What should I feed my Vegan Toddler?!
We still feed her eggs and Yogurt , for milk we give her rice milk fortified with calcium and B12.
Now if we stop her from eating eggs she'll be deprived of iron and B12 and if we stop her from eating Yogurt she'll be deprived from the calcium. I know they are in the rice milk but its not enough. What do vegan parents feed their vegan babies? I really want to know.
We use to feed her soy milk but we read horrible horror stories about how soy is a poison! so we stopped, were can i find a list or menu of food that contains all the vitamins and minerals a baby needs? And can you give a 13month old supplements?
Many thanks
Answers: I am a new vegan but my wife has been a vegetarian for many years but not vegan. We both now went vegan and want our 13month old baby to go vegan as well.
We still feed her eggs and Yogurt , for milk we give her rice milk fortified with calcium and B12.
Now if we stop her from eating eggs she'll be deprived of iron and B12 and if we stop her from eating Yogurt she'll be deprived from the calcium. I know they are in the rice milk but its not enough. What do vegan parents feed their vegan babies? I really want to know.
We use to feed her soy milk but we read horrible horror stories about how soy is a poison! so we stopped, were can i find a list or menu of food that contains all the vitamins and minerals a baby needs? And can you give a 13month old supplements?
Many thanks
Please don't listen to all the uniformed answers. The American Dietetic Association, the nation's foremost authority on nutrition, has this to say about vegetarian and vegan diets: "Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence."
I suggest meeting with a veg-friendly nutritionist to plan a healthy vegan diet for your baby. Also, see this site: http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/veget...
Good luck!
I'm sorry but it just isn't healthy for young children to be vegan. Trust me, my mother was vegetarian for the first seven years of my life.
You should be talking to a DOCTOR!!!!
why would you do that?????nothing against you or your wife... but at these developing ages of their life they need all sources of nutrients to help them grow...it maybe okay for adults but not for a one year old...hello!!!! can i say crazy!!!! feed your child!!!!
Nothing wrong with a vegan lifestyle, but your child needs a well rounded schedule of all the food pyramid to grow healthy bones, skin and other organs. Ask your doctor to refer you to a nutritionist that specialized in pediatric diets. They can answer every one of your questions and then some.
Good luck
I don't think it is good for your child to be vegan at this age. Check with a nutritionist to see how to help your child grow healthy. I bet your daughter can be "nearly" vegan but include all the very essential nutrients. This is NOT the time of your child's life to restrict such things.
You might want to check out this article
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinio...
I was a vegetarian for many years and a vegan for about five years. I now eat meat (high quality organic, locally raised, etc.) a couple times a week. I have young children and wouldn't dream of restricting their nutritional needs in such a way.
It is not perfect, but we do our best to give our children the healthiest start possible. I "think" that is what you are aiming for... but going vegan so young is not a good choice. Please look at this very carefully and consult someone with the medical / nutritional training who knows very well how much nutrients are needed for such a young and rapidly developing body. Be well.
http://www.vegfamily.com/babies-and-todd...
http://www.andrews.edu/NUFS/Vegan%20Chil...
http://www.vegsource.com/parent/growing_...
http://www.vegsource.com/talk/veganism/m...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/pregnancy.h...
http://www.vegetarianbaby.com/articles/v...
recipes: http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/re...
http://www.itsamomsworld.com/toddler_foo...
....and so on and so on.
Edited to add:
Depp: Feeding your baby dead animal bodies when she doesn't know any better is cruel. Giving her the choice to eat dead animal bodies when she's old enough to decide for herself is not.
This is unbelievable! How dare you do this to your baby! This is not healthy for anyone let-alone a toddler. This child has not had a chance to make a choice of what they want to eat and you are forcing your own beliefs on the poor thing. It is not right, this child needs all types of food at this age... and at ANY age, to be healthy, you need to re-think what you are doing, or be prepared to have a very sickly child until they are old enough to finally decide what they want to eat. Making a baby a vegan because of your own beliefs is very cruel.
If the thumbs down make you people feel like you are doing something then fine.... it doesn't make a bit of difference to me... but I am a nurse and a mother of three and I know damn well that a baby needs all the nutrients it can get and a vegan diet is ridiculous....think people!!!
to the person down there who thinks I am a guy....I am not....get real, get a life and stop hugging trees
http://www.vegsource.com/parent/growing_...
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/real...
please dont listen to the guy above me, he doesnt know whats hes talking about
I'm sorry, but IMO ... and apparently in the majority of the comments here . . . vegan diets for toddlers is neglectful. Personally, I see it as a type of child abuse and I mean that sincerely. I would have no problem in reporting you and your wife.
I would urge you for the sake of your child to consult a physician. You are taking chances with a fragile and vulnerable human life.
It's really critical that a child that young get a full and balanced diet with plenty of complete proteins, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. While veganism is an admiral choice, it should be looked on as a choice, and a 13-month old isn't capable of choosing. Her healthly development is way more important than an ideology at this point. I would consult her pediatrician and a pediatric nutritionist for advice.
Seriously, you are going to screw up this kids development by doing this. Like many others have said, and I will reiterate, the human body needs certain amino acids and other nutrients you can only find in meat. Start pumping him/her full of powders and pills to "supplement" for the lack of those essentials is like playing with fire. You want your baby to go vegan? How about letting him eat normal an healthy until he is old enough to make his own choice.
Wow, what a lot of ignorant answers. Yikes! All 13 month olds should be vegan -- doesn't matter if they will later eat meat or not. Animal products and babied do not mix. I see people feeding their babies all sorts of weird stuff and all kinds of things like candy, sausages, cookies... you name it... they'll give them just about anything... That's abuse.
First of all, at 13 month, there should still be breast milk in the diet. So, continue breast feeding. One of my daughters is near the same age and eats in the day and breast feeds at night. If you've stopped, it is not too late to start again -- really.
Second, a one year old should be eating *very* easy to digest foods. No 'adult' foods... milk, eggs, yoghurt... processed foods and hopefully no non-organic foods... man, this is how allergies get started. Feeding 'adult' foods to children. Steamed root vegetables, baked sweet potato, steamed and mashed green leafy veggies... At separate times some mashed up fruits such as apple, mango... avoid all those common allergy foods.... nuts, bananas, eggs, dairy, corn.... look it up. Baby rice congee is good too. Oatmeal. If you must, there are also many kinds of soy yogurt -- you can even make your own so that you know there is no sugar etc. added.
Soy is not bad, but you shouldn't be giving such a young person any processed or highly cooked foods at all. Raw or steamed only.
Don't give supplements to a normal healthy baby.
Man, you need to do some reading, you seem to have no clue. Maybe you two should have done your homework prior to pregnancy.
Anyway, read both of these books for a start:
Macrobiotic Pregnancy and Care of the Newborn by Michio Kushi and Aveline Kushi
MacRobiotic Family Favorites by Aveline Kushi and Wendy Esko
There are lots of other books out there about raising vegan children. Dr Michael Klaper has some that are good.
Save this and read it:
http://www.bestbread.ca/QUICK_-_REFERENC...