Underweight picky eating vegan baby

[andielk72]

Hi,
I am looking for some advice/food ideas for my one year old son. I am vegan and hoping to raise DS vegan. I breastfed for about 6 months, then he had soy formula, cereal and fruit/veg purees for several months. A couple months ago I started to introduce more variety into his diet but he is very, very picky about all foods. He basically wont eat anything he has to chew - he'll eat some purees (mostly fruit) and cereal and things that easily dissolve like puffs and biter biscuits but that's about it. He does not seem to like soymilk and is starting to reject formula. He's always been thin but his weight recently dropped from around the 15-20th percentile to the 5th. His height is around the 50th. I'm worried that he's not getting enough calories, fat or protein and have gotten some comments about his diet causing him to be so small. Has anyone dealt with similar issues? Does anyone have any high fat and calorie recipe food ideas that I could try? Thanks for any info or advice.

[lach]

I'm vegetarian, but very wary about feeding soy to babies, particularly boys. Before you do that, make sure you have all the facts about potential side effects, including but not limited to soy being an endocrine disruptor, and IMO a fairly strong link with allergies.

Make sure that he is getting a lot of saturated fats until he is at least two years old. These are essential for both brain and bone development. Breastmilk is about 50% saturated fat, to give you an idea.

[Sayward]

Originally Posted by lach

I'm vegetarian, but very wary about feeding soy to babies, particularly boys. Before you do that, make sure you have all the facts about potential side effects, including but not limited to soy being an endocrine disruptor, and IMO a fairly strong link with allergies.

Make sure that he is getting a lot of saturated fats until he is at least two years old. These are essential for both brain and bone development. Breastmilk is about 50% saturated fat, to give you an idea.

Do you have any resources you could share regarding your info on soy? I have a brand new son and I'm trying to disentangle the soy debacle.

What research/articles/papers etc did you use to form your opinion?

[andielk72]

A restrospective study in JAMA a few years back (Strom et. al.) looked at soy fed infants who were now in their 20's & 30's and the only statistically significant difference between them and a control group was that the girls had slightly longer periods (which is a good thing from a cancer perspective). Another longterm study by the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA has also found no effect in human children (though has found some drug metabolism issues in animals). If you go to the ARS website you can find the dozens are articles that have come out of it to date. T. Badger is often a lead author - you can also search the web for articles by him. It is my understanding that much of the negative research is poorly designed (eg: not long term, no control group etc), sponsored by interest groups and/or done on animals, not humans.

As with most foods I'd stay away from excess - as I said above, my son was breastfed until he started solids- soy formula and now soy milk supplement actual meals ... that is, when he'll eat. We also mostly stay away from "modified" soy in the form on fake meats, and the like. I'm 37 and been vegan or vegetarian and drinking and eating soy based foods since I was 10 y.o. and my diet has had no negative effects whatsoever on my fertility (in fact I'm pregnant again - and succeeded on my first try again!) am I'm in excellent health. There are also a lot of doctors on my husbands side (and he's a scientist) - including 3 pediatricians. They are a very outspoken clan and most definitely not vegetarian. If they had any solid evidence soy/vegan"ism" was a bad thing I would be bombarded with it.

Just my opinion - I know many don't agree but personally I am pretty comfortable feeding my son moderate amounts of soy.... And I'm still looking for some high fat, appealing recipes to get some weight on this kid! Thanks, A

[Marsupialmom]

I would also have him evaluated for oral issues. Not chewing isn't normal. Does he mouth toys or anything?

[maciascl]

How old is the baby? Many babies aren't ready for food until what most people thinks is really 'late' often 18-24 months. It doesn't mean that anything is necessarily wrong with the baby. I don't know enough about the soy issue to really say anything about that. You could also try hemp milk if he is old enough. Pacific makes one that still has some of the fat & protien left in it. Others take most of it out.

[ShadowMoon]

DS has been vegan since birth. He's a petite kid, but so were DP and myself at that age. He's always eating though. For high fat/high calorie options we offer: avocados, coconut milk yogurt, saute in coconut milk, add flax/hemp/olive/etc oils to foods, and use various nut butters. We don't avoid soy and I believe soy in moderation is perfectly fine. We BF'd until age 2 and since then DS drinks full fat soy milk, hemp milk, or almond milk. We also eat a lot of tempeh and tofu with our meals, as well as beans and quinoa for extra protein.

[Koalamom]

My dd wouldn't chew anything and only liked mushy food, but now at 3 yrs old, she is finally eating crunchy foods. Still she prefers the mushy stuff. I wouldn't be concerned about that issue.


As for the soy issue, I stay away from it since I developed thyroid issues from drinking too much soy milk, and my mother developed lumps on her breast after starting up on soy milk. I have no proof that the soy milk did it, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

My baby was gaining weight very slow, and we were basically vegan because of allergy reasons, but I needed to add in ghee as that is the only dairy food he could tolerate, and I increased my fatty foods like nuts, and my baby is finally gaining weight. I know for us personally vegan was not working.

[almadianna]

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[blueridgewoman]

We aren't vegan, but I wanted to say that my daughter really didn't consistently eat solids until she was at least 18 months old, maybe older. Before then there was definitely an issue of pickiness and inconsistency. I think as a culture, we expect kids to eat solids at a designated time and expect them to pick it up right away, but I'm not sure if that's really how it goes.

I would say keep offering different items and see how it goes, but keep an eye on the weight issue. We had a lot of luck with soft or custardy foods (DD's favorites were eggs and greek yogurt, but obviously, that's not applicable here ) and maybe something like a vegan rice pudding made with coconut milk might go over well? You could make it a bit sweet so that it would be all the more enticing.

[andielk72]

Thanks to those who offered food ideas and reassurance - I hadn't thought of coconut milk or adding oil to his purees but will definitely try that.

He is 13 months and does mouth toys (and just about everything else) so I don't think he has any oral issues but we are going to make an appt to talk to his pediatrician.

[catnip]

I don't know where you are at in adding nuts, but I add almond butter and hemp seeds to smoothies for my little one, who (thank heaven) inherited her dad's metabolism and is tall and thin (I'm tall. Not thin). The nuts are a particular hit in the strawberry banana smoothies. She's older (5 now) but really didn't eat much at all until she was almost 2. Now she'll go days without eating much, and then eat everything in sight for several days.

You could make an un-spicy hummus with extra tahini and olive oil and just feed it as a pureed food. Or you could spoon-feed guacamole (which I make with just lime juice, salt and garlic, and I add the garlic after the kiddo gets hers).

Also, don't overlook the awesomeness of smoothie popsicles, great for hot days and teething babies.

[organicmidwestmama]

my daughter is 16 months and has been enjoying almond butter for quite a while. also anything with coconut is wonderfully nourishing and filled with good fats. coconut oil in smoothies, coconut milk where one might normally use soy or cow milk, etc. i too would steer clear of soy milk as a daily drink and focus on a "milk" that has more fat, and less anti-nutrients (including phytates) which are present in soy.

fruit purees arent particularly filling or nutrient dense, very little fat or protien, mostly sugar/carbs. what about avocado mashed? my daughter also loves lara bars as an occaisional treat and they are fairly high in good fats. i second hummous made with soaked or sprouted chickpeas and tahini and extra virgin olive oil.

[veganfox]

DH & I have been vegans for 5 years now and we are raising DS vegan as well. He is turning 1 this month and he's doing very well on the vegan diet. Keep in mind that growth charts are based on omnivore kids which gain weight faster.

My suggestions would be to add coconut milk to your LO's meals. DS doesn't like chunky foods most of the time but if I add coconut milk, he will eat it. It gives the food a nice creamy taste. I also would add tahini, flaxseed oil, olive oil to meals and lots of nice avocados. As for soy, personally I don't worry about it. I was consuming organic soy during my pregnancy and it went great, I give soymilk, soy yogurt and tofu to DS (he loves them) and I think soy is a common target but with no substantial evidence. As long as it's in moderation, I don't see a problem. When it comes to protein we do lentils, beans and quinoa (which is so small that DS likes it even without it being 'pureed') and now we're going to start nut butters.

I thought I'd share the following link. It has some useful info on vegan diet for children.
http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/kids.htm

hope it helps!