Question

Frank and Jan W. are the proud parents of Jesse, an 18-month-old child who has been breastfed from birth. Jesse was 7 pounds 1 ounce at birth and at her last check-up she weighed 20 pounds. Jesse’s mom breastfeeds her in the morning and before putting her to bed at night. During the day, Jesse drinks juice and water from a cup. Jesse’s parents have been feeding her a vegan diet since her birth, citing a strong family history of heart disease as their reason for this choice. Jesse’s current diet includes a variety of chopped fruit, vegetables, cereal, mashed beans, and soy-based cheeses. Both parents want the best for their child and are carefully considering whether to continue her current diet restrictions.

1. Using the "How to" feature, plot Jesse’s birth weight and her current weight for age. What might this information indicate to Jesse’s parents?
2. What components of a Jesse’s diet may contribute to her low rate of weight gain? Explain.
3. In view of her current diet, what nutrition strategies might Jesse’s parents consider to improve her weight gain? Give specific examples.
4. As Jesse is weaned from breast milk, what vegan foods might be added to her diet to prevent nutrient deficiencies?

Answer 1

1. Using the 'How to' feature, the weight of Jesse should be 22.5 pounds. But the current weight of Jesse is 20 pound which means she is underweight. She has less protein intake then what she should have as she ahs vegan diet.

As per reports, a vegan diet can have negative impact to an infant and for a growing child. But one make it abundant with protein with proper diet planning and also by vitamins.

2. As Jesse does not take breastmilk, she should take enough quantity of calcium, B12-based soy milk and vitamin D. As it was reported that if we someone continuously taking of insufficient amount of essential nutrients that leads to deficiencies in the body.

As Jesse is on vegan diet, so she must take more iron and zinc content food. The vegan diet which she takes is also low in cholesterol, animal protein and saturated fat. So all these including low content of calcium, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acid, riboflavin and iodine contributes to the low rate of weight gain of Jesse.

3. For the weight gain, Jesse must not strictly follow a vegan diet or even if she follows a vegetarian diet, she should include equal amounts of protein rich food, vitamins and some good fats.

If one is avoiding animal protein, then he or she should include lots of diary products to get enough of vitamins and energy.

A well balanced protein diet food is essential for all.

4. Jesse should take green vegetable as much as she can. She should include in her diet varieties of pulses, diary products such as milk, cheese, butter. She should also take B-12 soy milk.