Can i breast feed my DD-to-be if i'm vegan?

[GrannyGrissle]

Recently turned to a full vegan diet and it suddenly dawned on me that it can't possibly be vegan to breast feed my baby when she is born in November? How did i not know/realise this?

I thought that the definition of a mammal was an animal where the mother feeds their babies with their milk.

If you are a committed vegan then breastfeeding (human milk for human babies) is going to be the best ethical choice for you. The dairy industry is fairly horrendous and that may be one of the reasons you are vegan? If you do not breastfeed, then in the first instance your child will need a formula milk which is derived from cow's milk (ie made for calves). Does this clear things up?
Why do you feel like a caged animal?

Genuine question- not goady- do you think it’s possible to give children everything they need to grow, with a vegan diet?

As Seba Johnson reached adulthood, I think evidence has clearly shown that it is possible.

Mammala warm-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that is distinguished by the possession of hair or fur, females that secrete milk for the nourishment of the young, and (typically) the birth of live young.

Meat that we eat isn't 'rotting'

I honestly thought there was an error in your OP and you meant something else.

I don't know what to make of this now.

LOL, this is unreal

By this logic, the sperm that got you pregnant wasn't vegan either...
But I’m guessing she didn’t eat the sperm

Vegans don't eat or use anything containing animal products, it doesn't matter how the animal products are used. Although, come on, never swallowed? Pshaw.

Okay lets come at this from another angle. You are vegan because you believe that animal products are not yours to take, because the animal cannot consent to giving them. That's the big difference between vegan and vegetarian, vegetarian is about not killing animals, vegan is about not taking what doesn't belong to you. YOU can consent, you can say 'yes daughter, I want to give you food in the same way babies have been fed for millions of years, it's my choice to give it to you'. The cow who made the formula did not consent, and had no choice to give it's milk to sustain your infant or any other. That is why your milk is suitable for a vegan infant, but formula isn't.

@WyldDucks mines bitten me 3 times this week. I'm feeling pretty exploited now.

pbjs

I hadn’t considered the not using any animal products angle.

I was just going for the cheap gag —reflex—really 😂

although I have been laughing at this, I have just remembered that there used to be soy based formula, we used it when DS1 struggled to start bf as there are many allergies in my family (soya also a common allergen, but I didn't know that then...)- then I also remembered reading the label and it contained some kind of animal fat (not great as we are vegetarian)...not sure that you can still get it as wasn't it full of sugar? or aluminium or something?
Fortunately DS got the hang of bf after a week or so, still felt awful about those few bottles of poison.

Are you totally thick?

Being vegan means that you don't use animal products. Mammals are supposed to breastfeed their children, that's what the milk is for. Otherwise the baby will die.

Hmm, just random, probably daft question, but would vegans drink other human's breast milk? After all, it's same species? And if the women gave their permission (or got paid for it?) so no exploitation, would that make it ok? Because that seems to be according to vegan rules, if I've understood?
Probably being dim, but it's been a very long week.....

If I said what I'm actually thinking now I'd get a lifetime ban from MN

@LouMumsnet

Evening everyone. We'll be honest - we've had a shedload quite a few reports about this one

But we've had a look behind the scenes and we can see that the OP has been around on Mumsnet a fair while without causing any concern.
We're happy to leave the thread standing for now. Best wishes for the rest of your pregnancy, OP.

So was the David person and you said EXACTLY the same about him. Do you remember him? He posted numerous times about his wife dying which you back tracked on!

I look forward to your response on that one. Can you please explain exactly how you come to these conclusions ?

Many thanks.

You’ll probably want to breastfeed long term if you bringing the child up vegan too.

I'm ignoring all the ridiculous 'this should be banned' drama llamas and addressing the sensible folk here. As a mammal it just seems weird to feed my child my milk when i wouldn't drink milk from another species.

Surely the premise for a vegan is that no other creature has suffered to benefit another. If you were to give your baby milk from any other source, another creature will have suffered. Seriously, you mention you will feel like a caged animal while breast feeding, well I think that is par for the course. Mothers do have to suffer to feed their children.

If you are seriously thinking this is not on, then please do talk to you MW, you will need support in sorting acceptable methods of feeding your baby when born, as starving him or her is not acceptable.

So what do you plan to feed her? Formula is from another mammal of a different species..
This is why people are mean to vegans. Use your brain.

You and your child are from the same species.

There, solved your problem.

Really?!

Well it's not made for adult humans, but yes as I understand it if breastfeeding and expressing were unsuccessful then donor human milk would be the first alternative for a vegan baby.

Ps I await the banhammer without warning as you've done done to many many before me 🙄☺️

I don't think adults would drink another person's breast milk.

Would I use donor milk for my baby, of course. (disclaimer not actually vegan but was for years, so I have some insight to the mentality!)

Theres lots of evidence that vegan diets without supplements can, and have, led to fatal illnesses and deficiencies in vegan children.

Children who follow unsupplemented vegan diets, are often deficient in vitamin D, calcium, iron and B12. Rickets, low bone mineral content, osteoporosis, kwashiorkor and developmental delay at higher than average incidences have been documented by researchers, including Dagnelie and van steveren (if you want to check).

More worrying is that 30% of kids in their study, weaned onto macrobiotic diets, had muscle and skin wasting.

This would suggest to me that Veganism (and a macrobiotic regime) is not an ideal diet for children to follow.

I certainly don’t think the OP is displaying the intelligence necessary for providing a sufficiently balanced and energy dense vegan diet for a toddler.