Would you do this to your newborn baby?

Question

Vegan parents in Georgia were sentenced Wednesday to life in prison after their 6-week-old son died of malnutrition.

The baby, Crown Shakur, weighed only 3.5 pounds. He'd been fed mostly soy milk and apple juice. Vegans typically do not consume animal products.

Defense lawyers say the first-time parents did the best they could for their son while adhering to the strict lifestyle of vegans. They said Sanders and Thomas did not realize the baby -- who was born in a bathtub at their home -- was in danger until minutes before he died in April of 2004

Answer 1

I hope they throw them in jail so far back they have to feed them beans with a peashooter. There is no excuse for that.

Answer 2

Whether they did it intentionally or not it really does not matter. The fact is that a life of an innocent helpless baby was lost, and it was a painful death from starvation and malnourishment, and the people responsible for it should be punished. I don’t think that it should be prison, they are full enough as is and it’s not going to help the parents realize what they did, but I also don’t know what other punishment they should get. How do you punish stupidity?
Even their vegan beliefs should have not kept the mother from breastfeeding or at least giving soy based formula. It does not matter if you eat meat or not you should have enough smarts to know that a baby has other needs that must be met. And the last time I checked humans were not animals and breast milk was not against vegan diet.

Where were the grandparents, relatives and friends? Did they not notice that something was wrong that the baby was not looking healthy and he probably cried all the time. I feel saddened by his death but by the looks of it he is better in heaven than with his parents who knows what other tortures they would have put the baby through.

Answer 3

I am sorry for the little baby. It is too bad that such idiots live in our world. All a new born baby needs to eat is breast milk or fomula (until 6 months, I am waiting a year). Why were they giving the baby apple juice? They must have starved that poor baby. All I want to do is cry. I don't believe in the death penalty, but in this case I would make an exception. Cruelness and stupidity.
I am not sure what it is like in the States, but in Canada a public health nurse comes a day or 2 after you get home from the hospital and then comes again at 2 weeks. You can phone her when ever you need. If this isn't done in the United States already, it should be. That way even stupid , ignorant people, do not have an excuse to be so uneducated.

I kind of don't understand why the baby wasn't breastfed. Does that affect a vegans lifestyle? Do vegans believe it is cruel to breastfeed your baby? I don't think so, because that doesn't make sense. These people don't make sense.

I went and read the story from the link that someone provided. The father said he was againts animal cruelty, so he asked "Why would I be cruel to my son and do something to his body"? (Does that make sense to anyone?) These people obviously didn't want this baby to live. Babies cry all the time when they are hungry, so you would have to be pretty dense not to realize he was crying becasue he was hungry. I know these people are obviously stupid, but a mother has the natural insticts to know when her baby is hungry. Ie. her breasts leak. 2nd of all, even if they had no food in their cupboards, I am sure they ate something. Even Wendy's sells salads.

Also vegan is a lifestyle choice that should not be forced on a baby. If someone drank or smoked marijuana as a lifestyle choice, they wouldn't give that stuff to their baby, would they?

Answer 4

You can't say that you didn't notice your baby which was probably born weighing at LEAST 6lbs dropped 2 lbs. That's 30% of the weight.

Vegans can and do breastfeed. And can and do feed soy formula (only certain kinds). They are perfectly capable of providing a healthy diet for a newborn.

I would also point out that one news story (I will try to find the link again) says the cupboards in the home were empty of food. Ummm when was the last time your cupboards had not even a can of soup no one wanted, or some pasta/rice. How was the mom (who was patially breastfeeding) supposed to eat enough to make milk, where was the formula?

"The kitchen cupboards in the parents’ apartment were empty at the time."
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/13245543/detail.html

These "parents" were seriously disturbed. I can't imagine there being no food in my house, ever. I can't imagine not noticing a baby loosing so much weight. You can't fail to notice that the baby is not thriving.

Answer 5

That soy formula should have been recommended by a pediatrician, and he should've had enough to fill a whole nipple bottle to avoid malnourishment. I'm sure not all breastmilk contains animal products . Also, they should have consulted their pediatician about the proper food choices they should make if they insisted on raising him as a vegan now, or if they should wait until he's old enough for solid food. Ever heard of Gerber's? Never give a baby apple juice until he's old enough to drink from a cup!

Maybe this tragedy will induct a policy that first-time vegan parents should especially take parenting classes.

I would never even consider a vegan lifestyle because of stuff like this.

Answer 6

Okay, the child should have been in a hospital. Why wasn't the baby in the hospital? Next, how did the parents not realize that their child was getting smaller and smaller? The baby had to have been screaming all the time out of hunger. Why did the child not see a pediatrician? There is a lot of fishy business going on here!!

Answer 7

While this is certainly tragic, meat eating parents treat their kids just as horribly every day, if not in diet, than other forms of abuse. If they were looking at a 3.5 lb baby and not being concerned at that TINY weight, something was wrong in their brains. People can be mental whether they eat meat or not.

I laugh at people who say that vegetarians and vegans need "special" training for being a parent. That's hilarious.

Answer 8

That's just ignorant and horrid. Those people deserve to be put in jail (or maybe the nut-house). How could they possibly think that a lifestyle with a diet designed for adults who choose not to eat meat products, could sustain a new born baby --- and one that is a mere 3.5 pounds at that! A baby that small should have been taken to the hospital!!

Answer 9

Congratulations. Because of one bad thing done by a vegan, you can now feel much better about being one of the mindless masses continuing to subsist on a cruel, unhealthy, and unneccessary factory-farmed meat.

I am assuming that's what this post was about, since no one would ever suggest that when a meat eater beats their child to death, they should not be eating meat.

Answer 10

Vegan mothers usually breastfeed. You do not have to consume animal products to raise a healthy baby.
It sounds to me like these people are against everything institutional. (like having the baby at home, not feeding formula) They should pay for their actions, they took the life of their infant child.

Answer 11

I don't believe they willfully killed their child, I think they just didn't know better.

And apparently, they weren't under the supervision of a pediatrician either, because in the first few weeks, your at the doctor practically every day - and any pediatrician that allowed this to go on, and said nothing, needs to have their medical license taken away.

Like I said, I don't believe they willfully killed the child. However, a human life was ended at their hand, and by US law, that's a crime. So they should be punished accordingly.