Vegetarian/Vegan Baby Formulae

purpleprincess

sleepymy wrote: »

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

Hi,

Apart from a lot of food being fortified with it now, yeast extract is a good source of B12....and seaweed for iodine.

I think people are concerned that your child will be malnourished...but to be honest, so much more thought goes into making sure that you do meet all their nutritional needs than if you were feeding them conventional 'children's food'.

sleepymy

purpleprincess wrote: »

Hi,

Apart from a lot of food being fortified with it now, yeast extract is a good source of B12....and seaweed for iodine.

I think people are concerned that your child will be malnourished...but to be honest, so much more thought goes into making sure that you do meet all their nutritional needs than if you were feeding them conventional 'children's food'.

I'm never sure how much fortified food would be enough so I take a supplement for both myself, plus I recoil at the thought of seaweed :lipsrseal . Do you ever get your son's blood tested for levels? I get mine done once a year through my gp to be on the safe side. The potential nerve and thyroid damage through lacking in these two are the only one's I really worry about. The rest are easily gotten through diet. Unless you're living on a diet of chips and fake meats it's difficult to become a malnourished when vegan.

It is funny how some people think that veggie/vegan kids are going to die from lack of something but never consider the omni kids who are fed a staple diet of chicken nuggets and tinned spaghetti .

Gingham_Ribbon

mrcow wrote: »

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?

No, it was her second baby. And her first baby died at a couple of weeks old, so for a health visitor to do that to her was simply unacceptable. :mad:

As for the health visitor, I actually phoned the nutrition helpline that I was given at the hospital. I was asking about protein, they wanted to talk about making sure I was giving him enough vitamins.

dizzy_lizzie

Hi...
found this and thought it might help, http://www.veganviews.org.uk/vv82/vv82veganchildren.html mentions plamil soya milk and a dilution chart. There are lots of books available now about bringing up vegan/vegetarian children. Also the vegan society will be able to give you some information if you're not sure too sure about using cows milk?
Healthwise all I can add is DD who is almost 18 now has been a vegetarian since she was 5 years old...her choice and son who is almost 14 was raised as a vegetarian, he choose at 11 to eat meat but to be honest he rarely does. They are both very tall, almost up to dads height and both very healthy. Eldest son at 19 chooses to eat meat like OH. I myself was vegetarian for 32 years since I was 11, and vegan for the last 21 months. What a mixture

http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/ This is also a site following a vegan family.
http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/ More info for vegetarian families.
Hope the links give you some reassurance and they do make for interesting reading. Lots of info out there on the net. Good luck and best wishes, it'll all be just fine.
Luvz Dizzy x

Bun

Hello, I'm not veggie or vegan, but would like to add (I am a mum) that if you do find a choice of formula, either bulk buy it or make sure you can get stocks of it easily. Otherwise you could find you have to switch temporarily from a formula your baby gets on well with and upset his/her tum by accident. My nephew had this recently with my SIL not realising the (non-veggie) one he liked was an easily digestible one, packaged to look exactly like the normal one,which upset him no end.

Many women can't breastfeed for medical and many other reasons, please don't beat yourself up about it. Just enjoy your baby and do the best for it the way that you can.

By the way, really can't see how weaning is much different than normal, as you wean on veg and fruit anyway, and other things are just mixed with formula or water. I'm sure you'll be fine.All they ever harp on about is the five a day anyway.

morganb

sleepymy wrote: »

It is funny how some people think that veggie/vegan kids are going to die from lack of something but never consider the omni kids who are fed a staple diet of chicken nuggets and tinned spaghetti .

My sentiments exactly (I'm not veggie, but this is exactly what I was going to say)

stargirl73

Bun wrote: »

Hello, I'm not veggie or vegan, but would like to add (I am a mum) that if you do find a choice of formula, either bulk buy it or make sure you can get stocks of it easily. Otherwise you could find you have to switch temporarily from a formula your baby gets on well with and upset his/her tum by accident. My nephew had this recently with my SIL not realising the (non-veggie) one he liked was an easily digestible one, packaged to look exactly like the normal one,which upset him no end.

Many women can't breastfeed for medical and many other reasons, please don't beat yourself up about it. Just enjoy your baby and do the best for it the way that you can.

By the way, really can't see how weaning is much different than normal, as you wean on veg and fruit anyway, and other things are just mixed with formula or water. I'm sure you'll be fine.All they ever harp on about is the five a day anyway.

Thanks - and good point about bulk buying - hadn't thought about that either!

thinkginge

i dont know if this helps any, but my son who is now 3, is allergic to dairy,wheat,gluten and soya, im sure you can see the problem when it came to milk as he was even allergic to my breastmilk!

his dietician put im on NEOCATE ADVANCE. I know this is a variation for older toddlers, the other brand for babies is still called NEOCATE though.

it is only available through perscription from a dietician or doctor(not sure if paediatrician or gp). it is a nutricinally complete formula, which is actually made in a lab, although it contains no additives or sugar which other formulas have. it has only base compounds and vitamins which are in it to suit the childs needs. it doesn't taste good though, although as the baby gets older it is available in banana, strawberry etc. which coincidentally my son is allergic to this variation!

it is white in colour and you make it up like normal formula,it keeps for 24 hours etc.

i personally know its nutritionally complete for babies, as my son was taken off food completely as his body was in a state and he was tube fed this for months and regained a normal weight-height ratio.

my son still takes it, he knows no difference as has had it for so long. i would speak to your docter and if possible be referred to an obstetric dietician to discuss what options you have milk wise.

i strongly suggest though you talk to a paediatric dietician as, if your baby doesn't get complete nutrician at this stage it can have subsequent effects later on.

good luck hope ive helped

thinkginge

ps just noticed my spelling in that post and its awful, so apologys everyone!

stargirl73

thinkginge wrote: »

i dont know if this helps any, but my son who is now 3, is allergic to dairy,wheat,gluten and soya, im sure you can see the problem when it came to milk as he was even allergic to my breastmilk!

his dietician put im on NEOCATE ADVANCE. I know this is a variation for older toddlers, the other brand for babies is still called NEOCATE though.

it is only available through perscription from a dietician or doctor(not sure if paediatrician or gp). it is a nutricinally complete formula, which is actually made in a lab, although it contains no additives or sugar which other formulas have. it has only base compounds and vitamins which are in it to suit the childs needs. it doesn't taste good though, although as the baby gets older it is available in banana, strawberry etc. which coincidentally my son is allergic to this variation!

it is white in colour and you make it up like normal formula,it keeps for 24 hours etc.

i personally know its nutritionally complete for babies, as my son was taken off food completely as his body was in a state and he was tube fed this for months and regained a normal weight-height ratio.

my son still takes it, he knows no difference as has had it for so long. i would speak to your docter and if possible be referred to an obstetric dietician to discuss what options you have milk wise.

i strongly suggest though you talk to a paediatric dietician as, if your baby doesn't get complete nutrician at this stage it can have subsequent effects later on.

good luck hope ive helped

Blimey! Poor wee fella! Your story is very humbling. My principles are the thing that's causing me grief - not any medical need (at least I hope there won't be!)

I hope he's thriving now.

Thanks for sharing