Parenthood is perhaps one of the biggest joys in a person’s life, at least according to most parents. So of course, after taking care of the infant while it’s in the womb, and then when it’s outside will in most lucky cases result in the parent wanting to take care of it. Sadly for two parents in Spain, their 11 month old baby developed scurvy after almond milk diet.
- The baby was 11 months old when he developed scurvy
- Doctors from the Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe de Valencia wrote about the infant in the journal Pediatrics
- Having an exclusive almond milk diet is what caused the disease
- The doctors warn against not feeding your baby the necessary substances it needs
- Despite mostly being associated with pirates, scurvy is still occurring nowadays, although quite rarely
This case is made especially sad because of the parents’ actual intention to keep the baby safe and healthy, and because the infant’s doctor recommended the almond milk diet in the first place.
As it turns out, the baby was being fed a regular cow milk based formula until he was about two and a half months old. He then began developing some skin rashes, and this is where it all began.
Of course, seeing their baby with skin rashes alarmed the parents, which then proceeded to take the child to the doctor. The doctor decided to recommend a new diet, focused entirely on an almond milk based formula.
The baby seemed to like it, and the rashes even went away, but by the time it turned six months old, the parents realized that something was probably wrong.
As the parents tried to feed the baby fruits and vegetables, it not only refused, but appeared to become more irritable and stopped being interested in what was going on around him.
As time progressed, the baby started exhibiting more symptoms, crying every time someone moved his legs and becoming more and more irritable.
Another visit to the doctor yielded the answer to the child’s problem – he had multiple femur fractures, and his vitamin C levels were abnormally low, both indicators of scurvy.
The baby was then issued a diet of mixture, meat, and fruit, as well as vitamin C and D replacement therapies.
It turns out that almond milk exclusive diet was responsible for the baby’s condition, as pretty much anything except breast milk and proper formula lack the vitamin C and other substances so needed by a developing infant.
Image source: Wikimedia
RedParrot says
It’s sad that people are this stupid.
James P. Wallach says
Breast milk is the best milk.
Sharon O says
So why didn’t they try goats milk. That is usually what physicians recommended in the past.