Vegan Pregnancy/Raising Vegan Children

[stickydate]

Hi :) I have been vegan for around 6 or 7 years, am perfectly healthy (great iron count etc...) and my baby is developing well. I take a B12 and calcium regularly, and since I was TTC I have been on folic acid. Just wondering if there are any other people here who have been through a vegan pregnancy and/or are raising vegan children. I would love to hear any advice/experiences. I don't doubt that it can be done healthily (unless you are like those idiots who fed their newborn apple juice and soy milk :eek:) but I think the challenges would be more social for a child.
Thanks :)

[NibbleCurlynBub]

I don't necessarily think that a vegan child would have social problems.

Childhood is not about food. There are some kids who can't have foods for some reason or another, some who are religious so can't have some foods, some who are allergic.. Its an individual thing.

It would be more important I would think to make sure you allow your child to question WHY you choose not to eat certain foods.
It would also be important to respect that if your child doesn't agree with you and wishes to make his/her own choices. I would assume that wouldn't happen until at the earliest school age.

[HarvestMoon]

I'm not quite vegan... i don't eat eggs but i do consume a bit of dairy if it's already in something.

I think the social challenges can be quite tough. Like having to explain to your child why they can't eat what the other kids are eating at a BBQ, have some maccas, eat a donut laden with beef tallow, eat lollies containing gelatine, etc.. They are the things that most kids do. I think while your children are too young to understand just why they can't have it they will feel somewhat excluded but as they get older it will become easier for them to understand why.
Although i guess as they get older there is the risk of them rebelling and wanting to eat what everyone else is eating.

There are some childrens books out there that touch the subject of why you should be veg*n.
" Victor the Vegetarian" is one i can think of atm.. there are more out there though. You might want to look into some of those?

[faery]

i was a vegeterian (till about halfway through my preg) and mp dp is still vego. I had always thought i would raise my child a vego.

however, he turned out to be the pickiest eater on the planet, so i was faced with some tought choices. should i keep trying or feed him meat. I ended up giving him meat (which he loves) but still struggle with the whole ethical issue.

for us, it came down to the very simple thing that ds would not eat vegeterian things (and that includes eggs as we are not vegan). he will not eat beans or lentils or any veggies that are not hidden. will rarely eat egg. so I had to either feed him meat or just toast!!

I think kids can be very healthy on vegan/vego diet, provided that it is a proper diet (like i'm sure you eat) and that they actually eat it. I suppose the best thing to do is just see how your baby takes to food. ds was picky from the word go, whereas some kids are real foodies and will eat anything

[tsgirl]

Hi stickydate & others. Vegan household here (well dp is 90% ;) ) and planning on raising vegan children. I have had a full health screen prior to commencing ttc & passed with flying colours! I think our biggest problem will be grandma ... she doesn't agree with our eating habits & will no doubt try to ambush them the way she does with our nieces.

They have been raised mostly vegan and at 6 & 3 eat the most fabulous food. In fact, given the choice they will most often ask for healthy food. I think their parents have been very clever about managing their diets. For the most part they eat home cooked food, but SIL & her dp have been sensible enough to not sweat the 'little' stuff. At McD's bday parties for example the kids have maccas fries, they sometimes have dairy (ice-creams for example) for treats when out with friends etc. I think by not being super strict with the kids they have avoided some of the pitfalls of rebellion, although who knows what will happen in the future.

Miss 6 is quite clear that she doesn't eat meat & that is a choice she makes when offered meat by other people. Miss 3 is the rebel of the family and would happily chow down on the family dog given the chance ;) She does eat some fish when her Daddy cooks it.

I only hope we can be as successful as SIL & her dp have been with our nieces. They are such healthy, happy little girls and don't seem at all perturbed by what other kids are eating. I'm sure part of that is that SIL has always made a point of providing great alternatives for common omnivore items. Veggie sausages or veggie kebabs at bbq's, yummy cookies & cakes at bday parties and a great variety of tasty meals & treats at home. Reduces the likelihood of feeling deprived and as Nibbly said, there is so much more to childhood than food ... our nieces have lives so full of fun activities & lots of love, they don't look to food as anything other than a fuel when they are hungry, which I think is a super gift to give ur kids in a society that suffers so greatly at the hands of obesity.

[peanutbutter&jelly]

I think the social challenges can be quite tough. Like having to explain to your child why they can't eat what the other kids are eating at a BBQ, have some maccas, eat a donut laden with beef tallow, eat lollies containing gelatine, etc.. They are the things that most kids do. I think while your children are too young to understand just why they can't have it they will feel somewhat excluded but as they get older it will become easier for them to understand why.


Oh I never thought of that really... I know that its not always advised, because of certain situations - not accepting iron rich foods at 6 months or so when iron stores start to deplete sort of thing - but that can happen with any child!
Hmm... I guess its personal decision - and I hope you get a bub like mine who demolishes anything and everything he can out in his mouth - including the shopping list I left just out of his reach the other day :rolleyes:

[Jamaica]

I have been vegan since I was 6 (so 20 yrs now) by choice my family are all big meat eaters I just dont like meat, dairy etc and it is hard socially definatly. My diet seems to bother a lot of people and they see it as more of an issue than I do.

I had no problems with my pregnancy with DD, my iron levels were monitored a little more than other people but it was fine. I dont worry about the things the baby lacks from my diet because it gains so much more from the amount of fruit and veg I eat.

I have made a decision not to raise my kids vegan. It is a really hard lifestyle and I wish I liked meat, eggs, etc it would make life a lot easier and my diet is so restricted so Ive made a point to give DD a very wide variety of foods in her diet, especially dairy. Though because Im vegan DD and DH both get more veg in a day than most people would in a week, so I think its the best of both worlds.