By Melissa Spady (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: April 3, 2013
Any time someone lets the highly-stigmatized word “vegan” pass through their lips, there is usually a barrage of negativity waiting on the other side. As someone who has a restrictive diet, I can understand and empathize with those who get sideways looks when they admit to their voluntary dietary eliminations. It’s not always easy living as a herbivore in an omnivore’s world. Thankfully the tides are beginning to turn and the acceptability of no-meat or no-animal by-product diets is on the rise.
This is only in terms of adults though. What about children and infants?
Instead of jumping right in to the mechanics of nutrition, let’s take a step back. Eating vegan is a lifestyle choice and since infants are not in the position to make autonomous decisions about their diets, it is left in the hands of their parents. Is that really an okay decision to make for your biologically omnivore child? Since there are infants who have grown up on a vegan diet I don’t think it’s worth anyone’s time to argue that it isn’t possible. My questions are, however: how difficult is it to properly monitor your infant’s diet without any animal by-products and how can it be done without force?
I did some digging to find out.
I have to admit a lot of the online articles concerned with feeding your infant a vegan diet are pompous at best. I do know many people following a vegan diet who are not so in-your-face about it, but for some reason there is still an overarching air of pretension attached to adapting to a strictly monitored diet.
Consequently, the arguments against are equally standoffish. Finding middle ground amongst the polarized literature wasn’t an easy task. Thumbing through the comments posted as replies to these articles proved to be the best method for getting evidence-based arguments on either side of the debate.
Vegan parents weighed in on their experiences from pregnancy to properly raising their children on a plant-based diet. “My husband and I have been vegan for 15 and 17 years, respectively. As an organic, whole-foods, vegan family, our (almost) five-year-old daughter eats more healthfully than most adults. Her favourites include beans, kale, quinoa, almost any vegetable, and so much more,” one commenter posted below a Huffington Post article about the new trend. “I have been a vegan for years now … while I maintain a vegan kitchen at home and my daughter does not consume animal products or meat at home, I have never denied her healthy non-vegan options while at her grandparents or friends’ homes,” explained another.
I think it’s important to note two things from these comments: the first comes from an experienced vegan parent and the second offers the option of choice to the child. I feel both are crucial to implementing a no animal by-product diet in a child’s life safely and respectfully.
On the flip side, there have been several cases where uninformed/inexperienced parents have chosen this diet for their babies with mortal consequences: death from malnutrition. The New York Times published an op-ed article by Nina Planck, titled “Death by Veganism” in which she foolishly attempts to link the vegan diet to the cause of the baby’s death, when it is really due only to a parental lack of nutritional knowledge. She uses the example of a couple in Atlanta who fed their infant son a diet of primarily soy-milk and apple juice, technically vegan, and when he passed away at just six weeks, the responsible parties were left to face criminal charges of cruelty, involuntary manslaughter and murder. Veganism didn’t kill that six-week-old baby, ignorance did.
This is why the debate should carry onwards, and why it’s important to have all the facts before making a rash dietary change in your (or your child’s) life. In the case of infants, misinformation can literally kill, and as a child grows up allowing them the choice of a vegan diet empowers them to make decisions autonomously. Even though the debate can often get nasty and sometimes downright deplorable, continuing to discuss every facet will only inform more people. Hopefully the discussion will lead to more people making educated choices about their diets, and cut the chances of another innocent baby falling victim to the unfortunate ignorance of his or her parents.
