A Keurig-style machine for baby formula?

I think you can easily gather from my name that I LOVE coffee. I consider myself to be a coffee aficionado and connoisseur. Some of you might call me an addict. Whatever… I may or may not resemble that remark!

Have you heard of Keurig? It’s the latest thing in making your morning routine simpler. A lot of my friends love their Keurig machine and think it makes a great cup of coffee. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the Keurig machine. I admit it. Don’t boo me if you own one. To each their own! Right? I like being able to buy my organic beans, grind them, use filtered water and make the absolute perfect cup of coffee my way.

I was flabbergasted when I happened upon an article about a Keurig-style machine that Nestle created for the sole purpose of making baby formula. At first glance the concept seems sort of scandalous, while at the same time strangely interesting and novel. Nestle calls their machine “BabyNes,” and it’s being marketed as a “new lifestyle consumer machine.”

The machine costs almost $300 and the capsules of baby formula cost almost 4 times as much as their coffee equivalent. One feature is a built-in water filtration system to eliminate concerns over bad water being consumed by infants. The BabyNes is being trialed in Switzerland before Nestle determines if they will expand into other markets, including those in developing nations.

Critics of the BabyNes say, “The current trend is manipulating young mothers into believing infant feeding is a lifestyle event like drinking Nespresso.”

Nestle has had problems over the years when it comes to their baby formula products, including some quality control issues related to bacterial contamination. Some people believe that the machine would feed into “rampant commercialism that could come at the expense of infant health.”

I breastfed both of my boys and I can tell you with some confidence that I would probably never own a machine like this, had they been around when my boys were babies. That’s not to say that for some women it would be a wonderful thing, particularly those who are unable to breastfeed their babies. But, you would probably need to have a fairly large wallet to afford it!

Is this a product you would like to buy? I’d love to hear what you think about this machine! Please leave your comments below.  

A mom sues over her child being born disabled

I read an article about a mom who sued her doctors after her baby was born with a disability. She would have aborted the baby had she been informed of the disability while she was pregnant because having a “normal” baby was very important to her. The fact that she was not offered testing that would have prompted her to abort her now 3-year old daughter won her a $7 million settlement.

To put it mildly, this makes me ill.

The genetic condition of the child that spurred the lawsuit is not stated. One common genetic condition that readily comes to mind is Down syndrome. I have several mommy friends who have beautiful, amazing children who also happen to have Down syndrome.

I have learned that the rate of abortion after prenatal genetic testing comes back positive for Downs is over 80%! This is absolutely appalling to me. How is this possible?

I did a quick Google search to see if there was any info about this, and I found a great article that sums things up about the extremely high rate of Down syndrome abortions.

Down syndrome is far less prevalent than autism.

Downs occurs in about 1 out of every 733 children born. Autism occurs in about 1 out of every 91 children born. I shudder to think of what would happen if a widely available genetic test for autism became the norm for prenatal care. Would we suddenly lose a generation of children?

I have 2 children that some might call disabled. Do I consider them disabled? No. Would I have chosen to abort them if I had known they would end up with autism? HECK NO! My boys have taught me more than I could ever imagine. I am better because of them. That includes the fact that they are diagnosed on the autism spectrum.

I encourage you to read the article about the $7 million settlement and then share your thoughts below in the comments.