Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [140]
Miniature wooden or bamboo spoons are excellent choices for your infant’s first feeding tool. Rather than relying on plastic-coated spoons, which can chip off microscopic bits into your baby’s mouth over time, try bamboo, which is totally natural and nontoxic. These spoons can be found in most health food stores, natural baby stores, and online.
Some health experts have expressed concern that starting babies off with a refined carbohydrate cereal can lead to food sensitivities and obesity later on. Other experts state that introducing grains actually prevents these same issues. Clearly the jury is still out, so the choice is yours. Iron fortified grain cereals are often recommended as a first food since baby’s iron reserves start to decline after 6 months.
If you would rather choose a fresh whole food, try mashed organic natural foods for the first forays into eating. Ripe, mashed avocado or bananas are easy on the digestive system for most kids. Natural, unsweetened applesauce, mashed sweet potatoes, or ground whole grains like millet are other options. You may prefer serving mashed vegetables first to encourage your babe to develop a taste for healthy veggies before being exposed to sweeter fruits.
Buying baby food in jars or frozen containers is an option, but it isn’t necessary. Before the mid-1800s “baby food” didn’t exist — infants just ate whatever mom and dad were eating in a mashed up form. Most babies around the world are still fed like this today; it’s cheaper and generally easier (and more environmentally friendly) than buying hundreds of little jars of premashed food. If you do need or choose to buy baby food, choose an organic variety.
You can use a fork to mash your own meal into a paste. Just be sure to remove anything spicy or otherwise difficult for a baby to digest. Low-cost baby food mills that grind your adult food into a consistent paste are available online, at health food stores or at larger children’s mega-stores. These mills are easy to clean and transport.
Watch Them as They Grow: Food for Toddlers
Toddlers develop their personalities quicker than you may expect — they express their likes and dislikes for foods with no reservations. After the explosive growth that most babies experience, the slowing weight gain of toddlerhood can cause a decrease in appetite. When this decrease in appetite is coupled with a child’s innate pickiness, you can easily become frustrated. But don’t allow this to upset you — most parents experience a similar situation. By simply offering the healthy choices and nutritious snacks that I discuss in this section, your vegan kid will eventually develop great eating habits and tastes.
Don’t give up on the greens! Most kids need a new food introduced 12 to 20 times before they accept it. Keep cooking healthy foods, show your kids you enjoy them, and don’t force your child to eat something in the beginning.
After your baby’s first birthday, you can begin to wean him off of formula and switch to fortified soymilk or toddler formula. If you choose fortified soymilk for your toddler, be sure that the variety you choose has appropriate levels of fat, calcium, protein, and vitamins D, B2, and B12. For babies who are 13 months and older, Toddler Health brand offers organic rice- and oat-based nutritional drink mixes that contain no soy, gluten, or dairy. But they still contain animal sources of vitamin D. Be sure to discuss your child’s growth with your healthcare provider to help guide your decision.
Quieting the naysayers
Be prepared to hear questions and concerns from your family and friends that a vegan diet won’t be sufficient for your growing guy or gal. To reassure your well-intentioned loved ones, offer these morsels of truth:
Several studies suggest that vegan children’s’ growth rates are more gradual than nonvegans. These children often grow slowly at first, and then they catch up later on. The ultimate adult heights reached by vegan children are comparable to those of nonvegans.
Children who grow up without dairy in their diets have less diarrhea,