Non-dairy

There's a small box sitting on the landing of the staircase, waiting for me to do something with it. Which I would, if I could figure out where in hell to bring it. On the box is this ominous message: "The fact is: Many toddlers aren't getting adequate nutrition."

The fact is, many adults aren't either, but hey, I digress. The box with the scary slogan is yet another freebie in the mail from a formula company, packed with little glasslike bottles full of, I'm going to assume, the most nutritional substance known to man, without which my kid is going to shrivel up and blow away like a tumbleweed. Since the only things I feed him are fresh fruits and veggies, oatmeal, cheese, eggs, pasta ... yep, no way he'll survive on all that.

Like new parents aren't stressed enough about what to feed their kids -- they need their mail to tell them they're still screwing up?

OK, fine, I'm biased to begin with -- I breastfed. If you need to use formula, I respect that; it's foodstuff, not poison. My ire is for the omnipresent formula companies. Ads all over the magazines. The index card they handed me at the OB-GYN's office, offering a free diaper bag, no obligation, that would obviously come full of formula samples. I refused to fill it out, which was a good thing since they gave me one at the hospital anyway. 

Now that was all aggravating enough. I in no way find it appropriate for a doctor's office or a hospital to be effectively endorsing formula, not when the official medical consensus is that breastfeeding is better. That's kind of like a cardiologist sending you to a steakhouse for lunch, isn't it?  

But mailing these boxes of formula to my home, well after we're home from the hospital, that's beyond obnoxious because I never once bought this stuff. So why keep sending it? Why was I even on their list if I never filled out that card? Shouldn't they be mailing free formula to people who actually want it?

The last few batches I had of it sitting around, I checked the expiration date to make sure it was still good, then brought it all in to a food drive. (Along with the diaper bag.) This time, there isn't one going on, so I'll have to find somewhere else to bring the box. 

I'd pitch it, but I can't stand the idea of wasting food. Which just figures.