Cops: Parents starved 'fat' baby

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SEATTLE, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Seattle prosecutors say a couple apparently withheld food from their infant daughter because the mother was obsessed the newborn might become fat.

King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carol Spoor said Brittainy Labberton of Bellevue appeared alarmed when her daughter began putting on weight at Seattle Children's Hospital after being brought in last year.

"Brittainy complained, 'Oh my God she's fat' and 'I have a fat baby,'" Spoor said in court documents obtained by Seattlepi.com. "She indicated that her husband has a weight problem and she does not want her girls to be fat."

Labberton and her husband Samuel face charges of felony mistreatment. Seattlepi.com said investigators also noted Brittainy Labberton was diagnosed with postpartum depression after her second child's birth.

Bellevue police said the Labbertons apparently did not follow doctor's orders to feed their newborn every couple of hours and blamed her low weight on the child being a fussy eater.

The baby, however, proved to be a ravenous eater at Children's and immediately began putting weight on. The baby and her 2-year-old sister were removed from the home by social workers early last year.

The couple also allegedly brought the child back to the foster home from a visit in January 2009 with a bottle of liquid that was later identified as laxative, which was possibly being used to trigger weight loss.