Anyone raised their babies vegan/vegetarian?

[SassyPants87]

Hi all

Baby is fast approaching 6 months and will soon be on solids. I really want to raise the baby vegetarian as it will make family meals a lot easier and also I strongly believe she will get everything she needs from a predominantly plant based diet. Having turned vegan myself my health became so much better. I would still give her diary hence raising her vegetarian.
Only problem is I've had a number of extended family pressuring me into giving her meat and telling me she won't get the right nutrients.

Has anybody raised their baby vegetarian and had no problems with their health/ nutritional ins take? It's starting to make me second guess myself even though I know she can get great nutritional replacements from plants

I've got 2 preschool dc, both always been vegan with no issues, both tall for their age and healthy. I'm still breastfeeding though cut right down to not every day with the eldest now. Nursery have provided a vegan menu fine for both. Both take a daily toddler vitamin as well.

Hi OP, I don't myself, but I eat vegan a lot and am a member of the FB group "Vegan Baby Led Weaning". The moderators on there are really knowledgeable and sensible about diet and necessary supplements for vegan babies etc (much more so than the Omni BLW groups I'm on). I'd really recommend it.

My 2 year old has always been Vegetarian. My view is that he will decide if he wants to eat meet when he can understand where it comes from. He's on the 97th percentile for height and a lovely weight. Eats lentils, pulses, nuts, lots of green veggies. It's a perfectly healthy diet!

Millions of people do it in India all the time. Have a google and you’ll find a wealth of info from Indian pediatricians about the best way to do it. You should probably supplement (well baby has a good all round multivitamin) because certain nutrients like iron and vitamin b (and vitamin d) can be difficult to obtain from a primarily veg diet.

Sorry - I misread your OP and thought you were saying vegan. Re raising babies veggie, I was raised veggie myself and my health is generally great .

My 21 month old has never eaten meat, simply because we don't. I wouldn't mind her eating it out of the house but that situation has never occured.

A great recipe book is Little Veggie Eats by Rachel Boyett is a really good recipe book for baby/toddler friendly meals.

My dd didn't have meat until she went to school and made her own choices about school dinners. (She is now a committed carnivore.) She had no health issues.

My DC is nearly 3, DH and I are both veggie and so we're raising DC the same. She's always been a fine weight and height - she's quite dinky but she was born dinky and she's always tracked her centiles nicely with no concerns. She's always been quite a fussy eater but I can't see how that would be different if she wasn't vegetarian, I know plenty of non-veggie kids who are similar or even worse after all. We make a conscious effort to think about protein sources for her and she has the Well Baby vitamin in her milk as PP suggested. She actually has some sort of shellfish allergy as once ate mussels and had an allergic reaction. She has also had a prawn cracker once before and no reaction to that though thankfully. I do wonder whether the fact that we didn't introduce fish/shellfish etc soon into weaning may have inadvertently caused her allergy and I never know if she has other fish allergies or not as we don't eat fish so that is my only real concern to be honest and it's not something I thought of in advance. I'm not sure if there is any research on this with regards to fish and shellfish but I know there is for other allergens like nuts and eggs etc that not introducing them earlier leads to higher likelihood of allergies. Might be something to bear in mind. We have had comments from relatives about her being veggie although not health concerns more like about imposing our food views on her which we point out we would be doing if we weren't veggie anyway just the opposite way , we just ignore anyone who criticises and people quickly stopped doing so. She has veggie meals at nursery but she goes to a large nursery who are used to catering to a wide variety of different dietary requirements.

My DGC is now 3 and has been raised as a vegetarian. She’s perfectly healthy and if anything tall for her age. She loves fruit, eats a good variety of vegetables with protein from lentils, beans, eggs and dairy. I can’t see it being a problem at school as all diets seem to be catered for now.

I’m a vegetarian and recently spoke to my HV about raising my baby vegetarian. She was very positive about it - she just said to make sure they’re taking their vitamins, and getting the right amount of protein and fat from vegetarian sources (lentils, pulses, nuts, eggs, dairy etc).

My family are a pain too. They keep on asking with faux naïveté why I’m not just letting him choose. I just smile and say when he’s old enough to decide for himself he’s welcome to have meat and ignore the rest. It’s totally possible to raise happy, healthy vegan or vegetarian children.

I was raised vegetarian, never eaten meat. I've never had any growth issues or anything like that, despite what my parents were told when people found out! My siblings were also all raised vegetarian, again with no problems!

We ate a lot of pulses, vegetables, tofu, eggs, and sensible amounts of dairy. Plenty of varied tastes and textures - we grew up loving to experiment with food!

DS is only 3 weeks at the moment but I'll be raising him veggie, too. DH used to be veggie and switched back to it after a few years break when we got married, so meal wise it's definitely not a problem. There are so many foods to experiment with out there, as long as they're getting all the vitamins and major food groups they need, it'll be fine! If DS chooses to eat meat when he's older, that's no problem for me. But I won't be introducing it!

My DC aged 9 and 11 have never eaten meat or fish. I've been veggie since I was about 10 and it just felt like the right thing to do. Choosing not to give a child meat is no different from choosing to give them meat. We all make choices for our children all the time - that's what parenting is. My DC appear to be healthy.
I try to make sure they get protein from a range of different sources (dairy, eggs, pulses, beans, nuts, etc.) and do worry a little about iron, but they eat green vegs, dried fruit etc.
My family probably rolled their eyes at my choices but have never really said anything.
DC are both adamant they never want to try meat but of course they've always been free to choose.

I find there's only two issues - people's judgement and lack of decent kids veggie options in pubs/cheap eat places (if you get a fussy one like mine who won't eat more adult food).

@Chickenlickeninthepot

I find there's only two issues - people's judgement and lack of decent kids veggie options in pubs/cheap eat places (if you get a fussy one like mine who won't eat more adult food).

Totally agree! I've raised mine as vegetarians, they are 16 & 20 now and still veggie. I had so many ridiculous comments from friends & family when they were younger but I think it's probably easier now it's a bit trendy to be a vegan? I'd love to hunt the person down who said I'd restrict their growth, ds is over 6ft Both are very healthy and unlike a lot of their meat eating cousins/friends, they are slim.

I'm not vegetarian but there is no reason why vegetarians (adults or babies) can't have all the nutrients they need from their diet. Obviously if you're vegan yourself you know the foods which you need to eat to stay healthy and its no different for her. Humans don't need to eat meat to live and can get protein etc from beans, pulses, eggs. As others have said, a multivitamin might be a good idea just in case.

We’re not as DH is not vegetarian and he felt he wanted her to have some meat in her diet and I didn’t really feel strongly enough about it to insist otherwise. However she has only had very small amounts on a couple of occasions and doesn’t really seem a fan and husband isn’t bothered enough to actually shop/ cook separately so I think we’ll end up with her eating mostly if not entirely vegetarian.

Iron is really important once they’re 6 months as there’s none or very little in breast milk and they have depleted their reserves they built up whilst you were pregnant (and those reserves would very much have depended on your iron intake and reserves too). Formula is fortified but again not the best form for absorption. So that’s one to focus on in terms of giving iron rich foods as much as possible.

SR nutrition is a good blog and Instagram account to follow and there’s also a Facebook group. Lots of information whatever type of diet you follow. I know you said you’d give dairy but here’s some info on plant mills from her just as an example www.srnutrition.co.uk/2020/01/comparing-plant-based-milk-alternatives-for-children

Hi all thank you so much for your responses. Hearing that you've successfully raised healthy children on a veggie diet has definitely encouraged me to preserver with it and shut down other people's comments!

Just to say that I recall being very anti -raising children as vegetarians, I know a few and I thought kids should be allowed to make their own choices. However my ds and dh became veggie 3 years ago (ds was 5 at the time) and as a family we are now mostly veggie. I now think it’s a very healthy and sensible way of living and totally doable nutrient-wise from birth
I would say it’s slightly awkward eating out/kids play dates/parties etc but still doable. If you want to give your baby pre-made baby food then as a veggie you will have less options but broadly speaking it’s far easier to grow up a veggie in the uk than most other countries I think.
Good for you.

@GrumpyHoonMain

We get vitamin D from the sun, not food.

OP - I raised mine as vegetarian, they both have phases of eating meat, then they change again, then they are pescatarian etc etc. I just go with the flow.

They are the healthiest kids I know and I don't supplement

I am perfectly healthy. I was raised vegetarian and didn’t have meat until I was 27, then I only tend to eat it if someone else is cooking. Staple meals as a child included plenty of veg, pulses, nuts, seeds and dairy.

My mum gave me an iron supplement but that was it.

I think there's a big difference between raising a veggie child and a vegan child.

A vegan diet imo is pretty restrictive for a young child and would take a lot of pre planning before you go anywhere. Also a pita if they go to a friends house for tea or even for family (non vegan) relatives to accommodate.

A veggie diet as long as they eat an otherwise balanced diet is fine.

Conversely, I was raised veggie and didn't eat fish or meat until well into adulthood and now look back and both regret not "rebelling" sooner and also regret starting my eldest girl off as veggie. I feel so much healthier eating fish and meat and my whole family now do.

As a teen, I remember being hungry. Really hungry. Yes, vegetarian and vegan food has improved from the 70s and 80s, but still relies too much on carbs IMO.

So no, I wouldn't bring a child up as veggie. The reality is, children want to please their parents and are highly unlikely to upset them by eating meat when they can "choose". It's a bit like religion. Hard to break away from the subliminal messaging if you don't know any different.

I'm afraid I am going to totally contradict the pp! Mine was raised as a vegetarian but knew she could eat meat outside of the home if she wanted although I chose her to be vegetarian at preschool due to lower animal welfare standards. She,was taken to Macdonald's on a school trip in Y1 and chose a cheeseburger, which then sparked a couple of years of her trying lots of different non vegetarian options when we ate out. As a teenager, she eats meat rarely and does like fish.

To be fair @Superstardjs my parents were generally controlling people anyway 😆

But they really did drill into me the evils of eating meat. I wouldn't have wanted to let them down by choosing it out slide the home, even though they half heartedly said I could "if I REALLY wanted to". They bragged to others I had the choice, but in reality I didn't.