Vegan Parents Found Guilty: Infant Son's Death by Starvation
At 6 Weeks Old and 3 1/2 Pounds, Crown Starved to Death
Vegan parents, Jade Sanders, 27, and Lamont Thomas, 31, have been found guilty of malice murder, felony murder and first degree cruelty to children. The first time parents received a life sentence for their son's death. The jury deliberated 7 hours before returning with the verdict.
Georgia's Fulton County Prosecutor Mike Carlson painted a grim picture of the infant's short life. Dying of starvation, Crown's death was slow and painful. Of the parents, Carlson claimed, "They are not vegans, they're baby killers."
Defense attorneys presented the couple's claims that they did the best they could for their child while maintaining their chosen vegan life. The new parents insisted they had no idea the child was ill until just before he passed away.
The tragedy could have been prevented with proper research on how to safely care for an infant with a vegan diet. Information can be found on vegan tips and guidelines from a multitude of various resources. Crown's parents failed to learn the information which could have saved his life while maintaining their beliefs.
Vegans avoid all meat and animal products. Infants can be fed a nutritious vegan diet if guidelines are followed. Breast milk is considered the perfect food for infants. Vegan and non-vegan infants who are breastfed until the age ranging between 4 and 6 months developed equally in studies, if the infant is breastfed by a well nourished vegan mother.
Vegan mothers must take additional precautions for her baby, both during pregnancy and during breastfeeding. Supplementing the diet with vitamin B12 is the most beneficial additional precaution for vegan moms. Infants who are fed a vegan diet can develop serious B12 deficiencies which can result in severe nerve related problems.
Typically, problems occur for the children as they reach one month old. The problems continue over the first year of life. Left unchecked, danger signs arise when the child becomes lethargic, and has trouble using muscles. On some occasions the infants have trouble sensing properly.
Infants with the danger signs often develop Macrocytic Anemia. The least common type of anemia, Macrocytic Anemia causes a drop in the number of red blood cells. Vegan mothers can reduce this risk by adding B12 supplements or increasing the intake of fortified foods such as breakfast cereals, non-dairy milks and fortified yeast extracts.
Vegan mothers also need to consider the calcium in her diet. As the child reaches 6 months, vitamin D drops are recommended. A child develops 45% of adult bones mass before reaching 8 years old. Infants need extra vitamin D for a proper accrual to avoid potential bone related problems later in life.
Although, the alternative diet does require extra attention and consideration, vegan lifestyles are healthy for infants and children. Vegan children typically have a higher fruit and vegetable intake. They also have lower levels of saturated fat and cholesterol. Most of all, vegan children grow up with the knowledge of the abundance of whole foods available. This knowledge helps to establish healthy eating habits over a lifetime.
Published by CSW
CSWarner is a full time student and part time free lance writer living in Pennsylvania. View profile
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10 Comments
Post a CommentI can understand the vegan belief that it's wrong to exploit animals. However, the mother is supposedly sentient, and therefore, should have been willing to breastfeed. Refusing to do so is just utter stupidity. If these particular parents were up for parole, I hope they would only be released under the condition that they were rendered sterile first.
I hate that I never see headlines that say "Omnivore Parents Found Guilt" despite the number of instances where that would be appropriate. Granted, your suggestions at the end would be helpful to any vegan/vegetarian but it just goes to show that our society today unfortunately tends to discriminate against the people who are making the most headway environmentally/socially/ethically...
dirtbags
Thanks everyone for your comments. I agree with everyone- this instance certainly is a shame. I am a vegetarian and wanted to include the information necessary to provide a healthy vegan diet for infants- if parents believe it is for the best. I personally do not require my children to maintain a vegetarian diet. I agree it is a personal choice. My children are old enough to make the decision. Unfortunately this little boy wasn't. Very sad.
It is up to a parent what is healthiest to feed their baby and toddler. The child cannot chose, until the child learns to talk, what diet to follow. No one forces their child to be a vegan forever. However, the vegan lifestyle is actually the healthiest in the first year of life. Formula feeding can cause a baby to be lactose in tolerant; soy formula is a better alternative. Breastmilk is the very best food out there. IT would not have been best to feed the child all foods in moderation, because babies under the age of six months old shouldn't have anything but breast milk and formula. This child died from being fed milk and juice as a newborn--not from the vegan diet.
This comes just like religion. Indoctrinating kids with this non-sense. To make a conscious choice to let them be omnivorous, or vegan should be the choice of the child ultimately. Of course when talking about children that cannot make such a choice for themselves parents are charged with such a responsibility. That being said I think it would've been best to feed the child all foods in moderation in keeping with healthy guidelines. Then once they've gotten older let them make an informed, conscious, private choice. This is an adult in training more or less.
It is really sad that this baby died of ignorance. Breastmilk isn't an animal product, and it's what most vegan babies are fed. She could have supplemented with soy formula, but instead she used soy milk and apple juice which is not approved for babies. Another couple I just read about were arrested for not giving their child any milk, but nuts and berries and juice instead. Again, that was just stupidity and ignorance, because breastmilk would have been a perfectly fine vegan diet. :/
So much for the parents treating their child to a healthy vegan lifestyle. I always say though that parents should let their children choose their own drastic choices a little later in life. I am in the process of being a vegetarian and I will not force my daughter to eat a certain way because i know her choices are limited and I do not want to diminish her in take of certain vitamins she needs.
Heather is right. It was not the vegan diet that killed him. It was cruelty and depraved indifference. And if by any chance I am wrong then the parents had to be a special kind of stupid to deny him breastmilk... the only source of approved nutrition for a vegan baby under 4 months.
I like your approach to this. A lot of people are just going "SEE? This proves the vegan diet is unhealthy for kids." The truth is these people just weren't good parents. They weren't feeding their child. If she had breastfed him on demand, each time he was hungry, and avoided using other foods until six months of age, he'd have been just fine. The vegan lifestyle didn't kill him; starvation did. I like that you explain how the vegan lifestyle CAN be healthy, so no one believes it is not. Great job.