6 year old vegetarian - need advice

[wonka]

Need advice on six year old becoming vegetarian, he's not great with too much dairy really upsets his tummy. We use some soy products and very small amounts of dairy.
He's a good little eater but is very small on the 0.5 percentile.
He's very rational about why he wants to become a vegetarian so I want to let him.
Am I making a mistake how do I ensure he's eating a balanced enough diet and do I need to give him multivitamin? Any meal
Thanks

My 2 have both always been vegetarian and are very healthy. They both eat a lot of nuts, beans and pulses. Beans in a 'chilli' - very little chilli, basically a bean stew, lentils in lasagne and other pasta dishes. Nuts mainly as snacks. They also like most quorn products, which they have maybe once a week.

I've been a vegetarian all my life, and we're raising my lo as the same.

There are some predictable arguments against vegetarianism, I'd just recommend working out your response to these and equipping yourself with the knowledge to overcome. Depending on your approach it can be fairly easy to eat poorly (as with any diet I'm sure). The food stuffs I always try to remember are lentils, beans, pulses, protein, seeds, nuts, omega 3 and 6, all b vitamins, dark green leafy veg. If he gets that lot, combined with an otherwise healthy diet, you'll be doing well

loads of pulses and green leafy veg. do watch calcium intake if little dairy ( go for seeds and nuts) not enough calcium could mean low peak bone mass and a predisposition to osteoporosis in later life.

I would think about maybe a multivitamin with iron?

does he get plenty of good fats in his diet too? I'd just wonder if (as a vegetarian diet, especially one low in dairy) can be very low in calorie dense foods he might just be "under fueled" for the business of being a busy child IYSWIM.

My DD can't eat dairy and tho we're not veggie we don't eat meat that often. She has coconut milk - as in the drink here that has calcium added. Tofu, nice nut butters e.g. cashew nut is delicious and makes amazing freezer fudge, lots of houmous for calcium in sesame and protein in chickpeas, avocado also for good fat.

We use Quorn tho try not to overdo it as is processed, also Linda McCartney sausages. As others say, lentils or similar in lasagne/pasta. Quinoa (also high protein) cooked in stock with vegetables/tomato sauce/mild veg curry, that sort of thing.

For school lunch I often give her a pot of brown rice "salad" that has things like vegan mayo, a few shakes of liquid aminos, some vegan wheat protein "salami", broccoli and cucumber and tomato. Nutritional yeast flakes also a tasty addition e.g. instead of cheese sprinkled on pasta. Or non-spicy samosas I make with peas and potato and other veg wrapped in half a sheet of filo.

Basically my attitude is to avoid the vegetarian upbringing I had of toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner i.e. not enough fat and not enough veg and way too much wheat, though I did have nut roast, I hate it now however.

Sweet foods with tahini as a base e.g. chocolate mousse = tahini, ripe banana, raw choc powder, agave syrup, whizz in food processor, have fruit pieces to dip in. We sneak minuscule amounts of spirulina powder (and other such green superfood powders) into things like that where it won't be noticed (has a strong fishfood flavour!).

Thank you all so much, I think he's getting enough calories, I'll try doing a calorie counter for a few days, have just added lentils to my shopping list, can anybody recommend a good cook book? Thanks

My DD2 (7) id periodically a vegetarian.

She goes through stages,and I accommodate them.I think it's important to allow and respect their choices particularly if based on a belief they hold.

I got a couple of second hand cook books off ebay - nothing brilliant,but they didn't need to be,as the main requirement is some everyday meals.

My DD's get a basic multivitamin every day regardless of whether eating meat or vegetarian.

Linda McCartney sausages are lovely I agree.

Stickle what do you put in your bean stew,if you don't mind?

Wonka I went veggie at 8 (still am at 32!) I always have had such respect to my mum for allowing/accommodating this and think you are fab too. My mum made lots of Mexican/Italian bakes using fresh veggies or we could have pizza/Quorn escalopes/pies and she's always make at least 1fresh veggie alongside it. Has not done me any harm.

Thanks jemima, that was lovely.
I think he's actually making us all eat a little healthier!
I just am a bit concerned because he's little for his age.
Thanks for all the meal ideas.
Just Trying to keep it varied

I've been vegetarian since I was 9 so 23 10 years now and my only tip really would be to ensure he's getting enough iron and also vitamin B12, particularly as he isn't having dairy.

Ps well done for letting him. I know a lot of people wouldn't but my mum earnt a lot of respect when she allowed me to become vegetarian and also I felt like I was being listened to and valued which did a lot for my self confidence.

This eliot&qid=1385447078&ref=sr11title0main&sr=8-1 Rose Elliot vegetarian cook book is the bible!!! Simple, economical and tasty!

Brilliant!
Thank you just ordered Rose Elliot.

You won't be disappointed Wonka, enjoy!

vegetarian is sustainable without supplements - it is vegan that isn't.

you'll need to work at balance as he can't eat much dairy, but is perfectly possible. Don't give fake sausages etc though, if he actually means 'I don't want to eat animals' he needs to stick to his guns!

I do give mine extra vitamins as a just in case.

Fortunately they are happy to eat pulses, especially chick peas and lentils. Quinoa, cous cous and brown rice for Carbs. Lots of things have calcium besides dairy - broccoli and other green leaves especially. Serve iron rich foods with a small glass of orange juice to help absorption. I agree quality fats are the trickiest to get a good balance so we do use a lot of natural yoghurt on breakfasts and in sauces, and cook with butter and cream. Avocado is also a good source.

I'd love the recipe for the nut butter freezer fudge someone mentioned up-thread.

Nut butter fudge?
Off now to google, thank you all

I want some cashew nut butter fudge now.

Zoidberg please share recipe

I'm a veggie (not lifelong, only 21 years) but I've brought my little boy, who's just turned 4 up as veggie (my husband is a carnivore but we have a meat-free house and he eats meat when he's out :-)

My son loves cheese so a lot of his faves won't be much good to you, but like others suggested, we make veggie lasagne and put red lentils in the tomato sauce (they dissolve and just make it thicker, DS1 used to eat green lentils no problem but no he points out the black specks so I use red lentils in most things).

DS1 loves peanut butter and chooses to have that every lunchtime (that or humous with carrot sticks). He also loves egg omelettes/scrambled eggs, tofu (so we have that with stirfrys - he particularly likes the pre-marinated cauldron foods tofu), he likes fajitas (not keen on peppars or onions so I put in veg he does like (baby sweetcorn etc), chick pea curries and risottos.

There's loads of stuff I wish he would eat, but I think over the week he gets a balanced diet, he's not keen on as many vegetables as I'd like, but he loves fruit in all its variations and easily has his 5 a day from both.

I used my own recipes for him, but also got a couple of books when I was weaning him, that to be honest we then used for ourselves as main meals :-)

I got www.amazon.co.uk/Rose-Elliots-Mother-Baby-Toddler/dp/1904038093, www.amazon.co.uk/Finger-Food-Babies-Toddlers-nutritious/dp/0091889510/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385545904&sr=1-1&keywords=jenny+maizels and www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-Child-Vegetarian-Recipes-Delicious/dp/0091853001/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385545940&sr=1-1&keywords=vegetarian+toddler

All of them have lots of baby stuff which isn't appropriate, but they have some nice toddler meals (which basically are just family meal recipes). Might be worth you seeing if you can borrow them out of your local library to have a look to see if it would be worth while buying them?

The jenny maizels book has a nice recipe for quorn mince balls which DS1 loves with tomato sauce and spaghetti.

I'm not keen on supplements and have never taken any myself apart from folic acid, but this last year I have given DS1 a supplement, primarily because he has a skin complaint so we need to keep him covered up and I was worried about his vit D.

sorry, I forgot to convert the links - that looks crap :-(

Will try again

I got www.amazon.co.uk/Rose-Elliots-Mother-Baby-Toddler/dp/1904038093, www.amazon.co.uk/Finger-Food-Babies-Toddlers-nutritious/dp/0091889510/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385545904&sr=1-1&keywords=jenny+maizels and www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-Child-Vegetarian-Recipes-Delicious/dp/0091853001/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385545940&sr=1-1&keywords=vegetarian+toddler

Some great advice here. I've raised my 2 veggie, they have never had meat and are very healthy. Lentils are your friend, as is quinoa and value tins of kidney beans. Bung red lentils in whatever you can and use quinoa instead of rice or cous cous for protein. Hummous is great too.

I was coming on to recommend that Rose Elliott book but I see someone beat me to it! It's great, lots of good family meals and lots of other useful recipes that you wouldn't normally find in a veggie cookbook (ie. lots on baking) so it really is a useful book.

My 6 year old has been veggie since birth. Now he understands what it means to be veggie, he's happy being so and doesn't want to eat meat.

He's always been a big boy though and is not at all fussy (although he doesn't like mushrooms which is irritating as I love them!) He adores peanut butter and luckily is allowed to take peanut butter sandwiches to school so he has them for lunch frequently. He also sometimes takes a pot of (unsalted) mixed nuts.

I give him a multi-vitamin. The Tesco kids ones have iron in and are often on 3 for 2 offer. I don't think he really needs it but it makes me feel better!

Here is a daily meal plan. Hope it helps. :)
Whole Grains, Breads, Cereals: 6 servings
Vegetables: 1/4 cup dark green vegetables , 1/4 to 1/2 cup other vegetables
Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, Non-Dairy Milks: 1/2 to 1 cup legumes , 3 servings soymilk or other non-dairy milk
Fruits: 1 to 2 cups

sorry not been back sooner, I will look up the proper recipe for the fudge and post later. It's basically a jar of cashew nut butter warmed a little so easy to mix with melted coconut oil then add raw choc powder or ground almonds or similar.

Chick peas are another alternative to lentils - I used to love them when I was little, and still like them. Homous would be a good option to make from them for instance (and you can make your own and freeze it too). Black eyed beans are another good one. I used to hate butter beans though - too powdery.

I've been vegetarian since I was 6 as I much preferred it.