Fast Food Baby

Fast Food Baby

2011, Health  -   88 Comments
7.75
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Ratings: 7.75/10 from 67 users.

Fast Food BabyOur junk food addiction is dropping alarmingly down the age ladder and we are now rearing a generation of fast food babies.

This arresting documentary reveals babies and toddlers eating a diet of chips, burgers and kebabs, all washed down with bottles of fizzy cola.

It explores the deep-seated reasons why parents resort to junk food feeding and follows three families as they desperately try and get back on the right nutritional track.

From gentle food play to dramatic shocks, the parents team up with real experts who mentor them through the latest techniques as they try to wean their children off fast food.

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Lola Minnie Rotella-Reed
Lola Minnie Rotella-Reed
6 months ago

what is the song that is playing at the start of the episode

Darius Spanney
Darius Spanney
3 years ago

I am shocked at these parents. My social studies teacher has set us homework over the summer to watch some of these documentaries. I'm Darius, I'm fifteen and I'm from Hudson, OH. It kinda annoys me how the parents say they have no control - when actually they purchased everything - enabling their kids' bad eating habits. I literally am shocked. My parents are quite strict - we only have one packet of cookies every two weeks, and my Mom banned sodas in the house. However, America's kids are obese and I'm not proud of that. I'm glad that my parents are strict though - because there are people at my high school and my middle school who have such bad diets. I saw a kid, no older than 9, drinking a full can of Monster Energy last week. His brother was eating a packet of Cheetos and was about four. Something needs to change. As a parent you are responsible for every part of your kid's life including their diet and how dangerous over consumption is.

Karen
Karen
7 years ago

Oooooh,the kitchen is messy. How about I clean your dumb kitchen while you take your kid(s) to the hospital or bury them?? Get over it! It's an easy fix.

M.C.
M.C.
8 years ago

I stumbled upon this documentary last night (February of 2016) and I was wondering if there was an update on these families to see how they stuck with their lifestyle changes. If not, then a 5 year follow-up would be perfect! :)

Travis
Travis
8 years ago

Did the mom at 11:10 say we eat pretty healthy and then there was a 2 L coke bottle on the table?

W
W
8 years ago

Whenever I go to iceland (not often, I hate it) I see parents like this constantly filling up their cart with £100 of crisps, frozen food & sugar with their screaming children. How hard is it to buy potatoes, leaks and chicken for the same price as all that shit and make a healthy soup.

W
W
8 years ago

This is making me MAD. YES YOU CAN CONTROL, YOU BUY IT FOR THEM. Did you see how much salt she put on those microwave chips. Why are they so weak? Of Course you feed them rubbish now and then but this is insane. I'm not feeding my children fastfood until I teach them to be hungry for "plain" food first.

blaice
blaice
8 years ago

Dad buys the food for the house, proceeds to say, "I've got no control over what he eats".

Verbatim... What an idiot.

justmeint
justmeint
10 years ago

do we really need all the F words people?
I too agree that these parents need help and reducating as do the kiddies
But don't lower your stabdards please

BlackFlag
BlackFlag
10 years ago

They don't need f*cking experts, it's pretty obvious that forbidding snacks and making them eat whatever is in in their plate, whether they like it or not, has been proved to be efficient 100% of the time. They don't want their carrots? Fine, they're not hungry then, when they are going to be they'll welcome veggies with thrill. I had to eat crap years, some times I didn't even get a meal a day because I couldn't afford it; so this kind of bulls*it makes me f*cking mad.I mean COME ON!!! Children are starving around the world and they REFUSE food because it doesn't taste great... The obesity epidemic seems to be caused by parents spoiling their children. Authority isn't necessarily a bad thing, you know: kids NEED boundaries. Today they don't get any and end up being total jerks with absurdly high self-esteem who act like evrything's their due.

knowledge_lover9
knowledge_lover9
11 years ago

This is so sad it makes me want to cry, how can you be so neglectful to your children. Time is not an excuse, you can prepare and freeze healthy meals for the week. The stay at home mom especially has more than enough time. I am from Vancouver, Canada and seeing children eating junk is so rare its almost unknown. I am currently living down south in the U.S and it kills me daily I see toddlers and children walking around with large size take out pop. People here drive through the gas station drive through and order large cups of pop; children and all and just continue on like its water. I've regularly seen babies eating fries, candy, pop, fried hash browns ect. The children down here are obese and its just a normal thing. I just cringe I want to shake the parents and ask them what they are thinking. I would never dream of giving my children pop or junk food. I know I will love them way to much to neglect them.

RobinSweet
RobinSweet
11 years ago

I read all the comments on here and I think that there are too many people who are seating in judgement of these parents and their families. Instead of judging them and calling them names try and see things from their perspective, if only for a moment, and try and understand where they are comming from. Now I am not saying that they are feeding their children good food, because they are obviously not. But they are not child abusers either! Child abuse is what some peolpe here suggested, I think, like slapping and spanking and shouting at children and/or starving them into eating what is on their plate or forcing them to eat against their will. I have no children of my own, as yet, but have worked with and looked after kids of various ages for over twelve years, and have never had to resort to any of these suggested tactics. To get them to do anything! I always managed to get them to eat and do other things by getting them to want to do it, and so enjoying it in the process. Spanking and slapping only makes children afraid, and hurts them physically and emotionally, it teaches them nothing, except fear! The parent who said, in a comment below that they slapped their boys only once to make them respect him/her, only got that result because those boys did not want to be slapped again, not because they suddenly got respect for their slapping parent. Starving children into eating, is neglect, kids shouldn't, must not, go without food for a day or two, just because they won't eat what has been put in front of them. And yes! It going without food for more than the time between meals DOES hurt them health wise! And don't let anyone tell you any different! Forcing kids to eat would only lead to the opposite reaction, and make food and eating a negative and frightening experiencing experience instead of being a fun, tasty and enjoyable one, as it should be. Shouting at kids or letting them scream their hearts out damages them emotionally and hurts their feelings more than you know. Children are a lot smarter and capable of understanding a lot more than some people here are suggesting, and far from being primitive, their minds are very perceptive and adaptable. There are always ways to get children to eat, and one of the best ways is to make it interesting, like the parents of Michael are thought to do. Eating should be enjoyable and pleasant, children should love meal times, but some of the things suggested in a number of posts below would turn it into a punishment and that should never be the case.
I agree, it is scary that a tot, Cuba, drinks six cans of pop a day and the other one, Michael, won't eat anything but junk and the teenaged mom's son (forgot his name) eats as bad as him mom, herself a child. But that is what the doc is about! Each one of them getting the help that they need. I make no excuses for the parents, either, one too young to be a mom in the first place and needing to learn a lot herself before having become a mom, the others afraid to say no to Michael because of his bout with meningitis (my parents went through the same with me, by the way, after I had an acutely severe concussion at the age of four and came close to dying.) and Cuba's parents who are afraid to make a mess in the kitchen and the dad who is a junk food addict himself, but I allow them the benefit of the doubt. We are all human, and no one, and I mean NO ONE, is perfect. I do find it atrocious that children are eating all this junk, and it does make me very concerned what it does to their young, growing bodies and that they get more addicted to it all more every year, childhood obesity is an acute problem which needs a good remedy. But let us not forget that there is advertising to children allover the place, of foods so chocked full of sugar, fat, chemicals and other inedible food like substances, which undermines parents and fills children's heads with these bright cartoon clad no-foods, and younger kids follow the example of older siblings, like Cuba and his older sisters. In the case of the teenaged mom, we must take into account her financial circumstances, as well. Fastfood is cheap, fruit and veg are not.
Cuba's family all ate junkfood, and so he ate it too, it is not as though they ate healthy and made him eat the junk alone. Family eating habits influence and affect the whole families from the oldest to the youngest, though Michael's mom and dad do eat healthy and try hard to get him to do the same. Yes, laziness is a factor in two of these families, not wanting to bother with cooking and all, but once again one of these is a teen, and wants to be one, social life and all, so she acts as one, not an excuse, but at least an explanation. And the other does not like to cook and doesn't seem to be very good at it at least in the beginning of the doc, when she makes the spaghetti, but she does learn by the doc's end, and lets her husband cook as well, which in the long run/term might be just what is needed to help him get over his junkfood addiction as well. And that is what matters in the end, that they want to change and did so in the end.
Don't criticize and pass judgement, the next time you see a parent in similar circumstances think of how you can help them, not of what name or names to call them. Every situation is different, and every family too, and there is always room for change and improvement. As for junkfood, it should be trashed all together...
and if it was me, I would tax this whole rubbish and make cost of it in the "restaurants' and shops which sell it, so prohibitive that even the thought of it would stick in people's throats. While making veg and fruit and whole grains and other healthy and delicious foods cheep and affordable for everyone.

P.S. Love your comment Andrew! Good on you for making all that good and healthy food, eating well and exercising. Keep up the good work, my friend, and you will go far. I wish there were more teens like you, then perhaps the rubbish food companies would have less of a hold over what everyone eats. :)

Cheers, Songbird.

Syamsul Arifin
Syamsul Arifin
11 years ago

seeing babies eating junk food is incredibly scary for me.., bad diet will kill them slowly

Turtle_maddness
Turtle_maddness
11 years ago

I get sooo mad when I see legit obese parents feeding their kids junk like it's okay....and the babies who are like, 2 years old, are already fat. Teach them good habits from the start so it's not hard for them later in life! This is a form of child abuse, in my books. Kids don't know any better, they know what their parents teach them.

Jeremy Hughes
Jeremy Hughes
11 years ago

How is this any different than child endangerment? Why are these parents not having their kids taken from this? Truly disgusting ignorant trash people, get off your job and take care of your damn kids you idiots. They taught us in first grade not to eat sugar and drink soda, how come all these retards act surprised when they find out it's not healthy? The wives should wear shirts that say "I'm with stupid" because their husband's are shite.

Andrew
Andrew
11 years ago

I'm 15 and watching documentaries on here and this is simply shocking to me. I eat healthily, I exercise, and I still remain big because it's in my genetics on my fathers side and is hard to maintain, but I do so. This is simply mind boggling to me because of the fact that I myself at such a young age make home-made meals when my parents are away. I cannot believe the intelligence of the 3rd mother, the teen one. It appears she has made one dumb decision after the other, starting with the pregnancy. She has no possible idea what she's doing and I am ashamed she is ALLOWED to raise a child with such eating habits.

Janelle Laybolt
Janelle Laybolt
11 years ago

that one mom is hot. while her family eats junk. odd..... but. cool good on them.

LInda Tisue
LInda Tisue
11 years ago

If kids are hungry they will eat, these "parents" need to let their kids experience hunger and maybe they need to experience hunger themselves as well. I think these people are an argument for taxing take out food just like cigarettes.

dan661
dan661
11 years ago

one of the kids said he wanted a pear! and she just walked past and said no!! what the hell?!

Crystal_2012
Crystal_2012
11 years ago

F**k these parents are m*ronic. "I have no +control over what he eats" Really? You have no control over what your toddler who completely relies on you to feed him eats?! My god.. These children are fu**ed.

ProudinUS
ProudinUS
12 years ago

OH MAN! Now if you need a expert to show you how to take care of a situation with yur kids, your're pathetic. First you have to acknowledge that it's your fault to let it go this far and explain it to the child. But the first time a kid of mine(their grown now) throws a hissy-fit like that one kid, he's gonna get wacked upside his f--kin' head. There's no dilly-dallying around with a child when it's time for them to learn respect. I'm tired of all this new age bullsh*t....don't spank the child....don't yell at the child....all I can say to that is bullsh*t! If your kid gets lippy it's your duty to make sure they don't do ita 2nd time. It's better that you teach the kid some respect then have someone else have to do it.(which somebody will!)
I can honestly say that I only had to whack my boys upside the head twice to set em' straight and they became fine well adapted men.

Amanda
Amanda
12 years ago

OMG! That kid is seriously addicted to the sweetie cupboard! I had a candy drawer but I couldn't get in it unless Mom or Dad let me. This is ridiculous.

Yusiley S
Yusiley S
12 years ago

I consider this child abuse. They're fattening up their kids with this garbage food. Also why are these parents over feeding their babies? Gesh. That baby at the beginning shouldn't be eating that large quality of food, especially that large breakfast plate (that's an adult size meal you dump f*** of a father). What are these parents thinking? Don't they know doing that will cause the stomach to expand (encouraging the other extreme eating disorder - food addict)and the babys' body will develop more fat cells (increase number of fat cells which only lipo can get rod of). Thus at the end this poor baby will grow up in being an obese teen who will yo-yo dieting because he can't get rid of those extra fat cells his retarded parents forced upon him. Yes forced. This kid doesn't talk yet. He has no authority or ability to really care or speak up for himself.

As for the tantrums... that's what kids do, they complain. It's the parents job to slap the twat and teach him or her that he or she isn't the center of the universe. I hate it when parents put their kids on some pedestal, reinforcing that condescending bs attitude. It's one thing to care about your kids, it's a whole other thing when you're over doing it to the point of creating overconfident future dictators. Makes me want to slap all of these parents. If the kid doesn't want to eat than don't force him or her. Just let him or her go hungry eventually the kid will eat the healthy meal. That's what my parents did with me and my siblings. When we didn't want to eat my parents would take us away from the dinner table and put us in our playpen. It's giving the kid a choice eat healthy or die of starvation. Hunger is a very painful and powerful signal the brain shuts up and the body takes over, forcing the kid to finally accept the meal that is in front of hm or her. Too bad these parents are weak willed and easily pushed around by a primitive mind (children aren't developed yet). It's rather pathetic to watch really.

Another thing I want to add is that these fatty, sugary and sweet foods don't keep you full for very long. You know why junk food doesn't fill you up in the long run and why you feel hungry again in the short while? It's because that garbage food lack in important nutrients. Fats, sugar and sweets are super rare in nature that's why we crave them, but we over eat those nutrients and not the healthy kind. Our bodies had evolve to take nutrients through the foods that are found a lot in nature. Yes our bodies can digest roots and heavily leafy greens.... we're evolved for that. We're also evolved for heavily protein foods... and it's a fact that foods high in protein keep you full longer, thus you're not binging on everything. Lack of nutrients causes our bodies to think it is hungry even though we ate a huge plate of food. This is why I eat something that has a lot of vitamins and minerals before having dessert, so I wouldn't feel the need to binge on the Cadbury eggs.

DeadMoon
DeadMoon
12 years ago

I've said it a thousand times before and I'll say it again; we need some kind of parenting license.
Like a parenting school that you have to graduate from and learn the basic things needed to raise a physically and mentally healthy child.

Lucie Uhlí?ová
Lucie Uhlí?ová
12 years ago

Pasta and some sauce from a jar = home made meal? Are you kidding me??

cloverbow13
cloverbow13
12 years ago

Wtf Crystal Castles playing in the background?

give methafood
give methafood
12 years ago

Not worth the time.....just typical dramatized television about people have no idea about how to live or create values.

NaFaMod
NaFaMod
12 years ago

OMG, I hate fast food. It's addictive and just makes you feel like s***. My life used to be s***, its now less s*** because I realized this and now im a happier person. Goddamn all the CEO's of these poisonous companies. So many i****s in the world now, eating c*** food and acting like monkeys. Unfortunately I was pretty hooked on the good old french fries and stuff up till my late teens, it just ravaged my body, mind and soul.

lari
lari
12 years ago

These "parent" are superficial, materialistic and ignorant. The father works long hours to pay for some status stylings, and he can't even feed his kids properly! Money is literally being wasted on prepared "food" and their lifestyle. If he worked less hours and learned to cook a decent meal, teach/discipline/guide his children - he wouldn't have to work so many hours. It's a catch 22 so many materialistic consumer-culture people (sheeple) are trapped in. I make an artists wage (ie: technically below 'poverty' line in Canada) yet I eat organic, make 98% of meals at home and am very fit and healthy. My (working) parents had 5 kids to feed - and never resorted to this kind of behaviour. This is just repulsive. "Stupid People Shouldn't Breed." Pretty lame 'documentary'. These people need a rude awakening, not some soft pandering to their blatant ignorance. They think it's funny, but it's downright obscene.

His Forever
His Forever
12 years ago

Last thought for the night: What a modern problem when 1/3 of the world is stuggling with fast food and all the fat and junk that comes with it, and the other 2/3 is stuggling with starvation and malnurishment entirely. Mind boggling!

His Forever
His Forever
12 years ago

The single mother that NEVER buys healthy food is just a plain terrible mother. The couple that had the child with mennigitis touched my heart. The fun food class was brilliant psychology! It was a good documentary for our times. It helped me resolve to continue eating more healthily in our family.

Yi Wen Qian
Yi Wen Qian
12 years ago

Why do parents give birth to children and then kill them slowly with food? :(

Rebecca Job
Rebecca Job
12 years ago

Oh my god! the amount of salt they put on chips for that poor baby!!! That was rather painful to watch...

Nicci Winsmore
Nicci Winsmore
12 years ago

Not only kids are brainwashed to become meat and dairy eaters but they are put on junk foods from birth. And we wonder about the rising rates of obesity and chronic diseases????

Sandra Teresa
Sandra Teresa
12 years ago

living in mexico i see this everywhere, i´´ve seen so many babies drinking soda from the baby bottles and it makes me sick. I´m married with no kids but my husband and I do not keep soday in the house at all, when we want a bottle we go to the corner store and buy a small bottle to drink then. We only eat take out when we´re out and there are no other options and after we do eat it we both feel terrible. We have made the choice to do all these things now so that when we do have kids we are already in the habit of eating healthy. When i was a kid it was eat what mom made or starve. after not eating for a day or 2 you get hungry enough to eat what´´s there. end of story, not eating for a day or 2 won´´t kill the kid and it will teach them who´´s in charge. Kids are much smarter than adults think and they learn very quickly that screaming either gets them what they want or a smack on the bottom and if they get what they want they´ll just keep doing it! Parents need to remember who´´s in charge and once in a while let the kid scream his heart out, he´´ll learn that it doesn´´t work.

Achems_Razor
Achems_Razor
12 years ago

Couldn't watch more than 4 minutes of these brain dead people! Rocks are smarter.

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

I only watched half but was surprised to see none of them were obese. Even the woman with the 3 kids, skinny as a rail. Reminded me of a reality show more than a doc.
az

Irishkev
Irishkev
12 years ago

Nnnngrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Dizzy cows should all be up for child abuse. Hair extensions, fake tan and diamond rings and poisoning their kids, because they are too lazy to cook. "Oh, I'll try giving him proper food so I can save money and get more stuff for me", I'm fuming.AAAAAGh

Yavanna
Yavanna
12 years ago

Vlatko. Come on now............ this is trash TV. Seriously now, I`m your greatest fan but you have vested yourself with the tag TOP Docs! This is utter trash. I would be happy to vet additions as I know you have a huge task in assessing new content but for the love of the great flying spagetti monster in the sky please do not allow this cr$p air time on our wonderful site.

Integrity is everything. This is BS trash TV about scumbags and feck em!

I volunteer my time as a tester for possible additions to the site. I feel you are losing your focus. More and more sh1t like this is creeping in like a cancer.

I`m sure a dozen or more people here would be willing to test the worthiness of additions but please don't include cr4p like this......

Stephanie Blackbird
Stephanie Blackbird
12 years ago

OMG - this is child abuse!!! What do you mean "I can't control what he eats" - really? Who buys the food. This is despicable and this is why this generation of children has a shorter life span than their parents - for the first time in history! I will forever continue to coach people on a healthier lifestyle. I have seen amazing transformation - in days...

His Forever
His Forever
12 years ago

I'm stuggling with this for my daugher. She's not overweight, but is totally unlike my son who won't even eat candy when he's not hungry. The "begging" is just overwhelming, and it works!!! Even with the shapest parent (me included) as we're still just human. It's really tough these days to feed your kids well. I know it's my hands putting the junk food in the basket at the store, but what is "life" without any "sweetness" at all?

Imightberiding
Imightberiding
12 years ago

O.K., O.K. ... I know this will probably generate a whole lot of people up in arms but I just can't get past the idea that you have to prove yourself worthy of a licence to drive an automobile, have a business, practice medicine, etc. Yet we as a society allow complete idiots to have children & raise them with a clueless intent as to what is good for the child they have brought into this world. Some thing is off kilter here.

norlavine
norlavine
12 years ago

I watched 8 minutes and decided these people don't need help in feeding their kids lovingly prepared,attractive food - they need help in tying their own shoelaces xx

Thomas Felbo
Thomas Felbo
12 years ago

"he likes his chips, that's him"... no id****. We are evolutionary dispositioned to like fat and sugar because these foods have the most energy, so those who liked fat and sugar survived more than those who ate other stuff. Plus the first taste we ever taste is breast milk -> fat and sweet again.

Ðaniel Çurtis
Ðaniel Çurtis
12 years ago

who cares...feed them dogfood...its cheaper!!lol ppl need to feed their kids anything and it should not be child abuse to give a fat kid a fry..need sick ppl to fuel the health care system and stupid ppl are never in short supply.lol

jubbs_sher
jubbs_sher
12 years ago

WEAK PARENTS

Sieben Stern
Sieben Stern
12 years ago

they don't have money, they don't control what they eat. Parents do. There the ones giving the kids the junk food so they don't develop a taste for better stuff.

watching the parents in the beginning giving the baby fries just broke my heart :/ that should be child abuse.

People who don't want to raise kids and take care of them should help themselves to copious amounts of birth control.

PaulGloor
PaulGloor
12 years ago

6 can of soda a day eh... What happened to mothers milk ?
That's a diabetic in the making.
I couldnt imagine eating so much fast food. Never mind the calories and the fat, what about the cost ?

I will have to watch the rest of this in the morning!

Sertsis
Sertsis
12 years ago

Sadly, this is typical of our society's view on food in general. Hot, fast, tasty and cheap trump healthy and nutritious in too many cases. And in too many cases, it is more economical to eat junk food than it is to buy, cook and eat properly. The poor can't afford to eat healthy.
I've seen a few docs on similar subjects, but the one that I like the most is 'Food Inc.' If you can find it, then watch that one too, it's an eye opener. Hopefully Vlatko will find it for us.

Bogdan Miclescu
Bogdan Miclescu
12 years ago

How stupid can they be to feed a lil kid with junk food like that ?! ffs ... i hope it s fake