Newborn baby vegan

[starflake]

I'm due in December and I'm contemplating raising Baba as vegan. I'm vegetarian years & only eat a minimal amount of dairy, if Baba is vegan I'll go down the vegan route also. I'm contemplating this as I know the benefits of not consuming dairy or meat but I've never raised a baby vegan! My other DC are meat eaters bar one who is veggie like me. I'm looking for advice on formulas & how difficult it will be weaning etc. I'm planning on breastfeeding with some combi feeding so maybe one or two formula feeds a day after supply comes in. I'm not posting this in pregnancy section as I'm not up for a bashing on how harmful this will be for baba. TIA

OP can I ask your reasons for combo feeding? If it's to involve others in feeding you could express instead which would mean you wouldn't have to deal with vegan formula? (Disclaimer: not formula bashing! Just saw the comments on here about vegan formula being unpleasant)

Also just to add - I have a 5 month old who won't be having any meat or dairy! We may give her eggs though (from rescued battery hens).

So long as the balance is right it should be fine. My HV was mainly concerned about iron

All the vegans I know (which tbf is only a few couples) have raised their children as vegetarian until they were around 5 because making sure you get the right balance of nutrients and vitamins needed for a growing child is tricky.

A friend raised both her kids vegan but she breastfed until 2, and was super fussy with nutrition, she had a couple of private consultations with a nutritionist to my knowledge perhaps more.

I know a couple of people who plan too, both have tiny babies, and they are militant breastfeeders. Soy formula is available but human milk is best

Feed your child properly or if you insist on a vegan diet than at least breastfeed the poor mite!

The WHO advice to breasfeed for 2 years is encouraged by doctors in parts of India where people are mostly vegan as dairy can’t be found easily. You need to make sure this happens. You should also wean with high calcium / vitamin D foods - this means, as it often means in India, weaning with fine home made almond / cashew powders or butters supplemented with lots of green veg.

If baby is a boy you need to be careful with certain plant based replacements as edamame, along with the soya from it along with chickpeas and therefore hummus can all interfere in hormone production

I can't get over Baba.

My two children are both vegan, three and five years old, breast milk, fluoride free water, almond drink and hand made juices now and again, they are both strong and healthy, they only had bits of colds and sniffles.
Their immune systems got stronger and stronger.
They were happy to be breast fed and had the best natural nutritional food and they just got stronger and stronger.
But best if you think about eating natural also.
K.

If you can give the child an adequate diet (taking into consideration any fussy phases) then fine.

But I would ask you to consider why you are planning on having a 'vegan baby' rather than reducing the whole family's meat, dairy and animal products consumption. You mention other DC are meat eaters, how about the whole family go veg-ish-tarian and 'light consumers of dairy'.

Then no one is singled out as advantaged/disadvantaged/different and you can make one meal for all.

Just a suggestion.

I would recommend sticking to breast milk for the first twelve months. You can always express and breast feed which gives you a lot more freedom. Some of the machines are great now - wireless and silent while fitting into your bra.

Nah, this has to be a wind-up. OP is apparently not even vegan herself, and also refers to the child as 'baba'. Not to mention the fact that her other DC eat meat, and she doesn't plan to EBF.

1/10. Must try harder.

@Clayplease I see what you're saying. But my children were eating lasagna the other night and the eldest asked if it was beef, I said yes, and the youngest asked if it is a dead cow, and I said yes. They continued eating it. I have given the eldest the option of not eating meat anymore if it upsets him, he said it was sad, and that he didn't want to, then the day after asked for sausages. I reminded him that sausages were dead pig and of our previous conversation, and said 'but I like sausages' I'll wait till he's older and see how he feels. At 6 and 4 I'm not quite sure they get it fully, and I am not going to cut out foods that they currently will actually eat as the list is short. I have often considered vegetarianism myself and think one day I will make the change. Whether they do is up to them.

I will be mainly breastfeeding & expressing but will need a formula here just in case! I've never breastfed before so I'm only going on what I'm researching online & I'm reading a lot on mother's not producing enough milk etc.... I want to be prepared as much as possible if I do decide on this direction with little one. With what everyone is saying about the formula though I think if I do need formula I'll just use ordinary formula.
With regards to nutrition I'm perfectly able to feed myself & baby a healthy plant based diet without it affecting nutrition. I have an autoimmune disorder & gets bloods done every 3 months & my diet has never left me lacking in anything. When I found out I was pregnant I asked my doctor would being vegetarian affect my pregnancy & did I need to take any extra vitamins & he said no that I was probably healthier than most pregnant women because of my diet. I'm vegetarian but the only dairy I eat is cheese & eggs.
For those claiming I'll be harming my baby, what bollix!!! The reason I gave up meat in the first place is because I have chronic rheumatism arthritis and after diagnosis I researched alternative ways for pain relief as the amount of medication I was on was ridiculous. After years of playing around with different diet restrictions like giving up starch, carbs, more greens, juicing only etc etc I gave up meat & bang my inflammation went down! Within 6 months I was off all my meds bar one which I need but that's been reduced over the years now. My consultant will tell you all here how meat causes nothing but hassle within your bodies but sure people won't see that. As regard to dairy, I get everything from my fruit, veg, beans & pulses that I can from any dairy product or meat! I take extra vitamin B12, plus vitamin D anyway as helps with my disorder & tiredness. My DD who is vegetarian has had zero issues health wise & is more sporty & outdoorsy that my other DC who eat meat.
My decision for baby is purely down to the research I've done through my own disorder, doctors, consultants, & a new world that is changing every day, to give her the best start possible in life.

@starflake that all sounds brilliant. I did a lot of research (-and asked a doctor and scientist within the family to do some research for me) and have been amazed at how good a vegan diet can be. And how much misinformation we are given.

I can't recommend breastfeeding enough, if it's tricky at the start maybe try local support groups. Good luck 😍

Raise this baby vegan yet your other DC eat meat? Seems odd, why are your DC not vegetarian? Seems hypocritical that you feed them meat.

I've never breastfed before so I'm only going on what I'm researching online & I'm reading a lot on mother's not producing enough milk etc....

Definitely don't stress about this. The vast majority of people find that it is a steep learning curve - so it's hard to get started, often - but then it is easy, free, convenient and great for your baby. Babies feed on supply and demand, and if you want more, they suck more and then you produce more. So if you start worrying about not having enough milk and supplementing with formula instead of trusting the process, you can end up with low supply. Same goes for expressing - try not to get too hung up on bottles and expressing at the beginning, at least.

If you have bottle-fed your previous children, it's quite a mental adjustment as much as a physical one, so definitely check out in-person support groups - there will be ones in your area.

@Bookworm4 it's not odd no. My 3 DC were born before I was vegetarian & my diagnosis, one came on board with me as she is doing it for animal cruelty in her own right. The other 2 DC have wavered between the veggie & not.I don't cook meat but my DP does & they order meat when out. They are all I'd say 80% veggie as I do all the cooking mainly.

My DD had a milk allergy and so was on the vegan baby milk, she loved it and then moved onto normal soya milk at 12 months. There's lots more options now though than when I had her.

Vegans don't consume the products of ANIMALS for ethical reasons. We don't exploit other creatures for food or anything else. A human woman is not an animal and the baby is not exploiting the mother by feeding from her. Human milk is designed for human babies and freely given. Cow milk is designed for cow babies and is stolen from the cows and forcibly extracted to sell to humans.

Yup. Just as I would not have ceased to be a strict vegetarian had I consumed a paté made out of my placenta. (I didn't.)

I think you should breast feed and take it from there. You then have six months to to figure out what you will introduce to the baby's diet. I'd also suggest you breast feed as long as possible.

If you and your family were all already vegan I'd get it, but to plan to give formula to a "vegan" baby is bizarre when the parents aren't vegan.

Personally I think if the baby is going to be vegan the house should be vegan, even if some if you chose to eat animal products when out of the house.

Yup. Just as I would not have ceased to be a strict vegetarian had I consumed a paté made out of my placenta. (I didn't.)

@LynetteScavo I will be vegan. My DD is also considering the vegan route. Hence the decision making. For example there is no dairy milk, butter, cream etc in my house ever. We all use non dairy versions. I use vegan mayo, make my own coleslaw potato salad etc with it. Baking we use vegan alternatives also, the DC don't notice a difference. The only dairy produce I buy is cheese & eggs. Which I will be cutting out. My main reason for this decision is that health wise I know it's the better option for baby. I will be vegan which means all prepared meals will become vegan.

Thanks to all for the really good suggestions. Hate posting anything vegan with babies & children cause uneducated nutrition heads always come out saying it's not best! My main freaking out thing is the breastfeeding as I've never done it & hoping it works out for me as then I don't need to worry about milk! I have a few friends & sister on hand who breastfed successfully & have already offered their services for the first few weeks if I have any problems getting baby to latch etc! I hear the midwives where I'm having Baba are not the best when it comes to this so having friends say they will pop in & help in hospital will be great.

I have a child with life threatening food allergies including cows milk, eggs and soya, among other things. He also doesn’t really like meat (I think it’s a texture thing!), so is basically vegan.
As far as I am aware, the dairy-free formulas prescribed to babies with milk allergies are available to buy online but are extremely expensive. The particular one that my DS had costs around £37 for a 400g tin - so half the size of the regular formulas you can buy in supermarkets.
You can buy soya formula in supermarkets/chemists but soya-based formula isn’t recommended for babies under 6 months, which is why doctors don’t prescribe it to allergy babies.
My DS’s diet has to be closely monitored by a paediatric allergy specialist and a paediatric dietician. His weight and height are meticulously tracked, and he has to have all his supplements and specialist toddler formula amounts adjusted accordingly to ensure he is maintaining a healthy level of essential nutrients. I can’t get my head around why you would subject a child to all that, without having a genuine medical reason to do so
If you’re still insistent on raising this baby vegan, then in all honesty, the only way you can do it without it being due to medical necessity like my DS, is to exclusively breastfeed for as long as possible, whilst eliminating all animal products from your diet.