To think veganism is not for children?

[ohhhhlivia]

Yes, I am aware that it is perfectly possible to have a healthy vegan diet at any age. I know that.

However, it is more difficult and easier to get wrong if you want to be vegan. It still is restrictive (even with all of the new stuff coming out) as in you need to tell hosts, check menus in advance etc.

It's a barrier that has to be overcome. I don't understand why you would do that to someone who has no choice in the matter.

Lots of kids go through a fussy phase too, add veganism in and surely you're at a high risk of health problems?

I think what I'm getting at, is that childhood nutrition can be hard enough as it is, so it just feels wrong to make it harder for reasons that do not directly benefit the child.

Several people assuming social services would laugh at me.

Defensive much?

You can try and mock, and laugh at me........

Don't give a hoot anyway. I would DEFINITELY report you.

Any diet that cuts out a major food group is unhealthy and detrimental to young children. You shouldn't have to fortify or suppliment a diet in order to stay healthy. Eating a whole, balanced diet should mean you get all the essential nutrients from food alone.

Vegans are at a high risk of vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient found in almost no plant foods. Low B12 can cause anemia and nervous system damage.

The only reliable vegan sources of B12 are foods fortified with B12 as It's found in animal-sourced foods, such as fish, meat, dairy products, and eggs.

Like I said before, You shouldn't have to suppliment a diet in order to stay healthy. The human body needs these essential nutrients for a reason...

You're making me laugh OP because as I type both DCs are happily tucking into massive homemade blueberry muffins

So what? Homemade or not, it's just carbs and sugar. They'd be better off with some eggs cooked in butter.

I think it's harder but not impossible. I do have some issues with the matter of choice though - I can see it being quite difficult for a child raised vegan to turn back to eating meat without having to take it very, very carefully in terms of managing their digestive system. Going the other way when at an age to make an informed choice is much easier.

We're a mixed household - DD1 is vegetarian, DD2 and I are not. A lot of the food we eat when DD1 is home from uni is vegan because of allergy issues and it works perfectly well. It isn't hard either. The difference is that DD1 made a conscious and informed choice at age 14 that she didn't want to eat meat. Newborns can't do that, and that disturbs me.

@rainingallday surely as parents to little ones everybody 'forces' their views on their DC until the children are old enough to stare their view? How many parents feed their children meat , for the children to then decide they no longer want to eat animals?

And as for health - what about the parents who feed their DC a diet of burgers, sausages, nuggets and chips?

We eat tonnes of beans. Yoghurt. Spinach and broccoli most days. Avocado. Nuts - pine nuts on pasta instead of cheese for example.

I bake flapjacks with bananas. Fruit crumbles. Muffins.

But yeah, whatever, child abuse...

Those who are raising their children as vegan what would you do if they said they wanted to eat foods that aren’t vegan?

Yet feeding children bits of flesh from a dead animal is totally acceptable. Bollocks to that.

namechange46

Dha for brain development? Good luck getting that from plants

And I can absolutely guarantee you that I would ABSOLUTELY still report you, if your forced your YOUNG CHILDREN to eat a vegan diet

Erm, ok, go for it?! They wouldn't be interested but if it makes you feel better you knock yourself out mate 🤣

Alpro growing up milk contains a kids' RDA of b12. I know this shit because I'm a responsible parent, not some hippy vegan child abuser.

@namechange46 but stork... seriously you think that's good for your kids? Blueberry muffins aren't exactly a health food. Especially not made with synthetic fat. Grim

Absolutely agree OP

Given the fact that my 2yo DD’s current mission is to remove any and all vegetables from her food if she can see them (thank god for blenders!) I probably wouldn’t get too far with my DC on a wholly vegan diet.

I also have a bit of an issue with giving very small children vitamin supplements unless advised to by a GP - if a parent has more success with feeding their child a balanced Vegan diet (though I have to admit I would be concerned about calcium intake and their stomach developing a healthy biodiversity) and are capable of ensuring they get the correct boost of vitamins, iron, calcium etc then I wouldn’t say it’s wrong necessarily, but with a very small child I wouldn’t personally risk it as I couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to ensure that my twins would be getting the right levels of nutrition.

As a for instance, in order for our bodies to absorb iron from leafy green vegetables we also need to ensure we have enough of a Vitamin C intake as it is this that allows the type of Iron present in veggies to be digested thoroughly - whereas iron from meat sources doesn’t need the extra boost to absorb into the body. When my toddlers go off certain foods I’d be hard pressed to convince them to eat it and I could be gambling with their health, so no vegan diets for them!

No, they're a weekend treat @Batfurger - have you called the joy police yet?

Ooh namechange46 come to the woodcraft folk you could get a load of vegan child abusers in one go.

Babies, toddlers and young children need fat and cholesterol for brain development. Veganism in children is a dangerous experiment imo.

There is a far greater number of malnourished children that either won't eat fruit or vegetables or aren't given them.

For fuck's sake, why do some people get so ridiculously angry at vegans? Do you get this wound up by people feeding their kids shitty processed meat or loads of sweets? I've known a lot of vegan kids (not mine for the record, although we don't eat meat) and they've all been really healthy because their parents put a lot of thought into their diets. Some people really need to get a grip.

To the op, when my kids were little and would have friends over they were all meat-eaters and there’d be so many barriers - don’t eat peanut butter, don’t like apples with peel on, won’t eat dark chocolate, cheese makes me gag, etc etc.

Granted mine both had dairy growing up, but my vegetarian son is now 6”2 and doesn’t seem to have suffered brain development issues as he went through the gifted program. His meat-eating sister is 2 inches shorter than me and while more of a go-getter is not as intellectually vigorous as her brother. When he was little people were constantly telling me “he won’t reach his full size”. I don’t think he’d want to be taller than 6”2.

You shouldn't have to fortify or suppliment a diet in order to stay healthy. Eating a whole, balanced diet should mean you get all the essential nutrients from food alone.

^Completely agree.

I would not hesitate to report someone to social services if I saw them raising their child(ren) as a vegan

This is hilarious. I bet vegans are over-represented within the social working community anyway