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
Now would you all like the TRUTH, or are you just going to believe the crap this self-proclaimed expert dishes out to you? HERE is a DIRECT QUOTE about this case from an article in a French newspaper:
“State attorney, Anne-Laure Sandretto, had called for a 10-year sentence against the couple who were convinced they could cure their daughter’s pneumonia with traditional remedies. She also suggested the mother’s vegan diet could have contributed to the death of the child, though this was argued over by experts giving evidence in the case.
“We are not here to judge their alternative life style but to decide if this man and this woman have shown a lack of care and caused the death of their child,” said Sandretto.
She said the parents had been “blind, and sure of being right” and that this conviction had overridden their love for their daughter.
Dr Stéphane Bernard told the court at Amiens in northern France how the couple had refused to take Louise immediately to hospital after seeing him in January 2008, two months before she died.”
I exclusively breastfed my vegan baby boy to 12 months old and he is super healthy, very strong immune system and strong muscles. He has been vegan since birth, he is now 5 years old. Who wrote this article is lacking information. I know tons of vegan moms with vegan babies. Of course I take a high quality vegan pre-natal vitamin just like all moms do, vegan or not.
Its not that I dont believe you, but you gotta see the problem here. While being vegan might work, it actually only works if you are smart and informed about it and even then it doesnt seem to work for every person. Some people react better to a vegetarian diet or a diet with a bit of meat (obviously our society today eats way to much meat). Being vegan can work, but do you really expect that every vegan knows how to get all the nutrionts they need? I know a s**t-ton of vegans who may eat vegan, but their diet is crazy. Same food all the time, mainly pasta and the same super basic veggies. No variety at all. All of them have some kind of deficiency and/or trouble with Iron levels or stomach issues. (mainly to many carbs leading to fungus infections and whatnot).
Its not that easy to live vegan and many people still believe that being vegan is always healthy, even if you basically eat crappy food as long as its vegan. Those people are at risk, not the vegans who actually know what they are doing.
god forbid they eat a vegetable! Not a… not a basic vegetable! The horror!
That’s because veganism isn’t even strictly about diet. Veganism is causing the least harm to other animals possible. This is why vegans eat all sorts of things. Some vegans starve themselves, some live on junk food, some eat cleanly and healthily, some eat a combination of junk and clean foods, some are fruitarian or raw… hell, some are even paleo apparently. You know what this sounds like…? Normal people who eat whatever they want without eating animals. Just as LOADS of meat eaters have no idea about nutrition and end up severely unhealthy and on their death beds, there are some vegans that know nothing about nutrition and do just the same thing. I am not having children, but if I did, there is no way that I would feed them animal products and meat, knowing what they do to the human body. In my mind, that’s very irresponsible parenting based on ignorance about they’re actually feeding their child. The healthiest children I’ve seen have been vegan with healthy parents that have educated themselves well on nutrition. They have an internet connection. It’s not hard.
Well, The vegans (or whatever they call themselves -it really depends on which one you ask, when you ask, and what that individual considers their level of ‘commitment’ is.) can have at it. While its unwise to eat a purely meant-related diet (and honestly, I don’t know anyone who does that -though I know many who ate more than they should of a meat diet -its a bit more difficult now due to the prices of beef and other meats) but to eat a purely vegetarian diet isn’t the healthiest way either.
Our bodies evolved to be OMNIVORES. Basically put: EVERYTHING is on the menu. The real task is to moderate what and how much you eat vs the amount of energy you burn (and lord knows, I could burn a bit more energy). But I can (and do) enjoy veggies of all kinds, roots, fruits, etc. And while I’m at it, fresh Venison and Bear meat is on the menu, along with pork and beef, or rabbit and yes, the chicken makes its way to the plate as well. Thanksgiving Turkey is NOT made of Tofu. Nosireebob! Plenty of corn and potatoes, greens and seasonal fruits go along with it.
even meat eaters who don’t bother to balance their diets or eat a ton of junk food can be deficient in essential nutrients. It is important to make informed and healthy choices in our diet, no matter what diet we follow. A vegan diet has pushed me away from junk food and more towards healthy home cooked food.
True, but even cautious vegans who eat no junk at all will be deficient without supplements! Not true with meat eaters.
Any parent, regardless whether they eat meat or not, can be severely lacking in nutrition for their baby. I know a mom who ate nothing but McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner during her pregnancy, and had an ill child, and while she didn’t breastfeed afterward (put straight on formula) when that poor kid was old enough to eat food, I saw her with a McDonald’s cheeseburger! That poor kid. And yes, she was often sick, and VERY poorly behaved. This is just one of many examples I know of with breastfeeding moms eating poorly on a meat-eating diet, and some moms even smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol.
I am a vegetarian breastfeeding mom, not quite vegan because I do occasionally eat eggs and cheese (very rarely), I typically avoid all dairy, I drink almond milk instead. My diet consists of lots of supplements (especially because I’m breastfeeding), including a raw prenatal vitamin, b-complex, extra b-12 chewable, chlorella tablets, megafoods iron, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin D, calcium, and raw probiotics. I eat mostly organic to help keep my toxic load down. And I try to eat a bunch of stuff most people I know don’t, like fresh ginger, fresh turmeric, lemon, kale, spinach, heirloom tomatoes, onion, garlic, cucumber, hummus, sprouted grain bread, black beans, olive oil, coconut oil, fresh cracked black pepper, Celtic sea salt…too much to list. I have a vitamix and love to make a vegan ranch dip using soaked cashews, lemon juice, water, and ranch seasonings (that I mix myself), and eat with carrots, celery, red bell pepper, cucumber, yellow squash, broccoli. You can also “cream” nuts and/or seeds in the vitamix (e.g., cashews, sunflower seeds, water) and add to soups and pasta sauces. I agree, too much processed carbs are bad, I don’t do pasta regularly, I prefer salads, soups, veggies & dips (crudité), green smoothies, nuts, and fresh fruit. I do eat a protein bread that’s sprouted grains (no flour), oh yea, and I do try to avoid refined sugar, which is easy to do if you avoid processed foods. We don’t keep sugar in our house, don’t add it to anything. If we need something sweet, we use maple syrup (the real kind), agave, or honey, but I really prefer not to add sweetener to anything except my favorite lemon/ginger/turmeric tea I make…I’ll add honey to that.
So…even though I’m vegetarian (and mostly vegan) I would say my diet is far superior than even ‘regular’ eaters in my family, because they’re all eating processed, boxed, pre-packaged, pre-made frozen, jarred, canned foods, and then also microwaving it!!! (I also don’t use a microwave, we got rid of ours years ago). One relative, every time we visit, says they’ve just eaten Burger King for dinner, or Taco Bell, or Denny’s…. garbage. And they view health food as triscuits with peanut butter and dried apricots (none of it organic). If you know anything about health, you’d avoid triscuits (non-organic wheat is one of the most chemical-sprayed mono-crops out there, next to soy and corn), and non-organic peanuts are harmful and much blamed for peanut allergies (not due to the peanuts, but rather their chemicals used on them), and most non-organic dried fruit have added sulfates along with their chemicals, too.
I am also the only person in my family that doesn’t get sick. I’m talking about family who don’t live with me…parents, siblings, their kids, etc…. Aside from delivering my baby, I haven’t needed a hospital in about 9 years, no kidding.
Honestly, I probably over-supplement myself…because the medical establishment insists that I need to take them due to my diet, but you know….I had bloodwork done before the baby, and aside from being low on vitamin D a few times (corrected with supplements), I was always right on track. I was fine. And even though my iron was fine before pregnancy, I did know I needed to take iron during pregnancy (and even now) because when I go to give blood, I never can…they say I only have enough “for myself”, and not enough to share by giving blood, which they say can be remedied by eating lots of spinach and oatmeal the week before I come in.
While that is true, the exact same is true for those who eat meat. Being a meat-eater doesn’t really make anyone more responsible for their food choices. If a breastfeeding mother lived on McDonald’s her child could also suffer major deficiencies. The problem is not the woman’s diet, it’s the fact that the parents didn’t seek help. Nobody eats a perfect diet, and I’m sure that most people, no matter their ‘lifestyle choice’, are deficient in some things. As a vegan for two years now, I can personally attest that becoming vegan had absolutely no impact on my own iron or B12 levels. As a meat-eater, the doctor told me I was deficient in B12 and I needed to take supplements, and I had always struggled with my iron levels, even as a child. Being vegan made me a little more aware of my vitamin levels and I began taking more care with my supplements – but they are still quite average, as I’m sure most people’s are. The thing is, the parent’s should have seen that the child was unwell and taken them to a doctor. They could have diagnosed the problem and been given information on how to improve their diet. This same principle would apply to anyone – meat-eater, vegetarian, pescetarian, vegan, whatever. They made a horrible mistake, unfortunately. Anyone else could do the same. It’s sad that so many people like to point the finger at ‘alternative’ lifestyles whenever something terrible happens. The only thing that makes it alternative is that most people don’t do it – for whatever reason they so choose. That doesn’t make it weird or dangerous. Say, for example, some parents unknowing fed undercooked chicken to their toddler and caused them to end up in hospital with food poisoning, or worse. Would anyone actually begin a discussion about the dangers of a meat-filled diet? I think not. Unfortunately, people are conditioned to hate what is different instead of taking in all of the information and judging each situation for exactly what it is.
She died of a pneumonia-related illness.
Yes, a secondary infection that came on from starvation.
I’m amazed she suffered such a terrible consequence for trying to do the right thing, or what she thought was the right thing. I wonder if she ever had a feeling or an attack of conscience that told her she was not doing something right, like maybe terrible cravings for cheese and milk? Most vegans overlook these things.
The right thing? Why wasn’t these parents -feeding- their baby solids? Exclusively breast fed… 11 mo’s! The usual introduction of solids is anywhere between 4-6 mo’s depending on the childs needs. Of course the baby suffered a terrible fate, it wasn’t being fed.
Exclusively breastfed babies do just fine if the mother has maintained her milk supply and eats well. I was misinformed when the pediatrician told me my baby needed rice cereal at four months. He suffered terrible constipation for months after I withdrew the rice cereal. He was exclusively breastfed until one year of age and was the chubbiest, healthiest baby. He didn’t start wanting table food until after one year old.
It didn’t die a painful death
Also why were the parents charged with neglect and why did they go to prison it was an accident
Sorry but you are out to lunch!
That kid died a horrible, agonizing death filled with suffering that NO emotional based dietary plan can fix!
For those fools at there that think it’s humane to allow a baby to be starve or the dying to be systematically starved & dehydrated, you are woefully & cruelly mistaken!
Such deaths are anything but pain free, pleasant, peaceful, humane, etc! Such deaths are as far from unnatural as can possibly be imagined.
While I know & understand that people are swayed by their emotions, empathy, conscience, science, education, gossip, confusion, etc…
Indeed, any of us, can fall victim to frauds, quacks & charlatans; if we leave ourselves dependent on others for our own knowledge…
It’s why religions continue to be mislead their flocks, about science, many people finish schooling without ever actually learning anything (parroting is not learning), history continually repeats itself, some levy the accusation against scientists that evolution is a religion, etc.
It happened to me… I can’t begin to explain to you the work I had to do to accomplish my education initially, I was proud of it… But it was dependent on corrupted education/educators & thus was fraught with inaccuracies, lies & ignorance.
My only choice was to consciously turn my back on anything I thought I knew & then systematically reteach myself but with very high standards of only accepting anything as fact if I could 100% prove it through scientific testing & analysis.
That does not mean you can not consider unproven things, just that it can be allowed as facts, to justify or prove other subjects, relied on, etc.
But it is not enough just to read in a textbook, “experimenting proves ‘X’; you need to do those experiments yourself… Especially at the beginning & for anything that involves your understanding, actions, beliefs, job, health, etc.
You must rely scrupulously on what you can see, taste, feel, hear, smell, etc. Never entertain delusions, superstition, falsities, personal opinions or feelings about data, evidence, facts, proof, theories, ideas, etc.
At least at the beginning, science is about having you see the wonders of the world yourselves & proving known facts for themselves. Once the basics have been fully taught, then a certain trust can be allowed did what science has proven in areas outside your area of study but in the main subject matter, you still must demand real proof, facts, evidence, etc. that you can verify independently & has congruency.
That’s real science & education but all too often teachers are more interested in easy jobs & blindly stuffing whatever they feel justified in stuffing down young throats… Frankly, I don’t even care if they are teaching accurate info; it’s still wrong!
Education is not about memorizing endless facts; it’s teaching how to learn/study, how to live healthy, happy lives, how to build their futures, how to find (along with essential core info) info, facts, knowledge, understanding, etc;
Basically, to enable healthy, strong, able people that can use said base to survive & accomplish whatever they want/need to do…
While it’s possible to blindly follow science as people do religion, that’s a trap equal to religious traps. In such, you will be victims to every semi-intelligent charismatic crook…
Besides who can’t remember their parents saying “if all your friends jump off a cliff, does that mean you have to?”??
A patent who seeks to create a kid that just blindly obey/believe whatever they say is only selfishly ensuring their child’s failure & destruction.
While rote can be helpful to help learn the facts, if they only are taught to mimic, they are never taught to comprehend or think & thus are kept under others control. This is the way to create an automaton not a person!
This is also what has allowed countless generations to be victimized by medical professionals’ superstitions & thus tortured to death by starvation & dehydration under the euphemism of free will!
Reality is such deaths are nothing short of torture until the body gives up the ghost. If you have any doubt, seek out an extreme anorexic or dying 3rd world kids & you’ll realize quickly what’s what!
We absolutely refuse to acknowledge that it’s wholly within our power, prerogative & duty to ease suffering not add to the burden…
Yes, the subject of nutrition is a difficult subject rife with scammers but for those willing to carefully study the matter, the answers are obvious… Unfortunately we don’t teach people & the results are that everyone is left open to scams.
It is not possible to eat only vegetables as a human being currently, this is a scam that feeds on our society’s tolerance for animal cruelty. Eating meat is not innately cruel (definitely not the only thing you need to eat) but how we currently treat animals is cruel & inhumane.
No matter how you slice it, these parents needed to be charged & punished… This went far beyond just a mistake or even delusion! This was deliberate, they knew more then everyone else, even when the kid was dying but life can be saved; they neglected the kid.
This everyone is an expert bull is just that bull! I happen to be a medical expert but if I was doing my taxes, educating my kid, going to court, mining gold, etc. I would not just do it by myself & assume I could do the experts job with just books/internet…
When discussing subjects like medicine, animals, etc. I carefully rely what I know; if like accounting, farming, cooking, etc. I shut up & learn. Heck, even in stuff like medicine, animals, etc. I still always start learning & often encounter those more knowledgeable then I about it, so I still shut up & learn.
I would say in day to day life I am shutting up & learning somewhere around 90% of the time, down from 100% as a kid. Even in my professional life, I still spend at least 80% of my time learning.
I learn dozens of new things every day, if not more. I could live to 100 years old & spend 100% of time learning but never come close to knowing even a small fraction of everything there is to learn.
Yet, come hell or high water, if I had a kid, I would certainly take the time to become educated on the minimal health, nutritional & developmental needs of my kid. These parents did the opposite & I am sick of it.
I am sick & tired of people claiming about it’s their right to have kids, then raise them & do whatever they want! Guess what, no one has the right to starve or otherwise abuse their kid. I don’t really care if they do out of arrogance, ignorance, greed, selfishness, hate, anger, pain, fear, shame, insanity, religion!
The right of a parent is not the parents right, it’s a right held in trust for the child. We are not talking about a 3rd world, uneducated & limited person; this happened in France by people who wanted to pretend they knew better then everyone else.
See that’s the real danger of the “I am omnipotent & everyone else is idiots” attitude; it’s vulnerable that suffer for their arrogance.
Adam
This is so in accurate. First look at the sources. The baby was sick before hand and the parents ignored the recommendations of their doctor. There are millions of vegan mothers that breastfeed their children without any health problems. I would be more concerned about the hundreds of millions of meat eaters that consume GMOs and processed dairy and meat. Start reading about the real problems with a animal based diet, rather than the one vegan out of multi-millions that died due to suspected malnutrition to ignorant parents!!! Check yourself people.
Millions of Vegan breastfeeding mothers? Do you have a source for that statistic or was that just a random number you blurted out? And technically, isn’t breastfeeding technically against veganism (serious question – not sure what the hard and fast rules are).
Duke, there are no hard or fast rules about Veganism. The Vegans make up the rules as they go along to fit the game.
I’ve never heard of any vegan making up their own rules… but I have heard this for vegetarians. There are SO many different kinds of vegetarians…like, I personally say vegetarians don’t eat anything that resulted in the death of the animal (so…no gelatin, no chicken/beef broth), but many vegetarians just don’t eat meat, but will still eat broth or gelatin, and many eat fish, while others say nothing with eyes and a face.
Veganism, however, fits one rule only — to not engage in any action that resulted from the exploitation of an animal. Well, that’s the definition by a vegan who’s vegan for ethical reasons. People who are vegan for health reasons would have an even simpler rule, just no animal products period. Dr. Michael Klaper has a good presentation on this called “A Diet for All Reasons” free to watch on youtube, last I checked.
The reason breastmilk is still vegan is because it’s the human baby’s intended natural food, milk from it’s own mother, and the mother is willing to give it. No animal exploited, no animal harmed against its wishes. Now…if the mother was not willing, and someone forced her to breastfeed against her will by tying her up and putting a pump on her, or the baby’s mouth, then that would be against veganism. The exploitation of animals against their will. I can see a lot of responses to this…obviously the mother should want to breastfeed you might say, but actually….I know women who wanted a baby, but absolutely did not want to breastfeed because the thought of it made them uncomfortable (I know!! Go figure…). Anyway.
I agree Amy. In fact just like how the Healthy Home Economist is a lifestyle and nourishing foods blog. Just as they are Vegan mothers and families rather that breast feed their children and raise healthy babies.
If you’re willing to risk irreversible damage because you believe eating dirty vegetables is better than taking a supplement, good luck.
Great. So when someone eat’s nothing but tacos and their infant dies do they do an autopsy? And to the people so staunchly blaming a vegan diets, how to explain all of the healthy vegan babies? Malnutrition can happen on many diets. This really angers me that you’re pulling on something you don’t understand to create fear and finger pointing at a lifestyle that makes you feel uncomfortable. Ridiculous.
nothing but tacos?
You mean nothing but meat, tomatoes, avocado, onions, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and corn? Um… tacos are good lets not deomonize tacos.
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