Guest guest Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 Hi everyone. My name is Tonia and I joined awhile ago, but things have been too hectic to keep up with anything besides my 6 month old baby girl, my husband, the house, work..... So now that the baby is finally manageable I'm trying to get back in touch with other vegetarians/vegans! I will be raising my daughter vegetarian (hopefully vegan) so I really need to start educating myself on how to keep her healthy. I'm NOT going to give her cow's milk when she turns one and so I need to start learning the answers to the questions from people (so not looking forward to that). If anyone has any book suggestion or websites that may be helpful, please let me know. Thanks! Tonia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 I'm sure everyone else will have tons of ideas re: raising veggie kids, but one of my favorite books is: The New Vegetarian Baby by Sharon K. Yntema and Christine H. Beard. It does discuss dairy and eggs, etc., but would be easy for vegans to use, too. My two solid-eating veggie children don't drink cow's milk, either, and in fact don't really like it, which makes sense. Here's where the info gleaned from Diet For a New America is helpful -when answering the questions of well-meaning in-laws, etc. Many people think I'm nuts, I'm sure, for not feeding them milk, but really there are so many good non-dairy, calcium-rich substitutes, it's a non-issue- except in their minds. And after eading Diet For a New America, I decided the whole calcium thing was really overblown anyway- especially if you're not eating all of those acid-forming foods to sap the calcium that you are taking in. Of course, all of the facts in the world don't help when trying to convince those of the 'old school', so I don't really bother anymore. I figure my children's good health is argument enough. Best of luck to you in the new and exciting land of solid foods for baby! , " vegton " <vegton wrote: > > Hi everyone. My name is Tonia and I joined awhile ago, but things have > been too hectic to keep up with anything besides my 6 month old baby > girl, my husband, the house, work..... > > So now that the baby is finally manageable I'm trying to get back in > touch with other vegetarians/vegans! I will be raising my daughter > vegetarian (hopefully vegan) so I really need to start educating myself > on how to keep her healthy. I'm NOT going to give her cow's milk when > she turns one and so I need to start learning the answers to the > questions from people (so not looking forward to that). > > If anyone has any book suggestion or websites that may be helpful, > please let me know. > > Thanks! > Tonia > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Welcome. When our son was a baby he pretty much loved all veggies, I think at 9 or 10 mo's you can start giving your child beans - cooked. We had good canned ones, low sodium organic and everything. We also did tofu in tiny bite sized pieces. Garbanzos were and still are our son's favorite ones (also high in calcium) as were/are kidney beans. He also likes lentils, but wasn't sure of them when he was little, but he did like split pea soup. As for cow milk, we had to give it up in all forms as our son has a cow milk protein allergy. Soymilk, hempmilk, ricemilk maybe a few others (I don't know if the nut milks are, but most Dr's don't recommend nuts until 3yrs old now - we had been given the OK at 1yr for peanuts, but we had no family history of them, but we did for milk). Our son has never drank any kind of cow milk - we supplemented minorly in cereal with formula, and he liked cheese and yogurt, until we so we just switched to vegan varieties and he's had no complaints. Of course he was little, so he probably doesn't even remember, but he does know how it makes him feel and act. (we were vegetarians, and decided vegan was just easier with the allergy since we had to read all the labels anyway...now my husband and son occasionally, but rarely will have eggs, but I don't tend to buy them so we tend to never have them, hee) There are tons of other places to get protein and calcium and iron (those are the ones we'd been asked about regularly by other folks, and usually it was just about calcium because of the dairy allergy). They're usually surprised my last answer is fortified non-dairy milks like soy/rice/hemp. (Garbanzos, almonds, sesame seeeds, broccoli, spinach and most other dark leafy greens also have iron and calcium). I think at 1yr old one of my sons favorite foods was swiss chard. A book that really helped us was Super Baby Foods by Ruth Yaron. We also liked all the 'other' stuff in the back of the book like recipes, nutritional charts and info on all kinds of fruits and veggies and beans as well as a ton of other info. There's a section on 'healthy extras' and good snacks (there are eggs and milk in the book, but we easily replaced them with things we could have - tofu or other 'milks' or egg replacer eventually when we let go of those). It was a good starting place, especially as our son really no longer ate baby foods around 10-11 mo's maybe started around 9mo's and only wanted to eat finger foods/whatever we were having in the same form...just smaller pieces (though he did nurse for nearly 2yrs, and weaned himself around 22mo's). So he was ready long before we thought he would be, so we also used the book for making our own babyfoods and freezing them. Hope that helps, Missie On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 2:50 PM, vegton <vegton wrote: > Hi everyone. My name is Tonia and I joined awhile ago, but things have > been too hectic to keep up with anything besides my 6 month old baby > girl, my husband, the house, work..... > > So now that the baby is finally manageable I'm trying to get back in > touch with other vegetarians/vegans! I will be raising my daughter > vegetarian (hopefully vegan) so I really need to start educating myself > on how to keep her healthy. I'm NOT going to give her cow's milk when > she turns one and so I need to start learning the answers to the > questions from people (so not looking forward to that). > > If anyone has any book suggestion or websites that may be helpful, > please let me know. > > Thanks! > Tonia > > -- http://mszzzi.zoomshare.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/mszzzi/ ~~~~~(m-.-)m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Welcome back! One is not a magic age for weaning. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for a minimum of two years. It can be done (I put up with a coworker mooing outside the bathroom (who wants food cooked in a bathroom?) when I pumped), though it helps to have a supportive employer. Robin --- On Mon, 8/11/08, vegton <vegton wrote: vegton <vegton Hello again Monday, August 11, 2008, 2:50 PM Hi everyone. My name is Tonia and I joined awhile ago, but things have been too hectic to keep up with anything besides my 6 month old baby girl, my husband, the house, work..... So now that the baby is finally manageable I'm trying to get back in touch with other vegetarians/ vegans! I will be raising my daughter vegetarian (hopefully vegan) so I really need to start educating myself on how to keep her healthy. I'm NOT going to give her cow's milk when she turns one and so I need to start learning the answers to the questions from people (so not looking forward to that). If anyone has any book suggestion or websites that may be helpful, please let me know. Thanks! Tonia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 I will be raising my daughter > vegetarian (hopefully vegan) so I really need to start educating myself > on how to keep her healthy. I'm NOT going to give her cow's milk when > she turns one and so I need to start learning the answers to the > questions from people (so not looking forward to that). > Tonia--No one can pressure you without your permission. You can (and should!) nurse your baby until well into the toddler years, if possible. It isn't a requirement to give your baby cow's milk on her first birthday--or EVER. And you don't need to over explain or justify your decision to anyone, either. If you need an answer for anyone, how about " I have done the research, and I have discovered that dairy is NOT the healthiest food for my child, despite what the mainstream media says, so we choose not to use it. " should be enough. If it isn't enough for some people, that's not your problem! Period. You don't need to go any further because you won't convince anyone anyway. Just give your baby any fresh fruits and veggies YOU eat, or whatever else you eat, as your child is ready for them, and that should be enough. As long as you're not starving your child--they are eating to their satisfaction, growing, and active--you can be sure you are providing adequate nutrition--AND a diet far superior to what " mainstream " parents think of as food for their families! Marilyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 I nursed my baby till she was 2 1/2 (she's 3 1/2 now) and while a few people raised eyebrows at this (and frankly the last 6 months to a year she really wasn't getting that much milk and was only nursing at night before sleep as part of her bedtime routine - so you need to be careful that you are still balancing nutrition when the nursing is getting less frequent) but most people were understanding about it. The only ones whose opinion really mattered to me were immediate family members, my in-laws (their first grandchild) have been very involved and mostly in a good way :-) My in-laws were very impressed with the health aspects of breast-feeding and were quite supportive. These are the same people who still keep trying to offer her all kinds of fish and chicken whenever we go out with them. Oh well . . . Like Marilyn said, it's YOUR decision and there are tons of go-tos for back up - the World Health Organization and La Leche League are just a couple of them. You are continuing to give your baby all kinds of great nutrition (as long as you are eating well yourself!). Well, I'm really glad I did it, my daughter weaned naturally with no pain to either of us and it was a very close time for us. She's ridiculously healthy, never had a SINGLE ear infection, which is something the breastfeeding lecturer at my local HMO was bragging about as a possible caveat for breastfeeding (she actually said statistically its a lot less). Anyway there are tons of reasons to keep it up if you can, and if you want to. And don't worry about the questions, just do a little bit of reading now and be prepared. We went from nursing to soymilk and other kinds of fortified " milks " and as my daughter had a dairy allergy (that seems to have cleared up more or less now) it was easy to explain away. You can always go that route though if you are tired of hearing it from people! :-) Dee - sahmomof8 Tuesday, August 12, 2008 6:52 AM Re: Hello again I will be raising my daughter > vegetarian (hopefully vegan) so I really need to start educating myself > on how to keep her healthy. I'm NOT going to give her cow's milk when > she turns one and so I need to start learning the answers to the > questions from people (so not looking forward to that). > Tonia--No one can pressure you without your permission. You can (and should!) nurse your baby until well into the toddler years, if possible. It isn't a requirement to give your baby cow's milk on her first birthday--or EVER. And you don't need to over explain or justify your decision to anyone, either. If you need an answer for anyone, how about " I have done the research, and I have discovered that dairy is NOT the healthiest food for my child, despite what the mainstream media says, so we choose not to use it. " should be enough. If it isn't enough for some people, that's not your problem! Period. You don't need to go any further because you won't convince anyone anyway. Just give your baby any fresh fruits and veggies YOU eat, or whatever else you eat, as your child is ready for them, and that should be enough. As long as you're not starving your child--they are eating to their satisfaction, growing, and active--you can be sure you are providing adequate nutrition--AND a diet far superior to what " mainstream " parents think of as food for their families! Marilyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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