Should I raise my child vegan?

Howtolivelife · 2021-09-30T06:47:49+00:00

Okay, I get it, milks important, but is giving my child soy milk or almond milk really a better solution? My mother certainly doesn’t agree. I myself became vegan some years ago for personal reasons and was wondering if raising my child with that lifestyle would be unbenificial, how would she cope at school? There’d be so much she could and couldn’t eat that it leads me to wonder if the other kids would poke fun because of it. What’s a mother to do?

fabricstash · 30/09/2021 07:50

Radio 4 did a good session on this yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon on a health programme. Think it was about 2pm ish. Should be on BBC sounds. They reviewed milk and meat substitutes. Quite interesting

Imcatmum · 30/09/2021 07:51

I wouldn't because I think it's a choice for the individual. By all means have lots of vegan meals but also let child have school dinners and eat at friends houses freely and attend parties and choose what to eat there too.

fabricstash · 30/09/2021 07:52

It was just about nutrition rather than ethics

GloriaPunniford · 30/09/2021 07:52

My children have a choice but everything I cook is vegan. I do allow meat/dairy etc in the house and the children can eat whatever they want outside of the house.

Nutritional intake is key, a good vegan diet is so much better than a poor omni diet.

Noeuf · 30/09/2021 07:55

I raised mine vegetarian ve cause I don’t believe we should be eating meat. I’m now vegan but for practicalities I haven’t restricted dairy for them. It’s small steps to fit with your beliefs I think.
Imcatmum I’m assuming you leave everything up to your kids to decide? Make no choices for them based on your own lifestyle or beliefs?

PurpleDaisies · 30/09/2021 07:57

The radio 4 programme was Inside Health. It was interesting.

Sirzy · 30/09/2021 08:01

I think if growing up in a vegan household then they will while younger inevitably have a broadly vegan diet which is fine. What I think is important is not to say “you can’t have that because your vegan” before they are of an age to make a decision for themselves.

Irish993 · 30/09/2021 08:01

Agreed with imcatmum. Everything else aside, I wouldn't want to make my child's life more awkward and isolate them from their friends early on. If you force it on them, I bet they reject it all outright when they're older. Maybe just make them love vegan food as well, rather than denying them meat? Then that's open to them. It's a positive addition to their childhood rather than a negative point of friction.

MakkaPakkas · 30/09/2021 08:03

I have a friend who switched the whole family to vegan when her DS was about 5. As far as I remember the main practical issue was with school dinners and she went in to discuss with the school caterers. Secondarily, there are sometimes small issues with what he can eat at parties, when people are having an ice-cream in the park etc... But there are now quite easily available vegan options for that. As far as nutrition goes I don't know, I had always thought young kids need a lot of calcium from dairy products but he seems fine.

GoodnightGrandma · 30/09/2021 08:07

I think they should make that choice for themselves when they are old enough, and that they should be able to drink/eat anything at school that they choose.
What you provide at home is up to you.

Shelddd · 30/09/2021 08:07

I guess it depends on why you're vegan. I assume it's ethical or environmental reasons because health wise vegetarian and pescatarian diets have lower all cause mortality, lower rates of heart disease and cancer. If so I think you just need to balance your child's optimal health and your ethical views and you might have to make some compromises, whatever you think is appropriate.

MakkaPakkas · 30/09/2021 08:08

I should add that my friends kid doesn't stand out too much as there's always someone else with restrictions (Muslim so can't have haribo, veggie so doesn't have meat, allergies so no nuts etc...). It's a PITA for catering but not excessively so.

SuperstarDog · 30/09/2021 08:13

If I had my time again, I’d bring my children up as vegan. I was vegetarian when I had them and thought I was right to give them the ‘choice’. Now I believe that giving them the real choice would have been to not give them animal products and let them choose once they were old enough to know what it involved.
I think eating animals is normalised in society and it really shouldn’t be. It’s horrific. 😔

Athrawes · 30/09/2021 08:15

People don't need milk. Calcium can come from plenty other sources. They only thing I would really be concerned about would be B12 deficiency and you could simply give your child a multivitamin and cover that off.

TuftyMarmoset · 30/09/2021 08:31

I’m vegan and considering raising my DC vegetarian but not giving them cheese so that they don’t get addicted to it. School dinners are a complication though.

Neveratruerfriend · 30/09/2021 08:36

Do your own research. There's a food writer, Joanne Blythman, who is a good place to start.

C8H10N4O2 · 30/09/2021 08:43

I wouldn't because I think it's a choice for the individual

As is meat eating and I've yet to here anyone say "bring them up vegan in case they decide they don't want to be a meat eater".

As others have said - any diet can be good or poor. If you haven't been raised vegan then you may need to do more research on healthy vegan diets for children. Vegetarian is a common compromise in early years if you have concerns.

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 30/09/2021 08:45

I don't know. I raised mine vegetarian and I'm not vegan and wish he was too, but he's 13 so it's up to him. I regret buying eggs and cheese and try to give him vegan as much as possible. I replaced milk and yoghurt with vegan versions and he does eat a lot less eggs and dairy at home. However he isn't as restricted as I am when he goes out and to friends houses etc and that does make things easier for him.

Warmduscher · 30/09/2021 08:47

@C8H10N4O2

I wouldn't because I think it's a choice for the individual

As is meat eating and I've yet to here anyone say "bring them up vegan in case they decide they don't want to be a meat eater".

As others have said - any diet can be good or poor. If you haven't been raised vegan then you may need to do more research on healthy vegan diets for children. Vegetarian is a common compromise in early years if you have concerns.

Agree.

I don’t understand why non-meat eating parents are deemed the only ones not allowed to decide what their child eats, while meat eaters get to impose their choices on the child until they’re old enough to decide for themselves.

Such double standards.

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 30/09/2021 08:50

@Sirzy

I think if growing up in a vegan household then they will while younger inevitably have a broadly vegan diet which is fine. What I think is important is not to say “you can’t have that because your vegan” before they are of an age to make a decision for themselves.

This seems like a sensible approach

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 30/09/2021 08:51

@TuftyMarmoset

I’m vegan and considering raising my DC vegetarian but not giving them cheese so that they don’t get addicted to it. School dinners are a complication though.

I relied too much on cheese when DS was little especially as he was fussy. I think if I'd given more vegan options when he was a baby and toddler it would be easier now

BiscuitLover09876 · 30/09/2021 08:54

How do you manage it practically? I personally find it a lot of work especially to keep healthy and have variety without loads of prep (and that's exhausting enough when you're weaning). I'm basically veggie but give my ds dairy and fish sometimes to prevent him having allergies. I also let him have veggie when he's out. When he's old enough to ask, he can choose his own options when he's out.

Then at home I just cook when I cook and he eats that.

leavesthataregreen · 30/09/2021 08:56

@TuftyMarmoset

I’m vegan and considering raising my DC vegetarian but not giving them cheese so that they don’t get addicted to it. School dinners are a complication though.

Can you get addicted to cheese?

I think if the food you make is fresh and largely unprocessed, then it's fine. But there is a lot of processed vegan pap out there. People say, 'Oh you mustn't raise children as vegan, they need calcium' etc, but the Jain religion is vegan, so that entire strand of humanity survives generation after generation without problems.

Theunamedcat · 30/09/2021 09:03

Isn't there medical reasons to not do this from the start? You could start them omnivore then change it to a good vegan diet

I think (think) I've read somewhere that if you raise them from birth not eating meat they can react badly to it I personally would not like to take my child's choice away

Babyiskickingmyribs · 30/09/2021 09:05

I think the age or your kid(s) is a big consideration here. 18months is really not the same as 9years old. An 18month old I would want them to be having animal milk (formula or full fat cows milk or extended breast feeding or something like goat’s milk). For very young children I don’t think it’s as straightforward as saying soy milk or almond milk can be a substitute. From what I understand children need quite a lot if dietary fat and too much fibre can cause issues. I’d want a dietitian’s help to create a vegan diet for toddler age and I’d probably try to breastfeed until the child wanted to wean. (For info, I’m not vegan and chose to wean my child at 2 but give cow’s milk instead) For older children I think putting plant based milk substitutes on cereal or whatever is fine and you just need to make sure their diet is balanced overall (B12 supplement etc, adequate calcium, protein, fats, iron)