Is it healthy to raise a vegan child

[Joalbert]

Hi I'm vegan,  I want a child, and I would like to raise him/her to be vegan. I wanted to know is it safe to raise a baby with a vegan diet.
My Fiancé is a meat-eater so he does respect the fact that I want our child but he still thinks that it's not totally safe to do so.

[Joalbert]

Thank you very much. I wanted to make sure that it was possible and healthy to do. I'm getting married next year and after that we're thinking of having children, but because he's not Vegan, but he respects my belief, I'm the one getting all the info together.
As I can see, it's like what I'm eating.....it's going to be a piece of cake.
Thanks again.

[lsmv]

i am also vegan, and there are ways to raise a healthy vegan child. first and most important, BREAST FEED. breast milk is made to provide infants with all the nutrition they need. if you are unable to produce enough breast milk, there is soy infant formula available (not regular soy milk, that does not provide all the nutrients the infant needs). as an infant/toddler moving on from breast milk or formula, the first foods to be introduced are rice cereals, then vegetables and fruits. meats are the last foods to be introduced, so just don't introduce them :) it's not necessary. if anything, cut up veggie hotdogs and other mock meats.

what you need to be careful of are the nutrients not as easily found in vegan diets, particularly B-12, omega 3 fatty acids, and vitamin D.

vegan B-12 is easily found in fortified soy milks and cereal, and cooking with nutritional yeast is an easy way to supplement. i personally am a big fan of Luna Bars, which provide 100% of the B-12 needed in a day. the body actually needs a very small amount of B-12, and retains it for a long time. deficiency is not common, however, a deficiency of B-12 can do irreversible damage, so be sure to incorporate B-12 into your diet regularly.

omega 3 is abundant in flaxseed oil (it has more omega 3 fatty acids than fish oil), and is easily found in most grocery stores. add it to just about anything for a nutritional boost. it is also found in vegan margarines.

vitamin D can be developed in the body from exposure to warm sunlight for 10-15 minutes, or from fortified soy milks.

there is a common misconception about things like protein and calcium. on average, americans over-consume protein by 2-3 times the necessary amount. protein is readily available to vegans through beans (especially soy beans) and other legumes/lentils, nuts, peanut butter, oatmeal, tofu, peas, wheat flour, and almost all vegetables have somewhere between 1-5 grams of protein. the list goes on and on. for calcium, the darker green, the better. collard greens, turnip greens, kale, etc, are very high in calcium, as are spinach and bok choy (one serving of bok choy is 60% of the calcium you need in a day!), tofu, soy yogurt, hummus, soy milk, broccoli... again, the list goes on and on. mock meats like veggie burgers, tempeh, TVP (textured vegetable protein), and seitan also contain a lot of protein without the fats and cholesterol :)

a vegan lifestyle is very healthy as long as it's well-planned, and if you provide your body with the nutrients it needs, it will all come out in the breast milk for baby :)

i'm not a doctor, so of course consult a pediatrician who is open to and knowledgeable of veganism or you will face a lot of opposition.

i hope this helps!

[sweetpea03]

It can be quite unhealthy for a child to be raised vagan. A child needs more nourishment than an adult does since they are still growing. Restricting their diet can cause problems for the child and they can become long term. Without meat, the child can't get as much protein which is vital to good health. You can try and do it anyways using supplements, but in my opinion, it's really just not that healthy. Plus it'd be better to wait and let the child choose whether or not they personally want to become vegan vs making them eat that way.

[redneckgurl]

i just dont think your child would get all the things his or her body would need to grow
i think you should talk to a doc before you put him or her any any kind of special diet

[Joalbert]

I would need more evidence to prove that it's not safe, I heard it was I thought I would ask to see if there was more evidence to it.

[redneckgurl]

i dont think it would be safe for the child