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
Meat-eaters also get B12 deficiency. It’s not a dietary issue. There are babies with meat-eating parents that die. But Sarah said babies of vegan parents should have zero infant mortality for it to be ok. That’s a double standard
B-12 isn’t about diet. Meat eaters also get b12 deficiency. If a woman didn’t have enough b-12, she probably couldn’t carry a baby to term. And it takes years for a b-12 deficiency to develop. The baby was 11 months.(and died of pneumonia)
prosecutors are lawyers and will say anything to manipulate the jury
The importance of meat is a sociological belief. To see what’s natural, you’d have to look outside the “box”.
VEGANS:
Dr. Benjamin Spock, M.D.
Dr. Dean Ornish
Pythagoras
Ben Franklin (on the $100 bill)
Emerson
Einstein
Edison
Dr. Douglas Graham
Dr. Mercola
Neal Barnard, M.D.
Michael Klaper, M.D.
John A. McDougall, M.D
Carl Lewis
Betty White (88 – last remaining Golden Girl)
Jay the Juiceman (89)
Dr. Mercola is NOT a vegan!! I am questioning your entire list at this point given the hilarity of listing Dr. Mercola. A friend of mine knows him personally, and he very much eats meat.
It doesn’t matter if individuals are vegans .. there are no traditional cultures that ever were as they would have died out from inability to reproduce. Fat soluble vitamins from animal foods are required for healthy hormone function. I’m still waiting for a vegan to list one for me.
I’m sure there are a few- but one group I can name off the top of my head are some Aryan tribes in the Himalayas who have been living completely vegan for at least 5000 years (and still around and breeding).
Sources please? I’ve never found a single one. Most likely you are referring to a vegetarian population whose spiritual leader is perhaps vegan but he is unmarried and not expected to reproduce. The parents MUST ALWAYS eat animal foods or infertility is the result.
you keep saying this ridiculous idea that vegans cant reproduce and then ask people for SOURCES to say otherwise. how about if YOU list one? just so you know i have linked people to your article so they can laugh at how uneducated you are. and also so they can giggle at you way up there on your high horse THINKING you look smart. 😀 i know that is evil, and it wasnt my intent at first, but i keep thinking that you are JOKING when you make these insane comments. it is seriously good for a belly laugh! thank you for the entertainment!!!
p.s. people laughing has nothing to do with being vegan or not. it is the random “facts” thrown out and how a sad case of neglect and abuse got turned into an argument about veganism in the first place.
Look up the Hunza..stop asking for sources…look it up yourself..you obviously are too lazy and have no desire to learn…hence your article is biased and tclosed minded..that is your problem. at least have an open mind…veganism is not a new trend..the first man and woman in the Garden of Vegan…or if you prefer the apes!
I can’t figure out if you are lying to be simply confrontational, or if you really believe this….I have 4 children and I’ve been vegan since I was 19. They are beautiful and healthy.
Einstein was vegetarian not vegan and only a few years before he died. Vegans are completely against anything that has to do with animal product, which in fact Franklin was neither.
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/2009/02/3836-benjamin-franklin-was-not-an-animal-rights-activist/
Here is a list that some Vegans try and use in their spill to debate with their choice being a Vegan.
This article is appalling and just plain insulting. Just because ONE mother was uneducated, stupid, or possibly had other health issues that may have led to unknown deficiencies does not mean that nursing mothers cannot follow a vegan diet. That is insane.
So we are being neglectful if we aren’t giving our babies lots of animal proteins and hormones? Because modern science shows us that that’s really healthy, right?! Wow. Seriously?!
When was this article written, 1950? SO ABSURD. People are clueless about what “vegan” means and what a healthy, well-rounded vegan diet consists of, clearly when you read the comments here you can see that. It’s this sort of ignorance that makes me feel sorry for people and I just have to laugh at their abundance of judgement and lack of education on the subject. I feel sorry for these parents who lost their child, and that they are being treated like criminals, when they are clearly misguided and did not do any research on what proper vegan nutrition consists of.
I had an extremely healthy pregnancy, my traditional doctors, and later my midwives, were always very impressed with my bloodwork, I had a complication-free and wonderful home birth, and a baby who more than THRIVED on vegan breastmilk. My midwives would joke about how I should patent my breastmilk and sell it to make vegan superbabies. He became so huge and chunky and healthy on ONLY vegan breastmilk and people were blown away by how bright and happy he was.
My son was a chubby, happy, healthy infant and now as a 26 month old vegan who still breastfeeds is a healthy happy boy who is in the 95th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. Articles like this show how any moron can get published on the internet, and people should take what they say with a grain of salt. Completely ridiculous.
And was this seriously a question to anyone- of COURSE the mother’s diet affects the milk which affects the baby. How could anyone possibly not know that?!
Interesting article and discussion. My hearts goes out to the parents who lost their baby, and I believe that no amount of state issued punishment will surmount to the pain they’re already in and will have for life.
I may be overly simplifying things…but I believe that God created this planet with all of the things we need to be healthy. Animals, plants, etc. You don’t hear of major health issues in those that stick to the basics. Man made, processed, chemical added, and over/under eating and laziness are the things that make up the majority of health issues that lead to an early death. Debating “big brother” policies, and blaming the government for all of our problems is not going solve the problems we create for ourselves. Anything that is taken to any extreme is dangerous to our health. I think our society tends to overcomplicate things and usually in an effort to make money. As a parent, my goal is to make informed decisions and to watch out for extreme views and beliefs that are not tried and true…after all humans didn’t just arrive on this planet.
hmm… the thing that concerns me is as a parent choosing to follow a diet not based on the USDAs food pyramid is: when am I going to be accused of neglect because I feed my children heart stopping cream, butter, and liver?
Also, how many other children fed a standard American diet are tested for nutrient deficiencies in random cases of infant death? A mother whose child has spina bifida, is she charged with neglect? She may not be vegan but her diet certainly has a terribly deleterious effect. I see this not so much a vegan vs omnivore debate but a sign of the terrible ignorance we have in general regarding the proper feeding of ourselves and our children. I think that men of good will can have this debate, though legal action scares me.
Is there a link to the source on this article?
The sources are listed at the end of the post.
first–my caps key is sticking so no caps… ;-0
anyway, this is a tough one, but for the issue with the baby not being on solids yet…my second child is now 3 years old. she refused solid food until she was about 2. completely refused it. in that i mean she would not eat it. if i managed to get a bite of food into her mouth she would spit it out. we got really freaked out but the pediatrician told us not to worry, to keep adding formula to her bottle–my breast milk had dried up at this point–and we would assess things based on her weight and overall health. since she was healthy there were no worries. she also was not constipated ever. i have no idea how, but she was fine. now she is 3 and a half. right after her 3rd birthday she started eating meals at the table with us. she still drinks her baba around the clock but also will eat solids. she looks better now–she had circles under her eyes before she started eating solids and has some more meat on her–but she never looked really unhealthy and always had energy and was fine on the growth/weight chart.
so i guess my point is that just because a baby is not eating solids doesn’t mean the parents are doing something wrong or that the baby will die. my concern is that the parents in this situation may not have consulted with their doctor. we did and were given assurance that things were fine. but if our daughter had been underweight and deficient we would have done something–tube feeding or something.
this really just breaks my heart–for the baby and the parents.
I could not just pass by without trying to help you. Do you know that the way to capitalize letters is to use the shift key? Before I took a typing class, I used the caps lock key before and after every capital letter. When you said that your caps key was stuck, it reminded me of this. All you need do is hold down the shift key while you type the letter you want capitalized. Much easier. Caps lock is only for when you want to type in all caps… which should be almost never.
It is tragic. I think the most important lesson here is that our breast milk is only as good as the food we eat. And the toxins we avoid..
I think it is sad all around, but charging the parents is just wrong. I was a vegetarian for many years. It isn’t all about defending animals, or ethics, or whatever. I ate that way because I thought it was healthy. My motives were purely selfish. There are tons of cookbooks, magazines, and research that says this way of eating is healthy. Why would parents vegan/vegetarian parents question all that supposed knowledge? I have no doubt these parents were doing everything they believed was best for themselves and their baby. My goodness, we are just a punishment-driven society. How about some compassion instead? Rita
Wow. “abstinence from all animal foods is a danger to one’s health and most particularly, your baby!” Uhm, Sarah, not true. A vegan diet can be very healthy but like with every diet, people can get it wrong. The reason we need to get B12 from supplements is simply because our veggies are washed – cyanocobalamin is naturally found in soil and fermented things. The only animal foods with significant levels of B12 are calf’s liver and sardines, which not everyone eats. And vitamin A is abundant in red and yellow fruit and vegetables. All the vegans I know are quite knowledgeable on nutrition and would never dream of feeding a child just breastmilk esp when not taking supplements.
I think very few people actually know anything about nutrition other than what they learned at school and home, which often is very limited and outdated. I didn’t know that B12 was so crucial until a few years ago, and I don’t know many people who have a clue that you need, say, vit D to help calcium bind to your bones, or vit C in order for your body to use iron.
This is a tragic case of parents not being particularly clued up and doctors not doing more when they did have concerns. At any rate punishing parents for being ignorant and suspicious of Western medicine smacks very much of Big Brother, and putting the blame on a vegan diet smacks of bias.
EvylShnukums, I don’t even know where to start with the gross inaccuracies of your comment. There is NO VITAMIN A in plant foods. Only beta carotene, which must be converted into true vitamin A. Most people convert little beta carotene to Vitamin A even if they are in excellent health with perfectly balanced guts. Our wonderful FDA allows beta carotene in supplements etc to be labeled vitamin A when it is not vitamin A. The B12 you are referring to is an inactive form of B12 and actually causes more B12 (from animal foods) to be needed by the body. Plenty of B12 is found in grassbased dairy, eggs, seafood, and beef – readily available sources if one seeks them. How can a diet that requires man made supplementation with B12 be a correct diet? It can’t. This is why veganism never existed in traditional cultures (vegetarianism did, but not veganism).
Well I’m open to being corrected – please list some sources. But in the interest of credibility, kindly check them on Sourcewatch first.
At any rate, whether veganism is a natural diet is entirely beside the point. Not one of us eats “naturally”. We import food, we cook, freeze and season it, you get the idea. Everyone should supplement, to ensure optimum health. How natural is it to eat a factory-farmed animal or GM grain? And how natural is it to drink another mammal’s milk? Don’t confuse nature with culture.
Veganism is an ethical stance as well as a diet, and when properly managed and supported with supplements, it is perfectly healthy.
In fairness, has any study been conducted on how many babies of omnivores die of malnutrition? If these were omnivore parents who refused orthodox medical treatment for *bronchitis*, would their diet even be mentioned? Would people ask whether the baby had had enough vit C? I don’t think so.
Hi Evylshnukums, here are a couple for you. Supplements can never replace food:
http://tinyurl.com/3sc3e2u (true vitamin B12 only found in animal foods)
http://tinyurl.com/3e59k72 (Vitamin A is NOT in plant foods)
The Carotenoids (found in plants) are converted by the body into vitamin A (I don’t see a problem with this- do you?)
Vitamin B12- although not found directly in plants, is made from bacterial fermentation which can happen to plant based sources, thus producing B12 (I don’t see a problem with this either).
Unless you are a complete raw food-ist yourself (everything raw- including your meat and getting your milk straight from the cow’s udder)- I don’t see why you think it’s problematic for a vegan to get B12 from a source that may have gone through some kind of fermentation or processing. Or why you think it’s a problem to get vitamin A from your own body’s processes…
Being a long time (18 years) vegan- I get plenty of all vitamins and minerals from my diet that does not rely upon pill supplements (although when pregnant, like all woman should- I have erred on the side of caution and taken a vegan pregnangy/lactation multivitamin).
An added advantage of being Australian is an inbuilt love of vegemite- high in B12, so quite easily getting all the B12 one could need.
Conversion of carotenoids into true vitamin A is not very efficient in the body and does not happen at all if there is any gut imbalance whatsoever. Vegans are all supposed to take vitamin B12 because the bacterial fermentation in the gut is an insufficient source to maintain health.
vegans dont have to take b12 supplements as long as they are able to get enough in their diets. most americans dont get enough of many vitamins in their diets, be it vegan or not, because our food sources are so processed. this is why b vitamins are added back into breads and pastas and that is why many americans (vegan or not) take a multivitamin or other supplements (how many meat eaters do you know who are anemic? isnt that a main source of iron??).
lets face it. this baby died from neglect which included nutrient starvation. the article states that the doctors suggested things for the parents to do to help the baby, like give it medical attention when it was sick, and they CHOSE not to. this case is no different from any other cases where parents withhold traditional medicine and their child dies. it has nothing to do with veganism in itself. diets that are very limited in anything will cause malnutrition. i have several meat and dairy eating friends who are severely deficient in b12 and vitamin d, both of which you claim can only come from animal sources. i am vegan and am not deficient in either (or any other vitamins or minerals). i have my levels checked regularly because if there is a deficiency in something it would cause me to adjust my intake accordingly. if this mother was eating a well balanced diet and was aware of possible health complications and common deficiencies during pregnancy (your body depletes you of even more when pregnant and breast feeding) she would have taken the steps to correct and prevent them. even AFTER she was told about the deficiencies and shown the warning signs she CHOSE to ignore them.
what about the uneducated mothers who give their infants honey and then they die from botulism? what about the parents that give their infant peanut butter before they are “supposed to” and the child has an allergic reaction and dies? what about a child who has a food allergy and the parent doesnt take every single necessary step to prevent an allergic reaction and the child dies? these situations are all diet related but we would not think of prosecuting the parent. it has a LOT more to do with the specific situation and how the parent neglected this child in gross ways BEYOND the dietary restrictions. it was the lack of change and action AFTER she was informed by doctors of her deficiencies, it was the lack of medical care when her child contracted infections that ravaged her little body and caused her to lose even more weight and strength. it was about the neglect. and diet was one area (of many it seems) where this child was neglected.
it is ridiculous to take 5 or 6 extreme cases of something (someone linked the 6 cases of other “vegan related deaths of infants all over the world”) and even compare them to the millions of healthy vegans with healthy babies and families. some vegans have unhealthy diets and just as many non-vegans have unhealthy diets as well. you can not TELL me that there has never been an infant death from a meat-eating mother’s vitamin deficiency in her breast milk! if we are going to lump everything together like you, sarah, are doing, lets look at ALL of the cases of child neglect leading to death. a majority of those included mothers who eat meat!! OMG, EATING MEAT CAUSES INFANT DEATHS!!!! same line of thinking i am afraid, except i am willing to recognize the insanity of that statement and dont actually try to pass it off as fact. 😀
and dont bother listing links with your little vitamin quotes in them because there are just as many out there that say otherwise. you are using google to link you to random “studies” and trying to use them as valid arguments when you are completely unwilling to look at all of the data (yes, some conflicting from both sides) and make a rational informed decision based on that. this whole article was written as an attack on vegans and you are just attacking anything anyone says otherwise. so basically it is a one sided argument with yourself. have fun with it.
So, if you don’t exploit an animal by eating it or stealing from it, you’re bad…is this what I’m to glean from this article? Why is using animal products a mandate in this country?
I just don’t understand why people think it’s weird to drink mother’s milk (milk from your own species) but completely OK to drink the breast milk of a COW. Why is this a normal accepted practice?
Oh, and vilifying the couple when they’ve lost their baby is shameful and disgusting. Thanks,
all you “Christians”, for verifying the hypocritical, intolerant stereotype you all are so good at.