Sydney parents face court over vegan diet which left baby 'malno

Sydney parents face court over vegan diet which left baby 'malnourished'

"She said her daughter would generally have one cup of oats with rice milk and half a banana in the morning, and a piece of toast with jam or peanut butter for lunch.

For dinner, she said her daughter would be offered tofu, rice or potatoes. But she said the girl was a fussy eater so she might just have oats again."

The headline of this story makes out veganism is the cause of the malnutrician, however when you look into it more deeply you realise there are a number of other issues at play.

For starters the girls food intake is all white. Where's the fruit; apples, oranges, strawberries, blueberries etc.? Where are the vegetables; cucumber, carrots, beans, peas, cauliflower, broccoli? Where are all the colourful foods that bring vitamins and minerals to the table?

It is not being vegan that made this girl sick it's the lack or variety in her diet.

All of my children didn't like eating meat as babies & toddlers. Their jaws and teeth are still developing and the chewiness of the meat put them off eating meat. I would make spaghetti bolognese and they'd just eat the pasta and leave the sauce. Even now, they're not overly keen on eating meat.

Yet my children were never malnourished because they still ate a variety of foods. There are lots of vegan dishes that contain important nutrients.

Also, this girl wasn't getting vaccinated and didn't have enough vitamin D which suggests she wasn't getting outside to play. This has very little to do with being vegan and more to do with neglectful parents.

I wrote a post about another little girl who wouldn't eat (she was a fussy eater as well). This little girl wasn't vegan and she was still undernourished and had a terrible diet which resulted in her suffering from debilitating constipation as a toddler and beyond.

For all you vegan haters out there... keep this in mind: being vegan is not the problem. Not eating a wide variety of foods is the problem and all children should be eating good foods all of the time.

Especially considering, if you have a malnourished (starving child) you're charged with neglect, yet if you have a malnourished (overweight child) you're not.