Dear Queenie,
My daughter-in-law studied nutrition when she was in college, but she doesn’t seem to have learned to apply the rules of good nutrition to herself. She drinks all kind of soft drinks and even adds sugar or syrup to some of them. I made a good breakfast for her – eggs, fruit and a muffin – and she ate a candy bar.
Her husband, my son, told me she has dental problems and high blood pressure and you can see for yourself that she is more than a little bit overweight.
Now she is pregnant and I worry about what effect her kind of diet will have on the baby.
Queenie, what can I do?—Worried grand-mother-to-be
Dear Grand-mother-to-be,
You should also worry about the effect your daughter-in-law’s kind of diet will have on her child(ren) after he/she/they is/are born.
Talk to her husband, your son, and ask if his wife’s obstetrician is aware of the way his wife eats. Your son should go with her to one of her appointments with her doctor (or make a separate visit to the doctor himself, if necessary) to make sure the matter is properly addressed.
However, if your son is not open to this discussion, do not press the issue. He and his wife will just have to learn their lessons the hard way. I feel sorry for their child(ren) if they do not.
