veggie babies

[MP4]

I've been veggie most of my adult life so it seems natural to me that I would give my baby (just strated weaning) a veggie diet, but both friends and inlaws think I'll be depriving her of essential vitamins and think I should give her some animal protein. I'd thought of pureed lentils for protein and there's milk of course. Is there anything else anyone can suggest to ease their anxiety and has anyone else raised a totally veggie baby?

mp4 I have been a veggie since the age of thirteen and now in my thirties I have two very healthy children (12yrs and 22months) and both are incredibly healthy and have never eaten meat although they both eat dairy products. I would suggest you contact the organisation Viva! at their webaite as they have leaflets on weaning veggie babies that are informative. Initially just go for single vegetables or fruit gradually introducing more and more,mash beans cannellini, butter beans, chick peas as well as red lentils (a definate staple in our house!), rice is also good, as are scooped out baked potatoes add veg and grated cheese, beans or finely milled nuts if you have no family history of nut allergies. Yogurts are also good. If you eat a balanced veggie diet then your child will eat a balanced veggie diet and the concerns of your family and friends are simply not rooted in fact. Good luck, Winnie

Hi MP4, my son is nearly 5 and has been vegetarian from birth. I've had to deal with lots of unhelpful and critical comments along the way, including some from my health visitor. I armed myself with loads of information about vitamins and minerals and vegetarianism so that I could argue if I was in the mood Carol Timperleys Baby and Child Vegetarian book is good for this and for recipes from weaning onwards. Lots of meat eaters have just never considered the healthiness or otherwise of a veggie diet and so automatically say things like "won't he be deprived of xyz vitamin?". Mmmm, the answer is no if you supply a balanced and healthy diet. The vegetarian society sent me lots of useful info too. If you want your child to be vegetarian there is absolutely no reason to give your dd animal protein - she will be perfectly healthy without it. Good luck. Will try to find the Carol Timperly book details for you.

The book I used is here but it looks like she's written another one so you might want to have a look at that in a bookshop too.

And the vegetarian society website is here

My ds (11 months) is a veggie baby, I agree with all the other posts esp. about Carol Timperley's book. Just one thing to add, I've found it difficult getting a good mix of prepared veggie weaning foods - Most of the time I cook up huge batches of baby food and freeze it but when I was on holiday and wanted to feed him from jars the poor boy had 'pasta and veg with cheese' most of the time.

I have friend whose daughter has been vegan from birth - so it can be done.

MP4, if you have just started weaning your baby, you wouldn't give meat for a while yet even if you did not want to have a veggie baby. If you start with lentils, stick to things like split red and split green lentils but without the skins as they are supposed to be easiest to digest according to my mum (no scientific evidence just cultural back up!). A little bit of cheese powder mixed into baby's food also adds to the protein intake - Safeways sell powdered cheese sauce for babies but I'm not sure if there is any difference with the adult version. HTH.