Vegan baby

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In your opinion, is it ok for a baby to be vegan from weaning (6 months)?

Is human milk considered vegan?

Only if breast fed enough.

Only if extendedly breast feeding, and with a lot of attention to nutrition.

Our opinion is irrelevant really - unless anyone answers who just so happens to be a paediatric nutritionist.

I assume you will continue to breastfeed? If not, then no.

I'd be concerned about iron. By around 7 months a baby's iron stores are running low and milk is low in iron.

Breast milk aids absorption of iron from other foods where as cow's milk reduces it.

Well I’m vegan so there’s no dairy in my milk so yes :)

Thanks everyone, a “friend” has a lot to say about it and I just wondered if the general consensus was no or if she was being a bit OTT. Yes I’m still BF

But it's still mammalian milk.
Cows are vegan so is their milk also vegan by that logic

😂 good one

I think it’s the exploitation of the cows that’s the problem, rather than the composition of their milk.

Exactly

Yes, if the diet is carefully planned to ensure adequate intake of iron, calcium, protein, etc and enough calories, especially after 1. You also don't want it to be too high in fibre.

When you move off breastfeeding there are some pretty good fortified soy milks you can get.

If you're vegan and you're planning for your baby to be vegan, too, then your baby is in imminent danger of B12, vitamin D and iron shortage. At the very minimum I would ask for a dietician appointment with the GP to discuss this with a trained and registered professional, not using an online forum for a potentially health problem inducing situation for your baby. And FYI, human milk is not vegan.

Yeah I get that but she said her milk is dairy free because she's vegan, I'm just pointing out that her milk is dairy just like the vegan cows milk is dairy 😀

Very good point

How is it dairy? If that’s the case, when babies have dairy allergies, why do dr’s tell mum no more dairy while they are breast feeding?

I'm vegan so brought my dd up as vegan from birth and she was perfectly healthy.

When she was 7, I told her that she was old enough to decide for herself what she wanted to be. She decided to be vegetarian but stuck with soya milk and soya yogurts rather than wanting dairy. She chose to go back to veganism in her teens.

Because its milk from a mammal 😀Mammalian Milk: All milk from mammals (including humans) is biologically dairy.

There's no reason to introduce another type of milk. "Moving off breastfeeding", for a different type of milk is not required. OP can either continue to breastfeed (WHO recommends until at least age 2), or give water along with solids once she stops breastfeeding, provided she breastfeeds until at least 1yr old and baby is fully established on solids.

Obviously, it's better for baby to breastfeed for as long as possible, both for nutrition and immunity building reasons.

I feel like things are getting confused - it's the exploitation of animals for their produce that makes the majority of people vegan. So no issue with cows milk for calfs - as long as it is not being massively produced for human consumption. Just like human milk for their children is ok. We are not lining humans up to mass produce milk for another species.

Also to answer your question about mother's being told to go diary free, that's about lactase (child can't break it down, quite common, and even more common after an illness).

I am not vegan or vegetarian but have friends/colleagues who are. They have all went vegetarian with their children. I would get advice if going down vegan route as you would want to make sure your child has proper rounded diet for development. I'm sure this can be done - but I've never come across it and most people find it easier in those earlier years to go vegetarian.

Ha yes fair enough I suppose that is confusing. Breast milk is dairy because it's milk from a mammal and "dairy" just means "milk or milk product".
Breast milk is OK for babies because babies don't get generally have lactose intolerance (that can come with age). In terms of allergy it's not a concern about broad "dairy" allergy but cow's milk protein allergy (CMPA). CMP can pass to babies through mom's breast milk.

So in short

• you're a vegan
• your breast milk is definitely dairy though
• whether it's "vegan" depends on whether you take a literal or ethical definition of the word
• talk to a paediatrician about feeding your baby, not to MN
• congrats on the baby!

Of course breast feeding is vegan.
Veganism is about not exploiting animals, and usually goes alongside other environmental and ethical concerns. Feeding your own baby your own milk is as vegan as it gets.

In answer to the OP, yes, I think I would feed a baby a vegan diet now (I wasn't vegan when mine were small) but obviously pay close attention to nutrition and maybe consult a dietician.

It does strike me that people are very quick to be concerned about vegans lacking nutrition - even though the majority of us are very careful to eat a balanced diet - and yet have no problem with meat eaters living on UPFs and fast food.

Human milk is NOT classified as dairy.

Dairy is termed for animal agriculture, not women.

I had two babies, vegan til they were five.
Now both vegetarian.
I BF until they were two, weaned at 5-6 months. I researched optimal diet and asked GP. They were both off the chart enormous babies, rarely ill and met all milestones ahead of time.
I fed them alot of tofu, spinach, red lentils, kale, apricots, soya yoghurt, blueberries, beans.
They had soya milk from 1 year (as well as breast)
I should have done a recipe book and made a fortune!
Good luck with it.