‘Does being vegetarian affect your brain?’: couple wanting to give baby coconut or soy instead of breast milk shocks millions online
- A vegetarian couple with a newborn shock obstetrician with a question about switching breast milk for coconut or soy milk
- In a media interview afterwards, doctor urges parents of newborns to educate themselves about infant nutrition
An obstetrician in China has urged new parents to educate themselves about infant nutrition after being approached by a vegetarian couple who wanted to know which was the better breast milk substitute — coconut milk or soy milk.
The doctor, surnamed Luo, from Chengdu in Sichuan province, southwestern China, said he was making his rounds last weekend when he heard an infant crying loudly, Bailu Video reported.
Recognising the sound of a hungry baby, Luo asked the parents why they were not feeding the one-day-old child breast milk.
The baby’s mother explained she had produced only a little breast milk. She then mentioned that she and her husband are vegetarians and asked Luo which drink – coconut milk or soy milk – they should use as a substitute for feeding their baby.
“I was so astonished. I feel there is a real necessity to educate them on how to feed infants,” Luo said.
Luo said he told the parents the first choice for babies is a mother’s breast milk; however, if this is not readily available, baby milk formula was the next best option.