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
I feel vegan diet is good. However, the mother should get frequent checks of the breastmilk during the nursing period. This will enable the doctors to provide with a solution before something like this happens.
A woman can easily check her breastmilk herself, by the way. Just express some into a cup and put in a small glass jar and compare with an omnivore friend’s breastmilk. You will easily see with your own eyes how deficient the vegan’s breastmilk is … there is little to no creamline on it! The BEST human breastmilk has a very clear, distinct, thick-as-possible creamline on it, which ONLY comes from an excellent, nutritious omnivore diet.
Ha ha. I’m the only vegan in my family. My mum n sister are both b12 deficient not me. It’s not a vegan problem at all. Add to that how most animals get their b12 through supplements too because the soil is too sterile then meat eaters are indirectly supplemented too.
This article is laughable.
Babies die in the western world of neglect and malnutrition all the time but they don’t blame the parents for eating animals.
This article is nuts.
No supplements right here! The diet you speak of is raw vegan by the way.
lol I’m a vegan, had a vegan pregnancy, gave birth to a 10 lb baby boy. I breastfeed and at 4 months he’s 19 lbs. in fact his doctor recommended I cut back on night time feedings and had no issues whatsoever with my diet. If you eat a vegan diet of junk, then yes you’ll be sick. If you eat an animal based diet full of junk, yes you’ll still be sick. It’s not so much the diet as it is the quality of the food.
Big does not necessarily equal healthy! This is a frequent point of confusion for new mothers.
I had a vegan pregnancy and didn’t take any prenatals just b12 but I made sure I had a variety of fruits, vegetables seeds and nuts. I had a smooth pregnancy and a healthy baby girl. I’m currently breastfeeding (still vegan) and she’s growing normally and as healthy as can be
Well said. Vegans just constantly lie and cherry pick their ‘facts’. I’m very worried for my friend atm, she watched some absolute nonsense called ‘what the health’ and has swallowed every ‘fact’. She’s now convinced we are actually herbivores and has switched her whole family to a strict vegan diet, and refuses to even contemplate researching it properly, only checking her ‘facts’ on other vegan propaganda websites, which obviously agree with each other and ignore all anatomical facts which derail their argument, such as comparing the digestive system in humans with pigs and gorillas, they don’t like that we have a pigs lay-out. they also refuse to believe that apes eat flesh, despite over 40years of behavioral scientist witnessing and filming it many times.
Personally I wish all the vegan extremists spouting this nonsense would go full natural vegan, one without any animal produce or supplements that artificially mimic what they would get in an omivorous diet. See how long they last without proper omega 3 and B12.
Get a life. What is your problem with vegans? We challenge your conscience too much?
My problem with vegans is that they actively promote their nutritionally poor diet which is harming a lot of people … especially young women who won’t realize until its too late that even a short stint on veganism during late adolescence or early adulthood can permanently screw up hormonal balance and potentially harm their ability to have children later. And no, vegans don’t in any way have the “moral highground” here … MILLIONS of wild animals are killed from plant based agriculture. Is a field mouse of less value than a chicken? In veganism it isn’t, so stop acting like your diet is somehow superior for the planet. Veganism is far from a bloodless diet! The idea is for ethical meat eating, something vegans rarely consider which is what healthy traditional societies did (zero of which were vegan, by the way). We need to get back to that and heed that ancestral wisdom which was good for both the planet and our health.
Why are you antivegan instead of educating about healthy veganism and proper nutrition for infants? All of these articles clearly state that they’re regarding extreme cases of strict and unbalanced vegan diets and parents who are too mentally ill to seek care for their visibly struggling child. You are capitalizing on people’s fears and encouraging them to eat things that the World Health Organization recognizes as carcinogens. Shame on you.
The reason I am anti-vegan is because there is no such thing as “healthy veganism”. It is an oxymoron. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/plant-based-diets-cannot-maintain-health/
I’m no stranger to breastfeeding my Vegan kids. Been practicing a raw diet with my life partner, Ray, for 22 months and we invite kids to our underpass to dine with us. Mostly we eat foraged root vegetables and nut butter, but we still dumpster dive for trash-sourced proteins. I guess we identify as “freegans.” youtube.com/watch?v=IsMlZWVNhdg
It does come from a human being who can make the decision as to whether she wants to breastfeed her baby though. She is not being exploited for her breast milk.