VEGAN FEAST SUBSCRIBERS' COOKING AND RECIPE FORUM>

Anyone raised vegan babies & kids ?

Val 42 posts Mar 30, 2005 11:11 AM	Hi! I'm interested in knowing more about the possibility of raising a child as a vegan right from birth. We don't have kids right now, but are planning to - soon, and I'm researching this topic as I feel strongly about raising him / her as vegan. I'm also going to pass this info to my sister who's not a vegetarian. They had their first baby about 4 months ago and I've been trying to give her data on why she should not feed her baby meat, but fruit and veg instead (animal cruelty reasons are just not good enough for her husband). I know that a vegetarian / vegan diet is much better for a child and I want to give her information like that. I personally know that that's how I want to raise my child, but I would also like to see some data to back "what I know". I'd appreciate any info anyone can give me about it - even if you're against it. Bryanna, do you happen to have any information on this topic ? ---------- Val
Debbie 629 posts Mar 30, 2005 2:02 PM	Val, I don't have kids and don't know about this info. But I know from experience that when my brother's wife has their 1st baby, the baby was not fed meat until almost 2. The baby was healthy and was never sick. Then, the toddler get sick often after they fed him meat(after 2). ---------- Debbie Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
Val 43 posts Mar 30, 2005 8:24 PM	Debbie, Thanks for sharing that with me. Yes I've heard stuff like that too. I'll tell my sister that. ---------- Val
Bryanna Owner/Moderator 897 posts Mar 30, 2005 10:18 PM	I know many families with healthy vegan kids. One of my best friends is a 3rd-generation Seventh-Day Adventist vegetarian (now vegan) and her two children have been raised vegan. They are the sturdiest kids you could ever want to see, seldom ever get childhood sicknesses. My publishers, The Book Publishing Company of Summertown TN, is on The Farm(http://www.thefarm.org), a vegan former commune/now cooperative in Tennessee. The kids, who are now having their own kids, were raised on a soy-based vegan diet and are all healthy, happy, intelligent young adults now. Here is a quote from, "The Farm-- A Labor of Love", by Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin in the VEGETARIAN TIMES OCTOBER 1995: "Today, the Farm has about 185 residents. Roughly half of them are teenagers who provide living proof that a vegan diet is healthy for children. A peer-reviewed study published in the scientific journal Pediatrics (September 1989) assessed the height and weight of 404 vegan children on the Farm and found that by age 10, they were, on average, just 0.7 centimeters shorter (about 0.5 inches) and 1.1 kilogram lighter (about 2.4 pounds) than the reference population of the National Center for Health Statistics, figures that are considered perfectly normal." There is more about this at: http://www.vegforlife.org/kids.htm A good book to consult is "Becoming Vegan" by registered dieticians Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis. Brenda is Chair of the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association (ADA). Vesanto is a coordinator of the vegetarian section of "The Manual of Clinical Dietetics, 6th edition", a joint project of the ADA and Dieticians of Canada (these are the professional bodies for registered dieticians, like the American Medical Association--AMA-- is the professional body for doctors-- hardly radical groups!). Another good book is "Pregnancy, Children and the Vegan Diet" by Dr. Michael Klaper, whose website you can reach from the vegsource homepage. In it, you will see pictures of beautiful, healthy vegan children! There is a new book called “Help! My Child Stopped Eating Meat” by Carol J. Adams (author of “Living Among meat Eaters”) and registered dietician Virginia Messina Jo Stepaniak and RD Vesanto Melina have an excellent book "Raising Vegetarian Childen". Here are some websites that can help: http://www.vegfamily.com/ http://vegetarianbaby.com/ Here are some articles by registered dietician Virginia Messina from her website vegrd.vegan.com, about pregnancy, nursing, infants and small children and vegan diet: http://vegrd.vegan.com/pages/article.php?id=1128 http://vegrd.vegan.com/pages/article.php?id=974 http://vegrd.vegan.com/pages/article.php?id=922 http://vegrd.vegan.com/pages/article.php?id=426 http://vegrd.vegan.com/pages/article.php?id=397 http://vegrd.vegan.com/pages/article.php?id=387 http://vegrd.vegan.com/pages/article.php?id=94 Also, check out the "Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets (1997)" at http://www.vegsource.com/nutrition/adapaper.htm Here's a quote from that paper: "Well-planned vegan and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy and lactation. Appropriately planned vegan and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets satisfy nutrient needs of infants, children and adolescents and promote normal growth." Then it goes into more detail (with footnotes.) Articles from the American Dietetic Association: 1.) Raising Children as Vegetarians: Planning and Variety Are the Keys, Says the American Dietetic Association: http://www.eatright.org/Public/Media/PublicMedia_10879.cfm 2.) Vegan Children by Carol M. Coughlin, RD http://www.vegetariannutrition.net/vn_articles/vegan_children.htm 3.)Vegetarian Diets During Pregnancy by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, FADA http://www.vegetariannutrition.net/vn_articles/vegetarian_pregnancy.htm Here's an article: http://www.vegsource.com/attwood/vegkid.htm and another by the registered dieticians mentioned above: http://www.vegsource.com/parent/growing_vegans.htm Humans eat whatever they can easily access-- what they eat is not necessarily what is the best for them. Vegetarians have less degenerative disease and live longer than meat eaters, in general. Millions of people around the world are vegetarians, for economic or religious reasons as well as ethical ones. It is meat eaters who have the most health problems, however, if meat is all there is around, that is what people will eat. We, however, have a choice. ---------- "To look like a goddess, eat like a peasant." Karen Andres
Val 44 posts Mar 31, 2005 9:54 AM	Thanks for all the info, Bryanna. It's so much more than I expected to get (which is a great thing!!) :) and I'm going to spend some time checking out all the links and also the books you recommended. Thanks again! ---------- Val
Mimi 1 post Apr 05, 2005 10:25 AM	Val - My daughter has been vegan since birth. She is now 15-1/2 and thriving. I'm not going to tell you that it has not been a challenge, but with books such as Raising Vegetarian Children, by Jo Stepaniak and Vesanto Melina, and sites such as Bryanna's, it is much easier today than it was back in 1989 when my daugher was born. You might also want to check out www.vegfamily.com which incidentally has an interview with my teenage daughter! http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-teens/vegan-since-birth.htm
Val 50 posts Apr 05, 2005 2:48 PM	Mimi, thank you so much for that info. Shasha sounds like a wonderful daughter, and a great vegan teen. You have done such a great job!! It's great to "meet" a real person who has been vegan since birth, and who is proud to be one. You must be so happy with your decision to raise her as vegan. I'm going to send your post and link to Shasha's interview to my sister too. Thank you, that information is truly priceless. ---------- Val

Website by CityMax.com Web Site Builder