Couple Loses Custody After Trying To Keep Baby “Skinny”

Malnourished might be a better word.

I came across an uber-disturbing story this weekend about the Labbertons, a young couple in Bellevue, Washington, who aer the parents of two daughters – aged two and eighteen months.

The girls’ family doctor called social services when he grew concerned that they weren’t gaining weight. Mom and dad are both young, about 20 and mom is very skinny, while dad is, well, not so much. Apparently, mom was afraid her daughters were going to grow up fat.

So, according to prosecutors, they didn’t starve them, necessarily, but they did feed them inadequately. The two month old appreantly had gained very little weight from birth and when taken away from mom and dad weighed only 6 lb, 13 ounces. In just eight weeks in foster care, baby doubled in weight at 13 pounds, 7 ounces.

And then mom (again according to prosecutors,) freaked out, being very upset that she was going to have a fat baby. She is accused of putting laxatives in her baby’s bottle during a supervised visit, after which, their other daughter was removed from the home.

It’s a pretty scary story, and I admit, based on the interview I read, it doesn’t seem to place mom and dad in a favorable light.