Palin's lack of medical care for her infant compounds and worsens degree of Downs syndrome symptoms.

[Divernan]

Sarah says she will pursue further political offices (Senator/President) if God shows her the way and it will be "good for her family". In the meantime, I am waiting for some gutsy, intrepid interviewer to pin her down on her failure to obtain proper medical care for her downs syndrome infant. Therapeutic intervention during the FIRST TWO MONTHS OF LIFE are critical to lifetime functioning of individuals with downs syndrome. This baby's been dragged from pillar to post for the first six months of his life. Where is the responsible adult charged with obtaining state of the art medical/therapeutic testing and care for him? Neither of this baby's parents have taken time off the campaign trail to assume this responsibility. I have family living in Alaska, and for any specialized, let alone state of the art, medical care, they are forced to travel to Seattle. My point is that even now that the campaign is over for her, it's not like Sarah can simply schedule a lunchtime pediatric appointment in Wasilla or Juneau or even Anchorage to get the necessary medical care for this baby.

Downs syndrome kids are particularly susceptible to ear infections and severe hearing loss
which in turn impede their lifetime abilities to listen, learn and communicate. Throughout the campaign, including in cold weather in states like Colorado, Palin hauled her infant around outdoors without even a hat or any covering over his head/ears. She daily paraded him through airports & crowds, exposing him to airborne infections. She kept him up late at night - even had this infant up on stage following her debate -around 10 p.m. - photos showed him with his back arched, his eyes as wide open as they could be, arms flailing - in a classic startle reflex.

From an LA Times article:
Pediatric practitioners see it as particularly iMportant that parents like Sarah and Todd Palin seek out and secure services quickly for their children with disabilities, since early intervention can be crucial to improving the function of those with Down syndrome. One study probing the effectiveness of early intervention found that a two-month delay in treatment was associated with lower gross motor, fine motor, language and social outcomes by the time the baby reached 18 months. Another study showed that newborns with Down syndrome who received immediate language intervention had better language development than those who didn't get it until 3 months or 6 months of age.

Everytime I hear some low-information, politically-challenged woman say, "Oh, I just love Sarah. She's a Mom, like me!" I want to say, "For your children's sakes, I sincerely hope you are a far better mother than Sarah Palin."

[flor-de-jasmim]

1. The other thing that burns me is the way she holds him -

(which, thankfully, is rare)--she holds him facing away from her--her arm gripped around his stomach. I don't have kids, so maybe I'm talking out of my hat, but without the eye contact with "her" son, and the fact that he's facing away from her (expensive) clothes, I feel there is a total disconnect between them, that he is truly just a prop in her life.

[gollygee]

20. Kids at some age want to face out to see the world

That in no way means he doesn't get plenty of eye contact at other times. But by several months of age, they want to be looking outward and will protest if they aren't able to see the world.

[Divernan]

23. Sarah is the only one who hold him like that. He's happy to have eye contact with his sisters.

[gollygee]

24. I'm sure he gets plenty of eye contact from his mom

and that is a very normal way to hold a child of that age. If he's passed off to someone, he'll probably want eye contact and then want to turn around and look out at the world again at some point.

Have you seen Baby Bjorns? They're made so kids can face in or out, and generally kids want in until they're 5 or so months old, and then they want to face out most of the time.

[Divernan]

27. Baby Bjorns provide well designed support; not like one arm around their stomachs.

I looked at the site for Baby Bjorns and they look great. They also appear to have been carefully designed to support the baby's back, neck and head and allow the child to be looking straight out at the world without having to use a lot of energy to keep his head up. The child is centered on the parent's body and not being constantly jostled on one hip and off to the side.

Where do you get the belief that he gets plenty of eye contact with Sarah? Whenever I saw photos of her holding him, she was flashing her beauty queen smile at the camera. I have seen lots of pics with his sisters looking at him lovingly. Do you really believe even a healthy baby should be hauled around on the campaign trail for months?

[gollygee]

29. I think the question of whether he should have been hauled around is a good one

No, I think it was bad timing for her to run for VP. I'm just talking about this outrage about how she holds him.

Different kids like to be held in different ways, and I've known lots of kids who seemed to like to be held facing outward on a parent's hip. I used a sling but my daughter liked to face out most of the time in her sling. Holding a baby on your hip is not uncommon and not something just she does. It certainly isn't child abuse.

[Divernan]

37. My OP was not concerned with how she held him, but her failure to get specialized care

during the critical early months of infancy, as detailed in the LA Times article I quoted. Although I was blessed with 3 healthy, bright kids, my work with families with disabled children educated me on what a critical difference it makes for these kids to get the best available diagoses, treatment, therapy, etc. right from the beginning. I'm surprised that none of the four grandparents or other extended family stepped in to care for this baby during the campaign. Jack Kennedy didn't haul 2 year old Caroline around on the campaign trail. Bobby Kennedy & Ethel didn't have their younger kids with them while campaigning. I can't think of a single politician hauling children around for the duration of a campaign. They might make an occasional weekend appearance - but they weren't pulled out of school. From the way Todd Palin has acted as a Shadow Governor in Alaska, evidently he is not at all the House Husband/Mr. Mom type of guy. What that baby needs is an experienced nanny.

[intaglio]

47. Hmmmmmm, Sisters? I am no longer sure

That they are his sisters.

Originally I thought the idea that Gov. Palin had taken up her daughter's baby was foolish. But now ... I'm not so sure

[tavalon]

49. It's neither here nor there at this point, but

I was a labor and delivery nurse for 17 years. That child is Bristol's. Sarah wasn't pregnant when she said she was, she just wasn't. Whether Bristol is currently pregnant is still an open question to me, but that Trig is hers is not, nor has ever been. Of course he is Bristol's kid.

[1monster]

26. I haven't seen her holding the baby to "look outward." His face is usually facing down.

Unless the baby is fascinated by shoes and feet, I don't see him getting much visual stimulation from that.

[Celebration]

21. babies like being held that way

Not all the time, but sometimes.......

She seems to me to be a below average parent, though. I think I would be in permanent counseling if she had been my mom.

[1monster]

25. I would NEVER hold a baby that way. Ever. I am a mom. NT

[Chorophyll]

32. I used to hold my son facing outward because he got cranky

if he couldn't see what was going on. BUT I used both arms: one supporting his bottom, and one lightly around the middle so he couldn't flop forward. Palin seems indifferent to that child at best. His sisters seem far more engaged with him.

[Heather MC]

30. I have two kids, and I am always distrubed when i see pics of her holding Trig

she holds him like he is a rag doll she doesn't like anymore

[mimitabby]

33. that was the way my son wanted to be held

babies get tired of gazing into your eyes. They want to see EVERYTHING!

[nannah]

35. i had that same feeling; the pictures rarely show him being cuddled. n/t

[ladywnch]

36. you're not talking out of you hat. both my mother and my grandmother

commented that she held that baby like 'a sack of groceries' and I agree. I inherited 2 grown kids in my marriage but even <I> know you don't carry a baby like that. sometimes the child was almost upside down!

[felinetta]

38. I go crazy too with the way he is held. I just don't feel a lot of

mom feelings in Sarah. I was disguested at the way Trig was exposed to so many people. And when she kissed her kids, it was cheek-to-cheek with an air kiss coming out of her mouth. It's all about Sarah!

[KoKo]

2. kick....she hauled her baby around like a sack of groceries...

Never held him on her shoulder but let him flail in the bright lights, exposing him to who knows what viruses and germs. It was as if he wasn't a part of their life but something to pass around or show off if they needed to. The media never really addressed this. If she was a Dem they would have been calling for her to be condemned for child abuse.

Thanks for this post.

[JI7]

3. check this out

scroll down a bit to see the pics

http://furtheradventuresofindigored.blogspot.com/2008/08/is-sarah-palin-bad-mother-you-be-judge.html

[Leftist Agitator]

17. Wow, the guy who runs the blog you linked is a real douchebag.

I hope he's crying in his beer over the Obama victory.

"Libtards"? What a fucking douche!

[LibertyLover]

19. Looking at those photos

only makes the situation plainer. In most of them Trig is being held, cuddled or fed by one of his sisters, rather than his mother - and where is his father, Todd by the way?. In the few photos where Sarah Palin is shown holding Trig, precious few show her actually interacting with him. I am pro-choice, which means that I support every woman's right to decide whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term, no matter what. But having made her choice to give birth to Trig, Gov. Palin also has responsibilities to the child that are in some ways heavier and more critical than those she has to her 4 other children. I hope that the effects on Trig as a result of his Down Syndrome are mild, but without receiving critical early care, I'm afraid they won't be.

[mopinko]

4. i don't care.

i hope that the parent police around here can go back in their holes and sarah goes back to alaska. way up in alaska.

[drm604]

5. You don't care about the baby? n/t

[mopinko]

6. i don't care about sarah palin, and i despise the parent police.

despise, i say. telling a woman, even one as stupid and vain as sarah palin, that she ought not have a job in government because she is a bad mother is just plain despicable. i can't f'ing stand it.

[Divernan]

9. She can have a job in government. That's totally separate from abusing her child.

She shouldn't be held up by her campaign as SuperMom and drag her children to work with her as she jets around the country for months at a time.

[Divernan]

11. Why don't you ridicule me as the "Disabilities Police"?

And why don't you start campaigning to get all the child abuse laws repealed?

[demigoddess]

31. I agree , but if you are pro-life and CHOOSE to have a baby with Down's you

have to commit yourself to taking care of that child. As a parent of a handicapped child, I know that the first couple of years a lot of things crop up that have to be taken care of, and there is a lot to learn, about the syndrome and how to stimulate and teach the child. In other words you have to spend time with the child and doctors. When my child was young, I did not think I could handle one normal child in addition to my daughter, later I had another child and was pleasantly surprised to know I could handle it. But only because my 11 yr old handicapped daughter loved her brothers so much that she was willing to allow me the time to take care of the baby. I am very proud of her for that.

[NoSheep]

12. To answer that with a question? Do YOU care about the baby?

This kind of discussion doesn't serve the baby, really. It just USES the baby. I care about the baby. I care about whether my fellow Democrats make embarrassing arguments on message boards...but I don't care much about threads like this any further than that. You didn't ask ME, but that's how I would answer the question. Maybe the other poster feels the same way.:shrug:

[Divernan]

16. I'm hoping some publicity will force the Palins to start providing medical care.

If they have to be shamed into it, that's OK with me. This has been ignored for months and the older the baby gets without proper care, the farther behind he falls in developing what quality of life he may have. I worked on a state level task force for 2 years for autistic & mentally retarded & physically disabled kids. I DO care about these kids and used to wake up with nightmares about the situations they were in.

[Divernan]

8. I don't appreciate being told to "go back into my hole".

I see by your profile that you raise birds. That's nice. I won't insult you for caring about birds. Don't insult me for caring about child abuse.

[tilsammans]

10. You DON'T care?

That a sweet, innocent, special-needs baby isn't getting the proper care he needs and deserves?

I'm not a parent, but I have a cousin with DS, and I work with DS woman -- both of whom were raised well by their families. Parenting any child is no cakewalk, but for DS families, It takes A LOT more.

FYI, I'm proud to be a member of the parent police! And I'm not going back into any hole.

:kick:

[mopinko]

15. no, you are not.

the real parent police investigate. how do you even know what she does and doesn't provide for her child?
i'll join up with the parent police when we start sliming men for the state of their families. fuck this double standard.

and i am done now. i won't be kicking this stupid thread again. it's over. give it up.

[Divernan]

22. We do know she couldn't have gotten appropriate care for him on the campaign trail.

I'm glad for you that you evidently have never had a family member in need of specialized medical testing & diagnosis, followed by regular treatment/therapy. Surely you can understand that such care and treatment is not available when you are dashing from city to city, state to state for months at a time. I have personal knowledge, which I stated in my post, of the lack of specialized or state of the art medical care available in Alaska. If both parents want to pursue her career, and they chose to procede with a pregnancy of a Downs syndrome child, they should have found some grandparent or other appropriate caregiver to assume responsibility while they raced around the country. Caring for a disabled infant is a full time job. The Palin's have provided a terrible example of parenting in how they raised their two oldest kids, and an even worse example re this baby.

That is politically significant given the hypocritical "family values" & pro-life rants of the GOP. If you choose to have a baby, then you are obliged to provide medical care for the baby, and not just use it as a political prop to appeal to voters.

I think the care she fails to provide to her own child is predictive of what care she will take of US kids as a whole. Example: Want affordable college tuition and low interest loans? Well, her kids didn't go to college, why should yours? Sarah's neglect of her own special needs child reflects her line item, state budget cuts for special needs programs in Alaska the last two years.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

39. Double Standard ? Did Barack and Michele drag their girls

to every event ? No, they stayed home with Michele or her mother and maintained their normal routine for the most part. They were present for some events, but were not used as props IMHO. Nothing to slime there.

Signed, a once-upon-a-time working mother

[Deja Q]

18. Right on!

:applause:

:yourock:

:pals:

:hi:

[leftofcool]

7. Another parent police.

[nichomachus]

13. Focus on the real issue

Palin may be a lousy parent -- I'm not a parent, so I can't speak to that.

But that's not really the issue when discussing her. Neither is her "inexperience."

The issue that should always be front and center is her complete unsuitability to hold public office. She's corrupt, arrogant, willfully ignorant on issues crucial to a democracy, and has a bizarre world view that makes her a danger to the country.

We need to keep reinforcing that in people's minds. Anything else is just a distraction.

[Deja Q]

14. Right now, she would be beter off heading projects to help kids with Downs Syndrome,

encouraging the media to clean up some of its programming -- when mainstream media like CBS News* reports the obvious in that teen pregnancies are up due to media influence... (one "cool" kid watching something and then repeats it; it rather starts a trend and kids want to be cool instead of individuals...)

* and their online forums are filled with right wing drivel whose "comments", for lack of better term, never get deleted...




Just my two cents, but I wanted to add something constructive and not join in with destructive comments like how all the cool people do...

[Bunny]

28. Early Intervention programming is a crucial part of raising any child who has a

developmental delay, and ideally it starts at birth or time of diagnosis. Early Intervention typically involves a coordinated approach in numerous disciplines such as medical, speech and hearing, physical and occupational therapy, nutrition, adaptive devices, and a host of others. The earlier that these interventions are started, the better the child's chances of developing to his fullest potential. Early Intervention is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL to the health and well-being of a child with Down Syndrome, and should be started immediately.

Todd and Sarah claim that they knew about Trig's diagnosis while Sarah was still pregnant. That would have been the time to start researching and planning for services for their son. Even though he is still an infant, there are many ways that he can/could have benefitted from Early Intervention. And perhaps they did seek out treatments and therapies before Sarah was tapped for the VP slot. Part of these treatments involves training the parents and caregivers in different physical therapy and positioning techniques to improve muscle tone, etc. Maybe the family implemented these things while on the campaign trail. Truth is, we don't know what they may have done for Trig. But it seems that he would have had the best chance of maximizing his potential if he had been kept in a secure, structured environment, with the same person/people paying full time attention to his needs.

As someone who works with people with mental retardation, it saddens me to think of the opportunities that could have helped Trig and how all that time has most likely been lost.

[demmiblue]

40. Thank you for this informative post.

:thumbsup:

[Chorophyll]

34. To the people who throw out the "parent police" label:

I used to be one of you. Then I had a kid. Does having a kid make me special in any way? Not really, except that I'm far more aware of children than I used to be.

I have more empathy for children than I used to. For example, I can no longer look at the "starving African children" and say tsk-tsk and just get on with my day. Children are all real people to me now. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to raise a physically and emotionally healthy child. Food, shelter, education, and LOVE.

All children are completely at the mercy of the adults around them. I am thoroughly uncomfortable and upset by the way the adult Palins treat Trig. I'm obviously not alone in this.

This is a discussion board, and Divernan has every right to express her (quite knowledgeable) opinion.

Furthermore, if you give a shit about anything DU is about, it's hard not to see Trig Palin as the ultimate poster child for the "Family Values" party.

[polly7]

41. I got a little p'd off every time I saw him without a hat.

One picture showed her carrying him off a plane, the wind was blowing everyone's hair but yet his head was bare and his face to the wind while she stopped to yak and chat. Any baby should have had his ears protected, especially one more prone to infection.

[ThoughtCriminal]

42. Was there any pre-natal care at all?

I've suspected that this is one of the reasons that despite promises, her medical records were never released.

[live love laugh]

43. You don't know if she sought help in the early months, you don't know if she kept

the baby up "late" regularly. You don't know a lot.

And just as we here are against women being told what to do with their bodies (ie. abortion) the same goes for telling women how to raise their families. This is not your business.

[Tumbulu]

44. it became our business when the anti choice candidate used her child as a prop

and we all had to watch her abuse all of her children by dragging all of them all over the place. Why the hell weren't they home?

I know many moms and all of us felt that the way she treated her children publicly was criminal.

The OP is correct and I disagree strongly with you.

[Dems4me]

50. I wasn't going to get into this post, but I feel a need to say this...

It is our business how people raise their children. Every single last one of us's responsibilty
to watch out for the people that can't defend themselves in this country. Children, elderly and
the disabled. I don't just say it, as a child of abuse, I live it.

I have stuck my nose in more than a couple of times to help save a child and I will continue
in the future.

Let me tell you a true story of just one of my interventions. This happened in the 90's in
a small town in the midwest. I lived in the middle of town surrounded by rental property.
I had children of my own, one a special needs child. All the kids came to my house
as I tried to help working parents (for free) watch their children, (I only worked part time
because of my special needs son need more care), when a parent or relative would
be late, so the kids had a safe place to be.

At first I didn't pay attention to the new neighbors, people came and went fairly frequently.

One day, a child showed up on my back porch. Clearly, uncomfortable and very nervous. His clothes
looked shabby but he didn't look dirty. I introduced my self and he told me nothing. He only asked
why the kids came here. I told him I don't know...I guess they come because they want to, I supposed.
He said I saw you from my house you seemed nice. I said thank and found out which house he lived in.
He said did I have any food. So I feed him. Over a period of about 3 months he came more frequently, and
ofter very late in the evening. He was seven years old. During this time I knew something was wrong
with the little guys life situation, but not sure what. During this time I also notice a lot of strange activity
going on at his house, lots of people coming and going for short periods of time. The parents leaving for two
three days while school was in- but never seeing the boy at school- so he missed school often.

One day this little boy told me he had a sister one year older than him that lived in the house with them. I never
saw another child at that time. One day, a local police officer, I knew personally came and asked me questions about the father.
I told what little I knew. I was worried about these kids....To end this story as it could
go on. This childs father was a conficted felon with a long rap sheet running herione and coke. The children, yes children, a boy and
a girl was used for child pornography. The girl had never been to school. The police said they had
a special room where there were tens of boxes of video tapes, where these children were repeatedly abused
as well as picture of other unidentified children. Children with children, adults with children, thiss is a 7 and 8 year old brother and sister.
The police said their was little food in the house and piles and piles of garbage. The children had one mattress
thrown on the floor to sleep on.

I got more stories of such things...this is real..just because a person can have a child doesn't mean they
should be able to keep it.

The prisons are full of people that grew up where nobody took the time to care about them or stand up for them
when they need it. Abuse isn't just a problem for poor folks, it happens in families that are well off to.

[Silver Gaia]

54. Just wanted to thank you for sharing this story...

I have a good friend who adopted a young boy who came from a similar situation. His sister was also abused. He was just 4 years old. :(

[BrklynLiberal]

45. She used all her children as props. Trig was no exception.

It is sad that Trig was not able to get the early intervention that would have benefitted him.

[Hekate]

46. For Caribou Barbie, I think Trig is an undemanding baby: he doesn't ask much, & she doesn't notice

I mean, she *really* may not notice. Her style of mothering probably worked okay with her other 4 children, but at this moment in time Ms Prophecy's worldly ambitions are in full flower, and I don't think little Trig is going to get what he needs as an individual with special needs.

On the other hand, as far as love goes, his older sisters seem to dote on him. That's something.

Hekate

[tavalon]

48. That baby's mother is only 16

She's doing the best she can and her mother isn't helping, that's for sure.

[DemBones DemBones]

51. Young women almost never have babies with Down syndrome

while 44 year-olds frequently do. I have no doubt that Sarah Palin is Trig's mother.

Bristol will be having her own baby soon and Bristol is 17, perhaps closer to 18, not 16 as you stated.

[tavalon]

52. Sort of

Women are more likely to have babies with genetic anomalies the older their eggs are but far more young women have babies than do those of us at the higher risk ages. In the 17 years I worked as a labor and delivery nurse, I had a couple of older moms who had Down Syndrome babies but at least 20 were born to younger women, women under 29 who often were unaware that their babies had Downs until shortly after the birth as quad screens have only fairly recently been utilized universally. An anomaly? Nope, not at all. When you count the absolute number of babies born to young women versus older women, most Down Syndrome babies are born to younger mothers. Statistics are funny things - they can be used to say all sorts of things, even polar opposite things depending on how you want to look at things. There is a reason the phrase "lies, damned lies and statistics." became well known.

[SoCalDem]

53. I have the feeling that once he's past the "cute baby" stage, that child will be institutionalized

"for his own good"...and then Sarah will get to play the martyr....or he will end up "farmed out" to her parents, as she gets her directions from that "doorman in the sky"...

[glowing]

55. Personally, I think she's hoping the baby does die.. then she doesn't have to be stuck raising

a child with defects. I don't think she wants this baby.. at all.

[Hubert Flottz]

56. Sarah's special needs are all that matters to Sarah.

Just like Bush's special needs were all that have ever mattered to him. Most GOPers I know are the same way.