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

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2020 Sep 5

PMID 32887223

Citations 7

Authors

Ilaria Farella

Raffaella Panza

Maria Elisabetta Baldassarre

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

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.

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