Vegan baby - worried about allergies

[Milsta]

Hi there -

I’m currently just 12 weeks pregnant, but planning ahead for when our first baby arrives next year!

DH and I have been vegan for about 9 and a half years now and we both have always been sure about raising our future children vegan too (until they are old enough to choose otherwise, if they ever do).

I plan to breastfeed initially, however I have been learning more and more about weaning (for when the time comes) and we are super torn about this decision. So I wondered if any other vegan families had any thought/experiences when it comes to this..

I have read quite a bit of research on how, when weaning a baby, introducing common allergens frequently and at an early stage can reduce the risk of them developing these allergies. We had always thought we’d never give our baby animal products from birth, but we are now having doubts as to whether this is a responsible choice in terms of developing allergies.

Even as long-term vegans, mistakes occasionally happen. E.g. food at a party mislabelled as ‘vegan’ when it actually contains milk. Or travelling abroad to a country that doesn’t have the same understanding of veganism and unknowingly likely consuming some level of milk or egg within a dish.
For my husband and I, we have never had any medical issue with this sort of thing making us sick, as we had grown up eating milk/eggs. Obviously we’d be unhappy about it but it was never dangerous.

However, if our baby never eats milk/eggs/etc., they are at a higher chance of developing an allergy and we may not know to be careful with these allergens.
For example, if they have never consumed milk and then one day accidentally eat something at school, a friend’s birthday party, on holiday etc., we wouldn’t have allergy medication ready because we wouldn’t know they were allergic?

I know this is probably just me overthinking things, I really hope it all makes sense, I just feel so conflicted about this. I am really passionate about veganism and hope to instil positive compassionate values in our child.. but I also don’t want to be doing something to put them at risk.

I know it is completely our choice at the end of the day, but wanted to hear some thoughts that cover both sides of the dilemma so I can make an informed decision.

Anyone else been through this and have any stories to share?

Thanks so much!

My son has a shellfish allergy and whilst it's easy to avoid in this country, it's not great. Lots of cuisines make heavy use of shellfish as a flavour base so cross contamination or being in things that you might not expect is common. Esp Vietnamese/Japanese/Korean foods. If you decide to include allergens dont exclude shellfish please!

Have you considered how your DC will have a high fat low fibre diet as a vegan? I have vegan friends who fed their under 2s a vegetarian diet as they didn't think they were able to meet the nutritional needs of a young child on a vegan diet.

I would say Veganism is either an ethical or religious choice, and its fine to make that choice when you understand it and why others do it - I think before that you do need to consider the welfare of your child and the allergy issue is one part of it and also getting all the right nutrients/proteins/etc is another. I am not sure I would go as far as saying you should expose them to flesh (ie meat or fish) but I would definitely allow them to be be vegetarian rather than vegan so cheese, eggs, milk etc

I'm a vegetarian and I gave dd4 fish and shellfish when weaning for this very reason.

I'm not vegan and didn't use to have an opinion on whether someone should raise their child as a vegan, however something I've noticed since having DD9 is the few children she knows that have been raised vegan are constantly sick. There could be other reasons for this but they look malnourished and seem to constantly be off school. If I was planning to do this I would speak to some professionals first.

But is breast milk vegan?

Something to be aware of is that allergies don’t always show immediately - so if you do decide to give egg/ milk etc for allergy reasons - don’t just do this once.

How long has this been a thing to give allergens when weaning. Mine are in their 20s it wasn't a thing then.
Do people think that allergic reactions in kids have increased. When I was younger I didn't know anyone at all who had allergies.

What do you mean? Presumably you gave them egg/ milk/ nuts etc when weaning them? Different people have different approaches now - some introduce allergens one at a time, and I think this is recommended if the child is at high risk of having allergies. But some just incorporate allergens within normal meals. My point to op was not to just give eggs etc once if she does decide to give them at all

Your sound like you're being thoughtful about this and I would absolutely support posters telling you to to include dairy and shellfish due to the allergen issues.

I would find it extremely difficult to understand why someone would prioritise animal welfare above the welfare of their own child even if those were the only options.

However, are those really the only options? I'm sure you've thought through your reasons for veganism, particularly when you have no control over sourcing when you eat out etc. but when you're cooking at home I expect a bit of effort and research might mean you can include at the very least dairy products that don't contravene your ethics? Something like this https://theethicaldairy.co.uk/ or https://www.cowcalfdairies.co.uk/ ?

Having found those for you I'm actually going to have a proper look into them myself as I'm more than willing to pay a bit more for milk and cheese from cows allowed keep their calves. So thanks for the prompt too!

I think the proper nutrition and health of your child has to be paramount and it will be important to research what that means from unbiased sources (in both directions).

Good luck.

What happens if you have trouble with breast feeding?

The assumption is that you will be able to.

What's your plan b?

I think being close minded to the possibility of formula due to vegan beliefs is dangerous.

I don't automatically dismiss the idea of a vegan lifestyle but it's an ideal and I think the problem lies with the inflexibility if a child is involved.

You need to have a pragmatic approach and be honest about potential problems and whether it's in the best interests of your child to not be open to switching to vegetarian or to limited meat intake if appropriate.

It should ALWAYS be centred on whether it's about the child not the parents if they are on a evangelical vegan crusade.

Unfortunately, I do think there's parents unable to separate the difference.

Not vegan OP but I was vegetarian when pregnant with DS1 and had been for 20 years.

I started reading into the allergy information when he was about 3 months old. By the time we started weaning at 6 months we had decided it wasn't worth the longterm risk of him also having a vegetarian diet. He did have a low level reaction to cows milk so we had to build that up slowly.
Everything else we would give regularly but it was straight forward to give him scampi or fish fingers. Not the best source but not terrible.

I now eat meat but we still have regular vegetarian dinners and both DS's prefer quorn.

Fully understand your ethics but do some further reading into the allergy risk.

I wouldn't of given my babies nuts it wasn't a thing to do then. Of course they had milk and maybe eggs at some point but didn't give it to them to see if they were allergic.

Why?

Shellfish/crustacean is more common than most people think and is widely used in Thai cooking amongst others. If you check ingredients you find it regularly alongside eggs and celery. One of the Lidl pasta sauces (not a fish one) even has crustaceans listed as an allergen!

Somewhere about 15 years ago the advice changed I think - I have a friend with a 20 year old who was advised to avoid nuts during pregnancy and until the child was 5 as that was the official advice then. However they found that nuts allergies actually increased.
By the time I was pregnant 15-16 years ago the advice was to continue eating nuts.
By the time I had my youngest maybe 8 years ago advice was to introduce all allergens from 6 months.

Well….meat is classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organisation and CRUK, (which would suggest not eating it is good don’t you think?) So please share your sources for such strong feeling?

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer/does-processed-and-red-meat-cause-cancer

Malnutrition, presumably

Im not sure about illegal, but I think it’s in advisable myself. Kids need to be put above animal welfare, especially when it’s possible to introduce ethically sourced animal products by buying organic or direct from farms.

Neocate but i imagine she'll have to pay for it.

Not all meat is classed as that...

I have just checked in on this after about 4 hours since I posted. With this having been my first post on Mumsnet, I was so excited so have found a Vegan thread I could post to, in order to get some real stories on this matter.

DH and I had just discussed it this morning and had decided that we would be introducing allergens as a way of putting our child‘s health first, however I still went ahead and posted as, like I said, I just wanted to hear some real stories from vegans that have been through similar things.

I am actually really upset having read through the comments that followed. I appreciate some of the helpful research and a few select stories from those who are/know vegans who have introduced allergens too.

However, to be told by one user that I‘m neglecting a baby I haven’t even had yet, because I‘m asking for personal experience stories from vegan parents? That has really shocked and upset me, to be honest.

I have already openly said we are thinking of introducing allergens because we put our child‘s health first.. and then being told we are putting prioritising veganism above our baby‘s health? Makes no sense to me.

Let alone the debate about whether breastfeeding is vegan 🤦‍♀️ Does it cause exploitation or harm? Is it given consensually? I actually can’t believe it‘s even a discussion.

Some have said that it is a dangerous assumption to say that I plan to breastfeed. This is not a blind assumption. I’ve done a lot of research and discussed this with experts and I am fully prepared for the possibility that this may not work out. There are vegan formula options available but I don’t feel the need to go into the details of my plans in this situation. As I am still only, let me repeat, 12 WEEKS pregnant, and a first time mum-to-be, I am still working out a few things. Hence this post! I wanted some ideas as I am thinking of introducing milk, which means I would be able to use the more widely-available dairy-based formulas. I can’t quite believe the assumptions that I am making all these decisions blindly, simply because I didn’t include every detail of my parenting plans in my first post. All I said was ‘I’m planning to breastfeed,’ which still applies.

I am fully aware of the nutritional needs that the vegan diet brings. Like I said, DH and I have spent almost 10 years following a healthy, compassionate vegan lifestyle and plan to spend the rest of our lives continuing with this diet and lifestyle. I’ve was vegetarian from birth so am very tuned into alternatives and a variety of nutritional sources.

I also work with young children and I understand that weaning for allergens is not a short-term thing, so I am not asking this having done no prior research. We have been discussing this for some time but I don’t know a lot of other vegan parents, so hoped to get some personal stories by reaching out here.

In the nicest way possible, I did not expect such a surge of negativity toward veganism when I posted in a vegan thread. It appears that people were right to say that unsolicited opinions will soon flood in about how to raise your child.

My original post was a polite request to anyone who has been through similar experiences, because, contrary to popular opinion, I want what is best for my baby and hoped to get some productive and compassionate responses.

Thank you to those who have given this - I appreciate you 💚

Sorry, OP, that your thread went the way it did. I did rather fear that it might.

I don't really know why, but veganism consistently seems to trigger a huge amount of vitriol in some posters.

Fwiw, while I'm not a vegan myself (couldn't ever give up cheese or eggs!), I have huge admiration for those who are committed to go down this path. And I also think it sounds like you are going to be thoughtful and responsible parents who put their child's wellbeing front and centre. Take no notice of the nasty posts. They aren't worth your attention.

OP. We had the same thoughts when I was pregnant with our first child. We seen a dietician (not a nutritionist) privately, who was recommended via our NHS GP. I would advise you to do the same and not rely on mumsnet. Some here, as you can see, have an anti vegan agenda. This is too important to get caught up in the rights and wrongs of veganism and the opinions of others.

I could share what I was told and what we did, but it was many years ago. Advice may have changed and I also feel that you should get your own advice from a professional.

Neocate is not vegan. It contains vitamin D from lanolin. There is no vegan infant formula in the UK. First Steps nutrition is a good place to look for information.

Maybe a vegetarian diet is necessary here? I mean, you wouldn't feed a dog a vegen meal would you? Or... would you???