Making the switch, but wondering about our baby...

[CrunchyKnitter]

Hey everyone on this board!

I followed a vegan diet in the past (mcdougall to be specific), and have also been a vegetarian, but it's been a long time.

I'm currently reading "Eat to Live" by Dr. Fuhrman and I'm convinced that it's healthy to cut animals products (not to mention ethical and eco friendly which I also like!) from my diet. I am already dairy free (as well as gluten free) so my last step is really just meat/poultry/fish.

Anyway...reading the science behind all of this in his book makes me wonder if I even want to give meat or dairy to DS who will be 8 months old in a couple weeks.

Here's where it gets even harder....for medical reasons I had to stop breastfeeding last month. I planned to breastfeed for quite some time, so I never planned to give him cow's milk or any other milk at 1 year b/c I would still be breastfeeding. Well, that's not an option anymore.

Soy products scare me (making that a bit harder for a vegetarian/vegan, right?) so I didn't want to put him on soy formula so we've been using organic dairy formula. So he's already getting dairy which stinks. While meat was up in the air until just recently, I really thought about not doing any dairy for him at all.

So what would you do at 1 year for him? I've heard wonderful things about goat's milk and I'm ok with DS not being a total vegan if that is truly better than cow's ...or better yet, can he, nutritionally, go from dairy formula to no milk in any form at 1 year???

Any thoughts about all this?
Thanks!

[bandgeek]

I wouldn't skimp on milk at a year. Maybe closer to 2 years, if he's eating well, I'd be comfortable with it.

At a year, you may be able to go to another non-animal milk, like hemp milk. A few are not nutritious enough to be a staple in a toddler's diet, like rice and almond. But soy, hemp, possibly coconut? Maybe. I haven't looked into it for toddler nutrition, just for my 5 year old.

If it makes you nervous though, you can just use animal milk and switch when he's 2. I wouldn't judge you.

[CrunchyKnitter]

Originally Posted by bandgeek

If it makes you nervous though, you can just use animal milk and switch when he's 2. I wouldn't judge you.

haha, thanks!

I guess I feel like after infancy we don't really need milk and esp. milk of another species (of course it'd be organic milk that we gave him, but still...) so I'm wondering if that means at 1 year they don't really need it or if, like you said, at 2 it'd be fine to stop and he still would need some sort of "milk" until then. I will def. look into hemp milk!

[crunchy_mommy]

Maybe a blend of hemp & coconut milks. It's tricky because although I don't believe that we need animal milks, it's obviously different for a baby who would normally receive breastmilk, so in that circumstance I could see possibly continuing with animal milk (maybe goat's milk) until age 1 or 2 if you feel that's the best option. Maybe do a comparison of the nutritional components in each (hemp, coconut) and see if there would be any gaps vs. breastmilk that you could cover with a supplement if you prefer to keep him vegan.

I don't think you need to give him meat (unless you want to) -- my 14mo is totally vegan & thriving.