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[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Been absent from the list for a bit. Sorry. Just got on and then disappeared.

Life got really hectic for awhile. Seems they might be getting back to just

normal chaos now. LOL In answer to those who asked what caused DCF to

investigate our vegan lifestyle, it was an incident at my children's school. A

parent who believed that one moma cannot raise five children the same age at one

time without going biserk, witnessed an incident between opne of my son's and I

where he refused to go to class while I had a screaming daughter in my arms (she

had fallen in the parking lot when my other son inadvertently stepped on the

back of her shoe) and really messed up her knee and face. I was trying to get

the other kids to class so I could take her to the nurse when my one son decided

not to go to class. As a result, I firmly took him by the arm and got him to

class. This other parent decide that I was abusing him - all the while

standing by and watching rather than trying to help. Anyway, the caseworker

found no abuse, but when interviewing my children (without my knowledge), found

that we are vegan. Because Arielle is small (she was born at 1.4 lbs, 3 months

premature. Spent three months on a ventilator and 9 months on oxygen. She did

not have the benefit of co-bedding as the other four did, nor the benefit of

being kangaroo help or anything for the first three months. She is now 29

pounds and healthy as can be save a very mild case of asthma that never gives us

reason to treat her), she decided that it was our diet - not the previous stated

facts.

 

As far as a regular MD/DO versus a naturopath or homeopathic doc to keep

statistics - the choice is up to each individual parent. Let me say, though

that I need to preface this by saying that I do not have all the answers about

any of this. All I know is what we did and how it worked and is working for us.

Educating one's self about vegetarianism and veganism is and putting what we

learn from that education is the strongest tool we have against those who would

say that our way of life is not healthy. With that said, I will say what our

experiences have been and how we have dealt with them. We have a MD for one

reason - I never found a naturopath/homeopath who could handle quintuplets born

three months premature. It seems that their education does not cover this area

- at least this is what I found out when I was searching for a doc before my

children were brought home form the NICU. We have been with the same doctor

forever and are well pleased with him. We started with one doc who did not

condone our lifestyle. She kept trying to push Vienna sausage adn marshmallow

fluff on my kids. UGH!!! The one we have now understands that our children are

given herbs and homeopathic medicines. He is supportive of this. He is

supportive of our vegan diet. His daughter-in-law is vegetarian so this has

been helpful to him in learning about her also. It has also been helpful that

he was not " confronted " with it all at once. I did not find any naturopath

around here who was comfortable dealing with small babies let alone premature

babies, so we stuck with this doc. Somone asked about how to keep track of

their child's (children's) growth curves if they do not have a " regular "

pediatrician. Before all this stuff with DCF happened, I would have said if you

don't abuse your children, you don't have to worry. We have never abused our

children, but in Florida the law is that anyone can call into the child abuse

hotline anonymously and never have to accept responsibility for their actions.

I can see the merit in this, but I can also see where this places parents in a

quandry on how to discipline their children at times. All someone has to do is

disagree with what you are doing - be it abuse or far from it - and they can

call the hotline. I have known children to call in on their parents before

becasue they were mad at them. Very sad, but true. Anyway, I guess the fact

that we have a western doc helped end the investigation so quickly. He had the

accepted " official " records to show that my children were gaining weight well

(two gained 3 pounds in 8 months , two gained 5.5 lbs in 8 months and one gained

6.5 lbs in 8 months). We are very fortunate to have a doctor who recognizes

that an omnivorous diet is not the only diet and indeed is not the healthiest

diet and who recognizes that " modern " science is not the be all and end all in

the medical world. I guess I would say that if you choose to have a

" non-traditional " doc for your child (children), just ask him or her to keep

good records on their growth and health. Though I consider myself well educated

in regards to the vegan way of life and raising vegan chil;dren (thanx hugely to

written materials by and past conversations with Reed Mangels, Ph.D., RD and

written materials by Dr. Michael Klaper, MD- my two gurus), I still sought out

more information to make sure that I had all the ammunition possible with which

to fight DCF. This definitely helped. You'd be surprised how these people

think. For instance, the caseworker asked me if I knew that corn was one of my

son's favorite foods and why I did not feed it to him more often (I had told her

I did not feed my children corn often unless it was mixed with other things). I

told her that corn was pretty nutrient empty. She very strongly disagreed with

me until I pulled out a package of frozen corn I had in the freezer and showed

her. Being educated on your chosen diet and the nutrients needed for your

children's growth and development along with having a doctor (MD, ND, HD) keep

official records on their growth would be your best bets, I would think. Of

course seeing to their medical needs when they arise is another. I need to

reiterate that I AM NO EXPERT ON ANY OF THIS. I cannot give a formula for how

to deal with the DCF's in this country or how to raise a child so that the DCF

agencies do not intrude on anyone's lives. I can only relate what we went

through and how we dealt with it.

 

God's Peace,

Gayle - mom to Naomi, Ethan, Rebekah, Seth, and Arielle - 3/31/97

" But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing

stream. " Amos 5:24