Parents that Feed their Children Vegetarian Diets

jiveguilla

The most important thing in all of this is monitoring your child and give them the foundation for a good nutritional life and diet. Educating kids is what's important. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy and say "no you can't have that". They may whine and complain now but will realize why you did that later in life. Think of it as putting money in a CD and taking it out years later with interest. That's how I'd like to look at that.

As for vegetarianism/veganism vs typical society, the thing I've noticed is that sometimes people are too by the book and not enough using common sense and sound judgement. It reminds me of Didi from Rugrats who wanted to follow Dr. Lipschitz's stuff from the books and videos and didn't use information from other sources or even common sense. You already know the foundation of a good diet is veggies, fruits, beans, whole grains, and legumes. You need to have a variety of things and not concentrate so much on protein and fat sources (which while an important number to follow is sometimes overstated greatly). And just as important as to diet is keeping your children (AND YOURSELF PLEASE! Being a good example is important!) active and moving! As I've followed, "you put in some time now, or you'll put a lot more time in on a hospital bed eventually".

As for the original topic, if you can't do breast feeding, I do recommend going to PETA's website and read about doing alternatives for breastfeeding since I do believe breastfeeding is important. Monitor your child and adjust and such to your needs. If you got to "move your feet in to relieve pressure to your back" metaphorically speaking, do so. Do what you need to do to get you and your family to the right path. I do recommend if you do eat meat to try to reduce your consumption of meat a little bit. I do eat meat a few times a week, but definitely not as much as before where it was in every single meal and snack. Now I'll have it at most in 2 of my 5 of my meals of the day (usually only once a day). Research the "kooky" stuff and read about HOW they came to that conclusion (which is what's important). Forks Over Knives opens your eyes based on studies. We are recommended to drink and consume milk products to prevent osteoporosis and bone degeneration yet as much as we consume these products, it's higher than it's ever been. As I mentioned several times (unfortunately... I'm sorry lol...), it's all about doing your own research, not being closed minded and questioning things with an open mind.

CoachReddy

One of the things I learned as a La Leche Leader was to never, ever give a child under the age of one cow's milk. They should only have breast milk or formula. Cow's milk can actually cause diabetes and damage an infant's intestinal tract. I may get some flack for saying that, but it's in my manual that I use for teaching.

cow's milk you buy in the supermarket, absolutely. it's all heavily processed and "fortified" and pasteurized. No baby needs that crap. I wonder if there'd be an issue with raw cow's milk. may not be quite so bad... but still... it's a baby human, give it human milk.

It's actually quite the opposite. The supermarket milk is actually "safer" because it is pasteurized. The "one year, no milk" thing comes from the WHO. Now, bare in mind the WHO encompasses the WORLD; that is, countries that would be bringing milk from cow to baby without any sort of pasteurization. That's why they say one year - it's not so stringently applied to the Western world because generally, people aren't milking a cow into a bottle that's going directly into baby's mouth.

it's not the opposite. pasteurization gives it a longer shelf life, while removing most of the nutrients. it's the same thing as adding preservatives to foods - none of that stuff needs to be in your body.

iggyboo93

The most important thing in all of this is monitoring your child and give them the foundation for a good nutritional life and diet. Educating kids is what's important. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy and say "no you can't have that". They may whine and complain now but will realize why you did that later in life. Think of it as putting money in a CD and taking it out years later with interest. That's how I'd like to look at that...... it's all about doing your own research, not being closed minded and questioning things with an open mind.

Exactly! I'm taking the learnings from my failures and attempting to choose what is right for my kid. It's been hard because I'm having to change my habits and demonstrate it to my kid (they are the best at calling you out on your failures - so you really have to practice what you preach with them). I grew up drinking 2 cans of Coke after school starting in kindergarten. Everything was deep fried or loaded with sugar. White bread ruled.

There are so many wonderful vegetarian options - we have discovered some amazing vegetables since we are trying to eat better. Beets, artichokes, jicama and sweet potatoes are fresh perfection. We aren't vegetarian but do have a few meatless meals during the week. My husband and daughter drink milk but I'm getting away from it only because of the lactose sugars and calories.

Milk is good to drink according to the hubby but he would say that because he is a dairy nutrition professor. He is not a big of raw milk - our gut flora has changed with the advent of pasteurization - people have gotten sick and died from raw milk. CDC reported 200 hospitalizations and 2 deaths from raw milk from 1998-2008 with E. coli, Campylobacter or Salmonella identified as sources of illness. As far as osteoporosis - lack of calcium and vitamin D is one cause but you have look at genetics (Asian women have a higher rate of osteoporosis), exercise, and smoking.

Vegetarian options are not difficult - it's trying to find foods that aren't loaded up with HFCS and artificial food dyes. You would be shocked at which foods have this crap in them.

nauticaboo

I can't speak to the vegetarian part, but my DD had a milk protein allergy, so she didn't have ANY milk proteins (milk, cheese, products with milk in the ingredients), until she was about 2.5 years old. She was never a big breastmilk or formula drinker either, so once she turned one, she rarely got any milk substitutes until she was 2 years old (which is when I switched her to a Daycare, and they were adamant about her having "milk" with her meals due to the nutritional guidelines), and then it was almond milk.

Despite her being a micropreemie (2 lbs, born 3 months early) at birth, it has not affected her growth or development at all. She is almost 4 now and is in the 99th percentile for height and weight, and her teachers at school tell me that she is advanced for her age. When she was your son's age, the main bulk of her food came from fruits and veggies, some grains'pastas, and only a tiny bit of meat (since her only restriction was dairy). If you are still going to do eggs and cheese, those could take the place of meat, as well as PB.

Brithicks

I have a 3.5 yo and a 9.5 month old. I am vegetarian and I do not drink cows milk. I do eat cheese and yogurt from all sources including cow, goat, soy, almond, coconut, etc. I am the grocery shopper and cook in our family so I buy VERY limited meat. My husband is not veg, so sometimes I buy him something to grill, meat for make your own piazza night, or bacon if I plan on making breakfast for dinner. When we go out to eat (weekly or every other week), he orders meat and my daughters usually taste what he is eating. My 3.5 yo breastfed until 25 months when I got pregnant with her sister. After that I switched her to almond, coconut, and hemp milk alternating. When this baby is weaned she will get the same. They both eat full fat Greek yogurt (along with soy, almond, and coconut yogurt), and we eat lots of beans, nuts, seeds, avocado, dried fruits, and green leafy vegetables for protein, fat, and iron. We also use some, what my friends and family refer to as "crunchy", ingredients like flax, chia seed, hemp seed, and lots of alternative flours for vairiations in our diet.
My girls are very healthy. My husband and I are very healthy. I think that I research more than most of the people around me about food and what foods I put in my and my families bodies. My children and myself don't eat fast food because it doesn't fit in with our lifestyle. We eat out at mostly vegetarian restaurants when we do go out because we are lucky to live in an area that there are several. We also don't eat many pre packaged or processed foods because I would rather cook from scratch so I can control the ingredients.

skinnydreams19

I'm vegetarian but would personally feed my kids an omni diet until they're done with most of their development (late teens) because you never know what they could be missing out on - and humans are adapted to be omni! I wouldn't want anything that's later discovered as bad (like the parents who well-meaningly fed their kids low fat vegan diets and ended up giving them kwashiorkor and irreversible mental retardation in the 70s) to happen to my kids because of me.

Lalouse

My friend and his wife are vegetarians. When their children were born, they fed them regular diets that included meat, while they continued to eat only vegetarian. When each of their children became aware of the difference, around age 7 or 8, they asked their parents why they only ate vegetables. Their parents explained why and told them that they could do it too, if they wanted to. Their daughter immediately said that she wanted to do it. Their son spent a few months thinking about it and then made the decision too.

I thought it was an interesting approach but just one of many. They really wanted vegetarianism to be a conscious choice for their kids rather than a forced family tradition that they might give up as they got older and more independent.

freindsofmine

You don't need cows milk ,we wernt meant to.drink.it cows were .the big lie ,the big money .I would give almond milk to replace the needed vitamins.