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. Beta carotene is not true vitamin A 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: 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 Veganism
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
There is an unfathomable amount of ignorance in this world. That is just a fact. NO ONE has all knowledge of everything. (except GOD) I do feel sorry for these parents; ignorant and unaware of what they were doing, maybe even blind faith.(Which also requires some understanding of what you are believing IN) I see parents everyday who are giving their kids toxins, drugs, horrible nutrition, etc. There will be a price to be paid. All you can do is try to educate those around you, and remember that you too were in ignorance of something at some point. Have mercy, and find out what is important to you and your family. DON”T RELY ON THE GOVERNMENT, MEDICINE, or some EXPERT. Thanks Sarah for helping educate. God bless!
ROFL! Wouldn’t want to rely on people with actual qualifications when it comes to something as important as health!
That’s so sad….and scary. 🙁
I followed your link. Does the WAPF have a page just like that but for kids/babies?
What did that baby die from? This is off topic but I want to eat more traditional foods but I also feel the need to eat off the Biblical Clean list. Do you have a opinion about this? Sometimes I wonder if I should follow the list or if it’s outdated. The reason is because I don’t want my family to eat animals that are actually unclean or unhealthy. I think the list was made for a good reason. But I guess native people lead long healthy lives eating unclean animals. I’m torn.
Christin, here’s a couple of links:
This one for babies from WAPF:
Here’s one for toddlers and older children:
and another:
**P.S. I hope those work. I had to use snip url because since WAPF recently redesigned their web site they obviously still have a few bugs to work out — because their links are humongous!
If they won’t open, just go to http://www.westonaprice.org and type in Nutrition for a growing baby and then type in Nutrition for older children (or something to that effect) and you’ll get a list of topic titles to choose from.
Hope that helps.
christin – not trying to change your mind, what you decide to eat or not is b/w you & your Lord. AND He told Peter “what God had cleansed no longer consider unholy” (Acts 10). Just something to think/pray on.
God bless.
Christin, I imagine you’ve read The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin? If not, I highly recommend it. Yes, Peter dreamed about eating “unclean” animals, and Christians are no longer under the old Mosaic covenant. But I agree with you that God loved the Israelites and would’ve given them his dietary laws in their best interest. He loves us too… so is avoiding pork and shelfish still in our best interest? I don’t know. But I have heard some good nutritional arguments against both pork and scavenger-type shelfish. For me, it’s not a faith issue, but I do avoid pork and shellfish. There are a million other fantastic things to eat, why bother with pork (except the occasional small amount of bacon, for flavor)? 🙂 I wish you the best in your soul-searching! God knows your heart, and he will lead you.
In reality, I think grass-fed cow milk would be considered plant based, no? Maybe not, I’m just thinking out loud.
Well-baby checks are a rip. They are not going to catch anything like this because allopathic doctors use “percentile” charts given to them by the formula manufacturing companies. Each chart is slightly different. It means nothing to be in a certain percentile. Many generations survived without being “percentiled”. If a parents can’t weigh and measure their own child, we’re all in deep trouble.
I think every young Mom in the entire world should read How To Raise A Healthy Child In Spite of Your Doctor – Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, who was an allopathic pediatrician for 30+ years and decided they were doing it all wrong. Actually, it should be required reading before giving birth. The book is old – written in 1984, but the advice still pertains. The nutrition advice he gives is a little outdated, of course, but some of it is still pretty worthwhile. I would look to him for other guidance in raising children, and WAPF for nutritional information. Just my 2 cents.
The other tell-tale sign, which should be more obvious but seems to be lost on vegans and even vegetarians is this: if the Mom is malnourished, so will be the baby. Whether it’s during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, baby will only get what Mom gets. Wasn’t the Mom of this child able to tell that she was low on B vitamins for go-juice??
Most of the breastmilk I see coming through my infant day care facility has NO fat in it at all. It’s just like skim milk. I can’t imagine a baby getting much nutrition from that. Most of the Mom’s of infants I care for aren’t vegan or veggie, but they’re still very afraid of butter and eggs (real foods). They are USDA Food Pyramid indoctrinated, for sure.
I agree with Sarah (or whoever it was) when she said that most people believe that breastmilk just magically gets its goodness because it’s *breastmilk*. How naive is that? If the mom isn’t eating proper foods, the milk doesn’t have anything nutritionally worthwhile either.
I’m vegan and my breast milk was almost 1/2 cream at the top when I had to pump and store. My firstborn was 9 lbs 10 oz at birth and jumped up to 11 lbs at 2 weeks. My pediatrician said it was because of my milk that she gained so fast. So my experience was different than what you have seen.
from pcrm.org:
Interestingly, the breast milk of vegan mothers has been shown to contain significantly lower levels of environmental contaminants, such as pesticides, dioxins, and bovine growth hormone, than the breast milk of meat-eating mothers.
Hi Sarah May, “clean milk” doesn’t mean “healthy milk” or milk that a baby can survive on.
I’d be much more interested in comparing this IF the mothers eating meat were eating only pastured meats. I’d also be interested in actually seeing the nutrient content of their milk vegan vs. omnivores. That is much more telling.
The problem with all of these pro-vegan tactics is that it lumps EVERYONE who is not vegan into one group. There is a VAST difference in health between those who eat SAD and those who eat traditionally. This distinction is never drawn in research as it is assumed that CAFO meat and pastured meat is all the same; it’s not. Show me some research that proves that a traditional diet is actually worse than vegan (not SAD) and then we’ll actually be comparing apples to apples.
The labeling and ‘lumping’ goes both ways. Vegans also have different diets and nutritional standards, yet people often refer to our diets as heavy in soy, refined carbs and other processed foods. I am a vegan mother of two toddlers. I still breastfeed, make homemade almond milk with coconut butter and sunflower lecithin, almond kefir and yogurt, nut cheeses, fermented vegetables, sprouted grains and green smoothies with chlorella and spirulina for my kids. We eat what I consider to be a natural well-balanced diet that includes cold pressed oils, fats from nuts, seeds and avocados, fruits and mostly raw vegetables, sprouted tofu on occasion, brown rice, pasta, steamed root vegetables, flax crackers, the list goes on…I even make homemade vegan ice cream.
My point with all this is that a vegan diet is not ‘extreme’ it is just a matter orienting yourself towards natural ‘living’ foods and making delicious creations out of them. I’ve had my blood work looked at by a naturopath and diagnostic testing and I am not deficient in anything. The naturopath said that a vegan diet is working very well for me, even through the stress of two pregnancies and breastfeeding for almost 4 years.
Being vegan is not a sacrifice. If it were, we would look into alternatives. I agree with others that if you are experiencing problems with your diet, you should be flexible and open to change. There are many simple changes, such as adopting backyard hens and adding a few eggs to your diet, that don’t contribute to the animal cruelty/environmental problems that most vegans are trying to avoid. You don’t have to go to McDonalds, that’s for sure!
The facts of this case do not lead to the conclusion that a vegan diet is ‘unhealthy’. They lead to the conclusion that the parents failed to address the unique circumstances and needs of their baby. I think it happens all the time but just manifests itself differently (diabetes, asthma, obesity). These are far more prevalent and lead to far more deaths than vegan malnutrition. It is unfortunate to see people using this case as a platform to attack vegans and question their ability to raise healthy children. I don’t ever feel the need to attack omnivores for their diet choices. Of course I think factory farming doesn’t meet up to any sensible human’s standards, so those have got to go! 🙂
Another good reply 🙂
very well informed and informative reply.
The author is this article has absolutely no knowledge of nutrition. I get my Vit A from spiralina and carrots. Humans get Vit D from the sun, Vit E from Olive oil and flax oil and nuts, and Vitamin K is found chiefly in leafy green vegetables such as spinach, swiss chard, and Brassica (e.g. cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts); some fruits such as avocado, kiwifruit and grapes are also high in vitamin K. I know plenty of vegan moms who breast feed and none of their kids are obese nor do they have allergies nor do they die.
This article reeks of anti-vegan sentiment, but I’d like to see the same author confront the fact that 1/3 of American children are obese. Isn’t that child abuse as well?
b-12 is in many plant based foods, such as fermented foods, some seaweeds, nutritional yeast.
This mother did not have the slightest clue on what a well balanced diet means, it has nothing to do with veganism.
Hi Sarah May .. the vitamin A in plant foods is not true vitamin A. It is beta carotene which only converts 5-10% AT BEST in the gut to true vitamin A. If a person has any gut imbalance at all (who doesn’t these days?) then little to no beta carotene will be converted. Yes, I agree that the obese children eating fast food are malnourished and the parents are negligent as well, but they aren’t dead at 11 months. Overweight and dead are two completely different things.
I’ve been quite enjoying the comments in this thread thus far.
“Yes, I agree that the obese children eating fast food are malnourished and the parents are negligent as well, but they aren’t dead at 11 months”
Please provide me some a case where parents decided to feed their new born child fast food until they were 11 months old. -_-
First beta-carotene which is found in plant and animal foods is not the same as vitamin A. It must be converted in the digestive tract. Small children, the elderly and those with thyroid disorders or gut dysbiosis cannot make that conversion at all; among those who actually can make the conversion it is grossly inefficient.
Vitamin D can be manufactured in the skin from sunlight; however, unless you live in tropical and semi-tropical latitudes, the process is inefficient.
You’re right that olive oil and nuts are a great source of vitamin E.
Vitamin K1 is found in leafy greens and plant foods, but is largely inactive. Vitamin K2 is active and is found in butterfat and fermented soy. Multiple studies have illustrated that vitamin K1 is not as effective in the prevention of chronic diseases including cancer as is vitamin K2 (which you get from animal sources and fermented soy).
Vitamin B12 that you get from seaweeds and fermented foods is inactive and may actually block the uptake of true vitamin B12 which is otherwise only found in animal foods.
It’s interesting that you say this mother doesn’t have the slightest clue of what a well-balanced diet means (how do you know that anyway? do you know what she was eating aside from a vegan diet?), because if you were well-informed you’d have a better understanding of the differences between K1/K2, beta carotene/vitamin A, conversion rates and inactive B12/B12.
Did you know that about 45% of the population can’t convert plant vitamin A (beta carotene) into usable vitamin A (retinol)? This baby was A deficient, and I bet that’s why. If you can’t make that conversion, you could be eating your weight in carrots and still be A deficient.
Some people also can’t produce certain fatty acids and amino acids that are necessary for life. Some people can live okay for awhile on a vegan diet, and some people will quickly develop health problems — as this baby did.
Unfortunately many people don’t have the slightest clue what a well-balanced diet means. We have diet “experts” telling us all day long that animal products will kill us and we should be on a “healthy plant-based diet,” and yet have you EVER seen a warning on an article or advertisement promoting veganism that says, “Please talk to a nutritionist before starting a vegan diet” or “you will need to take supplements if you cut out all animal foods”? People promote these diets because of ideology, but they are negligent in warning people of the risks. Is it any wonder people think that they can just cut out all animal products and be healthier, without any special planning?
Good response!
Well, no matter what one persons beliefs on the “best” diet are, it’s a pretty big jump to say that the baby died because her mother was a vegan. Seriously, vegan mothers nurse their babies every day and these babies aren’t dying. It seems totally ridiculous to me, and I’m not a vegan at all. She is also brunette, I noticed. Perhaps babies nursed by brunette mothers are more likely to die? Wait, I have a question, how many babies nursed by SAD eating mothers die every day? I have a very healthy (never been sick) three yr-old who is very petite. She’s not even on the charts and likely was about 12 lbs at one yr. (she’s only 25 lbs now at 3.5).
Yay! Amen Sarah!
They were most likely not taking him to the pediatrician for “well visits” otherwise I believe this would have been caught sooner. Tragic.
I totally agree, a pediatrician would have noticed. So the negligence wasn’t on the diet itself, maybe, but the lack of “monitoring” of the baby’s health.
Others have read this story and taken it to be that the parents refused medical care when their daughter was ill — which they did. It seems that all around their choices were inappropriate and that they stuck fast to a belief system until it actually killed their daughter. I am afraid that next, this will be the mainstream going after all parents who believe in natural health. But that’s not really the issue. The issue is that what these parents were doing — both the vegan diet and the natural health treatments — were not appropriate in THIS case. Long before it got to the point of severe illness, they should have recognized that something was not right and gotten their daughter help — from a trained naturopath or other health professional. It did not need to be mainstream, necessarily. My information said that they simply read a book at home and attempted to treat the little girl themselves. THAT is what was inappropriate, given the girl’s serious condition. Some type of professional should have been consulted here.
I disagree that 12 lbs. is an appropriate weight for an 11-month-old. My children both weighed about 18 lbs. at a year and were in the bottom 5% for weight for their age. (Breastfed on a traditional diet, eating lots of eggs and pastured meats.)
Now the lame MSM is going to try to make natural health look bad thanks to the poor decisions of this one mom. But really, they should have taken her to a professional naturopath instead of trying to treat her themselves. A kid that young…
I first saw this story on Naturalnews and Adams is of course actually in support of veganism. I do become angry when I think of all the parents who feed their kids worthless junkfood, pump them up with worthless vaccines, and let them sip out of BPA coated plastic bottles yet they don’t get their kids taken away. Our society is so messed up.
Really that mother should have been supplementing though I don’t think she should be prosecuted as she was only doing what she thought was best and meant no harm.
So so very sad. I’m still BF my 14.5 month old: he nurses 3-4 times during the day and 2-3 times at night, more if he’s coming down with a cold or such. He started wanting food around 6/7 months but still BF every 3-4 hours. He’s off the charts for height and in the 75% IIRC for weight. I feel so very sorry for these parents… not sure what their circumstances were but didn’t the child exhibit symptoms? Many posters mentioned sagging skin… wouldn’t that ring a bell?? I don’t do many well baby visits – I observe my child and weigh him occassionally. Didn’t the parents do any of this?? Again, heartbreaking.