Child Abuse? 17-Year-Old Drops After Eating Only Chicken Nuggets Since Age 2

I am 49 and Autistic. Yes, I have been considerably stubborn with my eating habits, and my daughters have tried for years to get me off colas. They talked me into switching to the flavored waters, and some how, eventually I got hooked on water (it's the water bottles, some of them are so pretty I like having them on my desk). Now I find colas taste odd to me. I have had to do the same thing w/ food. It's not that I mean to, it just seems to be a compulsion once I latch onto something. The trick is, slowly allowing myself to latch onto something healthy and it is hard, I know. My daughters introduced me to soy and almond milk. I love how the almond milk makes my mouth feel - sweet and fresh. Then kashi and slowly because it made me perk up and feel wonderful, I'm exploring more. I am an exceptionally picky eater, I don't like things mixed or touching and often I'll go hungry for several meals just because... I kind of forget to eat (my girls pack sweet peaches, neceterines and oranges for me) the smell of them on my desk is too hard to turn down. But yes it takes time. I can't help my compulsions and I can't help being such a picky eater. I found the more people push th more stubborn I get. But, I also found my being curious was the win-win here and the smell of fresh fruit to me is soo tempting. Step by step. Very small steps.

How dare any of you comparing this young woman's eating habits to an autistic child. My son is on the spectrum and likes to eat certain things over and over as well. HOWEVER, as his mother I know how important a balanced diet is and I make sure he is provided one. His nutrition has been number one since my pregnancy was confirmed. I breastfeed him and he eats fruits,veggies, lean proteins&dairy because as his mother I provide them.

My son is autistic, but you can't really compare the two situations. He doesn't understand about having to try different foods, and he is stubborn as all get out...although his diet has improved tremendously in the past few years. This girl's mother has no excuse. I understand about picky eaters, because I have a couple at home. But there is no way I would let them get away with this! I hope that this girl develops some sense before she keels over again!

I reads all these so called EXPERTS. Yety I see NOTHING in your name proving you have any idea what your talking about Try googling Natalie Cooper the ONLY thing she can eat & not throw up is Tic Tacs. I have a Friend who's son has Asperger's syndrome he will ONLY eat certain foods. Maybe rather than making yourselves look like idiots you should only talk about things you know & I doubt that is much.

I can guarantee that this story is fake. This is another sad attempt to find glory and fame. In this world of Reality Shows and Instant Fame; stories like this should be taken with a grain of salt. If she had only ate chicken nuggets as she had stated. The health problems, emotional and emotional problems would have been insurmountable. The body needs many different vitamins and minerals just to function. Potassium is a much needed nutrient that our body must have. Yes I do think this story is full of bullshit and chicken!!

I Know someone personally that has allowed her children to do the same thing. With her daughter it is not so bad, but with her son which is now 7 the only thing he will eat is chicken nuggets, toast, and now just started eating corn dog's. This is all he has had since he has been eating solid food. The daughter which is now 13 is almost as bad but I must say because of her friends she has gotten better. I do fault their mother because she is the one that would by McDonalds for them everyday "more than once per day" She will even wake up in the morning and go get her son some nuggets for breakfast before school, or he will eat one piece of toast with peanut butter which takes him a long time to eat. This kid at 7 knows no other food. This is all he has had period. Except formula when an infant. Sad : (

Yep. She would be suffering from open, suppurating wounds, loss of teeth, jaundice, fever, neuropathy and ultimately death from lack of Vitamin C alone, let alone all the other nutrients she would be deficient in. While B vitamins are found in chicken, it is very low in nuggets and other processed meats. That would lead to Beriberi, ariboflavinosis, pellagra, acne, parasthesia... This is totally fake.

People will do anything these days, to get famous. LMAO This story is so fake. She would have died a long time ago or at least been in the hospital before age 17. Laughable!!

Yeah, she should look like a meth addict with bleeding gums and no hair. This is total BS.

Chris Rush I have to agree with you... HOAX... This girl would have gotten sick a whole lot sooner than 15 years if her diet was ONLY this. She is too healthy appearing in this picture, if she was malnourished as badly as they claim, she'd look different. But, I do agree with some of the others that parents need to be parents more. They need to quit being afraid that child-services will come and say oh, you made your child eat broccoli, so we are taking him away from you. WE have given the government too much power. Yes, there are cases where child services does need to step in, but many cases where they don't need to stick their noses in at all. My Sister-in-law lost custody of her child 5 days because of a OVER ZEALOUS case worker. The child had fallen because of a high fever that came on suddenly, she struck her head. Of course the hospital had to report the head injury. The child was fine except for the fever, which was caused by a virus! My sister-in-law was put through emotional heck because of this person jumping to all kinds of conclusions. Just one example of a few I could list of over worked case workers not investigating as thoroughly as they should.

HOAX HOAX HOAX!!! Ok,see that big smile on her face? Chicken McNuggets and fries have NO vitamin C and she would have scurvy if in fact she was only eating this stuff for 15 years of her 17 year old life. This is another attempt to place controls on fast food. She would also have night blindness from lack of vitamin A, rickets from lack of vitamin D, megaloblastic anemia from lack of B12, pellagra from lack of niacin and beriberi from lack of thiamine. HOAX HOAX HOAX!

She could have some type of disorder that should have been looked at when it got out of control. And rather than cave in, should have sought help from sources to encourage her to eat/drink other foods.

Stacey is like this because SHE was asked as a little girl "Honey, what do you want to eat?"..Mama should have made dinner based on her NEEDS, not her wants, put it on the damn table and only offered limited choices once in awhile. Children need parents to help them make good choices, and this happens only by proper exposure to a wide variety of foods, and NOT by being allowed absolute control!

While I dont believe the govt should tell us what to eat, this is a case all too common - parents NOT being parents, not being bothered and trying to be their kid's friend, letting the kid be the dominate, the authority. Who was buying the nuggets for the girl when she was 2? The mom, every single day and probaby thought it a cute story to tell, too stupid to see what she was doing to her child and the true reflection of her as a parent. There came a time where this girl was old enough to eat other foods, follow the lead of her friends and eat pizza, burgers and other junk but she didnt bc at this point, she is getting attention, she is in control, she has a full blown eating disorder, she has OCD and she is lacking in vitamins, her health is suffering all THANKS to Mom and Dad for being my pals, doing what I wanted at 2yrs old and being the supply to 15 yrs of junk when it was your role as parents to make me eat broccoli, tomatoes, apples, etc - not every day but at least try it for balance. And this girl will replicate with her own kids. These parents need a good smack!! What happened to PARENTS - authority not friends? Your kid has friends they need parenting, common sense, a role model!! Disgusting parents!!! I wonder when they will file a lawsuit against McDonald's for making their daughter sick?

I am appauled by this article for i am anorexic and still i eat different foods...I total out at about 88 lbs. and never did my parents allow me to eat just one thing!I am ~Alise~

@ Richard Troiano - Really. The death penalty for eating chicken nuggets. WTF is wrong with you.

People like this should be shot, plain and simple. Not only should they be shot, but it should happen in public so other people know its not a thing you should consider doing. What the fuck is your problem? Only chicken nuggets, seriously?

Ok....My now 9 yo used to have an issue with nuggets when he was little. He went through a chicken nugget phase and I allowed it to go on longer than I should have. But, I was also a young mother without a lot of experience. But after a year or so, it got really aggravating and to this day he is still a very picky eater. But, I have worked with him over the years and now his favorite things are apples and peanut butter. He also understands health better than most kids because I teach it to him. I explain things. We read ingredient labels together. We watch documentaries and shows about where food comes from and what happens to it. We now own chickens so we can see the difference and control some portion of our food. We grow our own veggies. Even though a number of them he won't eat. But the key here is to educate and take the fixation on nuggets and turn it around on her. She needs to understand more about them. As well as be made to try other things. We have a 3 bite rule. As I have explained to my kids, when you take the first bite, you don't know what it will taste like and your expectations get in the way of the flavor. It surprises you and will always taste funny. The second taste is when you assume the flavor will resemble the first and you start to accept it and the 3rd is when you actually taste the flavor. If you still don't like it after 3 tries, then you don't have to eat it. But you get nothing else. I will make something they like and something new in the same meal so they can always get some thing to eat. I don't know if i would call this child abuse, but the parents have been neglectful of their duties. I'm sure it's hard for them. As a lot of things were hard for me. It was hard for me to get my son off his nugget phase, but I did it. It's hard for me every time I have to fight with them to get them to eat a new food. It's hard for me sometimes just to tell my son that he has to stop eating apples all day and eat some meat! It's hard for me to always know what's best for them. But it's my job! It's my duty as a mother! And I don't take that lightly because the habits they learn as children will follow them the rest of their lives and the crazy stuff in our food supply can destroy them in a heartbeat. Like this child is figuring out. But at this point, the girl is old enough to figure this out. And she needs to make the decision to fix herself. Start with fruit smoothies! And vitamins! Also, I think so many people need to learn from this girls example! There are way too many people who live off fast food! They don't realize what it's doing to them! I know I need to eat out less as well. We all could stand to get healthier. Our country is becoming overweight and sick! Or skinny and sick! Or on prescription drugs and still sick! We are just sick! And it's not a good trend.

I wouldn't consider this to be "child abuse", but it is obvious this young lady has some type of psychological problem, and needs therapy. As for her parents, they should have taken this child to a psychiatrist early on. Looks like a form of autism or OCD.

I have a simple solution to the problem. Funny I should say "solution," because that's first thing You do, prepare & bottle a solution, then strap Her down to a Big Solid Table. Then You proceed to insert a tube into Her Nose & down into Her Stomach, then attach the Bottle of Solution to it & Invert & Hang the Bottle so it will drain into Her. Repeat as needed! It's called Tube Feeding. Let Her stay Strapped Down & enjoy the Digestion. Who knows it might even wipe stupid grin off of Her Face!

If that's with ketchup, then politically, she's had her veggies. I imagine a walk through the chicken plant and a trip to Somalia would dispel her Asperger's and any other first-world syndrome that is making her sit there stupidly smiling over deep-fried offal.

I think she may have a form of autism or ocd. She should get treatment since it is causing a major problem with her health. One idea in the meantime is to have the parents make her chicken nuggets at home. They can modify the recipe to add other nutrients in the breading and, if they use a ground chicken version, in the nugget itself. I am not saying it makes sense for her to keep doing this, but I know that persons with these types of disorders often would willingly starve to death rather than eat something they do not want. It is not that hard to sneak in fat soluble vitamins and minerals supplements into the nuggets and they can even try adding fiber as well. The water solubles can be added to what ever beverage she drinks. This will maintain her health and if they are clever with the the use of fresh vegetables and such in the nuggets may increase her range of tastes.

It's called Asperger's guys.....(11-1 more common in boys)which is an odd form of autism...and probably underdiagnosed 10-1 in our general population. The other option is OCD...which may have a strong link with Aspergers..but what do I know, I am only a music professor who has to teach an instrumetn to these undiagnosed "odd" types

I would call this editing the gene pool. If she is so set in her ways that she won't eat anything else then she will not be able to bear children either. Which is probably for the best.

I have two daughters who never had eating problems. They ate nearly everything I prepared. If there was something they didn't think they would like I would tell them they had to take at least 3 bites and if they didn't like it then, they didn't have to eat it. Usually they ate it. But at least they got the 3 bites always. They grew up fine and are smart girls, and raise their own children to eat properly. And we all love our vegetables and fruit.

This really should be more of an indictment of fast foods than an apparently OCD kid. Why can't McDonalds get enough nutrition into their nuggets and fries to make it so you don't starve to death with a full stomach????

I thought that's all white trash ate anyways. So by process of elimination she discovered mcnuggets are the only thing she can eat??!?!?!? Was she starving up until that point? Did they try going to a doctor before the mcnugget experiment. This is total BS.

REALLY? Parents: say "NO!" I do it all the time and my kids are happy healthy well-adjusted, and guess what - they still love me, and they know I love them.

My son at 3 months old had skull surgery his infant years were very normal, he ate all foods until he was about 4 years old. He developed the same problem with his eating habits, having raised one child already never had I experienced such absolute refusal of eating fruits and vegetables and I tried everything he will not eat them. He eats primarily chicken nuggets, my doctor said he would grow out of it hes 14 now and was diagnosed with tourettes syndrome last year and he has not grown out of it yet. I am very concerned for him and although he takes a vitamin supplement I know it isn't sufficient. No it is absolutely not abuse, unless you have lived it you cant imagine the heart ache a mother endures over it.

If her mother has tried everything she can to get her to eat other foods how can it be abuse? Also, if her mother has to force feed her, at what point would people start calling THAT abuse? You can't have everything, and you can't save everybody.

I don't believe that's all she's eaten since age 2.

phil cooper. you made me spray milk all over my monitor Curse you Phil Cooper!

2 year olds don't have their own money-who has been buying this food all these years? Be a parent-say no!

Terribly poor parenting, but the mother is open to help and the child is under a doctor's care, so let's assume that this is going to work out. This is not REAL abuse, or even neglect. I find it tiresome that people "cry wolf" so often that, when the "real thing" happens, people ho-hum and move along. BTW, I don't like Spam!

@ Phil Cooper... WELL STATED... And, I'm a Lumber Jack...

"Well, there's egg and bacon, egg sausage and bacon Egg and spam Egg, bacon and spam Egg, bacon, sausage and spam Spam, bacon, sausage and spam Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam tomato and spam Spam, spam, spam, egg and spam Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam. (Chorus: Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely Spam! Lovely Spam!)"

u know how sometimes somebody has real young skin but thier facial bones give it away that they are older. Well, this is the reverse case. The facial bones tell u that she is young but the skin looks 10-20 yrs older. how sad.

easy to be critical isn't it folks. a son w/autism who only eats a few foods, gags eating anything else, will go long periods w/out food if withholding his choice few and only becomes weak and tired not hungry to try new things. try walking in those shoes and i mean his. learn something http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/explore/show_03.html

stupid people get what they deserve

When my son was little he only liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but after months of that, I simply refused to feed him only that. After a while he ate pretty much whatever I put before him. It takes patience to train a child to eat healthy, but the parent has to be active in that process and take 100% responsiblity for how it turns out.

Anyway, like I was sayin', nuggets is the fruit of the barnyard. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, nugget-kabobs, nugget creole, nugget gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple nuggets, lemon nuggets, coconut nugget, pepper nuggets, nugget soup, nugget stew, nugget salad, nuggets and potatoes, nugget burger, nugget sandwich. That- that's about it.

Her mother should have been more pro-active in giving her healthy foods instead of giving in and allowing her to eat whatever she wanted just to appease her. Her mother is to blame, kids whine about stuff they want all day every day, you as a parent is supposed to have enough sense to know not to give them everything they want. When the girl didn’t want to eat, the mother should have told her that the food she had was her only option. When she got hungry she would have ate the healthy food. The girl was two and is still not an adult, she didn’t have money, a job or a car to go get the nuggets herself, and so the mother was abusing her child. If the girl was morbidly obese then it would be no question and this is the same situation.

Her mother should have been more pro-active in giving her healthy foods instead of giving in and allowing her to eat whatever she wanted just to appease her. Her mother is to blame, kids whine about stuff they want all day every day, you as a parent is supposed to have enough sense to know not to give them everything they want. When the girl didn’t want to eat, the mother should have told her that the food she had was her only option. When she got hungry she would have ate the healthy food. The girl was two and is still not an adult, she didn’t have money, a job or a car to go get the nuggets herself, and so the mother was abusing her child. If the girl was morbidly obese then it would be no question and this is the same situation.

Ang Li, I wholeheartedly disagree. This isn't "bad" parenting. This is gross negligence over 15 years. This is certainly child abuse. I'm not saying it makes sense to imprison or fine the mother, since that would only make the children even worse off, but that doesn't make this not child abuse.

Its a parents job to make the rules and ensure the well-being of their child. She was not doing her job. I taught 2 and 3 year olds and some of them had sensory issues or whatever, and would literally gag and throw up if a new food didn't agree with them, but they still tried it, and found eventually that some foods work for them and some foods don't, and as they got used to trying different foods they got better and better. But you don't just take "no" from a 2 year old. Sure, they have natural instincts and will not starve themselves blah blah but a big part of that age is testing boundaries. And how many parents/teachers out there have heard a kid say "I don't like this" and its something they have never tried and couldn't possibly know if they like it or not. Maybe they don't like it because they've never seen it, or maybe their friend doesn't like it. And half the time when they try it, they find they do like it. And more often than not if they try it a few times they grow to like it. And sometimes they genuinely don't like it, no matter how many times they tried it. Anyway, does the mother know what kind of things have been put into those nuggets over the years? Disgusting. Better off getting some chicken breast, bread it with flour, and pan frying it with some store-bought sauce on the side. At that age, kids wouldn't know better.

I had a child that only like chicken patties/nuggets. She would eat some fruit tho. She eventually grew out of it. I don't call this abuse or neglect..the parents have tried and honestly keeping up her nugget habit is probably pretty expensive and tiresome. Like someone on here said...she needs therapy and a nutritionist to introduce her to new foods.

I would not say child abuse..not by a long shot. But, when this child was young....why did mom continually take her to MackieD's to buy those chicken nuggets? Because that baby girl didn't drive then...as parents - we control what is put on that table. Eventually, a child will eat what is served.

The taste buds of a child form between the age of 2 and five, during this time foods can taste bitter, which is why children develop a preference for sweetened food, often construed as 'fussiness' by parents. If a child is given a limited range of foods during this period, and especially foods that have addictive properties then they are more likely to have diet limitation issues as they grow older

It's ridiculous to equate bad parenting to child abuse. We need to focus on "lesser" problems on a much wider scale, such as educating people on the true cost savings organic diet can bring.

My 12 years-old has Aspergers. One of Asperger's Syndrome characteristics is that they are picky eaters. She only wanted to eat what she liked, which included 0 fruits and 0 veggies. But she eats fruits and veggies. What I do is tell her she has to. I explain to her the importance of eating fruits and veggies, and she is not allowed to leave the table until she finishes her meal. If she is too reluctant to try something, I offer a little reward for cleaning the plate, like chocolate, which she loves. I cannot believe Stacey's mother has not been able to do something as simple as that.