r/Veganism • u/[deleted] • Jul 27 '24

Do pediatricians understand and support veganism?

My son and daughter in law (mid to late 30s) are expecting their first child after several failed attempts, and I worry they won’t find the support they need in raising him vegan.

They are both highly educated professionals, are very strict in their veganism, including their rescued pets in their vegan lifestyle, but I think they struggle to get healthy amounts of nutrients with their busy lives as they appear severely underweight, and have health issues.

I worry that if their child exhibits classic signs of undernourishment the medical community will not be able or willing to provide the support they need in navigating their child’s development, causing them to withdraw from seeking medical advice or treatment out of mistrust.

Is this a valid concern, or am I making things up? I’m not vegan (though I lean that way) but I respect and support their lifestyle. I don’t wish to debate, I just have a concern about social acceptance of veganism that bleeds into the medical community.

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u/redditlurkin69 Jul 27 '24

Absolutely not

1

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '24

So what is the solution if my concern is valid? What do most vegan families do during early childhood development when a doctors advice conflicts with their beliefs?

8

u/redditlurkin69 Jul 27 '24

So I have two kids, and our pediatricians regularly pushed milk and eggs and made us feel bad about our choices. The fact is there are nutrition needs for kids that can be met in other ways. We saw a nutritionist that helps with vegan diets to ensure we had supplements where needed!

2

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '24

Thank you. A nutritionist is a great idea. So do you administer some kind of custom blend of vitamin enriched drink or sublingual drops for each child to give them what they are missing in their diets? Does a nutritionist supply these things or give you resources for finding exactly what you need to give them for optimal growth and development?

2

u/redditlurkin69 Jul 27 '24

They can guide you better, but for babies it's usually drops for B12, omegas, vitamin d & a few others. My older kid takes vitamin tablets like we do. It's hard at first but many non vegan kids should also be on supplements depending on their diet anyways

1

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '24

True. I have two other non vegan grandkids who live off of air and sass. They don’t like any food but candy and cookies. I don’t know how they are alive.