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
http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-6c.shtml
This entire post has been a total waste of time. There was nothing of value shared except people’s personal opinions and bashing of vegans (I am not a vegan). Pie-in-the-sky theories were bandied around about how terrible a vegan diet is when compared to a meat-eaters diet but never met with any citations from any credible sources which is what would have been beneficial to have seen, from both sides, vegans and omnivores. What a bunch of angry people there are living in the world! Get outside, find a little shade or sun, sip on something cool to drink and live your life however you please, just stop bashing each other up verbally because NONE of you have proven anything except that you are all opinionated!
Non-carnivorous animals, including the human animal, have long bowels, designed for the slow digestion of nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits. Our dental structure is only conducive to the cutting of fruits and vegetables with incisors (think of how useful they are when you eat an apple) and to the grinding/chewing of nuts, grains and seeds with the help of molars. Our short, dull canines have no real capacity for slashing or tearing meat. We have, indeed, nothing in our anatomy that compares with the sharp claws of a tiger or an eagle. The human hand with its opposable thumb is better suited for harvesting fruits and vegetables than to killing prey. Had it been in our nature to eat flesh, we, too would have been equipped with the same or similar hunting faculties as carnivorous animals.
Ahhh. Common sense, at last.
http://goo.gl/N6PLN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qamxC3fV870
You aren’t taking into account human use of cooking or tool use.
Also all mammals who gain a majority of their food intake from carbohydrates/starches/fiber convert most of it into short chain fatty acids thus ending up with a majority energy supply from fats.
Human
Small intestine is major organ used to extract nutrients.
Small intestine ~ 50% of the total volume.
Caecum and colon ~ 20% volume
Gorilla
Ratios exactly the opposite
Small intestine ~ 25% volume
Caecum and colon ~ 53% volume.
Ok, this has less to do with what the parent ate and more to do with the fact that she was still exclusively breastfeeding a child that was almost a year old. There are many vegan moms who breastfeed, but add additional foods at the appropriate age.
Eat meat people, we are not rabbits
Yes indeed Sarah, Veganism is a self inflicted as well as a self perpetuating form of mental illness, and noting more.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/joel-sergine-le-moaligou-convicted actual story
Charge them. They took on the responsibility of having a child and raising a human being. They failed, and that human being is dead. Ignorance is not an excuse, it is the DUTY of the parent to be informed. Throw the book at these morons.
Sorry; not feeding an 11-month old baby SOLID foods is not because of food allergies. My family has several food allergies, and I was told to hold off on THE FOODS THAT CAN CAUSE A SPECIFIC ALLERGY. The only reason someone would keep an 11-month old baby from eating real food is mental illness, pure and simple.
First I’m not a vegan but I’m allergic to a lot of foods. Such as shellfish, eggs, and milk. (Not Lactose intolerant actually allergic to the milk protein). I don’t think it’s right that they are just blaming this on the parents diet. The Doctors should of notice it and gave the child supplements or had them stop the breastfeeding and gone right to Nutramigen (Soy based). Granted I don’t know the whole story but this has to be devastating enough and then have everyone blaming their diet on the baby’s death is even harder. Good for the parents to be able to stay on their diet. There is many parents who are vegans and breastfeed, and their kids grow up fine so their had to be something else. Maybe the kid was lacking because of a rear disease or maybe if the doctor actually did his job the child would still be a live too. If the parents are vegans the doctors are suppose to check the child and make sure there are no deficiencies. any way I am sorry for the parents and hope they can get through this painful moment.