Pureed carrots, along with other foods, are healthy, of course. Gayvoronskaya_Yana/Shutterstock

In March 2018, two parents in Australia took their 19-month-old daughter to the hospital after she had a seizure, the Australian Broadcasting Company reported on Thursday.

Doctors found that the baby was severely malnourished because her parents had fed her a vegan diet of rice milk, tofu, vegetables, and fruit.

She had no teeth and thinning bones because of her malnourishment, the ABC report said.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children should eat foods from all five food groups, including dairy, meat, nuts, seeds, and eggs.

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In March 2018, two parents in Australia took their daughter to the hospital after she had a seizure. Once there, doctors found that the girl was severely malnourished and had rickets, a condition in which children's bones are softer and weaker because they are deficient in vitamin D, according to the Mayo Clinic.

In December, the parents pleaded guilty to causing danger or serious injury to their baby, acknowledging that they fed their daughter a vegan diet that included tofu, rice milk, vegetables, fruit, and oats, the Australian Broadcasting Company reported on Thursday.

Doctors said the girl's bones didn't develop properly because of her nutrient deficiencies, and a foster-care provider who met the 19-month-old said she looked just 3 months old because of her condition and had no teeth, according to the ABC report.

Now the child is being watched by other family members, and her parents have supervised visits with her, the report said.

Though raising a child vegan doesn't always lead to such severe consequences, this toddler's story illustrates how dangerous a restrictive diet can be for a developing child.

"We do see kids who aren't growing properly when parents limit certain things in a child's diet," Dr. Tanya Altmann, a pediatrician and executive board member of the American Academy of Pediatrics who wrote "What to Feed Your Baby," told Health.com in 2017. "It's commonly seen in vegan families, and we sometimes need to intervene. If they work with a pediatrician or registered dietitian, it should be fine."

It's difficult for children to get all the nutrients they need when food options are limited

While it's possible to raise a healthy child on a vegan diet, it's certainly more difficult than raising a child who can eat from every food group. Children typically get calcium and vitamin D from animal products like milk and eggs to help their bones grow strong, but vegan diets don't allow those foods.

A glass of cow's milk has 8 to 10 grams of protein per serving, but alternatives like almond milk contain only 1 gram. The lack of nutrients means parents have to be extra cognizant of feeding their child protein from other plant-based sources, like nuts, seeds, and lentils.

Read more: How to tell if you're getting enough protein

Altmann told Health.com that a whole-foods vegan diet could be started for a child as early as 6 months but that it should include plenty of protein from plant-based sources. Before then, the baby should be breastfed or given a soy-milk formula, she said.

Still, research has found that kids between the ages of 2 and 6 who drink milk from cows and eat eggs as part of their diets have better growth rates than kids who skip out on those foods.

If parents aren't tracking what their child is eating to ensure they get proper nutrients while vegan, or if they skip out on developmental check-ins with their pediatrician, it could result in malnourishment and health problems.

Because of the risks associated with eliminating foods groups during such a key developmental period in a kid's life, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends kids eat foods from all five main food groups. This includes meat, fish, eggs, and dairy - all products that vegans don't eat.

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