An Australian couple who fed their baby daughter a strict vegan diet, leaving her severely malnourished, have avoided a prison sentence. The parents, in their 30s and who cannot be named, were sentenced to an 18-month jail term to be served as a community order at Sydney's Downing Centre Court on Thursday.
The girl, now three, was so malnourished at 19 months that she resembled a three-month-old. She was fed a diet of oats, potatoes, toast and rice, and had no teeth when taken into care in March 2018 after her mother called emergency services following a seizure. The child presented with blue lips, cold hands and feet, low blood sugar and little muscle tone.
Judge Sarah Huggett criticised the parents for providing a 'completely inadequate' diet, stating the child was 'severely malnourished, underweight and undersized and delayed as far as age-appropriate milestones were concerned.' The foster carer noted the baby could not sit up, speak, feed herself, play with toys or roll over.
The judge said the parents were 'initially unable to accept that their daughter's condition was due to malnutrition.' The mother suffered from depression and became 'increasingly fixated' on her beliefs, including the vegan diet. The father did 'nothing at all to address' the condition.
Each parent pleaded guilty to failing to provide for a child and causing serious injury. They received an 18-month intensive corrections order and 300 hours of community service.
