Vegan mother arrested after putting her baby on a vegan diet. The baby lost 10% of his body weight

[Cali_Democrat]

Florida woman who allegedly refused to take her underweight infant to a hospital faces criminal charges.

Sarah Markham was scheduled to go before a judge on Tuesday in an effort to regain custody of her child.

In June, doctors discovered that Markham's baby was dehydrated and had lost 10 percent of his body weight.

The mother was told to take the child to a hospital for treatment, but police say she opted not to do so. She was arrested, and CPS took her child away.

A doctor had previously prescribed baby formula to supplement Markham's breast milk, but she allegedly did not want to use the formula because of her vegan beliefs.

<...>

Instead, investigators said she was using a soy formula she purchased at Whole Foods.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/12/sarah-markham-vegan-mom_n_6147318.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

[uppityperson]

1. 12 day old baby, 23 yr old mom. The Huffpo article comes from this link with a bit more info

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/vegan-florida-mom-charged-neglect-refusing-formula-sick-newborn-article-1.1844430

This article comes from this source with again more information:
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/casselberry-mom-refused-to-take-child-to-hospital-over-vegan-beliefs/26657244

[PotatoChip]

34. Breast fed babies very commonly lose weight in their first week of life,

due to the mother's milk not coming in immediately. The doctor should have known about, and taken that fact into account.

Given that the baby was only 12 days old, that factor would still be a valid reason for the weight loss. Even that much of a weight loss...

My daughter was 9.6 when born, and dropped to 7.9 which alarmed me enough at the time to take her to the pediatrician. He told me not to worry, and that supplemental feeding would only be necessary if she dropped any more weight. He was right, since she began gaining the weight back shortly thereafter.

I only skimmed your first link and didn't open the second, so I don't know the particulars of this case, however it seems to me that if supplemental feeding was deemed absolutely necessary, couldn't it have been just regular formula? Isn't that regular stuff soy based?

In any event, I feel very sorry for this young woman.

[mucifer]

2. Someone should have educated her about La Leche League

This would not have been an issue if they could have helped the mother.

[earthside]

3. Another vegan-religion parallel. n/t

[Ink Man]

16. I was thinking

the same thing.

[pnwmom]

4. There shouldn't be anything wrong with a soy formula per se.

Some babies use soy because of allergies to cow's milk, and they don't starve.

Also, my breast feed baby lost 8 oz in the first several days and then regained it when my milk came in. I wonder if the real problem here was that the mother refused to take the baby to the hospital after the doctor told her to?

[dilby]

5. New borns can lose weight and 10% is not life threatening.

Many children lose weight even when on breast milk and formula. I don't think this woman should be in jail because of this.

[AngryAmish]

6. But if the bab u is dehydrated and the fontenelle is sunk...

Just anothet religious nutter.

[dilby]

21. My first child lost 10% and not because of not trying.

My ex-wife had and issue with producing milk for about 2 weeks after my daughter was born, we had to see a lactation expert who put her on a regiment of brewers yeast, fenugreek and one beer a day which helped with the production of milk. We tried formula but my daughter would not take it and yes it was scary for us that is why we were at the doctors to begin with. After about 2 weeks my ex started producing milk and it resolved everything. We had the same issue with my son but after 2 days of not producing milk with him we immediately went back to the brewers yeast, fenugreek and beer which had her producing by day 4 after he was born.

[Ykcutnek]

7. Attention, parents: Feed your children some goddamn meat.

Thank you.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. You gonna order the 12 day old a steak?

[Ykcutnek]

12. You caught me. I didn't fully read the article.

[LiberalElite]

23. People do get a little upset just by the sight

of the word VEGAN.

[Cali_Democrat]

14. LOL

[LeftyMom]

27. No.

[NaturalHigh]

9. As Dr. House said. "starving babies is wrong...

and illegal in many cultures."

[HappyMe]

11. If the doctor advises you that your baby

needs to be hospitalized, do it. If the doctor gives you a specific formula to supplement with - do it.

[peacebird]

18. Hospitalized yes, formula no. Soy formula is absolutely fine and easily toleratd by many babies

Iwonder if the baby wasn't burped every couple ounces, because if not they tend to spit up formula with the burp....

[haele]

20. Unless the baby cannot handle soy formula. My grand-daughter couldn't.

The kidlet didn't want to breast feed after 4 months, and she wanted to use a "healthy alternative" formula. Soy formula gave the baby severe vomiting and diarrhea - no matter if it was packaged as an "all natural" or organic formula.
We ended up feeding her goat's milk mixed with a vitamin supplement as "formula" while feeding her yogurt and mushed fruits and veggies until she started eating primarily semi-solid and solid food - and then she was fine.
She just had a very bad issue with powdered soy and some other high-protein content foods (including farina and oatmeal) until she was around 10 months old.

Haele

[4139]

13. Baby was dehydrated???!!! There is more to this story!!!

Many possibilities:
A. Baby couldn't tolerate at the vegan formula causing diarrhea
B. Mom wasn't feeding the baby
C. Hmmm, anybody have a "c"?

[LeftyMom]

26. Oh goodness. Underlying medical issue, problem getting nursing going,

"failure to thrive" (a catch all diagnosis for kids who aren't gaining weight well, usually resolves on it's own, sometimes leads to a real diagnosis later,) scheduled feeds...

In other words it could be anything or nothing. The article doesn't really say enough to know.

I'm a little suspicious that this doctor may not understand how breastfeeding works, in that a 12 day old infant whose mother intends to breastfeed ideally shouldn't be getting formula at all, and if it absolutely has to be given it should be with an SNS or similar device to keep mom's supply up. And unless there's an underlying medical issue of the sort you can't generally diagnose in 12 days there's really no reason to favor one formula over another- they're all perfectly adequate or they couldn't be sold. The reasons you'd insist on one over another are digestive concerns where the child needs (VERY EXPENSIVE) prescription formula but you don't do that until you exhaust other options.

[peacebird]

17. Many babies lose weight in the first weeks, and soy formula is perfectly fine

My son was raised on it because he could not tolerate dairy, now his son is being raised on it. Vermont Organics Soy formula.

[Xithras]

19. This has nothing to do with her being vegan. It's about her being stupid.

She took the baby to a pediatrician, who determined that the baby needed to go to the hospital immediately. The mother left with the child, saying that she would take the kid to the hospital. She didn't. When the pediatrician learned that she never showed up in the ER, he called the police. The fact that she purchased soy formula instead of regular formula is incidental, and had nothing to do with her being arrested. She was arrested, and the child was taken, because she refused to allow the baby to be treated.

If a doctor tells you that your child is sick and needs hospitalization, ignoring the doctor and taking the kid home is CHILD NEGLECT. Parents do NOT have the right to risk their child's life over religious or philosophical beliefs.

[flvegan]

22. Stop it, DU is a little busy being outraged by THE VEGAN OF IT ALL!!!

Feed it some fucking meat!!1 LOLZ @TheIDIOTS

Please take your logic and analytic thought elsewhere as DU will have none of it during times of such outrage.

[LeftyMom]

24. SOMEBODY FEED THAT BABY SOME MEAT ALREADY!

Little dude is reading this thread over my shoulder and dying laughing.

[DonCoquixote]

32. this is NOT about meat

and whatever Xithras said , this protion of the quote is right:

"If a doctor tells you that your child is sick and needs hospitalization, ignoring the doctor and taking the kid home is CHILD NEGLECT."

again key part: If the doctor tells you the kid NEEDS HOSPITALIZATION. That has nothing to do whatsoever with meat.

[Codeine]

25. There are a number of perfectly healthy vegan formulas for babies.

And the "Feed yer gol-damn kids sum MEAT!" crowd can sod right the hell off.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

35. My dear friend's kid (aka my nephew) absolutely refuses to eat meat.

I can't remember exactly when, but somewhere between 1.5 ish and 2 he refused to eat meat.

He's five now and still refuses. He told his mom, matter of fact-ly, that he will eat meat when he is 18. It's almost comical.

She was worried about iron deficiency when he was 2ish 3ish so she was giving him iron supplements.

[BlueJazz]

28. Scary story/ I hope, dear God, that the Doctors at the hospital injected that child...

...with a good Porterhouse. (with mushrooms please)

[SheilaT]

29. Both of my sons lost more than 10% of their birth weight

in the first couple of weeks. They were both born by C-Section which I think was a factor.

I was absolutely committed to nursing, and had an amazing supply of milk. I also had babies who initially hadn't a clue how to nurse, and who didn't have a huge appetite, either. So they lost weight, and were rather slow at putting it back on.

It's also crucial to understand that the charts that are used to tell you how babies are supposed to gain weight after birth are based on formula fed babies, which are a very different cohort than exclusively breast fed babies.

None of this excuses a woman who ignores her doctor's telling her that the baby needs to go to the ER.

And soy formulas are very commonly used, whether or not a baby has an allergy to regular milk.

[sir pball]

30. Wow. Most idiotic vegan I've seen.

I mean, seriously...I spent enough time around a lot of militant vegans (Earth Crisis, nuff said) to get how they think. And sure as shit a mammal baby drinking its own mother's milk until weaning is about as "natural" as it gets, and all the girls with kids I still know from that time cheerfully breast fed then raised the sprog vegan. Then again, while they were and are incorrigibly idealistic, they aren't idiots.

That, and fifteen years ago asking a cute hardcore girl "so, is sperm vegan" was a good bet

[Odin2005]

31. Morons come from all walks of life.

[KMOD]

33. Do we know for sure the baby was dehydrated?

This really has nothing to do with either Vegans, or religion.

If the baby was dehydrated, the mother is just another one of the morons out there.

The fact that they had to break down her door, and the fact that even after that, she still refused medical care for her baby is extremely troubling. In that respect, she's wrong.

But I also don't know if the baby was really dehydrated, and this was just an attack on her lifestyle.

Right now, all of this is tit for tat. I'm waiting for more info. just my opinion.