Family is against me for not feeding baby meat

[Foxtails]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but could do with some advice please.

8 month old baby, stopped breastfeeding at 6 months. So far I have not fed anything with meat in it and do not plan to. I am vegetarian and have been for 8 years. DH is not veggie but does eat veggie meals in the house with me (his choice). For now, while my son has no way to make his own decisions, I won’t be feeding him meat. Once he is old enough to decide for himself, he can choose. We will always have vegetarian meals in the house but if he wants to eat it outside of the house that’s up to him and there will be no judgement from me.

It seems like absolutely none of my family members can accept this. My mum, dad, grandparents and also DHs parents have expressed to me how they think this is wrong. I have told them that as long as he is fed and is healthy then there really is no problem, and it’s up to me how I do this. It’s got to the point where it’s being brought up almost every time I see anyone because they are so so against it. I feel attacked. They are telling me not to force my views upon my child, but isn’t that what all parents do?! People parent their children how they think is best and in line with what they agree with. Everyone does this.

I am feeling upset and overwhelmed and feeling like i can’t go and see anyone without them starting this argument with me and I worry that they will feed him meat behind my back. Please could I have some advice on what to do and how to handle this? Has anyone been in this position?

I've got two six foot tall, strong, healthy and athletic teenaged nephews who have been vegetarians since they were weaned as evidence that this will work out fine OP.

Agree. You don’t see someone dying of lung cancer and think ‘boy I wish I’d smoked’ !!

Those high protein products are completely unnecessary within a normal balanced diet and are simply marketing wank.

So what? Are you saying that a vegetarian diet will shrink OP's baby's brain? Or that because our ancestors ate meat, we must do that too? I assume that our ancestors didn't have access to sources of protein other than meat like we do today.

A vegetarian diet is an ethical and healthy choice for children and adults.

you are fine OP, lots of people and cultures are vegetarian and have been for centuries.

People expecting a vegetarian household to suddenly provide meat for a baby are being ridiculous. You don't cook meat so their won't be any meat its that simple.

Unless your baby is at risk its really not anyone else business what your dietary requirements are.
Your family needs to grow up and get a life.

Similarly I have a four year old boy who is ten centimetres taller than the average height for his age, has never had to visit the GP for illness or injury in his life, and is strong and hearty as a horse.

I’m perfectly aware that this tells us nothing about the overall health status of vegetarians v meat eaters, but if other people are going to start referencing anaemic four year olds of their acquaintance as evidence of a problem, I’d like a counter example to be out there too!

It doesn't cause any long term issues not to feed a child meat. Why would you assume that the OP was given meat as a child? Lifelong vegetarians weren't invented in the 2000s you know.

Midwinter festivals existed before christianity.

So instead of actually listening to their point you told them not to worry. Letting them raise their actual concerns might go a long way, even if you ultimately ignore them.

There is though.

OP im veggie and my husband isn't.

we mostly eat veggie because tats the food both of us can eat.
Its a normal compromise, if he wants meat he cooks it or orders it when we are out.
It's acvery normal dynamic. our children would also be vegetarian in our house.

Most of my family and extended family are vegan/veggie and everyone is healthy, strong, tallied intelligent.

your family are being horrendous and if you think they'd deliberately go against your wishes, i'd send him with his own food or just stay with him on visits.

Oh, she's listened to them, and even provided them information. It isn't any of their business! It really isn't, and these passive agressive comments from MIL are absurd. I'd just say, it isn't a topic for conversation anymore, let's change the subject.

Jeez, some of the posters on here.. OP, without meat, your sons will have small penises, and your daughters will be too frail to work in the fields. You're a terrible bean burger weilding menace to the future generation.

If you haven't tasted meat you cannot decide if you enjoy eating meat.

exactly its such bullshit.

people make choices for their children everyday, you choose their clothes, their hair, their environments, their activities.

most children have very little choice. As a meat eating parent you choose what they eat exactly the way a parent does.

even if a child expressly hated religion, you still take them with your to church because you can't leave them at home.

people do all this high-horsing when it comes to vegetarianism. why do you care?

Bean burger wielding menace 😂😂

And the prize for the most pointless comment (so far ) goes to .....

Could we not argue that it’s worse to force feed our children factory farmed dead animals than wait until they’re old enough to decide for themselves if they wish to eat that?
I’m a meat eater fwiw

Ignore them.
I did the same with my kids, even though it was my DH that's the veggie. He wanted them to be veggie until they understood what it was they were eating and it wasn't hard to do so that's what we did. They had a lot of full fat dairy, different cheeses and types of beans and they love nut spread which is a good source of protein.
They eat fish fingers and eat sausages sometimes while out and they are old enough to choose now so sometimes have pepperoni pizza.

I'm a vegetarian and when I had children I raised them to eat anything and everything as I had previously witness a two year old vegan child at a children's party being told no to everything on the buffet table that all the other children were eating from and she couldn't understand why food was being denied to her and she burst into tears!

Her mother had brought food for her but of course the little girl just wanted to be like all the other children.

My husband is also a vegetarian but we decided to let the children make their own choices as they got older.

Fast forward and at 14 our daughter became a vegetarian for a week and then a vegan and now as an adult is still a vegan.

Adult son is a meat eater but accepts that he hen he visits our home is vegetarian.

It's hilarious that so many posters think your DH can't possibly be on board with this.
Obviously he's a man and men need their meat 😂
DH had this - I was veggie when we met and he turned veggie a few months later. Obviously it couldn't be his own decision - his mean, controlling girlfriend must be forcing him not to eat meat!
I can tell you he's just as passionate and committed as I am, in fact he was the one who wanted to switch to veganism, which we did.
We raised our kids non-vegetarian, which I now regret, though we didn't want to hinder their development.
Though we didn't buy and cook meat, we gave them baby food with meat in, and fish from an early age.
When they went to birthday parties as toddlers, we let them be free to eat cocktail sausages and the like, but they never did.
Once they were old enough to choose they wanted to stop eating fish and the odd bit of meat.
Stick to your guns - ours are adult teens now and still vegetarian. If they choose to eat meat later in life it's their choice.

But that’s a different question entirely. You can still be glad you haven’t eaten meat even if you think or know you would enjoy it. If someone is a vegetarian for ethical reasons it’s irrelevant whether they would enjoy eating meat, because enjoyment isn’t the basis of their decision.

Come off it, it’s a joke!

But adds nothing .... And not funny

Disagree, I don't think it was pointless, as it made at least one random internet stranger (me) laugh. That's a nice thing, isn't it.🙂