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Any Vegan families out there?
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Anonymous
| DH and I are expecting #1, and we've been vegan the past 6 months (I'm 4 months along). My parents are a little more used to the idea of us being vegan, but his parents... They are a little more close minded and think that children should be on cows milk by age 1, and on it forever. Any other families out there dealing with this? I'm also planning on EBF until DC is 2.5, then pumping and still feeding a cup or two of BM daily until they're 4ish. |
Anonymous
| Not vegan myself, so I can't speak to that issue, but with regards to cows milk, there are plenty of kids who are lactose intolerant who do not drink any cows milk or eat any dairy products made with cows milk. Maybe you can get your in-laws to think about it in those terms, ie, it's not that you're doing something weird that no one else does. Your reason is different, but the outcome is the same. |
Anonymous
| We're not vegan, but we haven't done cow's milk in years. I've always had a bad stomach, but since switching to soy (and more recently, almond) milk, I feel much better. So we just give the same to the kids and they're perfectly happy with it. |
Anonymous
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I would not worry what your in laws think. Just an FYI - your plan of EBF until 2.5 and then pumping until age 4 is nice - but may not work for your child so make sure you are comfortable with whatever your child decides.
I have friends who child decided that they were done nursing at 8 months - my DD I EBF until age 1 and then nursed in the morning and evening. However, I would not have been able to pump enough to provide all of her fluids until age 4. A pump is not as effective as a baby. In addition, my daughter was just not interested in nursing after she turned 2. I did not discourage it - but she just did not ask. |
Anonymous
I am clearly not thinking I will be providing the sole liquid in DC's diet. That's just silly. Of course I will go on as long as my body, and child cooperate, as I said in my post, that is the "goal". Either way, once my child(ren) are off BM, they will be getting soy milk. I don't see how people think it's "healthy" for children (or adults) to drink cows breast milk... Children are not calves. |
Anonymous
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I am raising our children on an "alternative" (to mainstream US) diet and have managed dealing with inlaws and my own parents by being fairly low key about the whole thing. The less of an issue I make it and the more I let comments and concerns just roll off my back (rather than taking people on about how they can think something is "healthy" and arguing about it) the less an issue it is allowed to become.
For example, if you are highly verbal with your skeptical inlaws about how your children will be getting soy milk instead of cows milk because kids are not calves and soy is healthier, they can come back wto you with studies about how soy milk isn't that great for kids either. Now it's a fight, and they think you are harming your child. Just let it go and don't enagge them in discussions over what you are feeding your child. YOU are in charge of your reaction to your in laws and everyone else for that matter. You can make things a big fight over what you think it best versus what they think, or you can be gracoius about their opinions and matter of fact about how you are doing things with your family;. |
Anonymous
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OP, you might want to look into some recent research saying that too much soy is not healthy, as in drinking soy milk every day. Especially for boys. I'm not advocating cow's milk because I don't drink it, only rice milk for me. I'm nearly, but not quite vegan. I gave my kids soy formula years ago, but given this new information, I wouldn't do it now. Now they have a tiny bit of organic cow's milk, only with cereal. Talk to your doctor, and or a nutritionist.
I think the later is important because for years I was a vegetarian who ate mostly grains. Now I'm a vegetarian who eats mostly vegetables. I only say this because I don't cook meat at home and it's easy to get kids started overloading on grains, which isn't healthy. As new vegans yourselves, you want to make sure you give your child the best nutritional advantage. My dh is a carnivore and I haven't had issues with inlaws, probably because I don't preach and I let the kids choose what to eat when we're out with family. One loves meat and the other seems on the path to becoming a vegetarian. I personally believe in letting them choose, though I reserve the right to cook what I want. |
Anonymous
Whoa. PP was just to be helpful and I don't read anything in her post that was inflammatory. You need to work on keeping your cool and not reacting as you did to every person who says something that you take as an assault on veganism. You said that this was your first child and the PP was just trying to help you make realistic goals. |
Anonymous
| Ditto to this. OP, you're the one who said you planned to EBF your child until 2.5. You may not have meant it, but you did say it. Don't get all snippy when someone takes you at your word. |
Anonymous
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Rigid, rigid, rigid. I'd LOL to see your birth plan!!
You might want to learn a little bit about flexibility and its importance in accommodating your children's needs. |
Anonymous
| agree w/ the pp who said you might want to check up on all the latest around the effects of soy, particularly for boys. i don't know how much is real and how much isn't, but there appear to be some risks associated with overdoing soy. |
Anonymous
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OP here, and clearly I wasn't being very clear in my postings.
Re: BF - I meant that any milk my child needs will come from me until they are 4ish years old (hopefully). I assumed the people using this board were smart enough to figure that out, obviously that's my mistake. Soy - I've read numerous studies showing how soy improves bone mass and quality. While I plan on our child drinking primarily water, the soy milk would be for cereal alone. Probably even almond milk as that's what my DH and I drink. Rigid - Clearly you're only judging by my posts, but I am a very flexible person, everything I've posted are the optimal plan, and if it doesn't work out it doesn't. That's life! I just plan on giving my child(ren) their best shot at life, and seeing as I'm the one feeding them, I'm not going to give them cancer causing animal products.
Clearly you haven't done much research on healthy grains, such as brown rice. You might want to pick up a few books on the subject (The China Study is a good one, as is The Kind Diet). As a parent I think one would want their child to be healthy, but growing up on dairy/eggs/meat, I realize it's hard for parents to accept how really bad they are for us. |
Anonymous
Yes. You wrote EBF which generally means Exclusively Breast Feeding which most people take to mean, only breastfeeding, exclusively -- i.e no supplementing with formula, milk, soy milk, water, juice, whatever. And EBF baby just gets breastmilk. (not sure if people include solids in what an EBF baby eats) So it is kind of weird to hear someone plans to EBF till age 4.5 Glad you cleared that up. You DON'T plan to EBF your 4 year old, you plan to NOT feed your child dairy progructs, thus the use of the term VEGAN.
Ahhhh, there you go with the self-righteousness again! You are just itching for a fight, aren't you? I bet your in-laws LOVE you! Good luck with the birth of your baby, and everything else that life is planning to throw your way. |
Anonymous
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obviously this OP is not interested in a discussion about her question.
The answer is - YES EVERYTHING YOU HAVE READ OR EXPERIENCED IN THE LAST 4 MONTHS IS CORRECT. |
Anonymous
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OP:
Wow, you're fun. Your massive amounts of information and experience, garnered over the last 6 months must be exhaustive. Good luck with all of that.... 
love, an 11th yr Vegan. |