Vegetarian/Vegan Baby Formulae

adouglasmhor

katiekittykat wrote: »

My apologies.

A friend of mine is a vegan, and she was informed by her dr that any child under 18 should not be vegan / veggie.

Looks like she was mis-informed.

There was a big medical scandal about malnourished vegan children in medical journals a few years ago, it turned out the study was based on some tiny religious cult in the states who lived on rice, corn and green veg only and not a balanced vegan diet, similar to judging all omnivores by people who live on fast foods all the time. But it gets quoted regularly by well meaning people who missed the refutal (sp)

Edited to add my Sikh mate was raised vegan untill he was 18 so were all his siblings they are all tall and healthy, His mum is still vegan aged 75 and only stopped taeching martial arts last year - to concentrate on helping in a comunity kitchen for homeless people.

IamJen

ad - those kinds of stories pop up occasionally in the news. "Vegans starve children to death" makes a good headline, but when you read the stories, it's always some whack job who thought their 2 year old could survive on cabbage and barley water or something like that.

<<takes a breath. I've been a vegetarian for many years, and know many, many vegetarian and vegan children and they are all perfectly fine - the occasional cold or the Chicken Pox or what have you, but none of them are keeling over dead.

To the OP, as far as I know, Farley's is the only vegan formula. The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation puts out an info sheet about this, but I think the same as what they have published here: http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/soyainfant.html

I would highly recommend against making your own formula. The canned stuff is made with all sort of care taken, so that it closely resembles the nutritional makeup of breast milk.

If possible, I would recommend looking in your area for a milk bank. La Leche League may have some contact info for you. I'm not sure if you're familiar with this system, but it's where mothers who are nursing can donate surplus milk (if they have a small baby or are nursing a baby who's almost weaned, etc.) to a "bank". It's then frozen and sold or donated to mothers who are having lactation troubles or unable to nurse for some other reason. It can be costly, depending on the particular bank's rules, but it's worth a look at least.

purpleprincess

I was vegan for many years before having ds, all throughout my pregnancy and breastfeeding. I never needed iron or any other supplements.

Ds was weaned as a vegan with the full support of my HV and GP. I have never given him any vitamins or supplements as it has never been necessary.

He has always been very tall for his age....now 9yrs old he is almost as tall as me and wears a size 7 shoe!

Just to show, that with a healthy balanced diet and some basic knowledge of nutrition it can be done...and the child can be healthy, energetic...and huge!! :rolleyes:

stargirl73

Thanks for your replies - I do appreciate them

I would never for one minute dream of making my own formula - I am principled, not daft!

I think there is much misinformation and misunderstanding out there about food in general and vegetarianism/veganism in particular.

I think some doctors find it easier to discount an "alternative" diet rather than look into it any depth, thus recommending a more "traditional" diet above anything else.

I myself have been a strict vegetarian since I was about 10 (that's nearly 25 years now - blimey, where did the time go?!) and I've turned out OK - healthy and intelligent, I think! (Granted, I lead a non-vegetarian lifestyle before then, consisting almost exclusively of Wimpy burgers, which I'm sure did me no good at all!)

There are some striking examples of poorly nourished veggies - oh yes. Being vegetarian doesn't necessarily make you healthy if all you eat is cheese and pasta. But the alarming rise in childhood obesity, not to mention adult obesity is much more worrying, and I'd wager not many of those kids will be vegetarian.

I am completely happy that I can provide a healthy and nutritionally balanced diet for a child over 6months - indeed I have advised friends, both vegetarian and not, on foods that kids will enjoy and be nourished by.

It's just the first six months I'm really unsure about.

I know breast is best, but I'm sure I'm not alone in being unable to do this even though I really want to. It breaks my heart that I can't. But I want to make sure the next best thing, is the best thing for my baby and me.

Gingham_Ribbon

stargirl73 wrote: »

I know breast is best, but I'm sure I'm not alone in being unable to do this even though I really want to. It breaks my heart that I can't. But I want to make sure the next best thing, is the best thing for my baby and me.

Don't let anyone guilt trip you about this. If you can't do it you can't do it. Your baby will be better than fine without it.

A stupid, ignorant health visitor told my friend that she 'obviously wasn't doing the best for her baby' despite knowing that my friend was taking heart drugs that prevented her from breast feeding. Don't listen to them.

mrcow

I'm a strict vegetarian (I can't do soya milk so never made the jump to vegan) and so are my children who are all happy and healthy.

Or so I thought......


.....until I read your OP

They've all grown up on SMA Gold and SMA Progress so must have been having the Omega 3 & 6 you're referring to. I'm not going to switch now as I'm really happy with the milk and they've all thrived on it.....I guess I can bend my principals........a little bit like when I don't take gelatine sweets off them if someone gives them to them......I'm happy for them to be veggie, but it's a little unfair IMO to do that.

I found a really good site to help with weaning etc. I'll see if I can find it.....

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/infant.html

And for future reference babies shouldn't be given Quorn until they are 2 apparently - I think it's because it's a bit hard going on their digestion.

mrcow

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

A stupid, ignorant health visitor told my friend that she 'obviously wasn't doing the best for her baby' despite knowing that my friend was taking heart drugs that prevented her from breast feeding. Don't listen to them.

Was it her first baby? I think you let people get away with saying much sillier things with your first. By the time you have subsequent children.......you can feel confident enough to laugh in their faces

I remember asking my HV about weaning my son to being a veggie.......to be honest, she didn't have a clue and started asking me about where he was going to get his vitamins from! Are some health professionals really that clueless about nutrition?

purplegirluk1

Hi,

I am not assuming that I know anything about your reasons for not being able to breast feed. I was just wondering if you had looked into in deeply. I am aware that there are real reasons for some women not being able to breast feed but I am also aware that some women are led to believe that they will not be able to without having advice from a real authority on the subject. Might I suggest that you contact your local la leche league and speak to someone about your concerns http://www.laleche.org.uk/. They might be able to support you in using alternative devices to feed or to express. Like I said I do not know your reasons for feeling you will not be able to feed, I just feel it would be a shame if there was a way you could do it and you were not advised about it before the baby arrives.

I hope this helps you in some way, I am sure that La Leche League will be able to give you good advice and will probably be able to advise you about alternatives if breast feeding really is out for you.

Purplegirl

sleepymy

purpleprincess wrote: »

Ds was weaned as a vegan with the full support of my HV and GP. I have never given him any vitamins or supplements as it has never been necessary.

Hi purpleprincess, if you don't mind me asking where does your son get his B12 and iodine from?

Many cultures raise their children as vegans without any problems. I don't see why some people get so excited about it. My old gp said we should all be vegetarian so I suppose different doctors will always have different opinions. My current gp is vegetarian :cool:

stargirl73

mrcow wrote: »

I'm a strict vegetarian (I can't do soya milk so never made the jump to vegan) and so are my children who are all happy and healthy.

Or so I thought......


.....until I read your OP

They've all grown up on SMA Gold and SMA Progress so must have been having the Omega 3 & 6 you're referring to. I'm not going to switch now as I'm really happy with the milk and they've all thrived on it.....I guess I can bend my principals........a little bit like when I don't take gelatine sweets off them if someone gives them to them......I'm happy for them to be veggie, but it's a little unfair IMO to do that.

I found a really good site to help with weaning etc. I'll see if I can find it.....

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/infant.html

And for future reference babies shouldn't be given Quorn until they are 2 apparently - I think it's because it's a bit hard going on their digestion.

Thanks for your post. I'm sure your children ARE happy and healthy - I wasn't suggesting for a minute that anyone who does use the "standard" formula milk is doing anything harmful to their child - in fact, I think the fish oils probably do a whole lot of good. It's just not something I would really want to give my child.

Just been sitting here blubbering away at the whole predicament that I find myself in, husband came to ask what it was all about. I explained, and he, an even stricter veggie than me, said that if I hadn't have told him about the ingredients, he would probably never have checked them and been completely oblivious to the fact of their ingredients.

I think he was saying that to make me feel better tho cos he's a more fervent label checker than me....!

Thanks for the info re Quorn - I didn't realise that.