So, I saw a cute 15-month-old for a checkup (I say cute, because she really was a cutie.) It’s not like some 15-month-olds aren’t cute. Well, I’m sure there are a few. We could have some sort of “Non-cute 15-month-old photo contest” and see what kind of response we get. Email us your pictures and we’ll put you on the homepage). Hmmmm, ok, where was I? Oh yeah. So, she was particularly cute, and the mom complains to me that her child still isn’t eating (like it’s my fault. I guess since I’m the pediatrician, everything that a child does wrong is my fault). Now, whenever a mom tells me her child eats nothing, I never believe her. No 15-month-old eats nothing.

So, I ask, “She really eats nothing at all?”

“Well,” she admits (Ha! I knew it!), “She does eat TV dinners!”

Gasp! Do they still even make those? I remember eating the occasion Salisbury steak with carrots and that little apple pie dessert thing in the tin foil section plate when I was a kid (Can you believe my parents, the authors of The Family Nutrition Book, fed me those?). But I thought they stopped making them because they are horrible and nobody bought them.

“TV dinners?” I inquire. “What kind of TV dinners will she eat?”

“No!” the mom replies, horrified herself at my misunderstanding. “I mean, she likes to nurse and watch TV at the same time. We call it her ‘TV dinner’.

Dr. Bob