# Anyone not feeding their baby meat?



## LuckyD

Hey all,

my daughter is 6 months old and has just started solids. OH and myself are both vegetarian, and we will be bringing up LO vegetarian until she is old enough to decide whether she wants to eat meat or not.

Anyone else vegetarian here? And what did you feed your LO to make sure she was getting enough iron etc?

Thanks! :flower:


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## New2Bumps

Hi

I'm veggie :) Once Ethan was about 10m he started having meat now and again, mainly because I didn't feel he was getting enough iron. He did drink some toddler milk which is reinforced with iron and he had lentils quite a bit which are both good but didn't seem to like his green veg too much back then. He has raisins a lot which are good and butter beans (all pulses are iron rich). I didn't want to give him orange juice either which aids absorbtion and stuff like nuts which are good but again you wouldn't give them to a baby or small toddler. Cereals are reinforced with iron but again they dont' start with cereal until a bit older so I think it's easier as they get older to balance the diet. I don't personally eat all of the 'typically veggie' things that do supplement the protein and iron such as tofu, beansprouts, kale etc and I think if I liked them then I'd have been able to put them into my diet. I also don't have any meat 'substitutes' such as quorn or soya mince which makes it more difficult for me. If you know that your own diet is good and is giving you everything you need then you can safely just copy that to your LO :)

My OH isn't veggie and quite early on I'd decided that Ethan would have a little meat for these reasons but his diet is certainly not meat based, much more veggie than meat, and as he gets older he'll be able to make up his own mind. As he eats mainly veggie things he'll have a good role model of both ways of eating (secretly hoping he's veggie lol). 

If I was very very serious about it though I'd have certainly researched it more as it's definately do-able, but I think it is something that needs to be thoroughly planned for initially (meal planners, looking up recipes that included some of the more wierd iron supplement foods etc), and would become second nature months down the line. For me personally though, as long as I'm veggie and my LO's diet isn't reliant on meat I'm happy. 

Hope you get some brill ideas from other veggie mummies!


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## jen1604

Hello :flower:

I was a vegetarian for 11 years.Ophelia,my eldest,was 100% veggie until she was atleast 2.

I then met,fell in love with and married a butcher :dohh: (Yes,really) so they do eat the occasional meal including meat now.

There was a really excellent group thread,I think called 'Vegetarian mums and babies',I'll try and find it for you that had loads and loads of really excellent information and ideas on! x


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## xemmax

We're a vegetarian family, Oliver won't have any until he is old enough to sneakily have some behind my back :winkwink: to be honest I don't ever worry about his diet - I was also raised as a vegetarian and Oliver eats whatever I eat (I've adjusted my diet rather than his and taken away all of the added salt, stock and sugar from my cooking so we can eat the same). We eat a lot of vegetables (usually 3/4 different kinds with dinner), pulses, beans etc. I've just looked up a list of iron rich foods and found this on the Vegetarian Society website:



> Pulses including chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, and tofu. Sprouted beans and seeds such as aduki beans, alfafa and sunflower seeds. Cereals and products such as breakfast cereals and bread. Green leafy vegetables including spinach, kale and cabbage and also broccoli. Nuts, in particular almonds and cashews. Dried fruit especially apricots, dates and raisins. Date syrup and molasses are good sources of iron. Vitamin C which helps with absorption of iron is present in citrus fruit and juices as well as salad items like sweet peppers, lambs lettuce and tomatoes as well as broccoli and leafy greens.

https://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=782

I've realised we use quite iron rich foods naturally and they're easy to pop into recipes if you eat a lot of home cooked food. We use chickpeas and borlotti beans in stew, cannellini beans in shepherd's pie, spinach in lasagne etc. Personally I wouldn't worry too much - just give LO a similar diet to your own.


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## jen1604

Here's the thread I was talking about - https://www.babyandbump.com/parenting-groups/204227-vegetarian-mums-babies.html


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## Elphaba

We're a veggie family too and so Xavier will be until if/when he decides otherwise. I try to give a mixture of foods so that he is gewtting lots of nutrients and I make use of fortified foods as well too. 

His evening bottle is still formula too rather than cow's milk so that has more iron (though technically it's not veggie as most of them have fish oils for omega 3 which is a bit annoying).

ETA - my own diet is absolutely atrocious (healthy-wise) and I have lost my enthusiasm when it comes to cooking. I do cook for Xavier but also rely a lot on jars/pouches for him as well. I need to find my mojo!


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## Thumper

Another here :) although we don't have dairy either.


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## Palestrina

I'm a meat eater so it's not something I would even contemplate. I tend to eat a more veggie diet with meat being an occasional side dish. I don't wish to spark a debate but I would assume that it takes a tremendous amount of knowledge to provide all the necessary nutrients for a child without including meat. Personally I think it's risky so even if you are vegetarian you may want to give your child some sort of animal based protein like chicken or fish just to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need. Then when they're old enough to understand they can decide for themselves. It's easy to exclude junk food, processed sugar and salt from a child's diet because those are not essential for their development, where as protein and iron are not quite as easy to eliminate safely.


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## Thumper

Palestrina said:


> I'm a meat eater so it's not something I would even contemplate. I tend to eat a more veggie diet with meat being an occasional side dish. I don't wish to spark a debate but I would assume that it takes a tremendous amount of knowledge to provide all the necessary nutrients for a child without including meat. Personally I think it's risky so even if you are vegetarian you may want to give your child some sort of animal based protein like chicken or fish just to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need. Then when they're old enough to understand they can decide for themselves. It's easy to exclude junk food, processed sugar and salt from a child's diet because those are not essential for their development, where as protein and iron are not quite as easy to eliminate safely.

I strongly disagree with this. I don't believe that meat is in anyway essential to our diet, and certainly not that of a child with their delicate digestive system.


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## xemmax

Thumper said:


> Palestrina said:
> 
> 
> I'm a meat eater so it's not something I would even contemplate. I tend to eat a more veggie diet with meat being an occasional side dish. I don't wish to spark a debate but I would assume that it takes a tremendous amount of knowledge to provide all the necessary nutrients for a child without including meat. Personally I think it's risky so even if you are vegetarian you may want to give your child some sort of animal based protein like chicken or fish just to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need. Then when they're old enough to understand they can decide for themselves. It's easy to exclude junk food, processed sugar and salt from a child's diet because those are not essential for their development, where as protein and iron are not quite as easy to eliminate safely.
> 
> I strongly disagree with this. I don't believe that meat is in anyway essential to our diet, and certainly not that of a child with their delicate digestive system.Click to expand...

Totally agree Thumper.

If it really were the case then there would be a lot of children in world who were not developing as they should, seeing as vegetarianism is the norm in some countries. I think it's a very outdated view that a vegetarian diet cannot easily provide essential nutrients for a child.


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## aliss

My boy has decided to be veggie, LOL. I am former veggie myself so I'm well aware how to cook it properly. Vegetarian + non-vegetarian diets are pretty much equal in terms of iron deficiency levels, it's vegan diets that tend to be more iron-deficient but i wonder how much of that is based off of people with an extremely limited diet and they tend to use carbs for everything rather than essential fats or protein.

A lot of vegetarians eat like crap (ie potato chips) and don't know how to cook. Real vegetarian cooking is far healthier than the typical omnivore diet 

Proper vegetarian cooking is fantastic and healthy - I make a lot of use of leafy greens, my 'kebabs' (usually with chickpea), hummus, dark red veggies + fruits, etc. I like to use a lot of Asian & Indian based meals because they know how it's done! ;) Hindu recipes are fantastic.


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## Rachel_C

I've always said that if you compare the average veggie diet and the average omnivore diet, I think the veggie diet would be healthier because veggies tend to be aware that they have to think about what they need to eat. Meat eaters are more likely to be complacent and imagine they're eating everything they need when they're not. (I'm talking average person here, not necessarily the kind of person who'd be hanging around a thread like this!). It's not just iron or protein you need to include in a diet, which is what the average meat eater tends to assume, and therefore think they're fine.


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## Elphaba

Yep as far as I'm aware, there's nothing in meat that you can't get elsewhere. And I agree with Rachel that because I'm conscious that Xavier's diet COULD be lower in protein/iron than a meat-eater's, I make a conscious effort to include it, whereas if he ate meat I probably wouldn't think to consider either way.

I hold my hands up that my own diet is dreadful though! Saying that, the only time my iron levels have been even slightly low was mid-pregnancy (which I think isn't uncommon for anyone pregnant) and I don't necessarily make an effort to eat iron-rich foods for myself.


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## LoraLoo

Palestrina said:


> I'm a meat eater so it's not something I would even contemplate. I tend to eat a more veggie diet with meat being an occasional side dish. I don't wish to spark a debate but I would assume that it takes a tremendous amount of knowledge to provide all the necessary nutrients for a child without including meat. Personally I think it's risky so even if you are vegetarian you may want to give your child some sort of animal based protein like chicken or fish just to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need. Then when they're old enough to understand they can decide for themselves. It's easy to exclude junk food, processed sugar and salt from a child's diet because those are not essential for their development, where as protein and iron are not quite as easy to eliminate safely.


Im not a vegatarian (see, can't even spell it :haha:) either, but even i find that statement insulting!


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## New2Bumps

Elphaba said:


> Yep as far as I'm aware, there's nothing in meat that you can't get elsewhere. And I agree with Rachel that because I'm conscious that Xavier's diet COULD be lower in protein/iron than a meat-eater's, I make a conscious effort to include it, whereas if he ate meat I probably wouldn't think to consider either way.

The only thing I can think of that us veggies may lack is vitamin B6 but that's from when I turned veggie 20 years ago and it's stuck in my head, so I can't remember if it's an essential or a desirable thing and what it does!!!!!
I wonder what age LO would have to be to start having those chewy multivitamins 1 a day (with doctors approval obv) - I guess you'd be sure to cover your bases that way (if LO doesn't like kale/beansprouts/tofu/sunflower seeds) x


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## Kimmer

I'm a vegetarian and have been for 12 years (And I'm only 22 now). My husband is a vegetarian and our daughter is too.

As for a previous insultingly ignorant post, well I won't even go into how wrong that is.

My daughter have everything she needs. As meat is not essential to a diet, and not even natural for humans to eat (we had to evolve the ability to digest it, and even now, we aren't that good at it) I don't feel the need to give it to my daughter. 

I have vegetarian baby and toddler cook book (I actually have 4 baby veggie cook books) LO also has toddler milk. LO's doctor has praised me for my LO's diet.

Sorry, my reply would've been a bit different if I hadn't seen the other post :dohh:

(I put lots of sentences in brackets)


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## NaturalMomma

I was veggie for 6 years straight, but do eat meat some now (not much though). I can't remember with ds1, but ds2 didn't have any meat until about 16 months. He only has a little bit of hamburger or elk here and there.


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## bubbles123

There's no vitamin that you can't get from a veggie diet and even on a vegan diet there is only one (B12) and that can be added to food. So the idea that you can't get everything you need is simply untrue. You actually need very little protein, most meat eaters eat way more than they need which can be bad for the bones. 
My son is veggie, I've never worried greatly about his diet, I give him the same food as I have. So for iron lentils, beans, green veg, fortified breakfast cereals, dried fruit etc. There really is no need to worry about protein. Protein deficiency is virtually unheard of in the west - it is a disease of starvation called kwashiorkor where children's stomachs swell up. If you're little one gets enough calories, they will get enough protein. If they're having dairy and eggs they will also be getting complete protein, just as good as meat (soya, walnuts and quinoa are also complete proteins too). No need to stress, just feed Lo a varied diet and he will thrive X


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## Elphaba

Kimmer said:


> I'm a vegetarian and have been for 12 years (And I'm only 22 now). My husband is a vegetarian and our daughter is too.
> 
> As for a previous insultingly ignorant post, well I won't even go into how wrong that is.
> 
> My daughter have everything she needs. As meat is not essential to a diet, and not even natural for humans to eat (we had to evolve the ability to digest it, and even now, we aren't that good at it) I don't feel the need to give it to my daughter.
> 
> *I have vegetarian baby and toddler cook book (I actually have 4 baby veggie cook books)* LO also has toddler milk. LO's doctor has praised me for my LO's diet.
> 
> Sorry, my reply would've been a bit different if I hadn't seen the other post :dohh:
> 
> (I put lots of sentences in brackets)

Is there a particular cookbook you would recommend, hun? Always nice to get more ideas!


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## T-Bex

We're a vegetarian house too, and we use a lot of lentils and beans, and, to be honest, a lot of Linda McCartney sausages/meat free mince! OH has veggie inclinations, and admits that based on ethics, he would (and does in the house) be veggie, but he still really likes eating meat, so we have a lot of "meat substitute" type things. I'm really lucky with Bethan, because initially, I let her eat meat with OH (when meat was still being bought), but she hated it anyway, but really likes quorn/linda mccartney/pulses. And she's a green vegetable demon - watch out broccoli! But yes, you can have a totally happy, healthy child without eating meat; it's only the west that are obsessed with animal consumption, really - if you look at a lot of other parts of the world, they're veggie, and their children and perfectly healthy!

If you check out The Vegetarian Society, they have some free books they give out, and I got a few that are exclusively on vegetarian children/vegetarian breastfeeding mums/vegetarian pregnancy etc, with some lovely recipes and advice.

:thumbup:


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## Kimmer

Elphaba said:


> Kimmer said:
> 
> 
> I'm a vegetarian and have been for 12 years (And I'm only 22 now). My husband is a vegetarian and our daughter is too.
> 
> As for a previous insultingly ignorant post, well I won't even go into how wrong that is.
> 
> My daughter have everything she needs. As meat is not essential to a diet, and not even natural for humans to eat (we had to evolve the ability to digest it, and even now, we aren't that good at it) I don't feel the need to give it to my daughter.
> 
> *I have vegetarian baby and toddler cook book (I actually have 4 baby veggie cook books)* LO also has toddler milk. LO's doctor has praised me for my LO's diet.
> 
> Sorry, my reply would've been a bit different if I hadn't seen the other post :dohh:
> 
> (I put lots of sentences in brackets)
> 
> Is there a particular cookbook you would recommend, hun? Always nice to get more ideas!Click to expand...

The most recent one I got was 'The Vegetarian Baby & Child' by Petra Jackson. It's from 2002 I think, I found it in a charity shop! 

There's some great books around, I'm always on the hunt for more ideas


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## Palestrina

LoraLoo said:


> Palestrina said:
> 
> 
> I'm a meat eater so it's not something I would even contemplate. I tend to eat a more veggie diet with meat being an occasional side dish. I don't wish to spark a debate but I would assume that it takes a tremendous amount of knowledge to provide all the necessary nutrients for a child without including meat. Personally I think it's risky so even if you are vegetarian you may want to give your child some sort of animal based protein like chicken or fish just to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need. Then when they're old enough to understand they can decide for themselves. It's easy to exclude junk food, processed sugar and salt from a child's diet because those are not essential for their development, where as protein and iron are not quite as easy to eliminate safely.
> 
> 
> Im not a vegatarian (see, can't even spell it :haha:) either, but even i find that statement insulting!Click to expand...

It's not meant to be insulting, it's an opposing view. Did I say that something was wrong with vegetarians? No. Did I say that it's impossible to do? No. Did I criticize? No. I was giving an opinion, nobody is being judged here. I was mistaken, when I responded to the post I thought the OP was having reservations about how to provide a meat-free diet safely for her baby. My bad. However, my opinion is neither wrong nor insulting, it's just is what it is - an opinion. If anyone took offense at my post I apologize, all I meant was that vegeterians do need to work a bit harder to meet their nutritional needs and that it may be even more tricky with a child, so do it safely.


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## LuckyD

Thanks everyone for the great replies and advice! It is fantastic to hear about others bringing up little vegetarians, and I do agree that with a balanced vegetarian diet you can get everything you need. 

Wasn't meaning to start a debate (which is why I posted here, not in Baby Club) but each to their own! I was just looking for support and advice around vegetarian babies.

My LO has only just started solids so I am not too worried yet, but it is great to be able to start thinking about this now.

Thanks! :flower:



jen1604 said:


> Here's the thread I was talking about - https://www.babyandbump.com/parenting-groups/204227-vegetarian-mums-babies.html

Awesome, thanks for that link! :thumbup:


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## Rachel_C

One thing I'd be interested in hearing from other veggie parents is what you do (or would do) if your LO starts asking for meat? My OH eats meat and we often have meals where we'll all have mostly the same thing e.g. potatoes and veg, then he will have chicken and we'll have Quorn or something. At around 20 months, my (very verbal!) daughter started begging for the meat off her dad's plate, and I mean really begging... "Please please please daddy, can I have some of that? Mummy, I want that one please please please" and repeat ten times! I said no for weeks but in the end I gave in and let her have what she wanted. I never offer her meat and OH doesn't either, but she does ask for things off her dad's plate and we don't say no any more. I always make sure to tell her what she's eating, she is happy to make the animal noises and talk about seeing the chickens at the farm etc, so I think she does know that she's eating a dead animal. Obviously she's a bit young to be bothered by it though. She's now 2 btw. 

What would you do? We did BLW and now we're sort of unfooding - we let her have chocolate or sweets if she asks for them and let her self-regulate her food. It seems to be working well and I'm happy with everything apart from the meat!


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## Kimmer

My daughter can have meat when she can buy it, cook it, know exactly where it comes from (including all gory details), what goes into making it etc. I don't let her choose what to eat now. Of course, she would eat meat if I put it in front of her, but she also tries to eat rocks :shrug:

My LO does not eat any chocolate or sweets, she isn't old enough to make a conscious decision that she wants it.

Hope that makes sense... I'm tired.


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## xemmax

Palestrina - you may not have intended to insult vegetarians or seem like you're criticising but when you say it is "risky" to give a child a vegetarian diet then that it how it reads. What you said is misinformed and as it is based on what you assume (as you said) then I hope you can accept from those with experience and knowledge that it isn't the case.

Rachel - In my case I would have refused to give Oliver meat, I agree with Kimmer in that until I feel he can truly understand where it comes from then I won't allow him to have any (I wouldn't give him this option until he is 5+). Luckily my boyfriend is vegetarian so we avoid that, but to each their own! I was brought up as a vegetarian by my parents although my dad ate meat around us. We were always told that if we wanted to try meat we could, but we never wanted to as we were also told about where it comes from. I remember being tempted and I remember being persuaded to have a bite of a chicken leg when I was 7 - it resulted in lots of tears and sick.. It's the only time I have ever willingly eaten meat. I think you have to give your children freedom of choice at some point but when you do that is a personal decision, and mine would be later than you. I have to say I would find it very upsetting if Oliver chose to eat meat in later life but that is a possibility I have to accept.


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## Thumper

Everything Emma said!
:flower:
My husband is strict veggie and we both have decided to give Billy the choice when he's old enough to make a decision and once he understands where meat comes from. We won't have it in the house, no reason to. He can buy his own lol!


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## Elphaba

Rachel - if my DH ate meat, I would probably take the same approach as you. As it is, we're both vegetarian, so Xavier won't be around meat at home generally. If he starts to want meat when he is out and about, then I would let him have it then but he would eat veggie still at home so that the family eats the same (also I have been veggie since I was 16 so no clue how too safely cook meat). Again, I'd want him to know where it comes from though.

Only time that might be tricky with the 'not at home' rule is that DH will generally serve/offer meat to his parents (who are of the 'it's not a proper meal if there's no meat' type) - so not sure what we would do if they were staying. To say they can have meat but Xavier can't even if he is eating it out of the house at that point?


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## Rachel_C

I would love to be able to say no meat till LO is older :( As it is though, OH does eat meat so it's difficult. We disagree on a couple of different things but we both respect each other's opinion so we would never say "X is wrong", just "I think X is wrong but your dad disagrees" - which makes it tricky for me to come out with any 'meat is murder' type lines :rofl:. I don't think I could really say no unless I also told OH he couldn't eat meat around us, which I'd never do.


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## bubbles123

I think with the asking for meat thing it depends how often they are exposed to meat. We don't eat any meat, my parents, brother and many of my friends are veggie so he has as yet never come across people eating meat. He will at some point of course and if he asks to taste it I would probably let him. I think that if you refuse then it might make it seem forbidden and exciting and he may want it more IYKWIM. I want him to choose for himself if he wants to be veggie when he's older. But it would have to be meat cooked outside of the house if he tried some; I would never buy and cook meat myself.


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## veganmum2be

we're vegan

for iron i chose to supplement with spatone, a completely natural iron supplement, i just add a bit to his morning drink. when hes eating a propper ammount of food then i will probably stop it, he gets other supplements too and same applies, when hes eating properly i can make sure his diet is completely balanced and there will be no need to supplement. 

x


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## mandarhino

Rachel_C said:


> One thing I'd be interested in hearing from other veggie parents is what you do (or would do) if your LO starts asking for meat? My OH eats meat and we often have meals where we'll all have mostly the same thing e.g. potatoes and veg, then he will have chicken and we'll have Quorn or something. At around 20 months, my (very verbal!) daughter started begging for the meat off her dad's plate, and I mean really begging... "Please please please daddy, can I have some of that? Mummy, I want that one please please please" and repeat ten times! I said no for weeks but in the end I gave in and let her have what she wanted. I never offer her meat and OH doesn't either, but she does ask for things off her dad's plate and we don't say no any more. I always make sure to tell her what she's eating, she is happy to make the animal noises and talk about seeing the chickens at the farm etc, so I think she does know that she's eating a dead animal. Obviously she's a bit young to be bothered by it though. She's now 2 btw.
> 
> What would you do? We did BLW and now we're sort of unfooding - we let her have chocolate or sweets if she asks for them and let her self-regulate her food. It seems to be working well and I'm happy with everything apart from the meat!

My daughter's not a proper veggie as she eats fish. I eat meat, my husband doesn't. Right now we just say 'no you don't eat that because it has meat in it'. She doesn't know what meat is, just that it is not something she eats. However, this is getting harder for her to accept so I'm going to have to stop eating meat around her. She has also started saying 'when I'm a big girl, I can eat meat'. But that's in keeping with the 'when I'm a big girl' phase she's going through - I'm going to ride a horse, etc. However it is upsetting my husband. As others, when she's older she can decide for herself whether she wants to continue avoiding eating meat.


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## T-Bex

I have to admit, one of the things that unsettled me a little about Bethan eating meat, is the idea that I'm endorsing killing someone elses baby, to feed my own baby. I'm just glad that OH is fine with us being a vegetarian household (and am secretly looking forward to the day when he stops eating meat outside the house too - eliminates the "Can I try some" problem...).


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## Bexxx

This is really good to read :)
Obviously Isla isn't of eating age yet, but I've been planning on her being veggie.
I'm vegan whereas OH is an omnivore (although he isn't really fussed)
I'm just really stuck on BLW, on what to give her. When can they start having substitutes, such as veggie mince etc? I don't eat it myself, but imagine I could make a more variety of meals for her?

I'm not looking forward to the opinions of family members when it comes to her actually being vegetarian :|


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## Rachel_C

I've always given meat substitutes. I'm not terribly adventurous with my own meals and we did BLW so that's what LO ate from the start too. Using meat substitutes helps with cooking for OH too, as he prefers veggie mince to meat mince so we can all eat the same thing. LO really loves anything 'meaty' like Quorn, in fact if she is going to eat only one thing off a plate it will be the proteiny stuff. I definitely think there's something in the idea that babies/toddlers will want to eat what their body needs. They grow so fast when they're young so it seems obvious that she is drawn to the protein. If you don't eat meat substitutes though, I'd still just give your LO what you eat as long as its a healthy diet and you're offering all the different things the body needs. That's the whole idea behind BLW really isn't it - make sure your diet is healthy and then just do the same for everybody.


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## MissMamma

Rachel_C said:


> One thing I'd be interested in hearing from other veggie parents is what you do (or would do) if your LO starts asking for meat? My OH eats meat and we often have meals where we'll all have mostly the same thing e.g. potatoes and veg, then he will have chicken and we'll have Quorn or something. At around 20 months, my (very verbal!) daughter started begging for the meat off her dad's plate, and I mean really begging... "Please please please daddy, can I have some of that? Mummy, I want that one please please please" and repeat ten times! I said no for weeks but in the end I gave in and let her have what she wanted. I never offer her meat and OH doesn't either, but she does ask for things off her dad's plate and we don't say no any more. I always make sure to tell her what she's eating, she is happy to make the animal noises and talk about seeing the chickens at the farm etc, so I think she does know that she's eating a dead animal. Obviously she's a bit young to be bothered by it though. She's now 2 btw.
> 
> What would you do? We did BLW and now we're sort of unfooding - we let her have chocolate or sweets if she asks for them and let her self-regulate her food. It seems to be working well and I'm happy with everything apart from the meat!

i am a veggie and when LO is at mine she's a veggie but if she wants meat at nursery i have said for them to let her eat it and when she is with FOB i presume he gives her meat :/ i would ideally love her to be veggie like me but i dont want to force it on her.

i have always given Raphi meat substitutes too but i find tons of variety without it also...i have become much more adventurous with my cooking thanks to BLW [in fact i actually _started_ cooking!lol]

Good luck, and have fun! BLW is ace :D


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## aliss

I'm making sloppy joes with Yves Mexican ground "beef" tomorrow night, wish me luck!! 

I did BLW, I have lots of BLW veggie ideas if anyone wants


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## MissMamma

what is sloppy joes? sounds like my sort of food! :haha:


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## Thumper

Isn't that burgers that aren't burgers? Unburgers! :haha:


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## LuckyD

aliss said:


> I'm making sloppy joes with Yves Mexican ground "beef" tomorrow night, wish me luck!!
> 
> I did BLW, I have lots of BLW veggie ideas if anyone wants

Oooh yes, BLW vege ideas would be great!!


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## Blah11

I think I'm going to just start making more veg meals. Amelie just turns her nose up at meat unless its a chicken nugget and even then she takes 2 bites and thats it so she usually just has a potato or pasta and some peas or something. I'd rather start making specifically veggie meals for her so theyre a bit more balanced. I don't eat that much meat either but OH is a big meat eater so she'll never be 100% veggie and neither will I.


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## Elphaba

Those of you who feed meat substitutes, do you restrict which ones you give? DH and I use a LOT of substitutes for ourselves (mianly Quorn and Redwoods) as we're quite lazy about cooking but I've been a bit in two minds about what I give Xavier due to the salt content of some of the products. He's had Quorn mince in chilli and spag bol but I've yet to give him anything like the nuggets or fish fingers etc as they seem high in salt. Not sure how they compare to the meat versions that other children might have though.

Would like him to be able to have more Quorn etc as it's an easy source of protein and what child doesn't like chicken nuggets or fish fingers?! Is it a no-no salt-wise or ok as long as it's not all the time.


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## Thumper

I can't stand quorn, and got food poisoning from it once years ago, enough to put me off for life. I'm not a fan of meat substitutes. I use tofu a lot which has great nutritional value and can be made to taste great. I do love veggie sausages though, but not many. It's not hard to make your own though. I guess it helps I uses to be a chef in a veggie/vegan restaurant... :)


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## xemmax

Elphaba said:


> Those of you who feed meat substitutes, do you restrict which ones you give? DH and I use a LOT of substitutes for ourselves (mianly Quorn and Redwoods) as we're quite lazy about cooking but I've been a bit in two minds about what I give Xavier due to the salt content of some of the products. He's had Quorn mince in chilli and spag bol but I've yet to give him anything like the nuggets or fish fingers etc as they seem high in salt. Not sure how they compare to the meat versions that other children might have though.
> 
> Would like him to be able to have more Quorn etc as it's an easy source of protein and what child doesn't like chicken nuggets or fish fingers?! Is it a no-no salt-wise or ok as long as it's not all the time.

Oliver has substitutes a couple of times a week - usually mince in shepherd's pie, and a fish finger/part of salmon cake (have you tried these by the way? Soooo good!). He has tried everything though - the chicken fillets, nuggets, sausages etc. As he only has a substitute 3 times a week max, I don't worry about the salt content of anything he has - he has fresh cooked meals every other day. I think they're fine in moderation but obviously it depends how much Xavier would eat too - Oliver would only have 1 fish finger max. He absolutely loves the deli slices though so he has them most days in sandwiches.


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## Thumper

OMG those deli slices- I detest them and yet when I was pregnant I craved them! :rofl: I made OH go and buy me them and that awful fakon (fake bacon) as I HAD to have it!


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## xemmax

Thumper said:


> I can't stand quorn, and got food poisoning from it once years ago, enough to put me off for life. I'm not a fan of meat substitutes. I use tofu a lot which has great nutritional value and can be made to taste great. I do love veggie sausages though, but not many. It's not hard to make your own though. I guess it helps I uses to be a chef in a veggie/vegan restaurant... :)

I was never bothered about meat substitutes until my boyfriend became vegetarian when we met. He was a huge meat eater as he is a weight lifter and has a high protein diet and Quorn is a great low fat high protein source. He often says that he couldn't be vegetarian and have kept his meat cravings in the early days under control if it weren't for Quorn! As a result our freezer is constantly bursting with the stuff.

I should have mentioned my boyfriend earlier when the previous poster suggested that vegetarian diets potentially lack protein. He would definitely disagree with that!


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## xemmax

Thumper said:


> OMG those deli slices- I detest them and yet when I was pregnant I craved them! :rofl: I made OH go and buy me them and that awful fakon (fake bacon) as I HAD to have it!

Haha and did you get people suggesting that maybe you're craving it because your body NEEDS meat? Pet peeve...


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## Blah11

i dont understand why people use quorn and stuff? why would you want to eat something that looks and tastes like meat?


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## xemmax

Blah11 said:


> i dont understand why people use quorn and stuff? why would you want to eat something that looks and tastes like meat?

Quorn isn't just targetted at vegetarians - it's also targetted at meat eaters to be used as a low fat replacement.

As I said above though, for people turning to vegetarianism in later life it's great. My boyfriend was 25 when he became a vegetarian for moral reasons - up until then he ate a LOT of meat (like whole turkey crowns for dinner :wacko:) so it was brilliant for him as he found it easy to replace a lot of his diet with meat alternatives. I've never eaten meat so I have never really been bothered - however I did eat fish until I was 7 and even though I'm 25 now the smell of fish still makes me salivate, and so perhaps because of that, I LOVE Quorn fish fingers!


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## Bexxx

I only use substitutes when I'm feeling particularly lazy and I can't really be bothered cooking. I can just throw it in the oven :lol:


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## xemmax

Bexxx said:


> I only use substitutes when I'm feeling particularly lazy and I can't really be bothered cooking. I can just throw it in the oven :lol:

Same here - other vegetarian options (veg cakes/fingers etc) tend to be really oily and fatty. Meat substitutes tend to be much healthier.


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## Thumper

The thought of fishless fingers makes me gag, but then I've always hated fish.
Emma- your point about Quorn etc being a lower fat protein thing is a fair one. I just don;t like it. My DH likes meat replacements any yet he hasn't eaten meant for yonks so it'snot like he is trying to replace meat, he just likes them as a foodstuff in their own right (his taste buds are lacking lol). He eats the Lind Mac pies that make me feel a bit yuk as to me they look and smell like meat, but they don't phase him.

Oh, and yes, I *needed* meat when I was preggers!


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## LuckyD

Yeah, not a huge fan of meat substitutes, although I must say some vege sausages at a BBQ are a must-have!


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## xemmax

Thumper said:


> The thought of fishless fingers makes me gag, but then I've always hated fish.
> Emma- your point about Quorn etc being a lower fat protein thing is a fair one. I just don;t like it. My DH likes meat replacements any yet he hasn't eaten meant for yonks so it'snot like he is trying to replace meat, he just likes them as a foodstuff in their own right (his taste buds are lacking lol). He eats the Lind Mac pies that make me feel a bit yuk as to me they look and smell like meat, but they don't phase him.
> 
> Oh, and yes, I *needed* meat when I was preggers!

I don't like most replacements - I don't like any of the brown Quorn besides the mince as it tastes too meaty to me (or at least how I assume meat tastes haha). I'm not really a fan of any LM for the same reasons as you, my boyfriend eats some of her burgers (think they're peri peri?) but they're too meaty for me.

I don't like any chicken fillets or anything either. When I was pregnant I developed a huge aversion to anything frozen (only had 2 things from the freezer in 8 months) so I cut all Quorn from my diet.. it was very strange but I'm still iffy about it all now (besides the fish range which is AMAZING).


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## Thumper

I like Linda Mac sausages :) Yummmm for breakfast!


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## Midnight_Fairy

I use quorn just because I like it better and its lower in fat :) I will have normal beef in burgers.

My daughter is mostly veggie though, wont touch meat at all.


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## xemmax

I'm more of a vegetable finger than a vege sausage kind of girl. Vege finger sandwich... mmmmmmmm...


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## veganmum2be

yeah we use substitutes in moderation.

i dont really see the whole 'if you dont want to eat meat then why are you eating something that looks like meat?' thing.
it doesnt look like meat as it comes, flesh. it looks like it does when you've shaped it, minced it or whatevered it, and the substitute is soya, why not shape it mince it or whatever it as when its like that its more usable. yes it also happens to be made like that to appeal to the meat eaters. 


and *cough* jessie. :grr:
:lol:
it's not forced! well it is, but every parenting decision is forced, because until they can make their mind up on things they need their parents to make the deisions for them. 
so theres nothing cruel about raising veggie kids.


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## Blah11

xemmax said:


> Blah11 said:
> 
> 
> i dont understand why people use quorn and stuff? why would you want to eat something that looks and tastes like meat?
> 
> Quorn isn't just targetted at vegetarians - it's also targetted at meat eaters to be used as a low fat replacement.
> 
> As I said above though, for people turning to vegetarianism in later life it's great. My boyfriend was 25 when he became a vegetarian for moral reasons - up until then he ate a LOT of meat (like whole turkey crowns for dinner :wacko:) so it was brilliant for him as he found it easy to replace a lot of his diet with meat alternatives. I've never eaten meat so I have never really been bothered - however I did eat fish until I was 7 and even though I'm 25 now the smell of fish still makes me salivate, and so perhaps because of that, I LOVE Quorn fish fingers!Click to expand...

bleugh i think quorn is vile. I do like the linda mcartney sausages though :D the quorn sausages are the worst thing ive ever tasted in my life!


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## Rachel_C

Blah11 said:


> i dont understand why people use quorn and stuff? why would you want to eat something that looks and tastes like meat?

Why not though? If something tastes nice, it tastes nice, it really doesn't bother me whether it's copying the taste of meat. If somebody brought out a human meat substitute, I'd be up for trying it :rofl:. In fact years ago there was a hoax online about hufu - human flavoured tofu. I was very disappointed to find it wasn't actually real! I know opinions vary wildly on this but I'm the kind of person who cares about what stuff actually IS rather than what it's copying. If the whole world suddenly went veggie and meat substitutes didn't exist, if somebody discovered how to make Quorn it would just be something tasty and nobody would have a problem with it. You can think about it the other way round too - maybe meat just happens to taste like Quorn processed in a particluar way :D


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## veganmum2be

i cant really remember what quorn tasted like cos i was only veggie for a short while before i went vegan, my dad eats it though and says its got much better over the last few years.


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## Blah11

Rachel_C said:


> Blah11 said:
> 
> 
> i dont understand why people use quorn and stuff? why would you want to eat something that looks and tastes like meat?
> 
> Why not though? If something tastes nice, it tastes nice, it really doesn't bother me whether it's copying the taste of meat. If somebody brought out a human meat substitute, I'd be up for trying it :rofl:. In fact years ago there was a hoax online about hufu - human flavoured tofu. I was very disappointed to find it wasn't actually real! I know opinions vary wildly on this but I'm the kind of person who cares about what stuff actually IS rather than what it's copying. If the whole world suddenly went veggie and meat substitutes didn't exist, if somebody discovered how to make Quorn it would just be something tasty and nobody would have a problem with it. You can think about it the other way round too - maybe meat just happens to taste like Quorn processed in a particluar way :DClick to expand...

:rofl: thats vile!


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## aliss

Quorn is not available in North America!


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## aliss

This is the Sloppy Joe I'm making. It's so soggy and deelish
https://www.thecrosbykitchen.com/2011/08/sloppy-joes.html

If you shop around for buns without eggs/honey, it is also vegan


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## Elphaba

Thanks, Everyone. I love Quorn although I have to agree that the sausages are minging (I tend to buy the Redwoods ones instead, although Linda Mac and Cauldron Foods ones are ok too). 

Weird about the pregnancy cravings, Thumper, isn't it. Mine was Roast Beef Monster Much - which are veggie, but I've never liked them before or since. I do have to confess there was one day when I was about 5-6 months pregnant when I really really craved a steak. It was literally one day though and it went away. It was also around the time that they do the iron levels blood test and mine came back low so I wonder if that's what it was. I upped my intake of iron and I was fine. I was so panicking that I was going to spend the remaining three months craving meat!

Thumper, how amazing you used to be a chef in a veggie restaurant!


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## Thumper

Hufu? Amazing! :rofl:
Maybe quorn has improved since I last had it as it was ages ago. Still give it a miss though :)
My best dish is falafel :D yum! Billy already approves :) mmmm hummus... Lunchtime, wonder what I'm off to cook!


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## Thumper

Oh, and I agree your body tells you what you need, we just have to learn to listen to it. I often can crave broccoli which is weird but I obviously need it at that time.
I could have done without my wierd non-ham sandwich craving though!


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## aliss

Falafals were actually the best food I ever served to help teach him to eat (BLW). I believe he is only 6 months cry:) in this picture! Falafal, couscous, and cucumber.
 



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## Thumper

That's awesome aliss! I'm so hungry now but trying to get Billy to sleep. I want falafel!!!


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## Elphaba

Gorgeous pic, Aliss! Xavier loves falafel too (although not the Oganix falafel and bean thing!). Think he might have to make do with a cheese sandwich this evening though.


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