11 month old vegan breastmilk-fed baby dies of nutrient deficiency
A (non-vegan) friend of mine who just had a baby just posted this on facebook
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.35c2caa5efa0e183b7b38a2d0e2b7f40.71&show_article=1
She was interested in hearing the thoughts of her friend who raised her babies vegan but who is now opposed to veganism for some reason. The friend was talking about problems with conversion of beta carotene into vitamin A, which can be an issue I guess, but seems rare since I've never known anyone with it. It really seemed to me like the parents were not being careful, and they could have prevented the death if the mother were taking B12 and they were feeding the baby some solid food at least. But it's so sad that this happened. It just makes me frustrated that people blame veganism for things like this but sadly there are just neglectful parents out there.
eta: crap, this happened in 2008. bah.
that is just freakish! I've never heard of such a thing! Babies thrive on their mother's milk..vegan or otherwise
i think that the story is pretty sensationalized and doesn't give all of the facts. people hate vegans AND long term breast-feeding so they have a double reason to get the story out. who knows if the baby was eating enough, the moth was eating enough, how her supply was, weather the baby had interest in solid food but was being denied, etc. ALSO, apparently the baby had bronchitis and the parents didn't go to the doctor, so that could have had a lot to do with it.
I agree, hesp, about the sensationalism, and that the article doesn't give the full story. I had no idea that the baby had bronchitis... how did you know that? And I mean, how can they not mention that? It's kind of infuriating. I mean there are all kinds of reasons that people don't go to the doctor, whether religious or financial, but it's just sad that this happened. I'm not convinced that long-term breastfeeding without solid foods is a good thing, but regardless of that, we are not given the full story and people are bound to jump to unfair conclusions, unfortunately tainting their view of veganism along with it. Ugh.
I don't know the whole story so i'll slip my opinion on the story itself. I'm just thankful my 8 month old daughter is still 85% breastfed.
It's also worth considering that the source of this article is Andrew Breitbart. He's a pretty hardcore supporter of all things conservative and is certainly not considered to be the most objective reporter in the world.