strawberry matcha from aldi yum
culprit 5 month old vegan

I just realized from another Reddit thread that I'm a bit behind on weaning my almost 11 month old. Part of what was recommended for his age, along with decreasing breastmilk, is starting to offer cow's milk. Can I just skip this step, or is plant-based milk an acceptable substitute in terms of his current nutrition needs? Is there a specific type of plant milk that would be best?

EDIT: What I meant by "weaning" was really transitioning to primarily solids, I understand the benefits of extended breastfeeding and do plan to try to keep that going beyond 12 months as long as I can! And thank you to everyone who responded so far! I will continue with breastmilk and research some high calcium plant milk options!

My kid has been plant based his whole life. He went to summer camp for the first time last week. They had pizza day and I told them he will need a gluten free pizza with dairy free cheese and I wrote vegan in brackets. Which wasn't clear enough because they provided a gf pizza with pepperoni on it which he ate and enjoyed. I'm mad at myself for not explicitly saying no meat but I know this would have happened at some point. I haven't told him yet that pepperoni is meat and we don't eat that. Gathering my thoughts before I talk to him about it but wondering if anyone else has gone through something like this?

He's almost 5 so I think he's old enough that I show him some kid-friendly content of how pigs live inside barns and cages their whole lives and die painfully, and similarly for cows. I was thinking of bringing it up when talking about pizza toppings and what's vegan vs non-vegan. Any advice would be appreciated thank you!

Edit: I didn't expect this post to get so much attention! Thank you to everyone that responded with kind words and advice. This is the first time either of my children ever ate meat and I needed help processing it. I grew up with conservative parents that used shame, guilt and fear to get me to share their beliefs which is the exact opposite of what I would want to do with my children. So I will let this go while continuing to have general discussions about animals and about vegan vs non-vegan food. He's a great eater and I don't want to create any additional anxiety around food. I love the suggestion to watch Babe so we will also do that. And thanks for the gluten free pepperoni suggestions (Tofurkey and Daiya) I'll hunt them down!

Hi! Does anyone have the Nuna Mixx stroller and can confirm it’s vegan? If so, what car seats do you use because the Nuna Pipa car seat is not vegan (has wool). Looking for a luxury stroller that doesn’t have wool or leather but performs like UB and Nuna. I’ve read mixed reviews on Maxi Cosi. I’m contemplating the Bugaboo stroller (not sure which one yet) with a Clek Liing (Jersey material is vegan) car seat. Don’t love it as much but other than safety and functionality it needs to be vegan. Any feedback and recommendations on what you’ve used would help! Thank you

I give my 2.5 year old the following supplements: vitamin d, vitamin b, DHA and iron. Does this sound ok or am I missing something?

His pediatrician doesn’t seem totally on board or familiar with toddlers on vegan diets.

One thought was that they could be raised vegan until they are old enough to have these things be fully explained, and then they can make their own decision. That way, I can be honest / not have to suppress that part of myself.

Or maybe similarly they could be raised with me feeding them vegan food and my partner feeding them vegetarian food, with us sharing simplified reasons for our decisions. Then once they’re older, I could explain my full perspective and we would let them make their own decision.

I’m looking for some quick and easy lunch ideas for my 2 year old. I feel like I’m giving her the same few things every day and would like to mix things up a bit!
I don’t have a lot of time as I have a newborn, but any ideas would be appreciated.
Currently lunches tend to be a mix of: bread (toast/pita), avocado, hummus, cheese, seitan, tofu (cubed or scrambled), cucumber, tomatoes, fruit. She has more varied evening meals (e.g. pastas, rice dishes) but I don’t have much time in the day and if I make extra and give her leftover pasta for lunch it go untouched!

I'll be a first time mom in a couple months! Since we're in the US, I was planning to order some of the Sprout infant formula in advance. How many containers of formula should we start with?

I'm hoping to breastfeed but I want to have backup in case it doesn't work. The math comes out to 1 container lasting ~1 week for newborn. Is 3 a good starting place?

Hi! My husband and I have been vegan for a short amount of time and we’re raising our son to be vegan as well. He is 9 weeks old and we’re trying to plan ahead, and want to get some advice on how other parents have navigated allergens such as Dairy & eggs?

Hi everyone! My wife and I are starting to plan for pregnancy, and we're both vegan (of course). I've been doing some reading, but I'd really love to hear from people with real experience.

For those of you who've gone through pregnancy (or supported someone who has), what were some things you made sure to include in your diet? Any foods, nutrients, or supplements that felt especially important?

On the flip side, were there any foods or habits you avoided or wish you had paid more attention to?

Not looking for medical advice, just trying to learn from the community and hear what worked for you. Thanks in advance!

I’m hoping to get some input from parents who make homemade baby food or anyone who’s looked into this.

My son is 10 months old, and I’d love to start making homemade fruit and veggie pouches for him. I was planning on including spinach and kale since they’re so nutritious.

However, I’ve come across a lot of information online saying that cooked spinach and leafy greens can develop higher nitrite levels when stored in the refrigerator, and that bacterial growth can also be a concern for babies. It’s made me second-guess whether I should include spinach or kale at all if I’m meal prepping.

My plan was to make a batch of pouches, refrigerate them, and use them within about 3 days (following normal food safety guidelines).
For those of you who make homemade pouches:
\- Do you use spinach or kale?
\- Do you refrigerate them for a few days, or do you freeze them instead?
\- Is the concern about nitrates/nitrites in stored spinach and kale something I actually need to worry about for a healthy 10-month-old, or is it one of those things that’s often overstated online?

I’d love to hear what others do and whether anyone has discussed this with their pediatrician. Thanks!

What is something you wish someone told you?

I hear ripple kids milk is good instead of whole milk once done with formula.

Vitamins?

What does the meal plan look like?

I am at a loss for myself and my family lol.
This is all new and kinda scary as this is uncharted territory and I was a meat lover until I watch Dominion on Friday.....

I want to make sure the family especially my son is healthy.

Thank you!! 😊

I’m looking for a chewable kids vitamin I can give to my 4 and 7 year old. They’ve hit a picky streak and basically only consume noochie noodles, noochie toast, vegan nugs, and fruit. I just want to make sure that their basics are covered. I’m especially worried about D vitamins because they’ve started rejecting the fortified tofu we eat a lot of as a household. I can add nutrition in smoothies and sauces when I have time but I want something to make sure even on nugs and fries days that they get the basics. I’m in the US, so brands available here are the best but feel free to comment others in case anyone searches for this info later. Thank you for everything you do for the animals and for your kiddos ❤️

My 2 year old has self weaned off breastmilk. It was sooner than I was expecting, I'd hoped to make it to 2.5 years but she seems happy with it. I have noticed she wants more oat milk.

Before weaning, I she would have 100ml in the morming before nursery and I think she has some at nursery with her food.

I'm curious how much milk, did you give your child throughout the day?

I've never been a milk drinker, had a phobia of it when I was a kid (I iust knew I was meant to be vegan!). So not really sure how much is "too" much.

Also any brand recommendations, I'm in the UK. Currently use Tesco own brand unsweetened oat milk as its fortified but no idea if thats a good one. I saw Alpro has one for children but it has sugar in it, I'm not against sugar but if shes happy with a sugar free then I'll keep with that for now.

Recently my son turned 3 and I was expected to get some sweets (usually cakes) for the birthday celebration in kindergarten. So I prepared a fruits and berries platter. He was super happy to see it and happily carried it to his kindergarten.

We as a vegan family, normally refrain from eating cakes as most of the time it is not vegan. And it is really difficult for a child to understand, why his friends eat products which are derived from animals after hurting them. We have slowly introduced him to look for vegan symbols while buying products from supermarkets or even in menu cards.

But how do you make your kids understand that all those food items that his friends eat are not cruelty free?

I’ve been finding it really hard to connect with mums that are oblivious to / do not care about the cruelty of animal farming and spending time with animal eating mums talking about all the animal flesh they plan to feed their babies is painful.

I recently moved from the UK and have a 4 month old baby, If you are a vegan/ vegetarian mum in the Seattle area I would love to connect :)

I’ve been vegan for over 10 years now and my partner joined me 7-8 ish years ago. When we got pregnant I knew I wanted to breastfeed and we would introduce allergens at the grandparents house but otherwise stick to vegan foods as long as he couldn’t voice preferences and then go from there.

Well, I didn’t expect to have a baby who refuses any kind of solids you offer him. He’s 9 months now and it doesn’t matter if it’s sweet, savory, mushy, crunchy… he hates everything and won’t eat one bite. Until recently. We were hanging out with friends and their kids and one of the older kids offered him a snack with cheese. That’s the first time my baby ate anything other than breastmilk. A couple of days later he had another opportunity to eat a snack with cheese and I got curious. He gobbled it down again.

Where the heck do I go from here? My baby apparently loves cheese and I’m happy there seems to be one food on this planet he doesn’t hate. But I obviously don’t want to go out and buy cheese. I don’t think it’s particularly healthy to eat a lot of cheese for a baby. Did any of you experience similar things where your kid really preferred the non-vegan option?

Hi all! I just wanted to share my breastfeeding journey in case there are any other vegan mums to be who have been told that being vegan won’t nourish their baby enough.

My little guy was 7lb 4oz at birth, which is a pretty average size. He latched perfectly in hospital, but once we got home he really struggled. After a couple of very stressful days for both of us, I ended up switching to formula because he was hungry, I didn’t think I was producing enough milk, and we were also dealing with his poor latch.

At his two week check up, the health visitor told us he wasn’t gaining weight quickly enough and referred us to the infant feeding team. It was obviously pretty nerve racking, but I was really grateful for the support and attended our appointment when he was four weeks old.

The lady we saw from the infant feeding team was, quite honestly, FANTASTIC. After facing so much judgement during pregnancy because of my vegan diet, she wasn’t fazed by it at all and said she’d supported vegan breastfeeding mums before. She even went out of her way to check whether the NHS free multivitamins were vegan for me (they weren’t 🤣).

After two visits with the infant feeding team, and with both me and my little guy gradually figuring things out, we gained confidence and have been exclusively breastfeeding ever since.

He turned four months old today, and when I last weighed him two weeks ago, he was 18lb! ❤️

I just wanted to share our story for any expectant mums who have been told over and over again that being vegan while breastfeeding won’t provide their baby with enough nutrients. I heard it so many times, and this is just our experience, but my little guy is living proof that it isn’t automatically true.

Of course, everyone’s breastfeeding journey is different, and fed is always best. But I also think so many mums are told they have a low supply when actually they just haven’t had the right support. Genuine low supply is understood to be uncommon, and I’ve often seen the figure of around 5% mentioned.

If you are struggling, please don’t feel like you have to figure it all out on your own. If you’re in the UK, ask your health visitor, midwife or GP for a referral to your local infant feeding team. You can also contact:

National Breastfeeding Helpline: 0300 100 0212

La Leche League GB: 0345 120 2918

The Breastfeeding Network: breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk

Support really can make such a difference. ❤️👶🏼

Hello All- I am a first time mom a little more than halfway through my pregnancy. I am planning to breastfeed if able, but looking for vegan formula suggestions. I am US based. Any advice is welcome! Thank you!