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?

Op - I think it’s fine. I personally know someone bringing their baby up as a vegan. I remember when my children were little - dairy was important for their bone development, although I’m sure they must have a substitute, but I don’t know if it’s the same? The parents I know have been vegan for a long time, so I think they’ve done a lot of research on it.

Perfectly fine to be vegetarian. A vegan diet not so much but hopefully nobody would consider that for a very young child.

No children are going to have 'all food available' though, are they? It will depend on what their parents have in the house and serve at meals. We don't tend to eat a lot of red meat and our diet is more fish-based so that clearly will reduce our DCs' exposure to beef, pork, lamb etc. And I wouldn't start cooking foods that I don't normally cook just to ensure the DC were exposed to them. I don't think you can sensibly expect vegetarian families to have and cook meat just to ensure it is available for their children when they're probably also making a perfectly good vegetarian option which everyone can eat.

Some posters saying it’s better for the planet 🙄 They are fixated on their programming, bless them. Annoying as Hades though.

(To the rampaging warriors, don’t come at me, stop sticking your platitudes down everyone’s throats, I don’t believe you care one jot about the planet or the environment or the animals or the people, you just want to clamor for whatever trendy ‘noble cause’ rich celebs and pols are pushing to line their own pockets. Proof is that they are chauffeured in gas guzzling giant SUVs, fly private jets, live in heated and cooled huge mansions with giant filled swimming pools, exotic vacations while trying to restrict the masses from traveling ‘for the environment’ (Harry’s Travalyst). Every sane person wants clean air and water, to conserve, to preserve the beautiful earth, use solar panels where applicable, clean methods for extracting and producing energy, to protect lands and species…but the green agenda is not that, it just claims to be, but it is something else.)

That aside, if the child can get all the nutrients needed by a vegetarian diet, then nothing wrong with it. Personally, I don’t like the idea of eating animals. It grosses me out. I can understand the arguments on both sides. But my husband and son adore giant slabs of meat so I make it for them. I did explain to my son when he was little about eating animals and what it means, but he absolutely didn’t care, I was surprised. He’s a meat eater. And actually he turned out to have type 1 at 12 (not due to diet like type 2, he has always eaten very healthily, lots of vegetables and fruit etc) so he has to have meat and cheese as certain foods like that have no carbs and it would be very hard for him to have his choices limited.

It is baffling why anyone would be offended at someone who doesn’t want their children to eat animals. Do we really have to eat animals to get all the nutrients? I’m not sure. I know a vegetarian whose dr told her she had to eat meat every once in a while because she wasn’t getting what she needed, she went to him because she wasn’t feeling well. That seemed to help her so now she does eat meat sometimes. It’s hard for me to believe though that we all MUST eat meat to get all our nutrients.

If you’re worried that the child is not getting what she or he needs, then ask gently about that, don’t go haranguing them about it as if they’re crazy. To me it’s kind of crazy to eat animals.

My very young children are both vegan and thriving, thanks.

Another one of these 🙃🙃

there are, and have been, millions of vegetarian children around the world who are perfectly healthy.

My argument is always you do what’s the norm for your family.
you wouldn’t tell a jewish family to feed their kids pork would you? And that’s fine because it works for them and their beliefs.

my beliefs don’t involve another creature suffering/being killed to feed my children

And what happens when child calls Childline and/or complains at school that your being 'bad' for refusing them meat?
Many schools activity ignore 'my child is vegan/veggie' parental requests if it's against the child's wishes. Thing on Loose Women about it a while back.

Also thread on here (I think? Might be FB?) of a kid from a vegetarian home staying at an aunt's by marriage house for a whole summer. Parents went on business trip for their cosmetics (?) company to America for over a month.
Aunt let kid aged 12-13 eat meat all summer.
Kid refused to return to parents home on their return unless they could eat meat and threatened to run away if they tried to force him/her. Also refused to return to school if parents tried to control school lunch meals. Don't know if it was state or private school, but probably private?

I can't recall the outcome or if there was one - long years ago.
Someone here may be able to tell us what happened or provide a link.

'Bad' as in the parents refusing them meat. And complaining about it to school or social workers etc about I meant.

And what happens when child calls Childline and/or complains at school that your being 'bad' for refusing them meat?

Then I'll explain to Childline or the school that I am not comfortable going against the wishes of the parents, unless it's causing harm to the child. Which vegetarianism is not. Not really my place to come between a parent and their child, unless there is a safeguarding issue.

@LoopyLoo1991 "And what happens when child calls Childline and/or complains at school that your being 'bad' for refusing them meat?
Many schools activity ignore 'my child is vegan/veggie' parental requests if it's against the child's wishes."

Seriously? You think Childline would give this a moment of their time? Ofsted would be very interested in the school that gives a vegetarian child meat though....

I was going by the topic on loose women. Childline gets about four calls a week from children made to eat a vegetarian diet according to the presenter bringing up the topic.

You clearly know nothing of vegetarian food options and protein needs of a baby ?

The only thing missing from a good vegetarian diet is ...... ummmmm ......and ....nothing!

You can have poor nutrition and eat meat
and you can be a vegan vegetarian fruitarian and eat a poor diet

I'm perfectly happy for my children to eat whatever they want at school, once they get to that age, provided it's relatively healthy. We're not planning on micromanaging them, they choose what they put in their bodies when they're old enough (5+). If they want meat at home we'll give them meat at home. Until then they're getting exactly what we eat, which is a balanced vegan diet and a child-appropriate supplement (wellbaby or similar). My preschooler has amazing language skills for his age and bundles of energy - pretty hard if you're deprived of nutrients 😉

Respect the parents’ wishes unless it is a safeguarding issue like poster said, abuse of some kind. Not wanting your child to eat a dead animal is not crazy or a safeguarding issue. Respect the parents’ wishes.

I understand the concern over getting nutrition child needs, but I just cannot believe that killing and eating dead animals is the only way to do that in most cases.

Would instead care? Really? Even at secondary age where a child is old enough to make their own food choices?

by secondary if a child from a meat eating household wants to be veggie or even vegan that’s up to them. The same way if a child from a veggie vegan house wants to eat meat surely that should be their choice.

ofstead wouldn’t care if a child from a nearing eating house went veggie so why would they care if a child from a veggie family chose to eat meat?

Wow! 😳

Great advert for the scouting movement there.
Do you ignore all your families cultural/religious beliefs or just the ones that 'inconvenience' you the most?

Your attitude is shocking. Totally repulsive.

"ofstead wouldn’t care if a child from a nearing eating house went veggie so why would they care if a child from a veggie family chose to eat meat?"

Because a vegetarian child eating meat is going directly against the parent's wishes. A meat eating child eating vegetables.....isn't.

My point still stands. At secondary age why are parents dictating to their children why they can and can’t eat based on their beliefs rather than the child’s. That very controlling And concerning parenting.

you also could say that it is the parents wishes that their child eats meat as they believe it is best for their development/ can’t afford to support a modified diet etc and if the school allows them to indulge in only eating veggie at school then they’re going against their wishes.

by secondary kids should be able to choose despite what their parents think is best.

Please read the entire post. There is a 'posting fail' on my part, the italics are a quote from a previous poster, which should be in bold.

The italic part is not my opinion, in fact, it does completely against my opinion.

@budgiegirl I am so very sorry- I think this might all be my fault! I'll see if I can get my post deleted.

What I think is weird, the carnivores who eat only meat, it’s a fad lately. Limiting yourself to only one food group, especially just meat, that is unhinged, and the fruitarians who only eat fruit that has fallen of its own volition to the ground 🙄

It's ok, it was my fault, for some reason the quote came out in italics rather than bold, which has lead to the confusion. I must remember to preview my posts!

@Ohhelpicantthinkofaname Are we talking about secondary school children? I assumed primary, considering the phoning of childline demanding chicken nuggets and toasted marshmallows.

@Ohhelpicantthinkofaname

"I’m not sure it’s the same thing. Essentially by not allowing a child to eat meat you are forcing a modified diet onto them which is solely based on your ethical beliefs and not their dietary requirements. Like it or not as humans we are designed to eat some meat."

Eating meat and the belief we need to is essentially as much of a belief as the reverse. Vast swathes of the world eat a vegetarian diet from birth; look at India, for example. They have the same "beliefs" as you only in reverse. To them it would be unthinkable to feed their children meat and they have proved through thousands of years of being vegetarian that meat is completely unnecessary to form a healthy human.

They are just looking at it from a different perspective.

Just because we can eat meat doesn't mean we should.

Yeah I was talking about secondary school, a child would probably have to be late primary to think of phoning child line anyway. Even by 9 or 10 years old a child can make a choice up to a point and should be allow to try foods their friends are eating if they want. It seems really controlling to dictate everything your child eats past the toddler years.