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IELTS Topic: HEALTH
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Baby disabled by nutrient-poor diet
Original source: The Age
The parents of a baby girl who put their daughter on a strict vegan diet, starving her of vital nutrients to the point she developed cerebral palsy, won’t face jail despite a judge finding they failed in their basic parental duties.
… a baby girl on a strict vegan diet … developed cerebal palsy
The child was one when in August 2018 she was taken to a Victorian hospital where she was found to have bruising over her body, was cool to the touch, lethargic and had dark-coloured blood in her nappy. Doctors found a level of malnutrition akin to children in famine-hit countries.
From when the baby was four months old and her mother’s breast milk supply waned, her parents shunned medical advice to supplement their daughter’s diet with formula and instead fed her coconut milk, fruit juices, smoothies, plant-based foods and formula the father made.
A County Court judge on Monday said the girl, now aged three, faced daily struggles in her cognitive development, physical functioning and communication, and found her life’s course was altered by her parents’ actions.
The judge said she would normally jail the parents but that would cause greater harm to a child already utterly dependent on her parents. She found the girl was now well cared for by her mother and has a healthy and nutritious diet.
The father has moderated his views on nutrition and now eats meat.