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 was raised vegetarian from birth & still am, although now I'm also dairy free. My DSis is still vegetarian & DBro is vegan.

My 3 dc have been raised vegetarian, they're 12, 10 & 8 now. All in good health, 1 has asthma but that's it.

I never once felt like 'rebelling'.

I don't think the argument that we should let kids choose whether they want to be vegetarian holds water. Choosing to eat meat/fish is as much a choice as choosing not to, and we have to choose for them when they are babies.

I wanted my DC to have the chance to have never eaten meat/fish. I grew them in my vegetarian body and they have never eaten meat or fish. And now it's their choice. Their dad eats meat, so it's not like it's a taboo in our house, and I happily prepare meat for their dad and guests.

We make choices for our children every single day. That's what being a parent is. What we offer them to eat is just one of those things. Of course they have a say once they can speak.

I never had the evils of meat drummed into me by my parents luckily! My own children have been raised as meat eaters, but my strength in the kitchen is making tasty balanced veggie food, so that’s what we have most often.

My almost two year old has been raised vegetarian. On 99th percentile for height and weight all the way through and had no nutritional issues. I think you just need to plan to make sure they are getting everything they need xxx

My 8yo is veggie and mostly vegan (the veggie aspect was to appease meat eating DH) and even though he's actually quite fussy he's tall, healthy and very rarely ill.

He's also quite prod that he's never eaten meat

It's a bit like religion. Hard to break away from the subliminal messaging if you don't know any different.

This is also true when the subliminal message is that it’s fine to eat animals. All parents influence the decisions of their children - it’s fine and normal.

I was raised a vegetarian from birth and nothing wrong with me.. I however haven't instilled my values onto my daughter because for me personally I just want her to make that choice by herself. You're free to raise your child in whatever way you see best :) it's nobody else's business.

We were 90% veggie before DC came along (are it on special occasions and on holiday) but have returned to eating meat and fish.

I take my hat off to anyone who manages giving their kids a good vegetarian diet but for me, DD is fussy and won't eat things when they're mixed, eg anything in a sauce. I realised we were going to rely on bland food, Linda McCartneys and carbs and I wasn't sure that was a better diet for her.

Many people raise their babies vegetarian (vegan is tricker but with good advice it's possible). What is a harder decision to make as to whether you are going to (try to l) force your child to be vegetarian once they have some autonomy etc insist school only gives them vegan food at school, ban haribo, going to friends parties etc. The majority of people I know have allowed their children to decide for themselves, some do eat meat outside of the home (including being allowed to choose it in restaurants) others do not

We eat healthy vegetarian meals therefore so does our son. We're not making special meals for him. There are Facebook groups you can join to help with meals ideas. We don't do vegan as it's harder to get all their supplements when very little especially when they don't eat much. But we will let him when he's older if he wants to.

Our approach is we cook what we cook and when he's young we tell nursery he's veggie. But once he csn start deciding it's up to him.

My dd is nearly 16 and has never eaten meat. We don't cook it at home, and although we'd have been happy for her to eat meat elsewhere, she never wanted to do so. She is very healthy, full of energy and hardly ever sick. I don't feel that she is missing out on any nutrients.

I’ve been vegetarian since 16 but chose to feed my children a bit of everything as I felt being vegetarian was a personal choice . In reality they are both fussy and with the benefit of hindsight an enforced vegetarian diet may have been too limited. One is about 90% vegetarian and is extremely likely to become vegetarian as he doesn’t like the taste and texture of meat but also won’t eat meat substitutes . The other eats a fair amount of chicken and very specific things like specific meat balls but dislikes a lot of veg . He would have barely eaten as an enforced vegetarian . My advice would be to be flexible . It’s much more important that they eat a balanced diet than become vegetarian from scratch .