Brussels: A Belgian court Wednesday gave suspended jail sentences to the parents of a seven-month-old baby who died of malnutrition after being fed with non-dairy milk as part of an alternative diet.
The parents of the baby, named only as Lucas in court, thought their son was suffering from an intolerance to lactose and gluten but had no medical evidence, the court ruled.
The couple owned an organic food shop, according to Belgian media.
Without consulting a doctor they gave him oat milk, rice milk, buckwheat milk and quinoa milk, after several attempts to feed him with normal powdered baby milk, the Belga news agency reported.
Lucas was dehydrated and weighed only 4.3 kilos (9 pounds four ounces) when he died.
"They were responsible for the death of their young child for intentionally not consulting a doctor. It is particularly serious," the head judge was quoted as saying by RTBF public television.
The parents, from Beveren, near the Flemish-speaking port city of Antwerp, were given six-month suspended sentences for unintentionally causing his death, although the prosecutor demanded 18 months.
"My clients never realised that their son's condition was cause for alarm. His health yo-yoed. They tried alternatives and that worked well. Sometimes he got a lot thinner but then he would get healthier, their lawyer Karine Van Meirvenne told RTBF.
The judgment came the same day as an unrelated ruling by the European Union's top court that products made from soya or tofu cannot be marketed with dairy names like milk or butter because they are only made of plant material.
