Babies and kids need milk to become healthy and strong but for this 14-month-old baby in Indonesia, milk was considered a luxury. The baby girl named Hadijah has been drinking coffee every day as her parents said that they could not afford to buy milk for her.
According to Kompas, Hadijah, who is born in Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi has been drinking five cups of coffee as a substitute for milk ever since she was six months old. That’s 1.5 litres! Her parents, Safiruddin and Anita said that their daughter has been drinking kopi tubruk, which is a cheap Indonesian-style coffee made by boiling coarse coffee ground with sugar.
Source: Kompas
They said that they have no choice as both of them earn about IDR20,000 (RM5.90) each per day which is only enough for their daily household needs. Safiruddin and Anita earn their living extracting copra or dried coconut flesh at a coconut plantation and sometimes they had no work.
Anita said, “We have no choice, our income is not enough to buy milk for her. We’re forced to give her coffee every day and she can’t sleep if she didn’t drink her coffee. She would even throw a tantrum asking for her coffee before bed.”
Anita added that she knows it’s not healthy for Hadijah to drink coffee but she has no choice as they don’t even have money for the bare essentials sometimes. Luckily, it looks like Hadijah is growing up quickly and there are no problems with her physical growth.
Source: Detik
However, she is a rather active child and would often stay up all night playing by herself. Hadijah’s story went viral and officials from the Polewali Mandar Health Agency have already visited the family. They gave the baby girl a supply of milk and biscuits and advised her parents to stop giving her coffee as consuming too much caffeine or sugar as it is very bad for someone so young.
Healthline reports that coffee has no health benefits for young children as caffeine is a stimulant and should be avoided altogether. The added sugar in the drink also causes health problems in the long run such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
Hopefully, the baby will have sufficient nutrition so she can grow up strong and healthy!
Also read: Parents Put Baby on Vegan Diet for 19 Months Until She Was Severely Malnourished & Had Seizure
