A mom in Atlanta attempted to cross a busy street with her three young kids in tow. Her four-year-old squirmed away from her, ran into traffic and was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver. The driver, who had been drinking and taking pain medications before getting behind the wheel (and who also had two previous hit-and-runs on his record), was sentenced to six months in jail. What would have been merely tragic has turned outrageous after the mom was convicted of homicide and may face 36 months of jail time for the incident, a significantly longer sentence than the actual driver received.
When Abercrombie and Fitch started marketing push-up bikini tops to 'tweens it was outrageous but perhaps not too surprising -- after all, the clothier has a reputation for sexualized ads. However, some moms are shocked that Lands' End, a company known for its fairly conservative attire, has released a somewhat provocative fall catalog. Though not as blatant as the bikinis, some say the young girl wearing short shorts and striking a rather flirty pose (complete with lollipop), is the wrong message for the company to be sending young girls.
Break out your blenders, ladies -- it's time to start making some baby food from scratch. New research out of England shows that babies who were fed homemade purees, rather than jarred food, were more likely to develop a taste for fruits and vegetables by the age of seven. Before you start driving yourself crazy, boiling and blending everything in sight, they say just one home-made serving of fruits or vegetables a day should do the trick. The researchers believe that foods prepared at home retain more of the food's original taste and texture than store-bought foods do, prompting the preference amongst the little foodies.
Good news is on the horizon for anyone wanting to avoid both an unwanted pregnancy and an unwanted co-pay -- the U.S. Institute of Medicine has recommended giving women free birth control. The organization has recommended that all approved birth control methods be considered as preventative health services. Don't start spending your co-pay cash on other, more fun things, just yet though -- the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services still has to determine whether or not to enact these proposals.
Sharing breast milk has been all the rage lately, but this next story isn't what proponents of the movement likely had in mind. Two moms in Australia breastfed the wrong baby after a hospital worker mixed up their newborns. Each baby spent eight hours with the wrong family and was nursed by the other's mom before a family member noticed the mistake and alerted hospital staff.
Dana Macario is a TODAY Moms contributor and Seattle mom to two sleep-depriving toddlers. She is currently developing an alarm clock that will start an IV coffee drip 10 minutes prior to wake-up time. Once properly caffeinated, she also blogs at www.18years2life.com.