Vegan breastfeeding has caused an 11-month-old baby to die and the parents are charged with neglect after an autopsy indicated the baby suffered from severe deficiencies in Vitamin B12 and Vitamin A. Both these nutrients are known to be critical to a child’s development and sorely lacking in a vegan diet. This is why doctors strongly advise against nursing mothers and growing children following a vegan diet (1).
Vegans have long been advised to take B12 supplements as long term veganism runs the huge risk of serious B12 deficiency as well as other nutrients only found in animal foods such as true Vitamin A. Â Beta carotene is not true vitamin AÂ nor does it easily convert to adequate amounts of Vitamin A in the body to sustain optimal health.
While charging the parents in this tragedy is questionable as it smacks of too much interference by government into private life, it does communicate a clear message to other vegans:Â abstinence from all animal foods is a danger to one’s health and most particularly, your baby!
It also sends a clear message that what a nursing Mother eats definitely DOES affect the quality of her breastmilk, particularly with vegan breastfeeding. Many breastfeeding advocates insist that breastmilk will include all a baby needs despite what the Mother eats, but clearly this is not the case.
Traditional cultures took great care to ensure that pregnant and breastfeeding mothers consumed ample amounts of animal foods rich in vitamins A, D, E, K2 and of course B12. These foods included grass-fed butter, pastured eggs, liver, seafood, and fish eggs. Notice that none – NOT ONE of these traditionally sacred foods is plant-based!
Incidentally, the 2017 vegan film What The Health was unable to cite a single successful vegan population group either. Why? Because there are none. Ever.
If you are pregnant and breastfeeding and would like to learn what foods will maximally support the health of your baby while nursing, please check this link for the complete listing of traditionally sacred foods for optimal fetal and baby development. These foods will also ensure the preservation of your own health during pregnancy and lactation which can easily deplete a Mother’s nutritional stores leaving her vulnerable to exhaustion.
Vegan Parents Convicted
The vegan breastfeeding mother and father whose baby died as described in this article were convicted by a French court to 5 years in prison due to the imbalanced vegan diet the mother ate which led to nutrient-poor breastmilk and a failure to thrive child who eventually fell ill from severe nutrient deficiency and died without the parents ever seeking proper medical attention (source).
For more information on how vegan breastfeeding and also a vegan diet devastate the health of children, read about how a 12-year-old vegan was diagnosed with the degenerating bones of an 80-year-old.  Dr. Faisal Ahmed MD, a pediatrician treating the child, said that the dangers of forcing children to follow a strict vegan diet need to be publicized.
Unfortunately, vegan parents don’t seem to be getting the message quickly enough. The latest case involves vegans who nearly starved their 5-month-old baby to death feeding him potato mash instead of the doctor advised organic formula.
The child, who weighed just over 8 pounds and had sunken eyes and protruding ribs, is recovering but will likely suffer long-term damage from the experience (source).
References
Angelina Jolie says veganism nearly killed her
Supersize Me Girlfriend Quits VeganismÂ
Vitamin A Vagary
Vitamin B12: Vital Nutrient for Good Health
French vegan couple whose baby died of vitamin deficiency after being fed solely on breast milk face jail for child neglect
I wonder if the baby was tested for Celiac Disease….
Check the wikipedia on the components of breast milk. It does not contain Vit. B12 and A.
Human milk contains 0.8% to 0.9% protein, 4.5% fat, 7.1% carbohydrates, and 0.2% ash (minerals). Carbohydrates are mainly lactose; several lactose-based oligosaccharides have been identified as minor components. The fat fraction contains specific triglycerides of palmitic and oleic acid (O-P-O triglycerides), and also quite a large quantity of lipids with trans bonds (see: trans fat) that are considered to have a health benefit. They are vaccenic acid, and Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) accounting for up to 6% of the human milk fat.
Composition of human breast milk
Fat total (g/100 ml) 4.2
fatty acids – length 8C (% )
trace polyunsaturated fatty acids (%) 14
Protein (g/100 ml)
total 1.1
casein 0.4 0.3
a-lactalbumin 0.3
lactoferrin (apo-lactoferrin) 0.2
IgA 0.1
IgG 0.001
lysozyme 0.05
serum albumin 0.05
ß-lactoglobulin –
Carbohydrate (g/100 ml)
lactose 7
oligosaccharides 0.5
Minerals (g/100 ml)
calcium 0.03
phosphorus 0.014
sodium 0.015
potassium 0.055
chlorine
Having said that, can you still blame being vegan to the baby’s death???
“The composition of breastmilk is not uniform, and the concentrations of many of its constituents change during the lactation period and differ between individual mothers.”
Quoted from your Wikipedia source. WIth a proper diet breast milk will contain Vitamin B12 and A. Do you really think that babies don’t need Vitamin B12 or A for 6 months? That list is obviously not an exhaustive list.
“In the Gambia, for example, older, partially breastfed children obtain more than two-thirds of their vitamin A and fat from breastmilk”
You should read the sources listed on Wikipedia if you want to use that as evidence of something.
Someone else was right though about the parents being neglectful regardless. They could have been non-vegan and if their baby was nutrient deficient for any reason they should have noticed signs of deterioration.
The fact they didn’t shows neglect regardless. Still it was their improper diet that resulted in not having these nutrients most likely.
veganism is just another excuse for people to tell you they are more superior. eat real food, duh.
The whole story!!! The child died from bronchitis and malnutrition.
You really should look into the whole story and not advertise the half of the information.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371172/French-vegan-couple-face-jail-child-neglect-baby-died-vitamin-deficiency.html
It’s heartbreaking for any parent to lose a child but to ignore the advice of a Dr and clearly be able to see that your child is suffering from malnutrition and not consider adding food to the child’s diet when they aren’t thriving from breast milk alone, is definitely neglect. It wasn’t a vegan diet to blame though. Just an extremist risking their child’s life, just the same as those extreme religions that wont take the child to a Dr when needed or allow treatment to fix the child.
The whole story is that child died from malnutrition period, the bronchitis was only an opportunist secondary infection in a grossly mal nourished child who was vulnerable because of malnutrition.
this just shows women should definitly not be vegan while they are pregnant and or nursing and that children probably shouldnt be raised vegan as small children, not that it is bad for you as a person. it is bad for pregnant/nursing women and small children.
To clarify on the story:
The child suffered bronchitis but the parents not believing in traditional medicine (Tami: they probably didn’t even have a regular doctor), they chose to treat her with clay, cabbage, mustard and flour poultice, and camphor and garlic oil massages.
When seeing how fragile the baby was, they finally called the firefighters who declared the baby was dead.
Although she was lacking A & B12 (increasing risks of infection), and actually weighed 5,7kg (12.5 pounds) instead of 8kg (17.6 pounds) for a child her age, the prosecutor insisted she didn’t wish to judge their lifestyle. They were judged on a lack of care leading to the death of the baby.
They got 5 years in jail total, 30 months applicable, and had been there for 4 months waiting on the trial. So counting early releases, they probably did not stay long in prison after that.
Regardless of the mother’s diet, breastfeeding EXCLUSIVELY at 11 months sounds like a bad idea. They should at least be sampling other foods by then. And for the child to become so ill without something being done about it sooner suggests that something else was going on with the parents.
Re. vegan breastfeeders, can’t they just take non animal based supplements?
And wouldn’t upping the seafood in their diet put modern day pregnant women at risk of environmental toxins that could harm their babies?
Omnivores/meat lovers-1, Vegans-0. Clearly veganism is a plague and meat is the medication.
I have nothing against Vegans really. Your diet is your lifestyle and it’s not my concern what people do with their lives. But the one thing that pisses me off about Vegans is that most of the ones I know live in a house with a steady income, and have the “luxury” to afford alternative products. The short summary is that a “Vegan” diet is also a luxury lifestyle. Please don’t try and preach it like it’s something that everyone can afford to revert to. And I don’t mean “afford” in just the money sense. Not everyone has the time to look for special foods in their busy lives, and most meat eaters (which is majority of everyone……) are just fine.
The other thing that pisses me off is when someone preaches about how they are Vegan yet they are “perfectly healthy”. I know someone who lives off McDonald’s and guess what, HE IS PERFECTLY HEALTHY. This is not a case of the special snowflake. There are legit concerns about Vegan diets is which is why most people who are “ignorant” about it, are very skeptical about it. Instead of coming off so “better-than-thou” to the rest of us “dumb” meat eaters, how about just explain why your diet works. It really doesn’t help that all the Vegans I know (except this one girl who is very sweet….) come off so bitchy and preachy when people say anything about the lifestyle. Remember, you were once a meat eater too. Just don’t wonder why you get so much backlash for it. Not very many people are willing to sensibly talk about their Vegan diet with all the logical explanations. We just hear a lot of opinions and angry comments which doesn’t help. I wouldn’t go Vegan, but I personally find it interesting to learn about if people would just not bark in my face and act as if meat eaters are all morbidly obese people living in America.
Neither plants nor animals make B12; it is produced by microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi and algae. Herbivorous animals obtain it from bacteria in their rumens, either by absorbing it or by eating their own cecotrope faeces; rabbits, for example, produce and eat cecal pellets. When those animals are eaten, they become sources of B12. Plants from the ground that are not washed properly may contain B12 from bacteria in the soil, often from faeces; drinking water may also be contaminated with B12-producing bacteria, particularly in the developing world. Mangels et al write that bacteria in the human digestive tract produce B12, but most of it is not absorbed and is expelled in the faeces, with tiny amounts also expelled in the urine. James Halsted, a medical researcher, reported in the 1960s that a group of villagers in Iran eating very little or no animal protein were found to have normal B12 levels because they were living with animal manure near their homes, and were eating vegetables grown in human manure (known as night soil) and not thoroughly washed. The human mouth is another source of B12, but in small amounts and possibly analogue (not biologically active).
There is some disagreement within the vegan community as to whether supplementation is needed; several studies of vegans who did not take supplements or eat fortified food, including in Western countries, have found no sign of B12 deficiency.[95] Mangels et al write that the disagreement is caused in part because there is no gold standard for assessing B12 status, and also because there are very few studies of long-term vegans who have not used supplements or fortified foods. According to Mangels, all Western vegans not using supplements or fortified foods will probably develop a B12 deficiency, though it may take decades to appear. There are reports that certain plant foods are sources of B12. Mangels et al write that fermented foods such as tempeh and miso, as well as edible seaweed (such as arame, wakame, nori, and kombo), spirulina, and certain greens, grains and legumes, have been cited as B12 sources, as has rainwater. Tiny amounts have been found in barley malt syrup, shiitake mushrooms, parsley and sourdough bread, and higher amounts in spirulina and nori, but these products may be sources of inactive B12. The consensus within the mainstream nutrition community is that vegans and perhaps even vegetarians should eat fortified foods or use supplements.