A RUSSIAN influencer was jailed after letting his newborn starve to death and demanding he should merely live on sunlight instead of food.

“Raw food fanatic“ Maxim Lyutyi, 44, has been serving his sentence in a high security penal colony since April – but has now been slapped with a harsher punishment.

Lyutyi’s son Kosmos, who was born prematurely, died from “pneumonia and emaciation“ due to poor feeding habits.

The Russian father wanted to raise the newborn on prana-eating — a diet in which people go without food and water for a long time and “feed on the sun“.

Lyutyi was initially found guilty of causing “intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm” by insisting the baby be nourished mainly on sunlight in April.

He was sentenced to eight years, the court in Sochi heard, and reportedly handed a £860 fine.

Now a court has ruled that he should serve ten instead of eight years for the death of Kosmos – who tragically died before he was one month old.

“He wanted to experiment on the child, feed him purely with the sun, and then advertise it to others that this is how you can eat,” said one source.

He also took the baby away from his mother for a day at a time “dousing him with cold water to harden him“, reported Mash news outlet.

“But even in this condition, the child was not shown to doctors.

“The little body could not withstand the abuse: exhaustion developed and breathing problems appeared.“

The lifestyle blogger admitted his guilt in a final court appearance in April and said the death was caused due to his “negligence“.

“I admit my guilt,” he said.

“If I knew that my son was born prematurely, that his mother had contraindications for pregnancy, then at the first symptoms of the child’s illness, I would immediately contact a hospital, regardless of the wishes and beliefs of the mother”.

The baby’s mother Oxana Mironova, 34, was earlier sentenced to two years non-custodial correctional labour over the child’s death.

Lyutyi had changed his plea to admit his guilt having earlier blamed mum Mironova.

He was also accused of barring Mironova from breastfeeding the child.

Prosecutors had appealed the sentence arguing it was too lenient.

He had claimed she had an iron deficiency as a result of her dietary choices that caused the death of the baby, which weighed just three-and-a-half pounds.

Contrary to his own strictures, Lyutyi was found to be eating meat and pasta with stew as he was held in a Russian jail before trial.

Mironova’s mother, Galina, accused the sinister Lyutyi of running a “sect”.

“I was against my daughter being in this sect,” she said.

“I felt everything, and told her that Maxim was crazy, but she didn’t listen to me.

“Oxana lived there like a guinea pig. She was his slave.”

Another of Mironiva’s relatives, who remains anonymous, said she was “afraid“ of Lyutyi – known to be a “radical raw food fanatic”.

“She wanted to leave him many times, but he held her back…,“ they said.

“He wanted to raise [his son into] a man who only eats the sun.”

YOUNG babies should be introduced to a varied diet to ensure they get all proper nutrients as they grow up.

Parents should start feeding their infants solid food, alongside breast milk it first infant formula when they are around six months of age.

This gives babies the time needed for them to cope with solid food, and they become more able to feed themselves as they grow.

To start with, your baby only needs a small amount of solid food, once a day.

Single vegetables and fruits like broccoli, potato, yam, sweet potato, carrot, apple or pear are excellent options – and should be given in a blended or mashed form.

You could also try baby rice mixed with your baby’s usual milk.

Make sure any cooked food has cooled right down before offering it to your baby.

Source: NHS