Meet Lucas Warren - The First Gerber Baby Winner With Down Syndrome

Mar 05, 2018

Since 2010, Gerber has held a yearly photo contest for proud parents to send in the cutest photos of their little ones in hopes of them winning the coveted title of "spokesbaby" for the popular baby food brand. 

While Gerber has chosen a variety of babies from different cultural backgrounds, this year the title was awarded to Lucas Warren, Gerber's first spokesbaby with Down syndrome. 

The company received an overwhelming 140,000 contest entries but Lucas came out on top with his adorable smile! Baby Lucas's parents are exceptionally happy for their son and fellow parents of children with Down syndrome are celebrating this new milestone. 

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that is caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21, which results in mental and developmental impairments. 

"He gets to spread so much joy and love with everybody," said Lucas' dad during an interview with the Today show. 

Lucas will now be featured on Gerber's website and social media pages and was awarded $50,000, which his parents plan to save for his education. His mother, Courtney, originally wasn't going to submit her son's photo into the contest out of fear of what people might say. 

"My biggest concern always with Lucas was how people were going to treat him. I was always afraid he would be bullied or people would be scared of him. It’s never once changed how we felt about him. He was always our son," she said. 

Courtney couldn't believe it when she was notified that Lucas was named the winner. 

"We’re hoping this will impact everyone — that it will shed a little bit of light on the special needs community and help more individuals with special needs be accepted and not limited.”

Lucas's parents are hoping this will inspire other parents with children living with disabilities to not give up. Not long after Lucas was named the winner, parents started sharing their adorable photos of their children with Down syndrome. Hopefully this trend will continue and we'll see more childhood disability representation in brands and advertisements.

Watch the video below to hear more about Lucas's inspiring Gerber win!

A title well-deserved! Little Lucas is such a cutie! 

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