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
What rubbish! sacred foods? there is nothing sacred about the meat, egg, or dairy industry! I hope your readers have enough sense to see that this is utter nonsense!…the body stores B12 along time and it takes a very long time to feel any negative affects..and death is NOT. For this one story there are many more of stories of healthy vegan babies? and what about cultures that eat little to no meat and have huge populations? i think it is sad that this infant died..but to draw a correlation to the mother’s veganism without further inquiry is irresponsible..Moreover it is messed up to charge the parents who already are suffering from having lost a child..How many baby’s of meateaters die or get sick? how many children get cancer b/c they eat meat and dairy from infancy? Having been in the medical field, I have seen many unhealthy parents and children and what did they have in common?: meat, milk, cheese and eggs! why aren’t those parents who make their kids obese and sick charged with child abuse then? B/c it is considered normal to eat corpses and secretions from other species bodies. What a twisted world we live in then!! For some reason to feed your kid healthy food, what comes from the earth, is objectionable, yet when they are fed addicting unhealthy food and preparing them for future dis-ease, they are not held to acct for it!
Meat production is the #1 cause of global warming, our planet will now allow us to keep living off the animals we breed to kill and eat for much longer.
AND…
AND, no one is saying ALL the “other” stuff in animal products that are not good for mom or baby! Anyone Vegan or NOT can suffer from malnutrition. Good whole foods and super foods and a few supplements have everything you need without the negative effects of animal product. Here is some info as well: http://www.livestrong.com/article/278019-vegan-breastfeeding-diet/
This article is just an attack on vegans. Look at the site of any doctor saying meat is traditional world diet has a product to sell. You don’t have to look hard to find that most of the world’s cultures were plant eating and the ones who ate meat died at a much younger age. Look into the potato famine…look into China, Japan, so many countries who have always breastfed healthy babies. Our modern agriculture has taken the right nutrients out of our soil for us to produce b-12 (but easy to get from the health food store) and it’s crazy to assume vitamin A would not reach the baby in adequate levels from eating plants. This lady could only reach this state by eating nothing but white bread and is clearly a rare case, or you’d hear about it much more. If you like meat, you will find a way to justify it, plain and simple. If you bother to make an in-depth study that does not fit your desire, you will apparently go on the attack. ….but knowledge is power.
I cannot judge what exactly happened to this mother and her baby, but I am ready to defend my vegetarian position and nobody will convince that meat products are necessary for human beings. My son is born vegetarian from vegetarian mum, and I am proud of him!
I truly believe that humans weren’t designed to eat a Vegan or Vegetarian diet. I do agree that in north America too much meat is being consumed but when each food is eaten in moderation such deficiencies wouldn’t happen. This story is tragic indeed, however, it just shows us how educated you much be when you decide to deprive yourself of animal foods. I think a breastfeeding mom should at least consume eggs and raw dairy.
This is an awful, awful story, but there is more to it. I had to look it up because it didn’t sound 100% to me… http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/29/vegans-trial-death-baby-breast-milk
She actually died of pneumonia and other health concerns that the couple was treating with poultices. Yes, she did have nutritional deficiencies, which leads me to believe they were not feeding her often enough and the mother’s diet was not full of enough healthy food. The American Dietetic Association actually endorses the veggie/vegan diet and states they “are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes (citation:: National Institutes of Health/Pubmed).” Some people believe they can be vegan and just eat breads and pastas, which will obviously lead to problems, but it can be a very healthy choice if done right. Btw– I’m not vegan.
5 yrs prison …!! Wtf .. Govt is so cruel.. Parents who lost her child oh god …
In india millions of people are veggie …. I dnt see anything like this…. This govt n all people just want to blame anything … Very sad …
If you’re a vegan, do you think it’s fare to force your baby to become a vegan too?? i belive all baby less than 5 yrs old needs complete source of food and vitamins. I
Might not be an expert on this things. However i believe it’s worth to speak what i have in mind.
This is stupid. I mean, the parents must be idiots – not because they are vegan, but because they could have gotten those nutrients easily without breaking their moral code. I’m positive France has farmer’s markets and farms, most farmer’s markets will sell raw organic milk and cheese – I bet you could even visit the chickens who lays the eggs and the cows that provide the milk. No need for the mom to eat meat, but I can’t see a moral or ethical problem with consuming the milk or eggs of animals you could visit. I’m not a vegan, but I only eat organic/wild caught/free range/etc. – my apologies if there are no organic farms or farmer’s markets in France. I suspect her doctor didn’t inform her properly or that they were just neglectful – I mean, there would have been signs long prior to death, right?
test