In a family without a sandwich: how vegan parents lead children to malnutrition and illness

The terrible news came from Australia. There the other day in court turned out to be the case of parents who for a year fed their little daughter with a homemade infant formula made from coconut water and some kind of nutritious powder. Its composition is not disclosed so as not to give rise to experimental followers. The child did not have enough substances for development, as a result, the baby became disabled.

A married couple (parents 32 and 34 years old) adhered to the philosophy of strict veganism for many years and decided from birth to teach their daughter to live without animal products. Apparently, mother’s milk did not pass their strict ethical control, so the Australians invented their own “mixture”, which turned out to be fatal.

In a year, the girl was admitted to the hospital. Doctors, seeing the patient, were horrified. In the intensive care unit of the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital, the child was found to have rashes, bruises, open wounds and discolored skin. There were all the signs that the baby had been starved for a long time, although the parents sincerely did not understand what was wrong – after all, they fed their daughter with what they themselves eat!

The girl also had a severe protein-energy deficiency known as Kwashiorkor, a disease most commonly seen in newborns in starving countries. For a month, doctors fought for the girl’s life.

The unlucky parents escaped prison – they repented of their deeds and admitted their guilt. The couple, by the way, broke up – now the girl lives with her mother, who feeds the child with suitable food and attends medical appointments. And the baby’s father gave up vegetarianism, but decided not to live with his family anymore.

It happens in Russia as well. A young family from Yekaterinburg adhered to a strict vegetarian diet, the girl, accordingly, also ate only vegetables and fruits.

The one-year-old baby was admitted to the hospital with edema and severe weakness, her hemoglobin level did not exceed 40 (for her age, the norm is from 115 to 175). I had to do a blood transfusion, the child needed a long rehabilitation.

While doctors were fighting for the child’s life, a discussion about the child’s nutrition unfolded on social networks. Many have suggested that the mother did not even breastfeed her daughter, because vegans oppose animal milk: “Up to a year, a child can eat breast milk or formula without the risk of exhaustion. Rather, it’s not a lack of meat, the child was simply not fed. ”

Another Australian girl was injured in 2018. Parents brought the one and a half year old baby to rickets with a strict diet, in which there was no meat or any animal products at all.

For breakfast, the child received a cup of oats with rice milk and half a banana, for lunch – toast with jam or peanut butter, for dinner again oats. The parents claimed that they tried to give their daughter rice, tofu and potatoes, but the child was “naughty,” so they did not insist.

As a result, at a year and a half, the girl weighed only 4,9 kg, and her bones were so fragile that, according to doctors, they could be broken simply by taking the baby in her arms.

A court in Belgium in 2017 found a married couple guilty of the death of a seven-month-old baby – the boy died due to lack of nutrients and dehydration. The internal organs of the child were reduced by half; there was no obligatory protective layer of fat around them.

The boy’s parents owned a natural health food store and were going to raise their son based on the theory of alternative nutrition. The spouses independently, without visiting a doctor, diagnosed the baby with lactose intolerance and celiac disease (indigestion caused by damage to the villi of the small intestine with food containing certain proteins).

Mom and dad, who ended up in six months in prison, experimented with the diet and fed their son rice, buckwheat milk and quinoa.

It is known that on the day of his death the boy became ill, but even then his father and mother did not take him to the doctor – first they turned to a homeopath. He was already dead in the state clinic.

And a year ago in the US state of Florida, 35-year-old Sheila O’Leary called 911 and said that her XNUMX-month-old son was not breathing and his skin was cold. The boy’s father tried to resuscitate his son, but the rescuers who arrived at the scene could only state the child’s death.

Sheila later said that her family was on a vegan diet – everyone ate only vegetables and fruits in their raw form. The deceased boy, according to the woman, refused to eat at all last week before his death and drank only breast milk. He weighed 7,7 kg, which is the normal weight for a child one year younger.

On November 6, it was finally clear from the results of the medical examination that the boy died of exhaustion. Then the parents themselves came to the police station and surrendered to the hands of justice.

Sheila and her husband Ryan were charged with first-degree murder and child abuse. They are still in custody, deny the murder charges and await the final verdict of the court.

In Italy, in 2016, in order to pacify vegan parents, a special law was even created prohibiting children from being put on a vegetarian diet. It was developed by the representative of the center-right party Elvira Savino. The Italian lawmakers set their goal “to stigmatize the irresponsible and dangerous food imposed by the parents,” the newspaper La Repubblica reported.

Savino rightly stated: “A vegetarian diet, even the strictest one, brings health benefits. However, the decision to become a vegetarian must be made by an adult, the problem arises when children are involved in this process. ” The politician suggested putting parents who force their children to malnutrition in jail for a year. And if a child on such a diet is also sick, then they can sit for a period of 2 to 4 years. If vegetarianism ends in death for a child, the parents will be imprisoned for 6 years.