Baby Food

...strongly against bringing up a baby to be vegan but it's really not such a bad thing to do armed with the right information. In my son's case, I had intended to bring him up to be vegetarian like I am and allow him to make his own decision later in life. But he couldn't tolerate cow milk formula and was prescribed Nutramigen hypo-allergenic formula milk at 8wks old. Being allergenic (as I am myself) I knew I'd have to wait until around 9 months before ...
...best time to wean a baby is at 6 months old. If you try too early you risk damaging the digestive system and encouraging allergies to develop and if you try too late you risk baby becoming malnourished (iron stores deplete around six months after birth) or having trouble learning to eat. Personally I thought I wouldn't wean until close to 6 months but circumstances changed my ideals. I started feeding a small amount of fruit purée mixed with baby ... more

A lot of people feel very strongly against bringing up a baby to be vegan but it's really not such a bad thing to do armed with the right information. In my son's case, I had intended to bring him up to be vegetarian like I am and allow him to make his own decision later in life. But he couldn't tolerate cow milk formula and was prescribed Nutramigen hypo-allergenic formula milk at 8wks old. Being allergenic (as I am myself) I knew I'd have to wait until around 9 months before trying egg ingredients but he was allergic to that as well despite my patience. It makes his poor little nose itch. He has egg in home made sponge cake and the trace of it doesn't appear to bother him but other than that, he is basically a vegan.

I have had absolutely no support in weaning or feeding my child; to the extent that not only were my health visitors and GP useless but I'm a single Mumma too. I couldn't even find any decent advice searching the internet! In the end I had to trawl websites, libraries and information leaflets on either vegetarianism or milk-free recipes and adapt the information to suit my vegan son.

WHEN TO WEAN

The best time to wean a baby is at 6 months old. If you try too early you risk damaging the digestive system and encouraging allergies to develop and if you try too late you risk baby becoming malnourished (iron stores deplete around six months after birth) or having trouble learning to eat. Personally I thought I wouldn't wean until close to 6 months but circumstances changed my ideals. I started feeding a small amount of fruit purée mixed with baby rice at 14wks every morning to curb my pig's appetite. Now I know this was a naughty thing to do but he was draining EIGHT x 7oz bottles a day at this age; all during a 12 hour period because he had no intention of interrupting his beauty sleep to feed between 8pm and 9am. However, note that what I gave him from 14 - 22wks was just a "filler". Although I introduced him to solids early I didn't start to actually wean him until close to six months old.

HOW TO BEGIN

Choose a time when your baby is in a good mood and not too hungry, half way through a bottle is a good time. Most experts agree that weaning should be a fun activity and a chance for baby to learn and explore so as to encourage a good relationship with food in the future. The best things to start with are naturally sweet single flavour vegetables like puréed carrots or sweet potato, or a little baby rice made with either breast or formula milk. Make sure you buy an appropriate weaning spoon so you don't hurt your baby's mouth and don't expect your baby to eat more than a few spoonfuls the first few times. Learning to get the food from the front to the back of the mouth is actually quite a difficult task to master and with the tongue being a muscle, it takes time to build up strength as well as dexterity.

FOODS BEFORE SIX MONTHS

If you start weaning before six months old, you need to stick to plain baby rice and puréed fruits and vegetables with the exception of tomatoes and citrus fruits which tend to be more allergenic than other fruit and vegetables. Government advice recommends you feed your baby one flavour for a week and wait to see if any reaction occurs before adding a new flavour. This advice was compiled following the notable increase in allergies in recent decades. Normally I'd say don't be so ridiculous - you don't have enough weeks between six months and a year to introduce new foods at one item per week but if you're weaning before six months you should consider this carefully. The advice is also that you should exclusively feed your baby breast milk for the first six months to increase their immune system and intelligence amongst other things as well as it being considered a complete source of everything your baby needs from birth to six months. Whilst I don't disagree that breast is best; I do feel it should be noted that the world health organisation has incorporated statistics from third world countries where food and water are often contaminated in issuing this advice. What I'd really like to say here is that whilst breast is best, it's not the be all and end all so please don't beat yourself up over choosing not to or being unable to breastfeed your baby. Formula comes a close second and regardless of your choice of milk, when you wean is up to you and your baby.

FOODS SIX TO NINE MONTHS

If you're just starting to wean, take onboard the advice given above but be aware that the risk of damaging your baby's digestive system or encouraging allergies is supposedly greatly reduced at this age. Before six months you mustn't feed anything that contains gluten or wheat like bread or breakfast cereals however these are fine from six months old. Appropriate foods in this age range include vegetables, fruit, lentils, pulses, baby rice, bread, breakfast cereals, and vegge mince. Egg and Soya can be introduced but this isn't particularly advisable before 9 months if you have a history of allergies in either family. You should never add salt to your baby's food and avoid adding sugar unless absolutely necessary. You mustn't give anything that contains peanuts or caffeine until your child is 5yrs old. Bit of a nuisance if your child is vegan to have to omit peanut butter but the dietician I saw when my son was 15m old insisted he mustn't have it for a good few years yet.

RECIPES

To start with you just want to spend the first month introducing single flavours. Once you've built up a few foods into your baby's diet you can start to set meal times and offer up baby meals as part of your baby's routine. Some parents prefer to start with breakfast and build up from there whilst others find baby chomps on their fists when they have their family dinner and find that the best meal to start with. Introduce whatever first meal time suits you and your baby the best.

FREEZER BLOCKS

The best and easiest way to feed your weaning baby! Heat up one or two kinds of vegetables in a pan then drain off most of the water (leaving about 1tbs of water to every heaped tbs of veg) then add some baby rice and breast or formula milk. Personally I liked to do two or three pans at a time with a different vegetable combination in each. When the mixture has cooled, spoon it into ice cube trays and put it into the freezer. If you take out a cube and place it in the fridge first thing in the morning it'll be defrosted ready for dinner time. You can heat these blocks in the microwave for ten or twenty seconds before serving but be aware that the small portions will heat up quickly and you must make sure the food isn't too hot before you serve it. In my experience, the best vegetables for puréeing are: carrots, sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli, parsnips, chick peas and runner beans. Peas are often recommended as a weaning food but to be honest, they're quite tricky to blend smoothly and when you start weaning you need to ensure there are no lumps and that the consistency is smooth throughout.

BABY JARS

Surprisingly enough, there are a whole two you can actually use! Well, there isn't much of a market for vegan baby jars now is there? One is Hipp Organic Tender carrot and potato and the other is Hipp Organic Mixed Vegetable Medley. A year ago when I began weaning - there wasn't one single other jar suitable for vegans, I checked every single one (about five times over). By all means have a good look but don't get your hopes up. These two jars are handy to keep in the cupboard or in your changing bag for emergencies so don't write-off jars entirely. Personally I found them to be a little watery but adding a teaspoon of baby rice powder soon sorted that out. At the end of the day, if you buy little storage pots there's nothing to stop you putting your home made purées into them and taking them out and about with you. As for time saving, it really doesn't take that long to make your own purées Fifteen minutes in the pan and two in the blender (hand-held blenders are best for small amounts). Cook three batches at a time and your work is done for the next three weeks. Ahh, the joys of freezers.

FIRST MEALS
(apx 7 - 9m)

When you're ready to move on from simple purées, you'll probably be thinking about adding a dessert to the meal too. Generally speaking, you'll be feeding dinner and a dessert at seven months, breakfast and dinner with a pudding at eight months then three meals a day from nine months developing onto "adult dinners" at around a year. Every baby is different though; some will whiz through the stages and be eating adult meals at eleven months whilst others might not be ready until closer to thirteen or fourteen months. Listen to your baby.

DINNERS

Vegetable Rice

Boil a few handfuls of carrots and chick peas in a pan. Drain off most of the water, mash well and stir in some baby rice powder using water from the vegetables pan rather than milk for added vitamins.

Lentil Stew

Boil a handful of orange lentils and peas, these will need to be puréed when cooked. In a separate pan, heat up a few handfuls of cauliflower and potato. Mash the cauliflower and potato really well when cooked and stir in the lentil and pea purée.

Sweet Broccoli

Boil a sliced sweet potato with a few florets of broccoli in a pan until tender then drain and mash well. Stir in a small amount of tomato paste and vegetable oil.

DESSERTS

Fruit Purée

One of the easiest desserts you can offer your weaning baby. You can purée your own fruit but personally I found this really quite tricky and time consuming to do so instead I would buy four-packs of puréed fruit from the baby aisle of my local supermarket. Cow and Gate offer four packs for 1.49 which is a matter of pence more expensive than doing it yourself. They don't add any rubbish and the consistency is always smooth. Fruit alone is usually a bit sweet for baby so add a few spoonfuls of baby rice powder before serving; this will add starch and energy to the dessert too which is important for babies and toddlers. You'll find you don't need a whole carton to begin with but they'll keep in the fridge for 48hrs once opened. They come in a wide variety of flavours; see www.cowandgate.co.uk for their ranges.

Alpro Soya Desserts

Another easy option but be aware that a very early introduction to soya produce can cause allergies in some babies. I used these from 8 months old without problems myself. They come in a choice of four flavours: caramel, vanilla, chocolate or forest fruits and are completely smooth. When baby is young, he needs a lot of concentrated energy so be aware that these are low in fat. Adding baby rice powder helps to increase the energy levels.

Rice Pudding.

You can quickly and easily make up a little baby rice with some breast or formula milk in the microwave. You shouldn't really add sugar to a young baby's food but it's fine to add a blob of fruit purée or some vegan jam. This is a good high-energy dessert for a weaning baby.

BREAKFASTS

Weetabix

Weetabix was my baby's breakfast of choice. I used to mash up two biscuits (he was a gannet) with 7oz of Nutramigen every morning for him and he yummed it up. It didn't need anything added to it and was a great way to start the day for him.

Porridge

Great for baby's and adults alike although be aware that thick porridge oats will be far to chewy for a young baby. Much better are the instant hot oat cereals but check the packaging carefully to ensure it's suitable for vegans. It's best to feed the porridge as it comes made up with a little milk but if baby doesn't like it you can add a small amount of brown sugar, cinnamon powder or fruit purée to sweeten it.

IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT FIRST MEALS

Whilst you're probably eager to try out all kinds of fun recipes, try your best to be patient. Baby needs time to not only learn how to manoeuvre his tongue and chew food but also get used to the smells, flavours and textures. You might have to introduce a new food ten times before baby accepts it too. When you feed your vegan baby his dinner, it's important you think about offering him a beaker of diluted fresh orange juice instead of milk. There's absolutely no need to buy the special baby juices but you can if you like. Fresh fruit juice keeps for five days and because I don't drink it myself, I bought the lunch box sized cartons for my baby (and still do). As an example, I was diluting juice to water 1:10 at 6m, 1:6 at 9m and 1:4 from a year onwards. The vitamin C in the juice will help the iron in your baby's food to be absorbed which is extremely important in vegan babies and children.

Please don't put fruit juice in a baby bottle no matter how dilute it is as it will damage your baby's teeth. Tommee Tippee cups are suitable from 4m+ and my baby soon found he was able to drink from them without assistance at seven months old. I weaned him off bottles completely by eight months old and it's easier to take away bottles and dummies at eight months than it is at a year! It took a day of tantrums but after just one day of hell he had accepted that he wasn't getting a bottle any more. He didn't care about the dummies as he'd never liked them anyway. Milk in a cup is much kinder to the teeth than in a bottle and this is especially important if you're feeding a sweet milk like soya formula. A young relative of mine was allowed juice in a bottle until after the age of two as well as far too many sweets and eventually had all but six of her milk teeth pulled in theatre at the age of four. Seriously.

FINGER FOODS
(7m+)

Ahh, now this is the fun part! My son was in his absolute element at discovering he could feed himself and would have happily sat and rammed diddy sandwiches down his throat all day at seven months old had I of let him. You should be looking to introduce finger foods at around seven or eight months of age. Food needs to be soft as your baby will have no or very few teeth at this age. Fortunately, they do have quite hard gums though so it's important to encourage them to chew their food. Which is why finger foods are such an important part of the weaning process.

Sandwiches

Ssshhhh, don't let my baby hear you. Now these are easy to make and easy to fill too but you have to be organised. The best thing you can serve in these is a bean spread or houmous. They're expensive to buy and often contain salt which you don't really want to give this young a baby so my advice is to make your own as described below. When you first offer your baby a sandwich it's easier for them if you remove all the crusts then slice the bread into six "soldiers". You can get butter in the form of a brand called "Pure" which is available as a soya spread, sunflower spread or organic version. As time goes on you'll only need to cut sandwiches into four but don't leave the crusts on until after a year old as they're difficult to chew. Because you're baby won't be eating meat, it's important you choose a protein based filling for their sandwiches.

Bean Spread

Heat up a can of black-eye peas and red kidney beans in a pan with a little vegetable oil. They won't need cooking exactly but they'll be easier to mash when warm. Get your hand blender out and give them a good whirl adding more vegetable oil if the mixture is too thick. You can pop the mixture into little tubs or freezer bags so you don't waste any as it's best kept for three or four days in the fridge before discarding.

Tomato Houmous

My baby's favourite here. Heat up a can of chick peas and stir in some tomato paste and vegetable oil. Blend and store as above.

Crisps

Go nicely with diddy sandwiches. Yes the crisps you and I eat aren't exactly healthy but I'm extremely impressed with the Organix range of corn snacks. Not only are most of their products suitable for vegans but the ingredients are pretty pure, basic and organic too. Suitable from 7 months you can get crunchy carrot sticks or corn rings. Both are suitable for vegans and made from organic ingredients. They even taste quite pleasant! As baby gets older, there are other, smaller corn snacks available in this range.

Rice Cakes

You can get diddy rice cakes from the Organix range in plain, apple or orange flavour. All three are suitable for vegans 7 months and over. Again they contain very few ingredients, all of which are organic. No nasty surprises from Organix thank you! These are nice to offer either with a meal or on their own as a snack. Baby will find them easy to hold and eat too.

Toast

Yep, nice and simple. Toast a bit of bread and smother in your chosen vegan spread. There's no need to look to adding anything else on top and if you cut them into six or eight soldiers baby will find these nice and easy to munch on. Personally I've never bothered removing the crusts from toast but you may wish to do this.

Banana Strips

Unlike apples or pears, bananas are a nice soft and squidgy fruit that is unlikely to present a choking hazard. My advice would be to offer banana in strips rather than slices as it gives baby something to grasp while they're still fine-tuning their motor skills. Bananas are full of all kinds of helpful nutrients and most babies love the taste and the texture. To avoid too much waste, look for the "kids bananas" in your local supermarket that are smaller than normal as bananas can't be frozen and won't keep for long in the fridge once peeled.

IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT FINGER FOODS

The key thing to remember here is that your baby is very young and choking is likely to occur at some point. As long as you're right there beside your baby while they're eating and refrain from offering hard foods like apple or carrot pieces that can only really be eaten if well chewed with teeth, your baby should be just fine. My baby's choked a handful of times and on one occasion even had me panicked but my being there to give him a hearty pat on the back meant no harm came to him.

APPROACHING WEANED STATUS

Once your baby has got to grips with purées, simple meals, mashes and finger foods you can start to have some fun with their meals. Don't forget that no matter how stressful and time consuming weaning can be it's all for a good cause and try to remember that it won't be too long before baby's sat at the table digging into your sumptuous vegge bolognaise with the rest of the family. Around ten months of age is a good time to start letting baby have some fun with his meals, maybe offer him a spoon so he can have a go while you feed him? Unfortunately all babies will at some point stick their hand in their dinner but whilst you shriek at the thought of rice pudding over your carpets try to remember that for baby it is an interesting and necessary part of weaning. Also remember that this is what splash mats and cover-all bibs are for. A lot of babies are unable to feed themselves until eighteen months old but giving my son a spoon at nine months old meant he had mastered the art by thirteen months. This is very ahead so don't automatically expect the same from your baby - they're all different. Heck my son didn't sit himself up till nearly a year old!

You're looking to approach the final stage of weaning at around 9-11mths old. You should no longer be puréeing meals but mashing them up and doing so less and less the older your baby gets. When baby reaches a year old he should be able to eat pieces of food like potato cubes or vegge mince like the rest of the family do. The only difference is the size of the pieces but that's natural considering his mouth is a lot smaller than yours! The following recipes are designed for 12m+ but you can start to introduce some of them mashed up or finely chopped from 9m onwards. Most of my recipes are suitable for home freezing as I tend to cook up my son's meals in batches and place them in freezer bags. It makes dinner time so convenient! Whilst I could eat the same foods he does, I don't because I'm a fussy vegetarian who likes her cheese ;o)

DINNERS

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Boil a few tablespoons of finely broken spaghetti or small pasta shapes along with two or three florets of broccoli. When tender, remove from the heat. Cut off the broccoli stalks and discard them as they're difficult to chew then stir in the broccoli heads well. Drain and leave to stand. In a small pan, heat up a few tablespoons of vegge mince with some vegetable oil and stir in some tomato paste. Vegge mince needs to be defrosted rather than cooked. When ready, mix the pasta and mince together and you're ready to serve. This recipe will make 2 - 6 servings depending on age and appetite and can be frozen.

Mild Chilli Con Carne

Heat up two tablespoons of white rice and cook until tender, stirring regularly to avoid the rice sticking to the pan. In a separate small pan, heat up three tablespoons of vegge mince with vegetable oil and add a tablespoon of kidney beans and one of runnerbeans. You'll need to cut some of the runner beans up while you cook them if they're too long (just use a fork and scissors over the pan). Add a quarter of a finely chopped onion, stir in a teaspoon of tomato paste and add a pinch of cumin for flavour. You can serve the mixture on the rice or mixed in with it - it doesn't really matter. For a family meal, remove baby's portion then add hotter spices to the rest of the family's food. This recipe will make 2 - 6 servings depending on age and appetite and can be frozen.

Lentil Stew

Finely cube a small potato and place in a pan with some water. Add a finely chopped carrot, a tablespoon of red kidney beans and a tablespoon of peas. Bring to the boil and crumble in a small amount of vegetable stock for flavour. Mind you don't add too much as stock cubes can be high in salt. Drain off most of the water before you serve but leave a little for flavour. This recipe will make 2 - 4 servings depending on age and appetite and can be frozen.

Bungalow Pie (it's my recipe and I'll call it what I like)

Boil two peeled and chopped potatoes in a pan and leave to cook. In another pan, place six to eight tablespoons of vegge mince along with a tablespoon or two each of peas and chopped carrots. Bring to the boil and add a teaspoon of finely chopped onion and a small amount of vegetable stock.

When the potato is cooked, remove it from the hob and drain well. Mash it well with a fork and add a tablespoon of spread to make a smooth mixture.

When the vegetables are half but not completely cooked, remove the mixture from the hob and drain off the excess water leaving just enough to cover the bottom quarter of your mixture. Turn it into a casserole dish and spread the potato on top. Place it in the oven on a low heat until the potato is browned on top. This should take around ten to twenty minutes so keep an eye out. The vegetables should have completely softened by the time to potato has browned. Serves 4 - 10 depending on age and appetite and can be frozen.

Potato Cakes

Boil a peeled and sliced potato along with a tablespoon of sweetcorn and chick peas. Remove from the heat when tender and drain then mash well. Spoon the mixture into handfuls when cool enough and pack tightly into "cakes" before coating with a little oil and plain flour. Fry in a very hot pan for a few minutes on either side so the potato goes brown on the top and bottom. As long as you pack the mixture tightly and don't try to turn it too soon the cakes will not come apart. Can be served on their own or with a vegetable on the side. Serves 1 - 3 depending on age and appetite, probably could be frozen but I've never tried!

Vegetable Curry

Peel and cube two potatoes. Place two thirds of the potato in a pan and add a tablespoon of each: runner beans, cauliflower and peas. In a separate pan, place the remaining potato and half a tablespoon of chopped onion. Boil until tender, drain off most of the water and return to the heat. Next add a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of garam masala powder and a pinch of curry powder then mash the contents of the pan into a smooth paste.

When the potato and vegetables are cooked, remove them from the heat and serve them drenched in the curry sauce. You may want to serve both on a bed of rice. Serves 2 - 6 depending on age and appetite and can be frozen.

DESSERTS

Fruit Purée

There's no reason to stop serving fruit purée with rice just yet but as baby gets beyond a year he will appreciate having something to chew on so add some pieces of banana or a similar soft fruit.

Alpro Soya Desserts

As long as baby has had a decent meal with a good fat and calorie content then these make a great dessert. They might be a bit low in fat for babies but they're full of all kinds of goodness and my son loves all four flavours.

Sponge Cake

As I've said before, I used egg in my son's sponge cake but you won't want to do this if you're vegan. Fear not though because those wonderful people at the vegan society have come up with a whole range of recipes for delicious vegan cakes! Make sure you opt for a plain version where possible and try to avoid too many fancy sugary extras. A nice bit of plain sponge is a lovely dessert for your baby but you don't want him to fall into the sugar trap. Check out www.vegansociety.com/html/food/recipes/cakes.php for those recipes and get baking. Don't forget most sponges can be frozen so you can whip one up once a month like I do and put it into freezer bags. I keep a week's worth in an air-tight tub.

Mashed Banana

Mash up a small banana for dessert and stir in some soya cream or vanilla custard. As baby gets older you can offer small chopped pieces instead of a mash.

Fruit Salad

A lot of fruits are too hard for babies but some are great and what you can't give in pieces you can purée to go on top. For a yummy fruit salad finely chop some banana, honey dew melon and white seedless grapes then drench in a cream substitute or soya custard. Baby needs to have something more than the fruit on it's own as a high-fat diet is important at this age. Just to be wicked, you can melt a little vegan chocolate and drizzle on top instead of custard or cream.

LUNCHES and TEAS

Sandwiches

Sandwiches are best served with the houmous or bean spreads described above as it's important you use a protein based filling for your vegan baby. You can always think up new ways to vary the taste by including tomato paste, garlic or herbs and spices. I tend to serve my son sandwiches with a few corn snacks or banana slices followed by a biscuit and box of raisins or a slice of sponge cake.

Stuffed Pittas

Heat up a little vegge mince in a pan with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil and add some tomato paste and peas. It takes about four minutes and goes nicely in either a pitta bread or a roll. Be prepared for some mess but baby will love it!

Tinned Pasta

If you're short for time, you can always heat up a tin of kiddy pasta shapes with some tinned sweetcorn and chick peas. It's not an ideal meal but it contains carbs, fat and protein and will do just fine every now and again if you run out of supplies or have had a long day. I keep a few tins of Thomas the Tank Engine pasta shapes in tomato sauce in my cupboard. Be careful to check the labels before buying - only a few types are vegan friendly.

Spicy Veggie Pasties

Boil two finely chopped potatoes along with a tablespoon each of vegge mince, carrots, orange lentils, cauliflower and peas. Add a little stock along with a bit of garam masala powder and a teaspoon of finely chopped onion. When the mixture has cooled, spoon it out onto either shop-bought or home made shortcrust pastry that's been cut into small triangles. You want the pasties to be big enough to hold about a teaspoon of mixture but small enough to be easy for your baby to hold and eat. Press the edges of the pasty down firmly and glaze with some soya milk. Prick the pasties with a fork and bake on a moderately high temperature for fifteen to twenty minutes until brown. These pasties can be frozen and the above recipe makes loads. Ideal for parties too!

SNACKS and TREATS

All the bits that were suitable as first finger foods are still suitable now. Banana slices, rice cakes, strips of toast and the corn snacks are available from 12m plus in a wider variety of flavours. On top of the above mentioned, you can also offer:

Cereal bars

Yep, those people at Organix have done it again. They offer a wide variety of yummy cereal bars that are free from rubbish and great for vegans. They're a great concentrated source of energy too with around 110kcals per bar. They come in a variety of flavours - check the aforementioned Organix website for details. You can buy them in most supermarkets.

Raisins

It doesn't matter what brand you buy but Organix offer multi-packs of really small boxes in most supermarkets (I don't work for them, honest).

Grapes

I tend to cut seedless grapes in half. They're a bit of a hard fruit but their curved shape makes them less of a choking hazard than say apple pieces and they're nice and small too.

Sweets aren't appropriate at a young age but as baby gets older you can order vegan sweets online from www.veganstore.co.uk You can buy bars of dairy-free chocolate from Tesco in the free-from aisle too. Personally, I intend on introducing sweets as an occasional treat from around 2 to 3yrs of age. In an ideal world we wouldn't give them any sweets but it's already hard enough for my son to sit and watch everyone else eating birthday cake at my local toddler group as it is. I see no need to exclude him any more than is necessary and I believe everything is okay in moderation.

MILK ALTERNATIVES

There are so many out there that I can't possible comment on them all. There's soya milk in all kinds of varieties as well rice and coconut even. My personal choice has to be flavoured soya milk by Alpro. Not only does it contain plenty of calcium and vitamins but it is now available with omega 3 and 6 oils which are believed to boost concentration, encourage healthy brain development and ward off all kinds of diseases. Add to it that it comes in chocolate or strawberry flavour and I'll happily offer my son a carton of this every day when he reaches the age of 2 and comes off his Nutramigen Stage II. Obviously it's best if you can continue breastfeeding until the age of 2 or 3 but as I've already discussed; this isn't always possible for a variety of reasons and nothing to get worked up about! As far as choosing a suitable milk after breast or formula goes I would advise discussing this matter with your health visitor, dietician or GP if you're unsure.

IN CLOSING

So that's the gist of what you need to know about weaning a vegan baby. Important things to remember are to include protein and iron where possible and to encourage a healthy relationship with food. Whilst GPs and Health Visitors aren't always helpful, if you get stuck you must keep asking for help until you get it. If one doesn't help you, go to another - this is your baby's health we're talking about. If you're worried your baby isn't getting a properly balanced diet and you can't get the right information then ask for a referal to a paediatric dietician for advice. I have to admit, the dietician I (eventually) saw didn't know a jot about milk intolerant, vegetarian (or vegan) babies however she knew her food groups and nutritional sources off by heart which set me on the right road.

This guide has been written by a vegetarian with an allergenic son so please appreciate that whilst some of the advice and information in this guide may seem totally unnecessary to an educated vegan; amateur vegans or those who don't eat much meat and are raising a milk-intolerant baby will desperately be seeking some of this information and the same can be said for third-time parents versus first-timers. Whilst we automatically assume that veganism is a choice, as you will now appreciate - this isn't always the case. Although it has to be said that if I could tolerate soya milk (yuk!) I would join the campaign to stamp out animal products altogether in a flash. Veganism is a worthy cause and unlike some ignorant meat-eaters out there I whole-heartedly believe you can raise a healthy and happy child without incorporating any animal products into their diet. Just take a look at the pictures of my son for proof.

INFORMATION and RESOURCES

www.veganstore.co.uk
www.organix.co.uk
www.vegansociety.com


www.vegetarian.org.uk/guides/mother.html
www.milkfree.org.uk
www.eatwel l .gov.uk/agesandstages/baby/weaning  

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