OMG!!! NEGLECTFUL to start with, and painful to watch!

And this is what she does when she KNOWS the cameras are rolling! Can you imagine what happens in private??????

reminds me of puppies in a puppy mill....living in little cages.

Wonder how old they will be when she finally lets them out.

patti

This film clip reminded me of the documentaries I've seen over the years of children in orphanages in other countries. In every one I've watched, they spoke of the damage done to the children due to very little human contact. I really am surprised that she still has them.

Shirley

She obviously needs some help, both physical and psychological. Those poor babies.

It looks like an orphanage in a third world country.

Why oh why has she not been AT LEAST investigated by the child protective authorities?? Unbelievable

so where are the other 6 kids?

Is it my imagination or does one of the kids have a cleft pallete (sp?)? It's about 40 seconds into the clip.

Their faces look blank. Seems like the novelty has worn off for her. Sad situation.

Pawsitive, yes, one of the boys, Jonah, has a cleft palate, which *should* have been repaired in infancy. But she says that it's her choice not to repair it. And one of the girls appears to have a untreated leg deformity. And all the octuplets have a blank, dazed look about them. Poor babies....

Susanjf, she got the other six up (bribing one by actually throwing dollar bills at him) at about 5:30 or 6 to be at school at, I think, 8. She *could* have let them sleep later and tended to the octuplets first, but that would have involved common sense and less drama. She also spent endless time making 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which any real mother could make in her sleep with one hand tied behind her back - or the older kids could have made for themselves.

This bottle-throwing clip came from a 45 minute or hour long German documentary. I don't know if it can be found online, but I can tell you it was very painful to watch.

How can we be sure this isn't staged? First - I think she's a train wreck and the kids are in an awful situation. However, she did the things shown while the camera was rolling. If it was real, would she really do that or would she be on her best behavior? Perhaps she was putting on a show for the camera to get attention (we know that's something she loves!).

Yes - she's a nut (IMO), but this reminds me of those so-called "reality shows", which are about 50% (max) real and 50% (min) scripted. Again IMO (have to add that disclaimer!).

But either way, I agree - those poor children (all 14 of them).

OK.....Not that I am defending her but I think the video has taken a lot out of context.For one thing,I didn't see anywhere it says the babies are left in their cribs for 2 hours after they wake up,and giving them a bottle when they first wake up isn't what I would call neglect.Maybe it gives her a little time to attend to the needs of each one so the others aren't screaming for attention at one time! It didn't show what she did after she gave them all a bottle. And the cover over the beds is mosquito netting!I don't know,maybe they were there to prevent the kids from crawling out of the bed,but I could see that logic too.How would you like to try to catch 8 babies going over the side of the crib at the same time? You do what you have to do! LOL I watched the Oprah show that showed a typical day in her life with all those kids.I would like to know if anyone here could honestly say their parenting skills would not be criticized in some way if they had that many babies,much less that many babies plus the older kids? We have twins and 4 adults in this house and I know we fall short a lot of times.I can only imagine having that many little ones the same age,plus the others he has to deal with! I also think when she is filmed mostly the "bad" things are emphasized.I know on the Oprah video she said her day starts at 4 AM! During the video all of the kids looked happy,like normal kids.She said she rarely gets 3 hours of sleep at night.She has 3 people who work for her in shifts during the day.She takes care of all the kids pretty much on her own plus all the other everyday duties of running a household.She shows a lot of love and affection for all of them as far as I can see.
Yes,she was irresponsible when she had so many babies at one time but I really think she is trying to make some changes.I also know that anything like this is sensationalized in the media and the bad stuff is is brought out and over exagerated.We all know that! I have always been one to give someone the benefit of the doubt.Maybe we should all walk in her shoes and wonder what we would do if we were in hers.
Personally,I think the stupid doctor that implanted all those eggs should be held accountable! He didn't have to do it,even if she requested it.All he had to do was refuse to do it.He knew her financial situation and knew there was a possibility that she could have a multiple babies.
JMHO

tigerli, as I mentioned, this clip is part of a 45 minute to 1 hour documentary. And it didn't get any better for the babies. If I ever find a link for the WHOLE documentary, I'll post it here.

Here is the link for the entire documentary as well as a transcription.

Video:
https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D701241_910329_234868

Translated transcript:
https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D701241_910329_299886

Notice the clock in the lower left for a time line.

What tigerlili said. I think a short video clip in any of our lives could destroy our image. We aren't all perfect.

tiger and debby, it's not a short clip- there is plenty of footage JUST like that out there. The documentary is an HOUR long and there is a clock on the bottom corner of the shot that shows you exactly how long the babies were left in their unchanged condition in a darkened room and her reasoning was "the eight have to wait". That's from 6am until 8:30 am when she returned from taken the older six to school. That's 2 1/2 hours in a dark room, in a wet diaper, without as much as a hello or a good morning kiss. DISGUSTING.

"That's 2 1/2 hours in a dark room, in a wet diaper, without as much as a hello or a good morning kiss. DISGUSTING."
Sorry,I don't have time to watch the video right now but were the babies crying or upset during the 2 1/2 hours? Maybe they went back to sleep???? Maybe she didn't talk to them or change them so as not to disturb them too much so they would go back to sleep? Been there,done that!LOL Sometime there's a logical reason why we do the things we do.Just saying!
I will try to watch it sometime this weekend so I can see for myself and form my own conclusion.Getting ready to leave here Monday and go back to TX for a week or so and taking the twins with us(that is if mom and dad don't change their minds before then LOL).That should be a trip! 8 hours on the road!LOL

Thanks so much for the links, BelleStarre. I'll have a crack at making them clickable. Wish me luck....

Here is a link that might be useful: Video

I'll try making this one clickable too. Fingers crossed that it works.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link for video transcript

I think the children are going to look a little dazed with cameras shoved in their faces.

The children's rights should be considered in these situations.

The girl needs help not exploitation through a documentary. I hope the people making the documentary did help her out on the day they filmed.

Tigerlil, I think the octuplets are beyond having any expectation of receiving care and attention - they seem to be numb.

8 hours on the road with twins???? Hang in there! Sounds like it's going to be quite a ride!

She's evil. I've seen a lot of footage of her and followed her fairly closely. It's nice (naive really) of people to give her the benefit of the doubt, but the reality is, there's nothing defensible about her conduct. By the way, the crib tents are dangerous, and unregulated. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises not using them and Consumer Reports recommends against using them also. Children have gotten strangled. If they are used it should be to keep cats out or to keep younger babies from attempting to get out. Once the child is older, stronger, more agile, more intelligent, it's time to put them in a regular bed. Especially if the poor child is bored to death stuck in there half the day and they want out. She is using them inappropriately, as a cage. In the documentary she repeatedly picks up the babies by their arms. Please tell me how this is excusable behavior by anyone?
She intentionally endangered the babies by having twelve embryos because she wanted to be rich and famous from having a high order multiple birth like Kate Gosselin. How do you defend someone that maims their own children just to be rich and famous?

I watched the video and read the transcript and saw her on Oprah. I saw nothing that came close to child abuse. If those nets over the cribs are more dangerous than 12 month old babies (their age when they began crawling and the nets went into use) crawling over the sides and landing on the floor I would like to know how. I did cringe at her lifting one child by one arm...another by two arms...but both times she had other babies in the other arm. A very good reason that multiple births are so unusual. I absolutely do not think she had all her "marbles" when she set out on this crazy, crazy plan....she sort of admits that now too. In several..as in many..instances in the documentary they speed ed up the film, and I believe the part showing her pour milk into bottles then quickly unzipping the cribs and throwing the "cold" milk into the beds was also speed-ed up. Nadya does have a huge "hyper-activity" fault....everything about her shouts ADHD, so even with fewer children she would most likely be unable to be the relaxed, cuddly, cooing mama we think all babies deserve. But they are 8 that make a whole and 14 that someday will be bigger whole.... and their lives are going to be very different from what we call the norm. And their lives will be THEIR norm. Waiting their turn....sharing EVERYTHING....never being an individual, always being a piece of an ever changing blob of humanity called a group. Who knows what "bright light" will emerge from the competition. I don't defend her...but her children, thankfully, all seem beautiful an bright...and they are here. Our State (and States) have supported many children of many less deserving mothers or mothers who have not cared about the children they have. I don't have the wisdom to know how society can help this woman cope with the mess she had made of her life. And I think she, ultimately, is the one that has to figure out the way to survive. JMHO...FWIW. Nanny

(Always a BTW) The child with the cleft lip....needs genital surgery which is done later in life...and she chose to wait and have them done at the same time.

I agree with Nanny and Tigerlil. Editing and speeding up. Soulful shots while babies stared at the camera as any child would.

The children were remarkably healthy looking and clean. I saw a lot of positive interaction even under stress.

I also notice that whenever she was smiling and explaining something they would do a voice-over to drown her out. Whenever she yelled or raised her voice they lapsed into utter silence without any background sound at all so she would sound louder and shriller trying to make her look out of control.

The clock was not a video timer. Just something they stuck in.

The children seem surprisingly well adjusted and on target with their development given the circumstances.

So why would anyone think babies have to stay in a crib? It's time to take the babies out of the cribs and the crib tents and put them into a bed. The bed can be on the floor. There's just no excuse to keep them in dangerous conditions just because they might get hurt some other way. It's dangerous right now. No excuses. Poor parenting is poor parenting. It's not excused because there are eight of them.

Those of you that think that the babies are "normal" are not being objective. They never laugh, or giggle. Normal babies laugh 300 times a day, meaning babies should be laughing 2,400 times a day in her house. You can count the number of times on one hand. They don't reach out to her with their arms, either because they just don't like her or they don't recognize her as anyone special. They don't look at her and say mommy, mommy. Poor things. They look like the sad animals in shelter cages.

Do you not think this woman is being watched by Child Protective Services every waking minute? You don't think that every and any child protective agency/lawyer/government agency isn't watching her every move - ust waiting to get a hand on those kids?

I seriously doubt some Youtube flick is going to go unnoticed

I didn't watch the video, so I can't comment on that. My comment is this:

If a baby laughs 300 times a day, that means he/she is laughing once every 2 minutes or less during non sleeping or eating time. That hardly seems possible.

"So why would anyone think babies have to stay in a crib? It's time to take the babies out of the cribs and the crib tents and put them into a bed."
So you think 8 babies that are just beginning to get around pretty well in a regular bed would be in less danger than keeping them in a crib? I can just see THAT circus! How would she ever be able to keep up with all of them and what about them waking during the night and wandering around? I would say much safer in the crib than in a regular bed! In the Oprah video she couldn't find ONE and was beside herself! LOL
By the way,well said Nanny!