Anyone not feeding their baby meat?

[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

(I put lots of sentences in brackets)

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

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

 

[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.

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

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.

 

[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!

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

Awesome, thanks for that link!

 

[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!

 

[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

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.

 

[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.

 

[Thumper]

Everything Emma said!

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!

 

[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?

 

[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 . 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.

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[mandarhino]

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.

 

[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...).

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[MissMamma]

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

 

[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

 

[MissMamma]

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

 

[Thumper]

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

 

[LuckyD]

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!!