I was asked to post this from another list: ----- Original Message ----- From: Linda Palmer To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 1:22 PM Subject: [SanDiegoNaturalFamilies] HELP AP/VEGAN BABY TAKEN FROM FAMILY -- PLEASE CIRUCULATE PLEASE CIRCULATE Healthy breastfed 14m.o. removed from parents' care for vegan lifestyle: I have known this man through internet and telephone contacts for years (going through parenting and nutrition research papers with him -- he's very research oriented) who now has had his child taken away because the doctors were very freaked out that a 14m.o. recieves human milk still (instead of cow's milk as they recommend), is parented by attachment parenting methods and is fed raw vegetables, nuts, yeast and such with no meat or eggs. They brought him in for a fever and the doctors found slight anemia (which is known in medical literature to be common in an ill child) and has no other test studies to support a diagnosis of "failure to thrive" (the baby is in the lower 25percentile for weight and has reached all his developmental milestones and according to the grandmother in the newspaper story was "always happy" before being removed from his parents' care). The family is in New York and needs good legal counsel (i.e. understands breastfeeding and nutrition and natural parenting practices) in that state, for starters. I was asked to circulate the below. Regards, Linda Folden Palmer, DC, author Baby Matters, infant nutrition consultant ----------------------- ATTENTION ALL VEGANS and VEGETARIANS -- Would you want your child taken from you because you refused to feed him/her meat, dairy or other animal products? As a mother, would you feel comfortable knowing that your nursing child had been taken from you and placed in a foster home where he/she would be fed commercial baby food and milk-based baby formula? That his/her social and emotional needs were being ignored, even though you and your spouse adhered to tenets of Attachment Parenting and the Continuum Concept (both proven to optimize child development)? There's a witch hunt in our midst: http://www.nydailynews.com/09-07-2004/news/crime_file/story/229622p- 197218c.html http://www.nypost.com/seven/09062004/news/regionalnews/29978.htm WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP? If you are a lawyer, a medical professional, a holistic practitioner, or a parenting expert, please respond ASAP. This family needs advocates from the vegan and vegetarian communities DESPERATELY, before their family is torn apart again. If you are a nursing vegan or vegetarian mother, or a practicing vegan/vegetarian (parent or not), GET THE WORD OUT! Feel free to cross- post this message to other vegan/vegetarian groups, tell your friends about this injustice, spread the word. Write to the Editors of the Daily News and the New York Post. Tell them that this sort of slanted journalism is unacceptable. [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] WHY DO I CARE? This concerns my godson's future, his parents' rights, and the rights of all vegan/vegetarian parents to raise their children as they choose, without unwanted interventoin. I was raised vegan and vegetarian, and have been healthier and freer of childhood illness, infection and disease because of my mother and father's wise choices. Because New York City's medical "professionals" are uninformed about the benefits of a vegan/vegetarian diet, *especially* for children, they have mounted an attack on my godson's well-being. He was a healthy, happy, breast-fed, vegan/organic, well-adjusted baby before he was taken from his parents (after an emergency hospital visit for a high fever) and placed in foster care. The cause? Iron-deficiency anemia (9.1), which -- as most medical professionals should know -- is common in all children, even those who eat meat or dairy. From Medline, "Drinking too much cow's milk is a classic cause of iron deficiency in young children." (Full article, click here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007134.htm#Definition) Thank you for your time, and please help if you can.... -Arien Muzacz [log in to unmask] Note from linda palmer: -- Now that's a skinny baby if I ever saw one (?? below). He's in the 25 percentile for breastfed babies and has met all of his milestones of walking, babbling, coordination... and grandmother said (in the newspaper article) that the boy was always happy before this occurred. A malnourished child is not "always happy," i guarantee. Ellen Penchuk, IBCLC, RLC *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html