Baby death: Parents convicted of killing son with diet of vegetable milk

Identified as Peter S Sandrina V, the parents, who owned a health food store, were given a six-month suspended jail term after being found guilty of the death of their son, Lucas. At the time of his death, Lucas, dehydrated and malnourished, weighed just under 10 pounds. The parents said they set his diet because Lucas was lactose—and gluten—intolerant, but prosecutors were skeptical. “The parents determined their own diagnosis that their child was gluten intolerant and had a lactose allergy,” lawyers said.The father, Peter S, said Lucas was never taken to the doctor because the parents never noticed anything unusual about his health. “Sometimes he gained a little weight, sometimes he lost a little. We never wished for the death of our son,” said Sandrina V.The court found that the parents ignored warning signs of the baby’s deteriorating health. In addition to weighing less than half the expected weight of a 7-month-old, the baby’s organs had shrunk to half the normal size, and were not insulated by fat. The parents had been warned by doctors that the alternative diet was not healthy for a child that young.The death was “the result of the systematic offer of food which was not suitable,” said Judge Mieke Butstraen.