I understand there are plenty of myths and misconceptions.
So let's look at what the experts say.
"Breastmilk is the number one choice for many new moms, including vegan ones. It contains antibodies that protect babies from infection, plays a role in the prevention of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and can lower a child’s risk of developing asthma and allergies later in life. Many vegan mothers are asked if they plan to breastfeed their babies, with the misunderstanding that vegans eschew even human milk. But whether to breastfeed is a choice that humans get to make, while cows and other animals abused for dairy production don’t."
- PETA
Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of your baby’s life. It is also recommended that you continue to breastfeed until your child is at least two years old.
- Vegan Society
Vegans think that a mother’s milk is the perfect food… for her baby.
Humans’ milk is the perfect food for human babies. Goats’ milk is the perfect food for goats. Sheep’s milk is the perfect food for lambs.
- Cadry's Kitchen
"Many
vegans actually push the importance of
breastfeeding, regardless of the baby potentially losing their "
vegan" status according to some. Some debate that the reason
vegans don't eat animal products but human fluids (including but not limited to
breast milk) can be considered
vegan is because you can obtain consent."
- Cafe mom.
Mothers, and others, often wonder if a vegan diet is sufficient to support the nutritional needs of a breastfeeding mother and her baby. It may be useful to consider that in many parts of the world a vegan diet is the norm and mothers and babies in those cultures have been healthy for thousands of years.
- LLLC
Baby Starved by vegan mother
Snopes: False
The older daughter died of Pneumonia that was untreated. The younger daughter was found to be in perfect health
"I saw an eight-month-old child breastfed by her vegan mother and found her in perfect health," The doctor said
A vegetarian or vegan mother does not need to take any special dietary precautions as long as she is maintaining a diet with adequate amounts of vitamin B12, calcium and zinc. This is something that mom needs to do for herself, even if she is not breastfeeding.
- Kelly Bonyata, IBCLC
Natalie Portman breastfed her daughter during a meeting
and it was apparently 'elegant'
As Dakhil, a CAA agent, explained, “Only in true Natalie Portman elegance and strength — she was breastfeeding in one hand and planning the Golden Globes on the other.”
- Yahoo News
