A Belgian court has found the parents of a 7-month-old baby who died after being fed a diet of vegetable milk guilty of his unintentional death. The court charged them with a six month suspended sentence.

Baby Lucas — who weighed just 9.5 pounds at the time of his death in June 2014, whose stomach was completely devoid of food, who was severely dehydrated, and whose organs had shrunk to half the normal size — is reported to have refused formula once his mother was unable to produce breast milk, so his parents, health food store owners identified only as Peter S. and Sandrina V. of Beveren near Antwerp, fed him a diet comprised strictly of milk from oats, buckwheat, quinoa, and rice. The couple also revealed that they suspected Lucas was lactose intolerant and attempted to provide him sustenance that agreed with his body.

In addition to providing inadequate nutrition to their infant son, investigators discovered that the couple also did not seek medical care for him during his short life with the exception of a visit to a homeopathic doctor just before Lucas passed away. Even when he was gasping for breath and clearly unwell. Even when his weight gain was non-existent.

The couple’s lawyer did submit evidence that they attempted to take care of Lucas as best they could, citing his mother’s routine of getting up multiple times during the night to feed him.

I feel terrible, both for the child and the parents for their loss (the fact that they were ultimately responsible for it notwithstanding). And YET, I can’t help but also feel extremely angry that this happened.

Listen. I’m the first to line up and say feeding a baby can be difficult (and that’s an understatement). While my older two boys were a walk in the park to feed, my third? Not so much. He barely slept the first 3 months of his life, which meant neither did we. No matter which AAP-recommended milk we tried to feed him, it was clear his little tummy wasn’t having it.

So what did we do?

We powered through. We sought guidance from his pediatrician, offered him soothing tummy tablets, purchased a cradle that would help elevate him and alleviate his indigestion, found something that he could at least tolerate to eat, and made sure his doctors were aware of and monitoring his progress. What we did NOT do, however, is feed him something every medical practitioner agrees is not sufficient for babies and deny him any sort of medical attention for his condition.

I mean, 9 POUNDS? At 7 months old? My second son weighed more than baby Lucas at birth. How could the parents wait so long to take him to see someone? There is nothing that suggests this child’s development was typical. I would hope anyone, least of all health food aficionados, would have the common sense to seek medical treatment for an infant clearly in trouble.

At the end of the day, nothing can bring baby Lucas back to life. My only hope is this story serves as a reminder to all parents to be vigilant about their children’s healthcare.