This is going to make me the designated a-hole of the day, or at least the "bleeding heart liberal" of the day, but a lot of the comments I'm reading compels me to make what I hope will be taken as a valid point.
Many of the comments are based on the idea that this woman, like most of us, knows the difference between right and wrong. Now it's possible she knows what she's doing is deplorable but does it anyway. And it's also possible, awful as it may seem, that she has no idea what she did was even wrong, considered abusive. Maybe she was raised the same way and doesn't realize it's not right. I know, I know, how can you be on this planet long enough to have kids and not know it's never ok to punch a 1 year old for any reason, let alone not "walking properly?" But that's my point, it's more an indication that the woman is mentally ill, more than that she's "a monster."
I certainly hope her child is safe, and I think what she did is deplorable & is worthy of punishment, but I can't jump on the Casey Anthony Bloodlust Express just yet. Because there seems to be some indication that this mom is not in her right mind, and maybe the best punishment she'll ever get is the realization from her actions. If she goes through life now thinking everything is crap, taking her kid away and putting her in jail only reinforces that world view. Getting her to truly understand just how wrong what she did is, the long-term ramifications of her actions, might be the sort of thing that some people equate with "hell," the chance to sit and stew on the evil you've caused, again and again and again.
And like I said, she might very well be evil through and through, I don't know. But I'm gonna take the "What Would Jesus Do" Christian approach, rather than the "an eye for an eye" approach and hope that someone will get to the bottom of such an awful act, change it and try to cultivate SOME positive change out of it.