# Babies fed a homemade alkaline-diet were hospitalized with rickets and brain damage



## Leeda.the.Paladin (Aug 26, 2021)

Three babies were hospitalized with rickets and other serious deficiencies linked to homemade formula.
The alkaline-diet formulas contained ingredients like sea moss, coconut water, and hemp seeds.
Sea moss is a good source of iodine, but too much can be dangerous, especially in children.








Infants are being hospitalized with rickets and brain injuries after being fed homemade alkaline-diet formulas, according to a new report out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
he formulas, presumably based on the celebrity-endorsed alkaline diet, contained ingredients like sea moss, hemp seeds, dates, coconut water and alkaline water, but insufficient nutrients like                                                      vitamin D                            and calcium. 

The alkaline diet, which has little scientific support, promotes the idea that eating alkaline foods (like raw fruits and veggies, nuts, legumes, and soy) and limiting acidic foods (like animal products and grains) helps the body maintain a healthy PH and reap health benefits. 

The authors of the report say the babies' cases illustrate the dangers of homemade formulas, emphasizing that breast milk and commercial formulas contain the vitamins and nutrients babies need for optimal growth and development. 


One baby needed to be resuscitated, and all had bone deformities​The report describes three babies in three states who experienced life-threatening deficiencies believed to be linked to their formulas. 

*One 4-month old who'd been on an alkaline formula for a month had to be intubated and receive mechanical ventilation after he became unresponsive at home. Despite the emergency services, which also included IV fluid replacement, the baby suffered multiple episodes of cardiac arrest and a severely low heart rate. 

After being resuscitated, doctors found he'd suffered brain damage due to a lack of oxygen, as well as serious electrolyte deficiencies. He also had symptoms of rickets, or the softening and weakening of bones due to an extreme                                                      vitamin D deficiency                          . 

Another baby, a five-month old, went to the ER with stiffened limbs, bluish skin, and breathing issues after two months on an alkaline-diet formula. Tests showed low calcium levels and bone deformities indicative of rickets. He was given an IV loaded with calcium and                                                      magnesium                          , and sent home after being put on a commercial infant formula. *


*The third baby, a nine-month-old boy, arrived at the hospital after five days of irritability. He was found to be small and short for his age, and had a misshapen head. He couldn't sit up by himself and had poor motor skills. Tests also showed the baby was deficient in calcium, vitamin D, and iodine. He was given supplements and discharged to a long-term care facility.*

The authors cautioned parents to steer clear of homemade formulas, which can lead to long-term developmental consequences and life-threatening conditions like                                                      heart failure                           . The CDC and the FDA have strongly advised against such formulas. 

Too much or too little iodine, found in sea moss, can be dangerous​Even though the alkaline diet isn't science-backed, it can still be healthy for adults. But attempting to create an alkaline-diet infant formula is risky. 

Sea moss, an ingredient in each of the three infants' formulas, contains heavy amounts of iodine, which is an essential nutrient for growth and development. The third baby, whose parents stopped including sea moss in his formula a few months prior to hospitalization, needed iodine supplementation. 


But it's also possible to consume too much iodine. The nutrient should only be eaten in small amounts, especially in children. 

Too much iodine can also cause thyroid damage and interfere with hormone balance, according to WebMD. The third infant in the report had a thyroid stimulating hormone level of 94,600 mU/L; a normal level is 0.5 to five mU/L. 

It's unclear how much sea moss the infants in the report consumed.


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Aug 26, 2021)

Yall putting newborns on alkaline diets and feeding them sea moss now?


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## dancinstallion (Aug 26, 2021)

Cuz breastfeeding is not good enough, too time consuming, and too much like right. Regular formula just wasnt good enough either. What is the point of putting a baby on an Alkaline diet?
People have really lost their minds.


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## Sosoothing (Aug 26, 2021)

Stuff like this angers me. Poor babies!


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## LostInAdream (Aug 26, 2021)

What in the world?? I could barely stick to an alkaline diet. Why would a baby need to be alkaline they are fresh out of the best environment possible. They have nothing to correct.


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## B_Phlyy (Aug 26, 2021)

dancinstallion said:


> Cuz breastfeeding is not good enough, too time consuming, and too much like right. Regular formula just wasnt good enough either. What is the point of putting a baby on an Alkaline diet?
> People have really lost their minds.


Seriously. Like, why couldn't the mom eat the alkaline diet and breastfeed?


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## nysister (Aug 26, 2021)

Those poor children. They didn't deserve this. I hope the parents are charged with attempted homicide.


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## madamdot (Sep 11, 2021)

Too many people think just because something comes from nature it must be good for everyone and everything. Sea moss? Coconut water? For babies?

And it didn’t occur to them to change something when the babies were not flourishing? Even with breastfeeding I changed my diet when I realized certain thing didn’t agree with my baby.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.


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## LivingInPeace (Sep 11, 2021)

Because celebrities know better than pediatricians. Sea moss...you go through all this effort to whip up formulas to kill your baby. Just don’t have them. Why torture them with sea moss and coconut water?


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## naturalgyrl5199 (Sep 11, 2021)

These people must live under the radar from basic society. If you are communicating with others, following social media, GETTING REGULAR medical check ups, a doctor would have caught this. People complain to me all the time (especially the so-called naturalist parents) about frequent doctor visits the first 6 months. I ask them: do you know what retractions look like if your baby is struggling for air? Do you know how to properly assess a baby's skin turgor in the event of possible malnutrition? Can you assess if your baby has a tongue tie? Do you know the physical signs of dehydration based on the baby's skull (very hard to see in black babies---my own infant had a thick cap of hair at birth--even the doctors saw it in the ultrasound). Most of them CANNOT answer most of these questions. Malnutrition in babies can creep up on you if you are not paying attention. MOST parents are because we are ALWAYS comparing our baby's growth. Which is why I suspect these parents live under the radar for other reasons...There was a black cult in Georgia accused of this.

This is why When Summer Walker posted her baby's "formula" she didn't understand why people were freaking out. Then she had the nerve to (I think) say breastmilk has a lot of toxins. But the word is, she can't stay out the club, and most likely struggled due to her implants.

I also tell people that humans aren't really designed to be vegans. It works in adults but not human infant mammals. Breastmilk--is NOT vegan. Its a milk of a human mammal....
I tell anyone who is pressed, just use all your money to buy the most expensive, fancy TESTED infant formula that's developmentally appropriate.


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## naturalgyrl5199 (Sep 11, 2021)

Last rant:
I stopped following CHef Ahki bc I like her but when she had her baby, she did make a homemade formula for him that was sea-moss based. People begged for the recipe. I knew people were gonna take a stab at it, and fail miserably or come up with something similar but not up to par. My issue is that she sources really really expensive ingredients (pretty difficult for the average person to get, money and availability wise) and being that she is 1) educated on food chemistry and nutrition 2) rich-as a celebrity chef, she would stand a good chance at having a better quality homemade formula. You have to do a LOT of research on HOW to properly prepare infant formula from scratch. There IS a recipe out there, but its super hard, and requires a lot of ingredients and cooking, boiling, reducing, pulverizing, etc. She also has access to super high quality chef-level commercial kitchen equipment and could buy, or rent at any time. The other issue is 3) She was still nursing. A lot. But she was back in the streets as a celeb chef really fast and likely couldn't keep up a good pumping regimen. And she started the baby on this homemade supplement when he was over 4-5 months old. Well past a critical period of development.... But the point is it wasn't right away. And she nursed him a good bit after his 1st birthday. She glossed over the part that she was still breastfeeding him..... a ton...and spent more time highlighting the fact that she had a "SLIGHTLY" lower milk supply, but not inadequate. Then when he was on solids, it was high quality vegan food. And he thrived. But he may have gotten 1-2 bottles of that a day....because she knew he couldn't live off that stuff as a SOLE SOURCE of NUTRITION. But the masses will not do as well. I hated her sleight of hand. She sold a lot of baby recipe books including her formula, and I was pissed. Because again, she had people thinking she had a low low milk supply. You don't get to 12+ mos of nursing with a tiny supply....when he had gotten past his first birthday and she was celebrating her BF goal...I knew right then what she had done.
A lot of people who turn to homemade formula have huge breastfeeding failures BUT/AND are generally anti-establishment, vegan-ish in some form or fashion and see standard infant formula as dubious, especially as most is cow-milk or soy based..... Its not poison...its just not human milk. You can now get more plant-based higher quality formulas. Still 1000 miles away from human milk but they do what formula do and thats help babies grow and thrive when breastmilk, donor milk, milk sharing isn't available. These fancy formulas are super expensive and so many companies are jumping in:
Honest Diapers
Plum Organics Baby food
'Happy Baby' Baby food
Whole Foods 365 Company
Walmart/Parents Choice
Similac & Enfamil have reformulated their organic formula
Burts Bees
Sprout baby food
and new companies with Plant based (pea or soy protein) based like Else and Bobbie

All of these are "organic." They will do what they need to do. But despite all this effort to come away from milk based choices and offer alternatives, there are still the Summer Walkers and Chef Ahki's out there saying one thing, doing something else, and undermining people who are NOT RICH and have to stretch their dollars but genuinely want something thats not cows milk or soy based. And its sad and babies suffer.


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