vegan toddler not thriving, anyone go through this before? - Page 2

[mumkimum]

OP, I think you already have a lot of good ideas.  We've got a skinny 18mo y/o kid here who's on the low weight end of the charts too, and will be going back to get her weight checked soon to make sure she really is growing.  IMO, even if she doesn't gain right away there are a lot of options & routes to increase weight gain and find out why it's happening that don't have to mean feeding her non-vegan foods.  I'm sure it's just the most 'known' option out there for your doctor.      

I know a big issue for my dd was that she was just so hot during the summer, and would have loads of water and ice to cool off and not as much of an appetite.  I've tried to focus on finding new foods that she'll always eats and do better about not running out of them so she'll always eat something (we're not vegan, but having veggie straws around where she can get them herself and cream cheese to put on a spoon for her - you can get the tofutti cream cheese, or do the same with nut butter).

[luckiest]

Have you considered a gluten intolerance? A woman at my last LLL meeting was having the same issues, her ped suggested going gluten free and it solved the weight issue and more (better mood, fewer tantrum but more energy to play). If her gut is being damaged by gluten it could prevent her from absorbing and utilizing thenutrients she does eat. And some vegan diets can be pretty high in grains/gluten. Just a thought. 

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by luckiest 

Have you considered a gluten intolerance? A woman at my last LLL meeting was having the same issues, her ped suggested going gluten free and it solved the weight issue and more (better mood, fewer tantrum but more energy to play). If her gut is being damaged by gluten it could prevent her from absorbing and utilizing thenutrients she does eat. And some vegan diets can be pretty high in grains/gluten. Just a thought. 

I'd highly recommend trying this as well. Our daughter has a speech delay. I asked a friend (whose son also had a delay) when he started talking. She said, "When I took him off gluten." We decided to try it with our daughter. Just to see. Three weeks later her language took off. Literally in one day. She went from a few single word utterances to multiple two word phrases in one day. Don't know if it was coincidence or gluten, but we figured we'd just stay with it. We also made other dietary changes to help her toddler diarrhea. Once we cleared that up she had another spike in speech. Food sensitivities can cause lots of issues and are pretty easily remedied.

[Krystal323]

http://www.shazzie.com/life/articles/raw_vegan_children.shtml

I've been veg for 16+ years, several of those were vegan.  I also had one vegan pregnancy and raised that babe vegan until she was over 2 yrs old.  Two of my kids were also very, very thin as toddlers.  I think veganism is an awesome ideal, but it's not the main emphasis of mine or my kids' diets anymore.  Shazzie's article above really interested me, FWIW.  Good luck!

[KellyandBean]

I'm very excited to report that we went to the three week follow up appointment today and my daughter gained A POUND! That was just from adding soy formula to her soy milk. My husband and i are elated. We are going to keep her on the formula until her second birthday when we do another weight check and decide where to go from there based on what her weight is by then. So happy!!

[AAK]

That's Great!

[ChristaN]

Originally Posted by Krystal323 

http://www.shazzie.com/life/articles/raw_vegan_children.shtml

I've been veg for 16+ years, several of those were vegan.  I also had one vegan pregnancy and raised that babe vegan until she was over 2 yrs old.  Two of my kids were also very, very thin as toddlers.  I think veganism is an awesome ideal, but it's not the main emphasis of mine or my kids' diets anymore.  Shazzie's article above really interested me, FWIW.  Good luck!

I don't believe that the OP said that she was attempting to raise her dd as a raw vegan.  The article you posted states that the author has never seen a healthy raw, vegan child and that those who claim to have them are lying.  I can't speak to raw vegan diets for kids and probably wouldn't go that way for myself or my children, but I did have two vegan pregnancies and had been vegan for 10 yrs prior to the first.  My girls are now 13 and 11 and I'm still vegan (23 yrs of being vegan at this point).  Dh and I were just discussing that we have no idea how dd13 got so tall.  She's about 5'5" whereas dh is 5'6" and I've always been the family giant at 5'4".  Her teeth all came in straight (no orthodonture needed), she's healthy, smart (started high school this fall before her 13th bd and is a straight A student), etc.  She was vegan for the first three years and a very strict vegetarian since then (compromise with non-veggie dh) but the whole family eats pretty much vegan most of the time b/c we buy and cook for the strictest diet. 

Dd11 is small, which is not surprising given our genetics.  I was fortunate to have the older one be a good sized baby and toddler so our diet didn't get us grief in regard to the second kiddo.  I was also fortunate to have a ped who took one look at the family history of size and dd11's development and never questioned the fact that she was tracking near the bottom of the height and weight curves.

OP, I'm glad to hear that your little one is gaining weight and that you've gotten a reprieve from the doctor stressing you about her size.  Hopefully you can wean her off of formula eventually and find a way to keep up the growth with other foods too.  Good luck!