my vegan baby is ready to eat...now what?
Posted by babysgotsauce on Aug 01, 2008 · Member since Apr 2008 · 1035 posts
My eight month old has been eating solids for a few months now...but all she wants to eat are avocado and rice cereal.........any vegan mamas out there with advice? What should i feed her?! when? ow much? ( I've obviously asked her doctor and read many parenting books, I was just wondering what worked for other moms! :} )
One of my daughter's first foods was mashed sweet potatoes with butter and salt. My mom would scrape an apple for her with a knife and feed it to her, applesauce, mashed potatoes, banana, mango, avocado is GREAT for developing little brains, Instant oatmeal(because it has smaller pieces), Malt-O-Meal, soy yoghurt or pudding. My daughter started eating at 4 months, and weaned herself at 5 months. She couldn't even sit up, and we'd have to lay her down and spoon food down her throat. She's weird...But I do remember thinking, what the heck do I feed her? I gets a lot easier. Mainly I would say to offer them a variety of stuff so that hopefully they don't become picky eaters down the road. As to how much, just as long as they keep eating. Don't try to get them to clean their plate or take "one last bite" In my opinion, anyway.
Asparagus. Seriously, it was my daughter's favorite food when she was a baby. I would steam it, then puree it and freeze it in ice cube trays. I would just take one out at meal time and heat it up. I did this with every kind of veggie out there, but for some reason she loved the asparagus! You can also mix these veggies cubes into baby cereals.
I used to steam vegetables, puree them and feed them to my son. He liked everything. I did all of the veggies first, then fruits. I think one of his first veggie meals was yellow squash. I think he liked potatoes a lot too.
To make things easier, I used to make a bunch and then freeze it in icecube trays, then take a couple out to thaw for lunch. Perfect serving sizes...as they get older, add cube or two for thawing.
At age 7 he is still an incredible eater.....I can only remember a handful of times in his life when he didn't clear his plate.
Pixie, what did you give her to drink after she weaned herself? Soy formula?
Since your baby is still at the puree stage, try pureed green beans. They seem to go down well.
When baby is old enough to do hand to mouth,whole green beans--particularly the flat Italian kind. They love to be able to feed themselves. I remember watching a little boy's encounter with his first green bean--he held it and stared at it like, "So Cool!" and then decided to give it the taste test. You should have seen the grin of satisfaction spreading across his face. His mommy was an omni, and I could just see him thinking, "Now THAT didn't come out of a Gerber bottle!"
I was raised in a house with a large garden and none of my mom's kids ever had problems eating fruit and veg. When you're used to the freshest of the fresh in-season veg, you learn to love them quick.
I had a school friend with lots of "oh I don't eat that" issues, but when I once ate at her mom's I understood--everything came out of a can and was just warmed up, with maybe a dab of margarine. No imagination! I still hate tinned veg--it tastes like the inside of the can.
Everyone has given great suggestions! ;)b
For me, although I have tried to give my daughter lots of options, she has still remained very picky. Despite this, however, she has remained extremely healthy (She is now 5 years old and has always been vegan). So, I just don't worry too much. I offer her lots of things, and have a "one bite rule" (she has to try at least one bite of something before she snubs it). We do eat whole foods, and she loves fresh fruit and many veggies.
Some of the early foods that worked for her were:
smoothies and shakes
fresh and dried mango
rice cereal
multigrain pancakes (our recipe-still her favorite)
soy yogurt
muffins (whole grain with flaxmeal and fruit in them)
I wish she ate avocado plain because it is such a great food for kids. However, she will eat it as guac sometimes and always as lime pudding (I have a key lime pudding with avo as the base...sooooo good!).
As long as you eat whole foods and she does some healthy fats, fruits, and veggies, you should be fine. Definitely a challenge though! I still get jealous of my friends who have kids who eat anything!! SO much easier. ;)
Quintess, it helps to learn to eat everything when you have 4 hungry brothers in the house at any given moment. No leftovers, and certainly no setting your heart on that leftover cookie you saw in the breadbin before school! Eat it now because there won't be any later--that was the rule.
But I do agree with those who say not to force kids to clean their plates. Either they learn to eat too much just because it's there, sowing seeds for a life-long weight problem (like me), or they start rejecting food which can develop into a power struggle.
Yabbit,
I would love to get my daughter to eat more foods, but it is very challenging. I was in no way trying to disrespect anyone with my reply...I am always open to suggestions as this is a tricky subject and I am always learning.
Also, I forgot one thing that was a great snack (and still is) for little peeps...plain nori! Kids love it and it is very nutritious. Just tear up a sheet of nori into little squares. Of course, you can also make nori rolls with the veggies they like in it.
Good luck! :)
Pixie, what did you give her to drink after she weaned herself? Soy formula?
We tried every soy formula we could find, and she would spit them up, undigested. Her doctor said soy has bigger pieces? Particles? Then we had to try non-vegan formulas, and found only one that didn't make her sick, so we had to stick with that. As soon as we had the doctor's OK, we moved on to soymilk and other drinks. And yes, I tried to pump for months, but could never get more than a couple bottles, so we alternated for a while...It really bugs my husband that she wasn't TOTALLY vegan from birth, but eh, I tried. I assume the next kid will be completely different.