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vegan diet for infants
Vegan diet for infants - A baby nutrition guide for all of you lovely vegan parents!
Can a baby be vegan? Absolutley. After the breastfeeding period. Giving your baby your own milk that is specifically designed for exactly her, by the amazing human body, will be the best start you can give your little one.
What happens after the breastfeeding period?
What kind of nutritional needs does a baby have? It turns out they need a high carbohydrate diet, low protein and moderate amounts of fat. Does this sound confusing or difficult? It really isn't. Because healthy foods that your infant should be having after the first few months on this planet, are naturally composed that way, high carb with some fat in them - great examples are bananas, fresh figs (you can make fig sauce and that is super nutritious), coconut water and coconut milk. Then we have the rest of the fruits and the berries out there. So many to choose from.
You can start by giving the baby fruits in juice form, by juicing some apples for example at home. You can also use a high speed blender. As long as it is fine enough for the baby to digest it well. Starting with too much fiber too soon will be a problem (like oatmeal or similar). But after a while on fruits and pureed vegetables, you can of course start with oatmeal and quinoa. Buying too many vegan baby snacks or products, isnt really recommended not only because it isnt as nutritious as home-made baby food, but also because it is so easy to make it youreself. More about baby food in the infant and toddler nutrition article you also find on this site.
Vegan Diet for Infants
Mother's Milk Vs vegan baby formula
Most formula is based on the milk from cows, so not vegan at all. There is formula that is based on soy, but both milk from soy and cows can cause allergic reactions in infants as well as tummy problems. The milk from the mother is designed exactly for the baby. And did you know that after careful analysis, mother's milk isn't that super full of protein as we have been led to believe. Cow's milk on the other hand does contain a lot of protein. But it's not designed for human babies, so infants simply don't need a high protein diet!
Ref.: www.viva.org.uk/white-lies/comparison-between-human-milk-and-cows-milk
Breast milk is also significantly higher in carbohydrates than cow's milk. Maybe there is a reason for that? Maybe the way human breast milk is composed gives us a clue of how all of us are supposed to eat - even as adults? High carb and low fat is a pretty good way of eating, at least the way most centeneraians in the "Blue zones" have been eating.
It's best for the baby's digestive system and absorption ability to only eat a little at a time and not something that's packed with ingredients, like most formulas. And then they also add a lot to the formulas that isn't good at all, confusing ingredients that can trigger food sensitivities.
VEGAN DIET FOR INFANTS
How about peaches or figs at one meal and apples later on, or a mix of two of them if you would like to change it up.
Bananas are also perfect for the little ones and especially those that have a few brown spots on the peels, and if it's your baby's first few weeks of having solid food, buy everything you feed him or her pesticide-free,
Here you can find information on how much of each vitamin you child should get per day, if tat is something that interests you.
Honest information about healthy nutrition for kids and especially vegan diet for infants is hard to come by. There is often something behind what people are trying to make you believe. Selling a product, misinformation or simply fear. Some people are afraid of recommending something that isn't the 'standard'.
So many nutritionists still recommend the milk, meat and bread diet. With a side of vegetables of course. But if you want to grow a healthy human this is just not the way to go anymore. We need more than that to be strong enough not to get any of the colds, flues, viruses and bugs that are out there. That's why I started this website. To show you that there is another way, a super healthy way that can be fun too.
Some Kids Need to Eat Vegan Because They cant Tolerate Dairy or Eggs
There is a difference between being intolerant to lactos and being allergic to milk protein. Not everything can be detected through a blood test though. So even though your child's blood test shows she does not have a lactose intolerance, it could still be dairy that's the problem.
A client of mine has a small child who often gets skin rashes and has very dry skin. This is a time to stop giving him cow's milk. So mom stopped the milk but still continues with yogurt and cheese. Not a wise move, mom.
Allergies are sometimes, but not always, something that is formed as the child gets older, as a result of what the child's diet looks like.
Many times the cause is a genetic weakness of different organs or glands that has been there since birth, and this is causing the child to react to certain foods. If the gut cannot tolerate a lot of different foods, its not something you should just accept and not do much about (except avoiding giving your child the foods she reacts to). Instead, get to the root of the problem. Fix the gut and anything else needed. Having a healthy body is the only way to reduce reactions to foods.
Something to think about long and hard is that both protein and dairy is very acid forming and will create a host of problems in your child's body in the long-run. So that is why being vegan from the start or early on in life is a smart move.
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