called Don't Have A Cow, Man a guy known as Curtis has made it his mission to live off of his wife's breast milk, no doubt trying to soak up his 15 minutes any way he can.
While I kind of get the dad who tried to kick cancer by supplementing his diet with breast milk, in this case it's more a case of supply overarching demand.
Following three pregnancies and premature babies, wife Katie pumped every couple of hours and still managed to fill a whole freezer with her milk.
For this yummy, who couldn't produce more than a couple ounces, Katie's surplus is more than a little galling and wasteful. After all, the demand for breast milk is huge (and at around $4 per ounce, profitable).
So many women out there can't breastfeed and would love to be able to provide their children with the best possible start...
Apparently the couple didn't donate the milk because of the red tape and costs involved. Since they started the blog, women have been practically begging them for the milk. But they are not biting. Besides, hubby Curtis claimed his wife's milk "helps his digestive issues."
The experiment is gimmicky, for sure, although the couple maintains they aren't vying for attention. So is there any medical rhyme to Curtis' reason?
"Biologically, just because something is good for babies does not mean it is good for adults," said pediatrician and neonatologist, Dr. Tonse Raju.
There's a reason all mammals naturally wean themselves from their mother's milk. Even humans need to start eating solids eventually. And although breast milk may be sufficient calorie wise, if an adult drinks enough of it, Raju added, it would still lack several nutrients like protein and fibre, a lack of which can cause a host of health problems.
A case of just because you can, doesn't mean you should. So, Curtis, lick off the milk 'stache. If you want to keep drinking the stuff, go right ahead. But we don't really need to read about it.
Last fall several famous faces -- from Ellen DeGeneres to President Barack Obama -- participated in an anti-bullying campaign called “It Gets Better” via YouTube video to let LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bi or transsexuals) know they aren't alone. But there is a sad casualty.
Though the project has grown into something of an international movement and inspired tens of thousands of people to create their own “It Gets Better” video, the reality for Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old boy from Buffalo, New York, didn't deliver.
Though Rodemeyer made his own “It Gets Better” video back in May, he was found dead after an apparent suicide. In the video, he spoke frankly about being bullied in grade school.
“People would just keep sending me hate, telling me that gay people go to hell… It was a constant taunting. The same people over and over.”
In spite of the counselling and social support Rodemeyer received, it clearly wasn't enough to save him.
It's not enough to teach our kids to love themselves and to be resilient in the face of taunts, we must teach them to be tolerant of others. Empathy starts at home.
Printer-friendly version