OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Marinos — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:17:42 GMT

interesting

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Samaras — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:15:26 GMT

Interesting...

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Elias — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 04:02:29 GMT

interesting

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Charalambos — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:26:30 GMT

Sorry :(

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Matthaios — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 13:42:59 GMT

interesting

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Emmanuel — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:59:56 GMT

interesting

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Constantine — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:26:52 GMT

Cool.

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Achilleas — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:18:13 GMT

Nice...

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Milos — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:05:41 GMT

Nice...

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Stefanos — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:02:53 GMT

Nice

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Fotis — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:39:53 GMT

Sorry :(

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Skyros — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:41:04 GMT

Nice

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Philippos — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:09:08 GMT

interesting

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Delany — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:35:31 GMT

My point was people like Planck make it sound like vegans give their chidren very restrictive diets, when compared to the omni kids I know, the veg*n kids eat a lot more different types of food.

There's a great rebuttal of the Op-Ed over at http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/ btw.

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:16:07 GMT

Delany, vegan kids aren't the only ones who love veggies. We're omnivores who care about eating good food. My girls love brussels sprouts, too. Roasted, steamed, or sauteed. And they also eat "ethnic" foods because it's how I was raised and that love of all foods that my parents taught me is what I am continuing to pass down to my kids. Korean food is by far their favorite, but that might be because they are 1/4 Korean and it's all I craved when I was pg.

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Delany — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:10:16 GMT

PLEASE tell me the "is breastmilk vegan?" comment was a joke.

Veganism is about *consent*, not about avoiding everything that comes from an animal. I chose to breastfeed my daughter, so of course breastmilk is vegan. Heck, I'd argue that drinking someone's blood is vegan if they agree to it. (Oral sex is vegan, too.)

I've been vegan nearly a decade and have a perfectly healthy 5 year old vegan daughter. It's not risky and it's not complicated. It's just a matter of reading labels and offering a variety of foods. My daughter is the only kid I know who begs for brussel sprouts at the grocery store, and who scarfs down Indian, Korean, and Ethiopian food like it's going out of style.

Yes, it's a tragedy what happened to this baby, but that's because the parents were idiots. It's like religious fanatics who smother their kids because they thought the kid was possessed - would it be fair to say that religion is dangerous and should be avoided at all costs? Or would you say "Those people aren't representative of the vast majority of followers of X religion"?

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

ellis — Wed, 23 May 2007 05:11:42 GMT

it wouldn't matter if they had fed the baby soy milk and apple juice or cow's milk and apple juice - either choice is inadequate for the baby's health. Before formula was invented in the late 1800s, babies starved to death by eating grown up food their bodies couldn't process instead of breastmilk.

Most vegans feed their babies breastmilk and take dietary supplements for protein and vitamin B12.

the argument "veganism is bad for babies" could as easily be "omnivorism is bad for babies" -- BOTH are true-babies don't eat what grownups do!!

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

Kaz — Wed, 23 May 2007 01:32:54 GMT

There are vegan sources of DHA, just, ya know, FYI...

Also, I just gotta ask.. was the "do vegans consider breastmilk an animal product" a serious question, or a snide, rhetorical question?

Not that I personally advocate a vegan diet, but, if it truly was a snide comment, well, it kinda kills and thoughts of taking the whole post seriously. Which would be too bad, because otherwise it was a pretty good post... I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt on this one.

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

bbbgmom — Wed, 23 May 2007 01:30:47 GMT

I think the parents are severely mentally ill. To ignore the signs of starvation? Must be messed up. Veganism aside, a baby that age can be easily nourished with breast milk exclusively. Somewhere I read that the mother breastfed, but I must be wrong. SAD.

From Atlanta...

Pammie — Tue, 22 May 2007 23:17:27 GMT

we were bludgeoned w/this story on the news daily. The pictures from the couple's house were startling...the cabinets were EMPTY, and the police suggested there was ONE filty bottle in the house. Even worse, the couple lived blocks from an EXCELLENT hospital...and from MY pediatrician's office.

After being found guilty, the father's statement to the judge indicated because they named him CROWN they MUST love him, and meant him no harm. Newspaper articles stated he wanted to keep his child "safe" from the mainstream "authorities" who would belittle or malign the couple's dietary choices and expose the child to countless diseases.

I have many friends who are vegetarians and some vegans. I don't blame the couple's food choices for this, I blame their fanatacism and lack of initiative to seek assistance in caring for their child within the parameters of their dietary choices.

This couple had, within this metro area many opportunities for education & assistance, yet opted to ignore them...and now their baby is dead.

Intent to harm? Not by being vegan or vegetarian. Intent to harm by cold-shouldering avenues for assistance when the opportunites are there? I hazard an opinion...yes.

I believe the op-ed author and her research that humans are omnivores & require a variety of food sources for optimum growth & development. I also believe it is not my place to malign other's choices, but instead to offer opportunites to ensure the food restrictions people are imposing upon their children are made w/the help of all the education possible. "Have you consulted w/a registered dietician? How does your pediatrician feel about that?" Most of the vegetarian parents I know respond w/buckets of their personal research about daily allowances for vitamins & amino acids...and have made informed choices.

Too bad Crown's parents just made a "gut" decision...and backed it up w/some organic apple juice.

re: OpEd: Veganism is Bad for Babies

nippleconfusion — Tue, 22 May 2007 19:12:26 GMT

It annoys me that the couple who starved their baby to death is being called "vegan." They were cruel and stupid, and the whole point of veganism is to not eat from other speicies - apparently those people were human, and so was their baby.