Raising our child vegetarian

[sahmandwife]

I'm vegetarian and although my husband isn't officially one as I only cook vegetarian he only eats vegetarian foods lool. We have a baby and agreed to raise our baby vegetarian. We have enough advice to suggest it is possible to do so but wonder if it will limit her food options and choices especially when she is at nursery and has friends who may eat meat. Any thoughts?

All three of mine are as are quite a few at school now and it’s never caused any problems warring elsewhere there are so many options now.

Surely vegetarianism is mainstream enough now for this not to be an issue? I reckon it’s fine, but maybe depends where you live - inner city London, great. Outer Mongolia, not as straightforward.

If you do it properly with real veg and research nutrition it should be okay with a supplement like Wellbaby drops or similar. The only thing is you need to be careful with lentils and pulses at the beginning as allergies are very common but not always obvious.

I've got a couple of vegetarian children. Its more widley accepted now so shouldn't be a problem. The biggest issue is Haribo dodging when they get a bit older.

I think this kind of thing really depends on how fussy she is. I know a few people who were raised vegetarian and they all ate vegetables and pulses happily as children. Many children. Don’t though so for some children it can be difficult to ensure they get enough nutrients. So long as you are mindful of ensuring that your child gets enough of what they need I don’t see why it would be a problem.

Billions of children are vegetarian across the world. No issues at all. All children should take a vitamin supplement, whatever they eat.

I’m vegetarian, DH isn’t but is mostly at home, DD is vegetarian.

My siblings and I were all brought up vegetarian. Two decided to eat meat as teens/adults, two stayed vegetarian. One of the later meat eaters then went veggie again then vegan.

My older kids are vegetarian, and the baby mostly is although her dad sometimes gives her bits of chicken from his plate which I don't have an issue with. They all eat really well and once they were old enough to understand where meat comes from they made the decision themselves. They all take multivitamins daily too and always have, as do I. I'm vegan and my oldest has expressed an interest in becoming vegan but I've encouraged her to wait until she's a little bit older for that (she's 12) as I do think its more difficult for vegan kids to get a fully balanced diet, though I'm sure many do manage it.

I raised my dc as vegetarian in the home and also at nursery. However, once she was old enough to make her own choices I said it was up to her what she ate outside of the home, although did emphasise the importance of higher welfare products. She sometimes chose meat, largely out of curiosity but was unimpressed for the most part and eats a 95% vegetarian diet now as a teenager.

We’re vegetarians and we don’t eat dairy, we do eat eggs/honey so not vegan.

It’s not a problem, both nursery and primary school provide a suitable meal daily if we want to use it. We don’t as it’s mainly stodge and quorn.

He’ll eat most things (he’s four), but he dislikes aubergine, it’s disguised in most things so he often eats it without knowing.

Veggie family with veggie kids here. I never even gave it a second thought.