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!

Im completely sympathetic to vegans and I’m certain that a well planned vegan diet for anyone is as good as a well planned omni diet (and better than many omni diets) I think introducing allergens is sensible. But not all children will eat the variety of foods that a well nourished vegan needs. I’ve got two kids, one has always eaten virtually anything I’ve given her for ever and would have thrived on a “well planned vegan diet”; the other is fussy about textures, will only have a very limited range of foods and would be malnourished if I restricted his foods for any reason. The thing is - that’s just how these two kids are, I’ve fed them both the same, both EBF for 6 months, neither is to my credit or blame. Your vegan principles just might not work so be prepared to be pragmatic not pure. Have a brilliant pregnancy and watch your own B12 and iron as you’ll need to be well nourished for breastfeeding. I ate solely plants when I started my first pregnancy but I gave in to cravings for chicken and eggs and I’m glad I did.

This seems like an opinion from an outsider- we have 4 children, 3 of whom are vegan from conception and this is not at all our experience! I have been so touched over the years by so many parents going out of their way to accommodate our children at parties and school fairs! It’s been heartwarming actually.

I always offer to send a vegan packed lunch (with a cake treat so they don’t need to worry about the birthday cake being vegan) but I have hardly ever actually done this. Recently our 5 year old was invited to her (new) best friends birthday and the family made the whole party vegan so that our daughter wouldn’t feel left out! (They also understand the reasons behind veganism)

Please don’t be put off by people saying this is negative, our experience has been the opposite (our eldest is 14, so this is based on many years of parties).

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Sprout does not conform to UK formula regulations. It can contain too much arsenic and not enough vitamin d or DHA.

I completely agree with the fact I had some useful comments from non-vegans! I wasn’t meaning to necessarily eradicate any others, I just had hoped that commenters would leave productive messages in response to what I actually asked, rather than accuse me of neglect and so on.

I guess I just had less so been asking for actual advice (for example - people seem to have assumed I would listen to opinions here above professional medical opinions which of course isn’t true!) and more stories of whether anyone had experienced similar or been through the same thing.

In all honesty, we were pretty set on introducing the allergens by the time I wrote this post and I was feeling a little lonely about even being able to discuss this as most of my vegan friends are not parents so I felt alone in the sense of not having anyone to discuss this with. I suppose that was why I reached out here.

I don’t want anyone to think I’m against the reasonable advice being given or them I’m shutting it down etc., I just had hoped for some more compassion in the responses. I’m a first-time mum-to-be who wants nothing more than to do the best for my future baby.

I guess this all just knocked me a bit as it was my first taste of hearing such strong opinions. We haven’t even told family or friends yet that I’m pregnant as our dating scan isn’t for another week, so I’m feeling quite vulnerable and lonely! Was hoping to connect with like-minded people, which is why I turned to Mumsnet.

I appreciate veganism is always a controversial topic and it’s not the first (or the last) time I face negative comments for it, so I suppose this teaches me to be careful where I have discussions about this matter. Being new to Mumsnet, I had thought there would be more vegans within this thread with whom to connect.

I do appreciate all the constructive feedback and the comments. I’m still learning! And I imagine being a mum will be endless amounts of learning.

Hope that all makes sense.

and to the other poster, even if the farm looks lovely I would be surprised if the male chicks aren’t disposed of (ground up) soon after birth and the calves aren’t removed from the mothers usually between 24-72 hours old , so I think ‘ethical’ is probably a stretch

Thanks. I completely agree and was actually really excited when I started reading the comments on this post as that first one was such a useful one!

I definitely understand that I cannot be completely ‘pure’ ethically. DH and I have always agreed that medical/health reasons come first. We have both had vaccines and will be fully vaccinating our child, regardless of traces of animal products, because we know it will benefit their health in the long run. This is the same reason why, in my original post, I was discussing that I felt it was the responsible choice to introduce allergens.

Thanks 😊

Give it a rest, @Viviennemary. The OP has already said that she has been upset by the shitty posts.

And you're talking nonsense in any case.

Mums get attacked for everything.

Breastfeeding or bottle feeding.
Co sleeping or sleep training.
Going back to work or staying at home.

And a whole load of other stuff. We can't do right for doing wrong!

I was very lucky that my own lovely mum, who is sadly no longer around, always emphasised that I should follow my own gut when making decisions, and not worry too much about what anyone else might think. It was sound advice.

I have a friend who was determined to raise her children vegan (her and DH have been for over 20 years) but changed to vegetarian as it gave more flexibility especially with school/parties.
I wouldn’t rely on other parents providing things, DD is coeliac and no one ever provided anything for her at parties, or if they talked about doing it they didn’t understand and would try and give things that would make her incredibly unwell. We used to take a packed lunch and we were mostly just treated as if we were being awkward.
If I could give her one thing in life it would be the ability to go out and buy food wherever, especially as a teenager with her friends. I can’t imagine limiting her diet by choice.

I don’t think this is fair.

I didn’t state that anyone here was doing so, I just said that my husband and I have faced plenty of people picking us apart for this lifestyle choice, so I was explaining that it’s not a new concept to hear criticism towards veganism.

I haven’t stated anything was an ‘attack.’ What I said upset me was being accused of neglecting my unborn child (a statement I think would upset most mums-to-be) when I’m simply here asking if anyone could share any personal experiences.

I have received some brilliant comments here and many unproductive ones. It’s a mixture, but I think it’s unfair to say that I’m assuming everyone is out to get me. That’s not the case.

As stated, I am new to Mumsnet and simply reached out thinking that the vegan thread would be a way to hear stories for people with similar backgrounds to myself and I have expressed my surprise in the high numbers of people who are from very contrasting lifestyles, sharing opinions on things that aren’t even relevant to what I asked.

Of course I understand life will be more complicated with children. This is why I’m trying to get some things ready ahead of time. I know things will not always go to plan, which is why I asked for personal experiences of similar matters.

I appreciate the helpful and constructive comments, not only the positive ones. I think it’s unfair to paint a narrative that I’m making this simply about me, considering my original post stated that I am looking for personal experiences because I want the best for my child and their health.

I wouldn't do vegan if you can avoid it. It is very difficult to get calcium, protein and fats into a child in sufficient quantities once they have come off the breast. Calcium in particular is very difficult to get from diet alone because beans/pulses actually reduce absorption of calcium so they can't be relied upon. That leaves green veg which you have to eating huge quantities to get the right amount and once they're at school you have no idea what they're eating for most of the day. I have dc with allergies which prevent them eating dairy and egg and it's really hard to get them to gain weight and we have to supplement calcium. I wouldn't choose this.

I think this is probably enough of this for one day! 😅

Thank you to those who used this opportunity to have a productive conversation and help me out, I really needed it.

Having heard some personal experiences, we are going to stick with our plan of including animal product allergens when weaning our baby.
We are also be looking into some professional advice from dieticians and nutritionists, this thread was just a very early first step! It sounds like some people have had really positive and helpful experiences with professional advice so we are going to continue to look down that route.

Thanks all. 😊💚

Good luck, OP. And don't let the shitty posts put you off coming back to MN in the future.

@Milsta

You sound like a really thoughtful person. I didn't think about the issues of allergies!

I was a vegetarian mum and raised my child as vegetarian. I don't think I would have raised a baby as vegan. I think that would have been difficult. Having said that I don't know if you watch Raya and Louis on you tube but they do.

My adult child has been vegan for years and I've been vegan for a few years too.

I would caution you that some people take great pleasure in feeding your children animal products. I had this at nursery and a children's party.

One thing to consider here is that humans ideally should drink milk for a much longer period of their childhood than you might initially think.
Natural weaning age - the age at which human children would stop drinking breastmilk and feed themselves entirely on other foods if it was entirely up to them and no substitutes like formula or cow’s milk were given - is not 6 months or 12 months or even 2 years. It’s more like 6 years. I did extended breastfeeding but I didn’t contemplate feeding until my toddler decided to stop of their own accord because they got to 2 years old and were still very into breastfeeding and I’d had enough. And they would drink cow’s milk no problem so that became the substitute. They only lost interest in their daily morning/evening cup of milk at about age 5. I know there are vegan milk substitutes but most of them are not close nutritional matches to human milk in the way that formula or cow’s milk (or goat’s milk) is.
Definitely worth a conversation with a dietitian even if it’s just to make sure that your toddler/young child gets the right sort of plant based milk substitute that replaces as much of the nutrition of milk as possible.

Hey OP,

Haven't read the full thread - I've been vegan for 18 years, husband for 10. We decided to do as you have done and have our baby be vegetarian, primarily because of the allergens, but also because it's nice for her to be able to join in at playgroup/birthday parties when they hand out cheese/cake, etc.

I think it's a good choice - if a nuclear Holocaust happens in your baby's lifetime, the last thing you want is for him/her to have to worry about avoiding whey powder while scavenging the ravaged landscape for any prepackaged food that survived the blast.

if a nuclear Holocaust happens in your baby's lifetime, the last thing you want is for him/her to have to worry about avoiding whey powder while scavenging the ravaged landscape for any prepackaged food that survived the blast.

You just need another breakdown in the supply chain and/or panic buying as happened during 2020. Not everybody will remember, but it was impossible to get hold of gluten free items because the people panic buying everything else decided to buy all of the GF stuff as well.

Evening, everyone,

We just wanted to pop by with a reminder that Mumsnet is here primarily as a place for people to offer and accept support and we expect people to post with that in mind.

We obviously welcome varying viewpoints, and we think it's clear that the OP was equally happy to hear a number of different opinions, but we don't think it's helpful for people to be aggressive or inflammatory on threads like this. It's perfectly easy to put across an opposing view in a civil way on this topic.

We really want to be able to leave this thread to run as there's also lots of really thoughtful advice and suggestions here, so we're just asking everyone to keep our Talk guidelines in mind and post in a way that offers something positive, whatever your view.

Thanks in advance. And apologies, OP, for briefly hijacking your thread. Good luck with making your decision and congratulations on your imminent arrival!

Not everyone with an allergy has an allergy because the allergen wasn't introduced early. Speak to a dietitian about raising your baby vegan, they will be able to explain to you why it isn't recommended in growing and developing children and perhaps help you figure out an alternative approach that you are happy with

True. Our allergies were present at 1-2 weeks old despite me eating the allergens all the way through pregnancy

I raised my children vegan. We weaned early and have a strong family history of allergies. They also had soya formula. My daughter had a peanut and walnut allergy as an infant but outgrew both.

They’ve both been inadvertently exposed to egg and milk at times with no reactions.

My son has ARFID secondary to autism. We’ve seen dieticians, paediatricians and the allergy team , nobody has cared they are vegan and even the team that did the Leap study did not recommend early exposure to egg and milk partly because the evidence for early exposure is far from conclusive for all allergens. Read up on the multiple studies on early egg exposure!

Raising your child vegan is something to consider in the same way making the decision to feed a child known carcinogens like ham and bacon needs careful consideration. Both have risks , both have benefits. Children have been raised vegan for many years. The NHS does not recommend against it. It’s a safe choice that requires thought and care.

You might like the booklet on vegan infants and toddlers from First Steps Nutrition Trust for independent, evidence based advice.

Did you see this OP?

Welcome to MN OP it can be a bit of a melting pot!

With planning to bf make sure your eating lots of oats when the time comes as well as avocados for the good fats for your milk. BF is tough going especially the first 6 weeks. I don't say this to put you off just for expectations. It is rarely the they know what to do you know what to do. It's a huge learning curve for baby and mum. Look into harvesting colostrum before birth (it's slow going at first only from 37 weeks) put in the freezer. Look into hakaa and a pump. I fed both my children well into toddlers but the shock of DS1 and bf was another level. Mulitmam compresses need to be on your must buy list as well as lasinoh.

In terms of introducing milk or allergens when weaning we found it easier to do each allergen for 3 days. For milk start with cheese or cooked milk (like custard,white sauce or porridge) then yogurt and lastly fresh milk on cereal etc. This roughly follows the milk ladder.

Same with egg start with more of cooked egg like a cake or cooked batter. Then go for omelette or scrambled eggs etc.

I wish you all the best through your pregnancy.