Friday, September 24, 2010

The Moment You Discover You've Been Feeding Your Kids All The Wrong Things...

Heard about the Similac recall?

According to Similac's website, "Abbott Voluntarily Recalls Certain Similac®Brand Powder Infant Formulas That Did Not Meet Its Quality Standards."


Hmmm...upon a little further research, I discovered that their "quality standards" were breached by the contamination of "whole beetles, beetle parts, and beetle larvae".  Glad that's cleared up...


Seriously?  Beetle PARTS?  Unobservant as I am, I think even I would have noticed a whole beetle falling into Little Lady's bottle.  However, how small are these so-called "parts" anyway?  The Abbott website lists the only possible effect of ingesting these bugs to be a tummy upset.  Gives it a "ah, no big deal" feel to the whole thing, right?  Except, have you ever taken care of a baby with a "tummy upset"?  Not exactly fun times.


So, yesterday afternoon, after checking with my grocery store and pediatrician, I tossed all my open formula into the trash, loaded up the several unopened cans I had in the pantry, along with two 5 o'clock-cranky kids and headed to the grocery store.  They were, as expected, totally apologetic, helpful, and quick to refund my money.  I did feel a little bad when Little Man calls out, "Mommy, is this the place with the BUGS in the milk?"  Probably not the best word-of-mouth advertising for our friendly grocery store!


Anyway, the Little Lady has weathered the storm just fine for the moment.  But, I'm STILL struggling with my decision to stop breastfeeding--3 months later!  I'm not going to go into the whole story, but suffice it to say that we made the best of a rough situation and all four of us are happier now.  But, can you miss the "breastfeeding is best" message everywhere you look?  There is actually a warning label of sorts on the formula containers!  Do you truly think that I've sat around and said, "Oh, I know breastfeeding is best, but I'll be happy with just mediocre."  All these issues that I thought I had dealt with and moved on from.  It's just amazing how guilt can sneak up and blindside you like that.  I spend lots of my time trying to get my 3-year-old to eat something besides "treats", but I thought I had Little Lady squared away for the moment!
Amazing what a few measly beetle parts can do!

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