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to experience gas and stomach discomfort. Little scientific research is available to prove this, but centuries of motherhood experience show that removing these foods can help your baby feel more comfortable and even avoid colic. Cabbage, chocolate, coffee, garlic, chili, curry, and other spicy foods have been known to affect a mother’s breast milk. Some babies show signs of improved digestion when their moms stop eating dairy while nursing, which is another good reason to maintain a vegan diet. Soy, wheat, citrus, and nuts also can cause stomach problems for babies, so try eliminating each food for one to two weeks at a time to narrow in on the culprit.

Meeting calorie and other nutrient requirements

Breastfeeding requires 200–500 extra calories a day and can help you burn off that extra weight gained during pregnancy, but you will do well if you’re mindful to continue to eat regular meals of nutrient-rich foods (instead of filling up on foods that have empty calories). Just like when you were pregnant, it’s important to choose foods that offer good protein, calcium, iron, B vitamins, zinc, and other nutrients so both you and your baby get everything you need. (See the earlier section “Nutritional know-how: Getting enough of what you need” and Chapter 4 to find out what foods provide you with these important nutrients.)

Many children develop quite well on a diet of only breast milk past their sixth month, and breastfeeding for 1 to 2 years is recommended by most experts. This vegan’s son enjoyed “mama milk” until his 22nd month and didn’t have an ear infection once during that time. As long as you’re breastfeeding, continue to supplement your own diet with omega-3-rich oils like flax and healthy fats from olive oil, unrefined coconut oil, avocados, nuts, and seeds. These oils and fats protect your own health and ensure that your baby gets everything needed for healthy brain and eye development.

Chapter 21

Bouncing Baby Vegans

In This Chapter

Getting your baby off to a good start nutritionally

Introducing vegan solids for older babies

Discovering vegan sources of nutrition for toddlers

Starting your kids on a vegan diet from the very beginning offers them a lifetime of healthy habits and benefits. What a person eats in her first few years can set her eating habits for life. So offering your children a healthy diet of various whole, plant-based foods will ensure that they grow up healthy and loving their veggies.

This chapter discusses infant and toddler nutritional needs. By covering the various ways to feed babies and toddlers, I show you that you have healthy vegan options and that cruelty-free menus offer a terrific, nutritious diet. Babies and toddlers can receive complete nutrition from a vegan diet, and a little planning and creativity can make the job of vegan parenting easier and more successful.

Nourishing Your Newborn

Because a new baby’s digestive system is still quite immature and sensitive, for the first six or so months, nutrition is pretty straightforward: You should provide either breast milk or formula.

A baby is designed by nature to be breastfed. Vegan mamas who are able to nurse their kids naturally need to ensure that their milk is rich, ample, and providing the necessary nutrients (see Chapter 20 on postpartum nutrition and care). Not every woman can breastfeed successfully, however, and some babies have a difficult time suckling. Luckily, vegan mothers who aren’t able to breastfeed their children can provide healthy nutrition by using various plant-based formulas. This section discusses the ins and outs of both breastfeeding and formula feeding.

Whether you’re breastfeeding or using formula, if you notice that your infant is experiencing rash or low or no weight gain, talk with your doctor about possible food allergies. Cow’s milk products are the most common foods known to upset a nursing baby, but other foods also may cause a negative reaction. Depending on how sensitive your baby is, and how much of the problematic food you ate, the reactions may be mild to severe. Rash,