To think it’s not right to bring a baby up as a vegetarian?

[veggiesup]

Surely a baby/child should have all food available until they can make their own decisions?

I have a dn who has vegetarian parents, he’s never had meat products in his life.
My dgs has a vegetarian dm and a carnivore df, he has been given meat and enjoys it.

Both dc are old enough to decide for themselves now.
My dn is happy being vegetarian and my dgs is happy eating meat.
They’re both very healthy.

Exactly. There is not one "right" way.

Personally I don't think children should be raised on a diet that requires artificial supplementation in order for them to get all their vitamins.

We did the opposite. Vegetarian until school age then they can choose what they eat in school/out the house. They did eat fish and eggs/dairy though. None of them want to eat meat. They have tried it but thought it wasn't a good enough experience to justify eating animals. I'm really glad they don't have a taste for poor quality or carcenognic meat like many children do. They are all extremely healthy.

I tend to think it’s wrong and selfish to eat animals in general in a society where there’s plenty of alternatives.

Reverse also true.
Surely they shouldn't be made eat more toxic foods until they can make their own decision.

Nutrition can be managed in either case.

I’ve always fed my children meat; but I’ve also always explained what meat is and where it comes from. My 3.5 year old know what meat is which animal, she knows the animals have to be killed first in order to be eaten. At her age I don’t think it’s appropriate to tell her how they are killed, but she knows that ‘we’ have to kill them to prepare them.

I don’t see the issue with feeding children a healthy and varied diet including animal produce and meat, as long as they know what they’re eating and how they are eating it.

I think it's wrong to bring a baby up eating meat. You haven't given the baby a choice whether it wants to eat meat or not, one day it might be upset to know how many animals were slaughtered to bring it into the world.

Someone told me I would stunt dc’s growth by not giving them meat,

I was a meat eater up to 40 years ago and am the tallest female in my family at 5ft 3 (tallest male 5ft 9”)

I wonder how tall Dd would have been with meat in her diet. She towers over me and has worked as a model. One of those very tall and very slim kind.

I was just extending the point that while for most families babies and children will largely follow the diet their parents are eating, and I wouldn't expect vegetarian parents to cook meat or animal products for their child, that they don't eat themselves. For most be that vegetarian, vegan, kosher, halal or other religious dietary regimes that will work fine, but in the instance of raw veganism I would say (although not a dietary expert) that was not suitable for most humans children.

It’s perfectly fine provided they’re given plenty of alternatives such as beans and lentils. Far better for the planet too.

Meanwhile the person who had a go at me and told me her daughter would be tall because she ate meat and her dh was very tall is a good head shorter than Dd who has been a vegetarian her whole life and comes from 2 short arsed families

Ds is taller than Dd and towers over me and his dad also

So that would mean breast feeding isn’t a suitable diet as breastfed babies need vitamin D supplements.

Many Indian/Hindu households are vegetarian. You are very ignorant and offensive.

I’ve never eaten meat or fish and I’m grand! Best thing my mum did for me.

if you think like that, why aren’t you feeding your child insects, cat meat and human flesh? Why deny them?

Some religions are predominantly vegetarian I don't see how it's any different from ethical vegetarians babies are healthy on a vegetarian diet.

Totally fine. Surely all their protein needs can be met from cheese, yogurt, beans etc

I think children should choose whether to eat meat once they understand where it’s come from, and what’s in it.

Neither of my bf babies had supplements. The pescatarian one didn't either. They're tall and never ill. Shit at PE though, so maybe that's where I went wrong.

The vit d supplement are just a recommendation isn't it ?

My bf babies never had vitamin d supplements - although they (and me) are light skinned so able to get enough from sunshine even in winter and with factor whatever in the summer
A good vegetarian diet is so much better than a diet of processed crap which is now thought to be the cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts then I hope you don't live in the UK where everyone basically needs to take vitamin D...

There's a huge difference between living in a country where you have no choice but to supplement, and deliberately choosing a diet that means you have to supplement.

We aren't veggie but have about half the week meet free, there is a lot of meet free proteins and I can't see any harm or nutritional losses if my little one was to do that daily. He likes the veggie food more to be honest!

Tbh many meat-eating families deny their children the nutrients from a variety of pulses, vegetables and nuts, so a suggestion that cutting out meat is a problem is daft. My dc are tall, healthy and happy: not convinced that adding chicken nuggets and burgers into the mix would have done anything to enhance this.