How to Feed Your Vegetarian Baby

Most parents who are vegetarians would want to raise their babies as vegetarians as well. Of course, apples will not produce oranges and vice versa, right? Unfortunately however, most parents now are misinformed about the right way of feeding vegetarian babies. The result is that vegetarian babies don't get the right nutrition their body needs. Especially for newborns, every meal (and this means breastfed milk) is important.

In this article, read on the cardinal rules on how to feed your vegetarian babies from their first month to their first few years of living the vegetarian lifestyle and diet.

First to Sixth Months

For both vegetarian or non-vegetarians alike, newborn infants should be fed with breast milk from the mother exclusively. Early at this point, breast milk should not be replaced with soy milk, rice milk, or any other commercial and homemade infant milk formulas. These alternatives are not suffice in terms of giving your baby the proper ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrates. 

Breast milk is the only one that can provide your baby with enough vitamins and minerals that boost the immune system. It works to protect your baby against infections and reduce the risks of having allergies. Breast milk comes from humans and not animals. So it is not considered as an animal product or byproduct. If you're a vegetarian or a vegan mother though, you should make sure that you're getting enough vitamin B12 when breastfeeding because this vitamin is significant adding to the milk's nutrition.

Sixth to Ninth Months

When your baby is sixth to ninth months old, introducing organic fruit juices, mixed or blended puréed fruits and vegetables to his/her diet would be perfectly safe. Also, ensure your infant receives at least 30 minutes of exposure to sunlight once a week. This is to help stimulate your baby's body to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D, since human milk contains very low levels of it.

Nine Month to First Year

When your baby reaches nine months to first year of age, you can offer rice cereal as the soft first food. Rice cereals are iron-fortified meals and you can mix a bowl of this with expressed breast milk or soy formula so the consistency is fairly thin.

Formula or breast milk feedings should continue as usual. Start with one cereal feeding daily and work up to two meals daily or 1/3 to 1/2 cup. Oats, barley, corn, and other grains can be ground in a blender and then cooked until very soft and smooth. These cereals can be introduced one at a time. However, they do not contain much iron, so iron supplements should be continued.

When your baby reaches the first year of age, you can proceeding with feeding solid food (some finger food and soft table food). This is especially apt if your baby grows milk teeth. But you can still continue breastfeeding or combine the breast milk with soy formula as supplementing alternative. Soy formulated milk is just as good as cow's milk. For some babies, it is even better because it does not have any allergic reactions compared to the regular milk formula.

Don't Worry About Your Baby's Vegan Diet

There are many vegan and vegetarian babies who continue to be just as health or even healthier than meat-eating ones until they reach adulthood and beyond. This is to say that meat and animal products are not necessary to be included in our diet at all. A well-planned vegan diet is suffice for us to acquire all the nutrients we need. Also, nowadays, vegan substitutes exist for almost everything. So be rest assured that vegetarian diet is safe for babies. 

This post was written by:

Rochkirstin Santos is an IT professional and SEO writer, a vegetarian for life.

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Categories: Eating Vegetarian Food