The Difficult Alliance between Vegan Parents and Pediatrician: A Case Report

Ilaria Farella, Raffaella Panza and Maria Elisabetta Baldassarre
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Ilaria Farella: Departement of Pediatrics, Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital, 1020 Bruxelles, Belgium
Raffaella Panza: Departement of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, «Aldo Moro» University of Bari, 70100 Bari, Italy
Maria Elisabetta Baldassarre: Departement of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, «Aldo Moro» University of Bari, 70100 Bari, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-5

Abstract: The number of children on a vegetarian or vegan diet is gradually increasing. If not balanced and adequately supplemented, these dietary regimes can seriously impact the growth of children. Often the pediatrician is not perceived as a figure to rely on in the event of parents’ willingness to follow an alternative diet for their child. The feeling of distrust of parents towards the pediatrician can be dangerous for the health of the child. We present a 22-month-old boy with failure to thrive probably induced by an unbalanced vegetarian diet. The acquisition of the anamnestic data concerning the child’s diet was difficult because initially omitted by the parents. The poor compliance and the difficult follow-up highlights the difficulty in establishing a therapeutic alliance between parents who follow alternative regimens and the pediatrician.

Keywords: vegetarianism; children; failure to thrive (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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