Vegetarian Infants

[Guest guest]

Gah. I'm not even due for another 6 weeks, and

already I'm getting static from my m-i-l (which I

expected) and my mom (which I didn't!) about raising

my child as a vegetarian. My mom's always been

supportive of my not eating meat, especially after the

first couple of years when she noticed that I still

hadn't died of protein deficiency, but she's just not

sure about a baby being able to get nutrition from

plants. My m-i-l probably won't be happy about it

ever, but she'll at least listen to well-informed

nutritional information and I don't expect her to try

to slip the baby meat juice in a bottle or anything

difficult like that.

 

So I've got about 7-8 months to do as much research as

I can on vegetarian infant nutrition. (At least both

moms recognize breastfeeding as the best thing for the

first six months.) What resources have y'all found

helpful? I'm looking for ones that are either

practical (what the heck do I feed this kid?) or have

a lot of scientific data, or both, if possible.

 

Thanks in advance

 

-kt

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

My 14-year old daughter has been vegetarian all her life and is the picture

of hale, hearty health. Her mom breastfed her for first 15 months, and that

gave her all the benefits (which last for many years afterwards, scientists

have discovered). All the other kids in neighborhood (and--ugh!--daycare for

2 years) had frequent colds, infections, etc., but my daughter rarely had

such, perhaps a ratio of 8:1 compared to the non veg kids.

 

Yes, she has lagged a bit in height growth, but both her parents are short,

and now that she is a teen, she is still growing fast and the other kids have

slowed down. She is not the shortest kid in class anymore!

 

Neither I nor her mom were knowledgeable about diets for infants, and took A

LOT of flak from relatives. But we stuck to our convictions. Best advice I

can give is to get one of those little masher tools and when baby is ready to

start eating a few solids (maybe 6 months, first starting with some fruits

like bananas), just give the baby a bit of what you are eating, mashed up.

 

No regrets and the glow of pride nowadays, as our daughter turns on all her

other friends to vegetariansm. It's now the COOL thing, ya' know, with kids!

 

John

Atlanta

a11000

 

 

In a message dated 3/17/03 8:56:56 AM, bokodasu writes:

 

<< Gah. I'm not even due for another 6 weeks, and

already I'm getting static from my m-i-l (which I

expected) and my mom (which I didn't!) about raising

my child as a vegetarian. My mom's always been

supportive of my not eating meat, especially after the

first couple of years when she noticed that I still

hadn't died of protein deficiency, but she's just not

sure about a baby being able to get nutrition from

plants. My m-i-l probably won't be happy about it

ever, but she'll at least listen to well-informed

nutritional information and I don't expect her to try

to slip the baby meat juice in a bottle or anything

difficult like that.

 

So I've got about 7-8 months to do as much research as

I can on vegetarian infant nutrition. (At least both

moms recognize breastfeeding as the best thing for the

first six months.) What resources have y'all found

helpful? I'm looking for ones that are either

practical (what the heck do I feed this kid?) or have

a lot of scientific data, or both, if possible.

 

Thanks in advance

 

-kt

>>

[Guest guest]

I have two vegan daughters ages 6 1/2 and 4. My favorite book when they

were infants was " Pregnancy, Children, and the Vegan Diet " by Michael

Klaper. A great one that I found recently is available from The Physicians

Committee for Responsible Medicine called " Healthy Eating for Life for

Children " . It's written by doctors so that's a big plus when trying to

influence MILs and Moms. Go to the pcrm.org website and I think it's under

resources and then online marketplace. Good Luck!

 

 

 

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> Digest Number 625

>28 Mar 2003 10:26:02 -0000

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>For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at

>http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to

>http://www.vrg.org/family.

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