Another reason why self-tanning baby lotion is really unneccesary (as if you needed another reason)

Yesterday, while at Sylvie's Cardiology appointment*, the doctor took one look at her and said, "She sure likes her sweet potatoes, doesn't she?"

Sadly, I've been waiting to hear a comment like that. No, it wasn't because I'd brought her to the appointment still smeared with remnants of her last meal...I may let my baby roll off of a couch, but I DO clean her up before taking her out into public.

No, the truth is that Sylvie has a condition called Carotenemia or Carotenodermia. There's no need to panic though because it just means that her skin has an orange cast because she eats alot of foods that are high in beta carotene, found in orange vegetables like carrots or sweet potatoes. Baby food manufactureres seem to try to induce this condition because just about everything in those little baby food jars contains an orange vegetable. The main ingredient for chicken and rice? Carrots. For turkey and rice? Sweet potatoes. For vegetables and chicken? Carrots. And if, like us, you try to save a little money and buy bulk packs of veggies or dinners, most of the jars contain orange food items as the main ingredient. The veggie pack contains peas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. The dinner pack contains chicken and rice, turkey and rice, turkey and sweet potatoes and macaroni beef. 8 out of those 11 different types of baby food are primarily carrots or sweet potatoes.

Frankly, I'm amazed she isn't as orange as an Oompa-Loopa by now.

*Because of Sylvie's two minor heart defects, she sees a cardiologist every 6 months. She had a brief electrocardiogram (heart monitor thingie) and an echocardiagram (ultrasound on the heart) and both showed no problems. Yay! We've been told that she will most likely require heart surgery in a few years because the defects she has can become problematic later in life, but the doctor said that with the current surgical techniques her hospital stay would be less than a week and probably only about 3 weeks till full recovery. Sounds about as bad as the appendectomy I had when I was 14!