vegan for toddler that has not grown up vegetarian and loves meat

[dauphinette]

So this has been really hard for us.
My husband and I were vegetarian when we met.
Then we both started to eat meat and got into the whole traditional foods thing which I still believe in in some ways.
But I ahve always had a nagging feeling to get back to the vegetarian, it is how I was raised and it feels right to me.
One problem is our daughter has been raised on meat and loves it the most of all the foods she has been served. Second only to cheese, eggs and milk!
I can serve her some fruits and she will eat them. She likes corn and peas.
Other than that she refuses veggies completely and even most grains. Sometimes she will eat beans.
I need to start to transition her over in some way, but I don't even know what to do. I am so tired of fixing something with the best intentions and her totally refusing to even look at it!

We are doing vegan for Lent in the hopes that it will stick but she has still been eating the meat, dairy and eggs because if I don't fix it for her she would not be eating.

I am so discouraged and sick of fixing the meat, plus I feel like if we have it in the house then my husband will go back to it after LEnt and slowly maybe myself, too.

Blech.

[ladylove]

This probably won't be the most popular of opinions, but here is mine:

You are the cook and meal planner. She will eat what you cook. Having a few light meals because she is refusing the healthy food won't send her into starvation. She will learn to eat what you are making. Or go hungry and wait until the next meal or snack.

This is what I do. My 3 year old eats everything so well. If he says he doesn't like/want what I made, then I tell him "okay, we'll eat again later."

How old is she? That will make a big difference.

[lilyka]

:

thats how I did it with my kids. Its been a year. they are still adjusting but they are much older than your dd. she will eventually learn to eat what you serve.

[dauphinette]

She is two.
So what kind of stuff should I be trying, or just not fixing her anything different from what I am making?
And when she asks for sausage or turkey what do I tell her?

Thanks!

[Ianthe]

Are you open to "fake meat" as you transition her over? It is not too popular with traditional foods, but it helps smooth the transition. There are lots and lots and lots of vegan fake meat- sausage, turkey deli slices, chick'n nuggets and strips, chik'n burgers, etc. A lot of them seam very, very real (too close for comfort for me a lot of times), and then eventually phase those out into whole grain versions (nut & bean loaf, black bean burger, etc).

I think she is young enough to not notice the transition too much, as opposed to an older child who can read.

[dauphinette]

I have only resisted the fake meats because of the soy. I guess it's not that bad if it's just for a transition period. I really want to get her off of the red meats 100%, which are of course her faves.
Thanks for the idea, I'll at least try it out.
I bet she would eat a fake-meat corndog, lol!

[marsupial-mom]

I agree about the veggie-meats, they help people transition and they help veg kids feel more "normal." there are plenty that don't come from soy. Fir all the options, take a look at meataltermatives.org

also, I know she's young but whenever you can involve kids in meal preparation they are much more interested in eating new foods. If you can find some simple way to involve her in your cooking, i think you should. find little decisions she can make that won't influence the food.

Example, "should we use the big wooden spoon or the smaller metal spoon?" "The water has to boil and it takes about as long as it takes to sing twinkle twinkle little star five times. Will you sing with me to help me cook?"

[AmandaMom]

I agree with ladylove and lilyka. It may take time, but she will learn to love what you cook. If you continue to cook her meals separately, she will continue to expect you to do so, and that will just reinforce her dislike for what the rest of the family is eating. My nephews are a prime example of this! Good luck!

[Sweetiemommy]

Maybe vegan is too harsh of a transition? Why not just go veg for lent and maybe she would have an easier time if she could still eat dairy and eggs. I know that a way that I comprimise my nourishing traditions beliefs with vegetarian intentions is to only buy dairy and eggs from a farmer that I know and respect, so that way I can see the animals and know that they are in healthy conditions and not taking part in a factory farm, etc. That makes me feel a lot better about it, although I know some people take issue with any use of the animal product. Anyway, it does seem a bit harsh to take her off of those things that she has come to love and that have nourished her body thus far.

[dauphinette]

Sweetiemom~ I wasn't planning on making my daughter vegan, I guess I wasn't clear, my husband and I are doing vegan for Lent and I am transitioning back to vegetarian personally since before Lent.

I want my daughter to slowly make the transition to vegetarian, too. I would love to be vegan, but am using this Lenten season to try it out to see if it will work for me. I would be cool if she was vegan, she is a huge animal lover (but I would not force it on her if she wanted to keep eating dairy and eggs.)
I am actually a big believer in kids needing the nutrients and fat from both of those types of foods and it's not even wierd to me to think of a human baby drinking another animals milk, as long as that animal eats a diet that is healthy for both species like grasses.


As far as including her I could probably be better about it, it is really hard for me to focus on my cooking tasks and also be trying to think of her need to be included, it's something I struggle with.

It's hard for me to think of what I should be making because the food my husband anf I enjoy is so far from the food she has grown comfortable eating.

[kindergirl77]

We do a lot of 'Mexican food' here. My girls love beans and tortillas, hard shell tacos with beans and shredded lettuce, avocado- they love avocado.
They also love Chinese food- and I can usually buy some of the noodles for them and add a mix of veggies that they sometimes do eat .
They eat rice and I will sometimes give them the Quorn Chik'n patties and the fake corn dogs, but not on a daily basis. We eat a lot of potatoes- baked or mashed with corn on the cob.
And spaghetti. When I transitioned them to vegan we did a lot of spaghetti nights. I added cut up sauteed mushrooms in the spagetti sauce. My 3 year old loves it.

[rainyday]

Originally Posted by dauphinette

As far as including her I could probably be better about it, it is really hard for me to focus on my cooking tasks and also be trying to think of her need to be included, it's something I struggle with.

This will get easier in the next couple of years as she gets a little older. At your dd's age, I think my ds did a lot of playing in the sink while I cooked. Or "wash" the vegetables...

Originally Posted by dauphinette

It's hard for me to think of what I should be making because the food my husband anf I enjoy is so far from the food she has grown comfortable eating.

She's young, and it will be a lot easier to transition to cooking family meals now than it will be in a few more years. She'll probably adapt fairly quickly.

By your dd's age, we always just served one dinner. We did (and still do) make sure that there is at least one food that our DS likes and is comfortable with. Usually there is more than one. But if we're having a casserole (which he won't touch yet), then we'll have bread, veggies, salad, etc. on the side. Sometimes ds will only eat bread, or rice and broccoli, but over time, he gets a pretty balanced diet, and it seems to work for him. We've found that just having the new foods there on the table has made him willing to try them eventually (except for casseroles, still working on that! )

[BeanyMama]

Originally Posted by ladylove

This probably won't be the most popular of opinions, but here is mine:

You are the cook and meal planner. She will eat what you cook. Having a few light meals because she is refusing the healthy food won't send her into starvation. She will learn to eat what you are making. Or go hungry and wait until the next meal or snack.

This is what I do. My 3 year old eats everything so well. If he says he doesn't like/want what I made, then I tell him "okay, we'll eat again later."

This exactly what we do. It works really well at our abode.

It's true fake meats might make her transition easier. There are a few soyless brands but some, like Quorn, aren't vegan.

I hope the transition is a smooth one! Best of luck and yay for you!