Vegan diets for infants

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Vegan diets are healthful at all stages of the lifecycle—and that includes

infancy. In fact, all babies start out as vegetarians. Vegan infants who are

breastfed need vitamin B12 supplements, but other than that, their diet won't

look different from omnivore babies until they are around seven months old.

 

Breast milk is the ideal food for any baby and should be offered until at least

the first birthday. If breastfeeding isn't possible or needs to be supplemented,

commercial infant formula, including soy-based formula, can replace all or part

of it in an infant's diet.

 

For the first four to six months of life, babies don't need—and shouldn't

have—anything other than breast milk or infant formula. It may look like a

boring and unsatisfying diet, but it suits an infant's needs perfectly. Some

vegetables can actually be dangerous to very young babies—those younger than

four months.

 

Babies are ready for solid foods between the ages of four and six months. One

sign of readiness is the ability to sit up and maintain balance. Another is the

ability to use the tongue to move food to the back of the mouth for swallowing.

That takes a little practice for any baby, but very young ones can't do it at

all.

 

The first food for infants is usually an iron-fortified infant cereal. Rice

cereal is a good choice since it is unlikely to cause allergies. Mix it with

formula or breast milk and feed it from a spoon—not a bottle. Once a baby is

used to cereal and eating around 1/3 cup per day, begin to introduce mashed

fruits and vegetables like applesauce, banana, pureed peaches or pears, strained

white and sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans and avocado.

 

At around seven months, your baby will be ready to drink apple juice from a cup

and explore some protein-rich foods like legumes (cook them thoroughly and then

puree them), well-mashed tofu, and soy yogurt. This is a good time to start

introducing vegetables with a stronger flavor like kale and collards. Temper

their flavor by pureeing them with bland or sweet foods like applesauce, tofu,

or avocado.

 

Infants are usually ready for finger foods like chunks of tofu or meat analogs,

bread and crackers at age 10 months and by the first birthday they can have

almond butter or tahini (but not peanut butter) spread thinly on crackers.

 

Here are a few things to keep in mind when introducing a vegan diet to a new

family member:

 

• Talk to your pediatrician about supplements of vitamin D and vitamin B12.

 

• When your baby is ready for solid foods, introduce them one at a time,

offering one new food every three or four days. This makes it easy to identify

any food allergies right away.

 

• Delay introduction of certain foods that are most likely to cause allergies.

Infants should not have citrus juice before 8 months or tree nuts (almonds,

walnuts, etc) before the first birthday. Peanut butter shouldn't be offered

until age two.

 

• Never give babies unpasteurized juice or cider or any kind of corn syrup or

honey, all of which can cause illness.

 

• Be careful not to overdo it with juices. Too much juice can cause a baby's

diet to be poorly balanced and can also cause diarrhea. Limit your infant to 8

ounces of juice per day.

 

• Don't give a baby any milk other than breast milk or infant formula before the

first birthday. Regular soy milk doesn't have the right balance of nutrients for

infants and shouldn't be offered until the first birthday. Many families choose

to continue with breast milk or soy infant formula beyond the first year.

 

• Don't offer foods that can cause choking like whole tofu hotdogs, popcorn,

nuts, hard candies, grapes, or nut and seed butters.

 

• Don't salt or sweeten foods.