A couple from Doncaster, south Yorkshire, whose three-month-old baby died from eating too much salt, yesterday warned other parents about the dangers involved in feeding young children.
Ms Joanne Short (20) and her partner, Mr David Elders (18), decided to feed their son, Leroy, with liquidised adult food instead of baby food because it was cheaper and because they believed the ingredients were similar. In the latter stage of his life, Leroy's diet included breakfast cereal, mashed potatoes and gravy, but the high salt content caused his brain to shrink and he began suffering from fits. He died on June 5th after his life support machine was switched off.
An inquest into his death found this week that Leroy's body contained nine grammes of salt when the recommended level for a baby his age should have been 0.9 grammes. "We weren't careless with our son's life," Mr Elders said. "We loved him too much for that." Ms Short said: "Because we don't feel that we did anything that was wrong we want parents everywhere to be warned of what could happen."
Ms Mary Daly, of the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association, said: "This is a tragic case and what makes it more tragic is that it need not have happened.
"If there were enough health visitors and they were able to do the job as they wanted, this couple could have been advised about how to feed their child and how to wean him safely and properly."
There are 13,500 health visitors in England, although because of the part-time nature of the profession this translates into 10,000 full-time workers.
Ms Daly said 40 per cent of health visitors were now over 50 and long hours and poor morale were forcing many of them into early retirement.