Vegan baby

[Expecteddeclathon]

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

The dictionary would disagree. However, very well. Animal products, including eating animal flesh, can therefore be vegan. Good to know.

So...what are people who are 'vegan' in their diets for health reasons, but not ethically vegan and wear leather shoes etc, called? Because I know a few of those, and they've always just called themselves vegan.

"animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment". I think the vegans conveniently forget about that part when consuming their alternative products e.g. soya.

They’re called dietary vegans to distinguish themselves from regular (full) vegans.

I genuinely am absolutely baffled about what you’re trying to achieve here.

It's your baby and your choice but I'd definitely speak to a paediatrician before weaning to make sure your child is getting all the vitamins etc that he or she needs. This is one for the professionals and not the good burghers of Mumsnet!

What rot

Interesting. Thank you! Well, I've learnt something!

(Not sure why you're so baffled; I was misled by multiple different definitions of veganism saying the ethics were optional, and thus deeply confused as to why people were insisting that consuming animal products was vegan!)

Interestingly, there is a vegan child who has started at my kid's nursery and since then, none of the children are eating the meat or fish provided at lunches. They were all eating the lunches before. The parents had a meeting with the staff to find out what was going on and if the recipes had changed or something. The manager admitted that there had become a culture of them all copying each other. Turns out the vegan child sits at the lunch table and makes remarks like "yuk, my family don't eat fish because it's cruel" "my family don't eat dead animals. If you eat dead animals you are a bad person". The kids are 3, 4 and 5 year olds. Perhaps vegans should extend the kindness they feel towards animals to their fellow human beings and stop teaching their kids to be sanctimonious parrots, preaching their indoctrinated lines like learned scripture.

My baby is almost vegan by default as she has an egg and cows milk allergy (and soya which means she can't eat a lot of foods), she isn't keen on any meats, neither was eldest who has been vegetarian since age 5 and now 11. It's difficult to ensure such small children have all the vitamins and minerals they need as some foods we would eat as adults are unsuitable especially in the amounts needed but it is doable if the effort is there.

Which part? Could you elaborate?

I struggle to understand why someone would choose a vegan diet for a baby, to be honest. It introduces clear and well documented health risks, such as vitamin B12 and iron deficiency, and requires supplementation and medical supervision to ensure the child is growing and developing properly. That alone suggests it isn’t a straightforward or natural choice for an infant.

From personal observation, I’ve yet to meet a vegan who appears genuinely healthy in the long term. Many seem pale, fatigued, or nutritionally depleted, even at a young age. While that’s anecdotal, it does raise questions about how easy it really is to meet nutritional needs on a vegan diet.

There’s also the issue of choice. A baby has no say in this decision, yet it imposes significant dietary restrictions based on parental beliefs, similar in some ways, to how belief systems like religion are passed on. Given the potential health implications, I find it difficult to justify making such a restrictive choice on behalf of a child who cannot consent.

Beyond health, there are social consequences. School, nursery, and parties can already be challenging for children, and restrictive diets often lead to exclusion, even when others try to be accommodating. I’ve seen children left without food at parties simply because suitable options ran out. Allergies are unavoidable and already difficult enough to manage; choosing a restrictive diet when there’s no medical need seems to add unnecessary hardship for the child.

For these reasons, it makes far more sense to me to allow children to eat a varied diet while they are growing, and then let them decide for themselves later, as teenagers or adults, whether they want to follow a vegan diet. At that point, they can understand the nutritional responsibilities involved and make an informed choice.

You can do it but it’s bloody hard work and I’d be prepared to give it up and introduce cheese/cows milk if the baby is remotely picky. You’ll have to be ok with the baby taking lots of supplements etc. I’d want careful monitoring of height and weight with yearly blood tests. You need to be prepared to choose a nursery that will allow you to send in all the baby’s food. You need a plan for when she sees the other children eating very different food to him/her. It won’t be easy but you can do it.

Humans are omnivores and while it's fine for adults to make decisions for themselves, children - growing children - need a varied diet which includes animal products as that it how we evolved.
I get the moral dilemma, but the child's health should be paramount

Of course it is, why wouldn't it be?

Fine but I think you'd need to be very careful with their diet. Also bearing in mind the majority of babies / toddlers won't just eat everything you give them. There must be some cookbooks. I'd keep BF as long as you can, as that gives many nutrients, and also research if there's any recommended supplements beyond the NHS recommendations for Vitamins A, C and D. Not an issue now but you'd need to think how you manage with a toddler who sees others eating different food which they can't have, for example at a child minder or nursery. Most of my friends who are vegan or veggie have allowed their child to eat other foods if they want to, once they can choose.

The impact on the environment, animals and people of soya, avocado, cashew, almond, palm oil etc. production. Not to mention the resources required to make UPF fake meats and the carbon footprint of importing exotic fruits, vegetables, legumes etc. Much of a vegan diet cannot be grown/produced in this country and the environmental impact is vast. Also the exploitation of workers in 3rd world countries is a big issue. People talk about ethical meat and dairy but I bet few vegans look at the ethics of the food they are consuming, where it came from and the environmental impact of that.

I think no issue providing you understand about nutrition, how to feed a healthy vegan diet to a child at each age and know what supplementation is required (B12 particularly). I'd also want to do fairly extended breast-feeding if it was me. Some members of my family have been vegan since birth, now in their 30s and no issues AFAIK.

The only thing I would say OP is she should be exposed to all 14 major allergens to prevent development of allergies. So really she should be trying milk, egg, fish.

Impossible to overstate the importance of getting proper nutritional advice on this. If you feed your baby a vegan diet you're at risk of them being deficient in these key nutrients at an absolutely critical stage in their development:

Vitamin B12 – getting enough B12 is vital. Deficiency can cause irreversible neurological damage, developmental delay, anemia.
Iron – plant iron is less absorbable; deficiency can affect cognition and immunity.
Calcium & Vitamin D – needed for bones and teeth.
Iodine – important for thyroid and brain development.
Zinc – growth, immune function.
Omega-3s (DHA/EPA) – key for brain and eye development.
Protein & calories – plant diets can be bulky; babies may feel full before meeting energy needs – and not getting enough protein and calories will lead to their growth stalling (edited to add missing word)

I know someone who now has irreversible neurological damage because they ate a vegan diet and didn't get enough B12. It's blighted their life – absolutely don't risk this for your baby.

Er, no. You are not a plant. A vegan diet is plant-based.

But most of the soya and palm oil production are being used for meat products. It's far more environmentally friendly to eat soya yourself than use it to feed a cow then eat the cow - much more soya needed for the same number of calories at the end.

I also doubt vegans as a group are responsible for more exotic veg import - they are more likely to be seasonal/ locally sourced types I would have though.

No, because dairy refers to farming. Unless you're using human milk from women kept in barns, lining them up and milking them, it's not dairy.
Human milk fed from mother to child is vegan.

So mammal milk is ok if it’s not gathered in an exploitative way?

Only when it's for the same mammal. Cow milk for calves, human milk for babies.

Friend’s daughter is bringing up her dc as a vegan, both parents have been vegan for 10+ years so are used to the diet and making sure they get all the nutrients they need through alternatives. Their dc, who is now 3, seems to always have constipation, has bags under their eyes, looks very anaemic, and is always miserable. They have never slept well, even with the aid of 2 sleep specialists. Now, the dc may have been like this even if they had been bought up a carnivore but my friend feels that her GC doesn’t get enough protein or vitamins in their diet and it’s having an effect on them. I think a vegetarian diet is a compromise until baby is older, then progress to veganism.

I think we need a definition of vegan that is consistent with what we are being told.

Either it is an exclusively plant based diet/lifestyle with no living creature by products including milk, honey, feathers, leather etc or it is a diet that can include animal by products as long as they are not gathered in an exploitative way as per OPs apparent standard. Or is there another definition?