Info needed - vegetarianism and weaning

[Mog37]

I'm sure there must be someone out there who could point me in the right direction - I'm pretty sure my HV won't be able to!

DD is 6 months old so we're at the beginning of weaning. DH is vegetarian. I'm not vegetarian but for obvious reasons eat a vegetarian diet at home, and save my meat intake for meals out.

We're not going to push vegetarianism on DD - ideally, she'll make her own decision when she's old enough to understand. However, since we never cook meat at home, she will be eating a de-facto vegetarian diet. I'm fairly familiar with the requirements of a healthy vegetarian diet for adults but I know babies/children have different needs. I'd be very grateful if someone could point me in the direction of some reliable nutritional information so that I can ensure that her diet is appropriate as she gets older.

Also, does anyone have any ideas about how I could add the occasional portion of meat to her diet without having to buy large pieces of meat that won't get eaten in this house.

Many thanks for any help.

How about fish? fish fingers for lunch, and you can add chunks of fish to pasta sauces/curry etc. DD loves salmon pasta stirfry, tuna/mackerel fishcakes(flake it into mash potato and fry in breadcrumbs). The fish can be frozen so you wouldn't need a lot around. She loves beef/lamb stews too - you could make a load and freeze it in portions.

I guess you'd have to make sure that it balances nutritionally with enough vitamins etc from appropriate veggies, but I don't know a lot about that I'm afraid. The Vegetarian society seem to have some info here www.vegsoc.org/info/childre1.html

Lots of pulses, nuts if there are no allergies, and dairy products should be fine, just like you and your DH presumably eat?

DS was vegetarian until he was three, through choice. He ate a lot of lentils.

If you want to feed her the occasional meat dish you could buy a small peice and batch cook with it, then freeze it, so you don't have to be worrying about using up a big peice of meat.

You could buy a peice of chicken and (if you're pureeing) cook it up, puree or chop it into little bits, portion it into ice cube trays are freeze it, then if you want to add chicklen to her meal you just take out a cube and mix it in, no hassle.