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[entremet]

The vegan parents of an 11-month-old Italian baby are under investigation after their son was rushed to hospital suffering severe malnutrition.

The couple, who live on the outskirts of the Tuscan city of Pisa, could face charges of abuse over their child, who was taken to Cisanello Hospital in a critical condition.

Doctors said the baby was severely malnourished and showed signs of deficiency in vitamin B12, which is found in foods including fish, meat, eggs and milk.

“He could neither crawl nor sit himself up,” said Giovanni Federico, a paediatrician at the hospital.

The baby’s parents, who are in their early thirties, follow a vegan diet and do not eat meat, eggs or dairy products.

Doctors allege that the mother’s diet caused a deficiency of vital vitamins in her breast milk, which she was feeding her son.

Following a blood test, he was also found to be lacking in iron and vitamin D.
A doctor, who did not want to be named, told Corriere della Sera that the parents did not realise the effect of their vegan diet on their son.

"They [the parents] have always demonstrated affection for their child," the doctor said.

"And the baby was not neglected.

"The problem was that they realised too late the effects of choosing a vegan diet without seeking medical advice."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ter-baby-son-found-severely-malnourished.html

Poor kid. I hope he recovers.

I'm an omnivore, but I have no problems with vegan diets, however, infants have much different nutrition needs than adults. They need more calories, which fat is abundant in.

A big issue with vegan diets, is the lack of caloric density. Babies need calories. Feeding him veggies at that age is pure silliness. Veggies are amongst the least caloric dense foods out there.

What's interesting is that the mother's breast milk was nutritionally deficient itself due to the vegan diet.

Breast milk should be sufficient if the mother is well nourished, but being vegan, that was not the case.

I respect people's decision to live cruelty free, but please do your research if you have a baby. I don't think the parents here were being malicious at all. But imposing a vegan diet to an infant doesn't seem wise. Let the kid grow up first and make his decisions.

Luckily the baby survived, but there may be permanent irreversible damage.

 

[Currygan]

idiots

 

[GreatestHits]

I'm not a vegan nor have I ever been but this seems like it will be another setback into understanding that the vegan diet is a proper diet, despite the implications here

 

[Savitar]

If a baby can't sit up or crawl or really move yeah something is definitely wrong.

Sounds more like ignorance on their part more than anything.

Thankfully it doesn't end up with a tragic ending.

 

[diamount]

Stupid mother, should at least give him formula.

 

[Allforce]

Our kid is 4 and been a vegetarian since he was born. Never had any issues and our pediatrician said it's absolutely fine.

 

[entremet]

Our kid is 4 and been a vegetarian since he was born. Never had any issues and our pediatrician said it's absolutely fine.

Vegetarian is not vegan. Many vegetarian consume dairy products and sometimes seafood.

 

[diamount]

Our kid is 4 and been a vegetarian since he was born. Never had any issues and our pediatrician said it's absolutely fine.

Read above, it's not the same thing at all.

 

[Plinko]

Our kid is 4 and been a vegetarian since he was born. Never had any issues and our pediatrician said it's absolutely fine.

Huge, huge difference between vegetarian and vegan when it cones to needed nutrients.

 

[Azih]

If a baby can't sit up or crawl or really move yeah something is definitely wrong.

New parents really have no idea what is normal and what isn't. Just a sad situation all around.

 

[nailbombxx]

Go see a damn pediatrician.

 

[V_Arnold]

Do not equate veganism with caloric density lacks please. Look up these things callled nuts.

Peanut butter is about the most calorie dense food on the planet.
Thing is: they messed up the kid's calcium intake, most likely.

 

[Nakazato]

I have a friend thats vegan and raised a kid like that. Healthiest baby I've ever seen

 

[werks]

I have a friend thats vegan and raised a kid like that. Healthiest baby I've ever seen

Breast fed or formula?

 

[diamount]

Do not equate veganism with caloric density lacks please. Look up these things callled nuts.

Peanut butter is about the most calorie dense food on the planet.
Thing is: they messed up the kid's calcium intake, most likely.

She was breastfeeding him, so if he is not getting the right nutrients from her then she is also malnourished.

 

[Allforce]

Huge, huge difference between vegetarian and vegan when it cones to needed nutrients.

I'm not an idiot, I know the difference. Just giving an anecdote about alternative baby diets.

 

[entremet]

Do not equate veganism with caloric density lacks please. Look up these things callled nuts.

Peanut butter is about the most calorie dense food on the planet.
Thing is: they messed up the kid's calcium intake, most likely.

I'm not. I'm just saying it can if you're doing it wrong.

Infants have much different nutritional needs than adults. But feeding a baby vegetables shows a lack of nutritional wisdom. Vegetables are mostly fiber, vitamins and water. That's not gonna cut for a growing infant.

 

[diamount]

I'm not an idiot, I know the difference. Just giving an anecdote about alternative baby diets.

The baby's mother was not a vegetarian though so where is the relevance?

 

[Idba]

I have a friend thats vegan and raised a kid like that. Healthiest baby I've ever seen

Must'a fed the baby a ton of vitamins and mineral pills

 

[Pankratous]

Kind of a shame to enforce their own eating beliefs / habits on their child in the first place.

 

[entremet]

Must'a fed the baby a ton of vitamins and mineral pills

Oils as well.

I was looking up some vegan baby resources and adding fats via stuff like coconut oil seems to be incredibly important. The oils provide the calorie density that's missing from animal foods.

But you also need b-12 supplementation, which is an essential vitamin that you can only get via animal foods.

This young kid was low severely low in b-12.

But what's interesting to me is how breast milk, which is the perfect food for infants, becomes lacking in nutrients if the mother is malnourished too.

 

[Gemüsepizza]

Kind of a shame to enforce their own eating beliefs / habits on their child in the first place.

You mean, like everyone?

 

[zeemumu]

Obligatory:

This is the first I've ever heard of this. Do pregnant vegan women have to follow a special diet to ensure that they still get the baby the nutrients they need?

 

[Pankratous]

You mean, like everyone?

No? Most people let their kids eat whatever the hell they want. (Sometimes to a bad extent)

 

[Idba]

I have a friend thats vegan and raised a kid like that. Healthiest baby I've ever seen

You mean, like everyone?

*When those habits can be bad/deadly for the kids

 

[Transhuman]

"Malnutrition" sounds horrible, but they fed the kid, only the diet lacked a few vitamins and minerals. They probably didn't even know something was wrong until he started having severe symptoms. I want to condemn them but you know, shit happens.

She was breastfeeding him, so if he is not getting the right nutrients from her then she is also malnourished.

Yeah, but because she has an adult body and intake it's probably a non-issue. Kind of ironic that if it had been her breastfeeding herself as a baby she'd be malnourished.

I have a friend thats vegan and raised a kid like that. Healthiest baby I've ever seen

Anecdotal evidence that a vegan diet won't kill babies is good enough for me!

 

[Gemüsepizza]

No? Most people let their kids eat whatever the hell they want. (Sometimes to a bad extent)

Not really. Maybe "whatever the hell they bought". Most kids eat what their parents eat.

 

[Vance]

I have a friend thats vegan and raised a kid like that. Healthiest baby I've ever seen

Are you a pediatrician? Just how many babies are you inspecting a day?

No? Most people let their kids eat whatever the hell they want. (Sometimes to a bad extent)

No is right. How many infants do you know who like to crawl to the kitchen and whip themselves up something to eat?

 

[LyleLanley]

No? Most people let their kids eat whatever the hell they want. (Sometimes to a bad extent)

Most parents let their babies and young children eat whatever they want? That doesn't sound right.

 

[Musician]

Yep. Many vegans and vegetarians are B12 deficient. It's one of the few things most people have to supplement. Good thing is that it's stored in the liver, so if you manage to get your levels up you'll be fine without supplementation for years afterwards.

Another thing to look out for is excessive Omega 6 which may or may not be harmful depending on which studies you read.

Doctors allege that the mother’s diet caused a deficiency of vital vitamins in her breast milk, which she was feeding her son.

They didn't feed the baby carrots. The mother was deficient in vitamins due to her diet.

It's worth noting that vitamin D and B12 deficiency in adults is sort of tricky to self diagnose. I think the symptoms are difficulty concentrating, drowsiness, depression etc. The mother probably didn't think anything was wrong with her. Taking the child away because of it sounds extremely harsh.

 

[highrider]

No? Most people let their kids eat whatever the hell they want. (Sometimes to a bad extent)

Yeah, I'd be curious to hear how you arrived at this conclusion. Doesn't reflect my experience as a parent that also knows a lot of other parents.

 

[gcubed]

What's wrong with the pediatrician?

Kid go to the doctors constantly for the first year, this shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone, it should have been caught in any one of the babies checkups. Hell, I was even asked if we were vegetarian or vegan in the hospital after delivery as they had a whole bunch of documentation and recommendations for supplementing.

 

[entremet]

Yep. Many vegans and vegetarians are B12 deficient. It's one of the few things most people have to supplement. Good thing is that it's stored in the liver, so if you manage to get your levels up you'll be fine without supplementation for years afterwards.

Another thing to look out for is excessive Omega 6 which may or may not be harmful depending on which studies you read.



They didn't feed the baby carrots. The mother was deficient in vitamins due to her diet.

It's worth noting that vitamin D and B12 deficiency in adults is sort of tricky to self diagnose. I think the symptoms are difficulty concentrating, drowsiness, depression etc. The mother probably didn't think anything was wrong with her. Taking the child away because of it sounds extremely harsh.

I didn't post the full article. But they breastfed him and then switched to solid foods:

Mr Federico said the baby's parents had put him on a vegan diet once he began to eat solid foods.

"But the little boy refused to eat the vegetables they were giving him," he said. "And so the parents returned to giving him just breastmilk, which is totally inadequate by six months."

Hope that clears things up.

 

[Musician]

But what's interesting to me is how breast milk, which is the perfect food for infants, becomes lacking in nutrients if the mother is malnourished too.

The mother can only provide what she has. There are tons of stuff that the body can't synthesize that's important for sustained life. That's why we're animals, not plants!

I didn't post the full article. But they breastfed him and then switched to solid foods:

Totally my bad for not reading the article. That's a whole other can of worms. They weren't raw food vegans, where they? I find it hard to believe that the kid refused to eat any vegan meal they could cook. I'll scour the article a bit.

It comes months after a judge in Bergamo, northern Italy, ordered a vegetarian mother to cook meat for her 12-year-old son after the boy’s father – a meat-eater – complained that he was not being fed a proper diet.

This strikes me as pure ignorance. You can have a perfectly healthy baby on a vegetarian diet as long as you do your homework. Vegan is trickier, but with the proper amount of care and aid from professionals I'm sure it's possible. It's probably the last part which the former parents failed in. Apparently, as soon as they were told of their child's malnutrition they agreed to change the diet to meat and fish. Something a lot of vegetarians I know would find really, really hard to do.

 

[ElTorro]

Idiots. They sound like all they are eating is vegetables, which is wrong for all ages. There may be a way to feed yourself during pregnancy and your baby healthily with a vegan diet, but it would require serious knowledge about what you are doing, and I would certainly not do experiments with my child. At least give yourself and the child a vegetarian diet for that time.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864

It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. A vegetarian diet is defined as one that does not include meat (including fowl) or seafood, or products containing those foods. This article reviews the current data related to key nutrients for vegetarians including protein, n-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, and vitamins D and B-12. A vegetarian diet can meet current recommendations for all of these nutrients. In some cases, supplements or fortified foods can provide useful amounts of important nutrients. An evidence- based review showed that vegetarian diets can be nutritionally adequate in pregnancy and result in positive maternal and infant health outcomes. The results of an evidence-based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates. Features of a vegetarian diet that may reduce risk of chronic disease include lower intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol and higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, soy products, fiber, and phytochemicals. The variability of dietary practices among vegetarians makes individual assessment of dietary adequacy essential. In addition to assessing dietary adequacy, food and nutrition professionals can also play key roles in educating vegetarians about sources of specific nutrients, food purchase and preparation, and dietary modifications to meet their needs.

 

[V_Arnold]

I'm not. I'm just saying it can if you're doing it wrong.

Infants have much different nutritional needs than adults. But feeding a baby vegetables shows a lack of nutritional wisdom. Vegetables are mostly fiber, vitamins and water. That's not gonna cut for a growing infant.

And I am saying that you confuse the word "vegetable" with veganism. Strickt saladism(?) or fruitarians...yeah, that is very dangerous. Proper vegan diet has no such issues. (With, if deemed necessary, supplements or turning to ethical dairy solutions in order to give the baby everything it needs.)

 

[Somnid]

I'd imagine the mother is probably malnourished as well (though is unlikely to be tested unless she's experiencing fainting spells or something), pregnancy and breastfeeding on vegan diet has got to take a huge toll on the body.

 

[Always-honest]

Shame.. Parents probably think they were doing the best thing. Or they are just fucking stupid. It's sad for the baby though.

 

[entremet]

The mother can only provide what she has. There are tons of stuff that the body can't synthesize that's important for sustained life. That's why we're animals, not plants!



Totally my bad for not reading the article. That's a whole other can of worms. They weren't raw food vegans, where they? I find it hard to believe that the kid refused to eat any vegan meal they could cook. I'll scour the article a bit.

Well, cravings have a huge nutritional component. Many cravings are just evolutionary designed checks against nutrients the body needs.

The young boy probably found veggies unpalatable because veggies aren't calorie dense by themselves.

And I am saying that you confuse the word "vegetable" with veganism. Strickt saladism(?) or fruitarians...yeah, that is very dangerous. Proper vegan diet has no such issues. (With, if deemed necessary, supplements or turning to ethical dairy solutions in order to give the baby everything it needs.)

I understand that, but we're talking about infants here. They don't really have developed palates like that. I'm also going by what was said in the article.

There's no mention of nuts or avocados, which have tons of calorie density and also appropriate on that diet.

I also mentioned that vegan parents should do their research. I never said a vegan diet was verboten.

 

[Musician]

Well, cravings have a huge nutritional component. Many cravings are just evolutionary designed checks against nutrients the body needs.

Didn't know that! It makes a hell of a lot of sense though. Except the craving for a beer after a long, hot day.

 

[entremet]

Didn't know that! It makes a hell of a lot of sense though. Except the craving for a beer after a long, hot day.

It's a little more complex today since we have a greater variety of food available.

http://myvega.com/vega-life/vega-blog/do-food-cravings-indicate-nutritional-deficiencies/

Many believe it's an evolutionary adaptation that has been affected by our wider palates. Hunter/gatherers didn't have this variety.

 

[outunderthestars]

No? Most people let their kids eat whatever the hell they want. (Sometimes to a bad extent)

As a parent I call bullshit on this.

 

[ngower]

I'm a vegan. I'm not malnourished. There are ways to make up for deficiencies in B12/D rather easily.

I think these people are just stupid parents. If you can't tell that your child is lethargic and their body is failing, then you are probably shitty parents. Don't blame veganism for the actions of stupid people.

 

[TheSlySoul]

You can get B12 via pills.
The parents are straight up neglecting.

 

[Bacon]

No? Most people let their kids eat whatever the hell they want. (Sometimes to a bad extent)

Do you honestly believe this?

 

[Raistlin]

Kind of a shame to enforce their own eating beliefs / habits on their child in the first place.

Given the baby's age, that likely wasn't happening. Most of the recommended foods would be fruit and vegetable anyway.

Seems the mother's milk was the likely issue her

 

[Pinkuss]

I'm Vegan and I'm torn to if I'd raise a child Vegan (I'd probably at least do Vegetarian till they could make up their own mind as happened with me).

However it's negligence, not Veganism that's caused this. You can get mainstream brands of dairy free baby food, with all they need etc and there's suppliments etc.

 

[Plinko]

I'm a vegan. I'm not malnourished. There are ways to make up for deficiencies in B12/D rather easily.

I think these people are just stupid parents. If you can't tell that your child is lethargic and their body is failing, then you are probably shitty parents. Don't blame veganism for the actions of stupid people.

True as well. It sounds as if the mother was trying some sort of stripped down vegan diet, which you absolutely should not do as a breastfeeding parent. I wonder if she was just eating raw foods.

 

[King_Moc]

I think it's best to feed the child the healthiest diet you can for a being that needs to grow quite a lot, and let them make their own mind up on veganism when they're at a suitable age to do so.

 

[Nakazato]

Must'a fed the baby a ton of vitamins and mineral pills

Who knows I thought the whole idea was crazy myself. But if it was my kid I wouldn't have taken the chance