I was reading the Vaccinations thread and there was some talk about Omega 3 fatty acids, fish and mercury, and decided to ask the forum if any of you have raised your kids on a vegetarian/pescatarian diet.
I am a pescatarian, but I eat seafood only around four days a week, and mostly sustainable and/or organic fish and prawns. My kid eats solids and breastmilk. I’m still taking prenatals and omega-3 daily. I find they make my hair and nails unbreakable.
Anyway, I know a couple of Indian kids that were raised as vegetarians and they’re thriving. I’d like to see if any of you are doing the same. The main source of protein currently is black beans, as I’d like to stay away from soy, and have been feeding organic fish (tilapia and orange roughy, if that makes a difference) about once a week. I can’t feed more than that because I’m still unsure if I want to raise 914.1 on seafood or not, what with all the mercury and all, and since I’m slowly going to try to cut out seafood myself.
My monster is thriving on mama juice and vegies. But I do wonder if I’m being cruel and neglectful.
I would love to raise our baby as a vegetarian, and I’m sure she would be perfectly well nourished and healthy.
Unfortunately, I’m the only one in the family who’s a vegetarian (strictly so since three decades past), and because of the practical difficulties and questionable appropriateness of keeping her diet strictly vegetarian (especially when she’s at the in-laws and they’re all eating meat and fish), I’ve decided to let the wife and family feed her moderate amounts of fish and meat (fish if possible rather than meat, and clean organic produce when we buy it ourselves), and let her decide for herself on her diet when she’s old enough to do so.
At 15 months, she’s still feeding primarily on her mum’s milk, and taking small amounts of whatever we’re eating. I’m pleased to say that she doesn’t seem very keen on meat or fish, and her favourite foods include cashew nuts, broccoli, lettuce, fruit and seeds, so I’m hopeful that she’ll be a healthy eater (like her dad) as she gets older.
While my first reaction is of course you are cruel and neglectful because you’re a lib, I rethought my initial response.
My kid at 10.5 months lives on fish, rice, formula and cheerios with the occasional sweet potato thrown in and whatever she can get off of Ah-ma and Ah-gong. She’d doing really well. I wish she got more veggies, but since Ah-ma makes almost all of her meals and I work all the time, well not much choice. She was on mama juice till she was 8 months old.
I really don’t worry about the mercury problem. The pink baby syndrome was a Japanese thing that happened due to pollution in the 60’s I believe. My wife almost had a fit when I fed our brat some shrimp and I would of caught hell had it come out looking like it did when it went in.
As far as fish, my kid eats salmon, those little white fry, and mostly white ocean fish. This caught my eye though:
[quote]organic fish (tilapia and orange roughy[/quote] Tilapia, organic, WTF?!?! I’d suggest you educate yourself on fish farming. Unless they are wild caught, there ain’t nothing organic about them. It’s one fish I won’t eat in Taiwan. Orange Roughy also seems to be a slow growing/maturing fish facing overexploitation.
What’s wrong with soy? Ours doesn’t really get any, but I’d like to know the reasoning behind no soy for you.
Food is something we aren’t worried about in Taiwan. I find it kind of odd saying that too. We are more worried about educational things for her. My wife is a stay at home mom, so that helps a lot, but it is difficult to buy things like English card books. She loves those and has about 7-10 she regularly plays with and are read to her daily.
Where do you live, Okami? Perhaps we should get our little girls together some time. My biggest worry at present is the lack of suitable - ideally mixed-blood and bilingual - playmates for our little one.
I live in Changhua and worry about the same thing you do. I’d actually like my wife to get out more, meet people, and practice her English.
Taipei would of been great for it, but Changhua is more conducive to the lifestyle we want to live. Low bills, stay at home mom, and close to the grandparents.
It is was I used when I started making my own baby food and just kept on using it. She has a bit of an overload of information (arts and crafts in a recipe book) but the recipes are all very healthy and she raised her four kids as vegetarians.
Both my kids are strictly vegetarian till 2 years old (BM and squishy stuff). I was raised vegetarian until I reached China and then made a choice, to eat meats. At home we only eat vegetarian and cook chicken (only) if we are having people over. At restaurants, everything goes. Somehow, I felt (not having read nutrition books) that transitioning from breast milk to meats is just too much for little guts.
We eat a lot of daals (lentils) and beans in curries for protein. I have never eaten sea food and neither has the bulk of North India where there are no seas and we turned out fine. IMO.
the best way to make those little yellow lentils available here are to soak them for 20 mins or saw, sautee some tomatoes or tomato puree add the lentils, salt and turmeric and cook till lentils dissolve and are blended. kids love them, we mix it with rice or dip bread in them but they can even be had as a soup. Home made cottage cheese is also good for the little uns’.
Our first child, now 1 year and 10 months old, has been raised as a vegetarian. He was breastfed for the first year. We do give him dairy products. He loves cheese and his favourite vegetable is broccoli.
He’s doing fine. When my wife was pregnant we used to get lectures from people how we needed to start eating meat during the pregnancy so that the baby will be big and healthy. All the lectures stopped once he was born and could tell people that he weighed over 4.5 kg at birth. Now he’s up to 13.5 kg., very active and healthy.
Our second baby was just born two days ago. (I’ll be posting pictures soon), she was a bit smaller, just over 3.8 kgs. She is also doing well.
I was wondering about the Omega 3 Fatty Acids as well, but our first baby seems to be doing well so maybe he is getting them from somewhere else in our diet. To be honest, I’ve never even heard of these things before
Careful. You’re starting to sound like a liberal![/quote]
they were the next species turned to after the southern ocean stocks of Blue-eyed cod were fished out in the 1990s. Uruguayian, Paraguayian and Panamanian registered fish pirates, and probably Taiwanese crews too involved in that debacle. Pity, as that was a very tasty fish.
orange roughy are indeed as Okami calls it: overexploited and threatened.
but then with so many people pulling fish out of the sea, pretty much all wold fish are at risk of extinction in the mid term. Tilapia are farmed, and farming fish, while arguably the best way to go for the future, is generally not too organic, despite the label on the pack (in most of Asia I would guess. Perhaps that is more controlled in America/Australia/Europe.
Okami - Calm down, buddy. I mistyped. Maybe mama will read up on fish farming later when she’s breastfeeding. What I meant to type was organic fruit and vegies and sustainable seafood. We buy frozen fish filets in big bags at Costco and though they usually SAY wild caught or sustainably farmed or vegetarian-fed or naturally-raised or factory-sealed by the hands of God or whatnot, who knows if it really is. Some fish are better for babies than others anyway. All I care right now is that I’m not feeding the kind of fish I shouldn’t be feeding. All fish are tainted anyway. Save our oceans!
As for not eating soy, I don’t want to get into it too much but everyone has beliefs and I believe there is a correlation between soy and thyroidism. Very minimal soy is ok. Very minimal. There was also an article the other day about men and soy. You can google those if you are interested.
Thanks for you input, divea and Gilgamesh. My little Indian buddies have been raised on an Indian vegie diet and they’ve never asked to try meat even when they see their friends munching on burgers. But their parents also make a lot of heavy, saucy, deep fried foods (they lurve deep fried tofu). Gilgamesh, all these supplements are extras. Your child probably got enough nutrients through food because you fed him a well-balanced diet. It’s probably a good thing you never heard of these things before. Too much info=head hurts.
I got well-intentioned people telling me I should eat meat too. Think of tha bay-bay! I just said thank you but millions of vegetarians have babies and they’re fine. Plus, it’d make me fat.
Ideally, I’d love to raise 914.1 & Co. on a vegie diet. If and when they feel like they want to be cool like the other kids and eat meat too, then fine, they can eat meat, too. But hell if I’m gonna cook it. “Want meat? Cook it yerself, buddy.”*
And hey, what’s wrong with being a lib? Not that I am.
*I kid. I do not advocate really short people using a stove.
[quote=“914”]
Ideally, I’d love to raise 914.1 & Co. on a vegie diet. If and when they feel like they want to be cool like the other kids and eat meat too, then fine, they can eat meat, too. But hell if I’m gonna cook it. [i]“Want meat? Cook it yerself, buddy.”[/quote]
This is exactly what we plan on doing. When our children are a bit older and they want to try meat, we won’t stop them but we won’t be cooking meat in our house. They want meat, go visit grandma or a friend.
Our family eat vegetarian use milk and egg. I raise my boys on vegetarian. I breastfeed them till 2 years, they are 7 and 4 years old now still eat vegetarian. I used to eat meat and fish. Fish is the last thing I give up before become vegetarian. Mercury in fish is one of the reason. I even took the mercury tooth out before I get pregnant.
The source of protein I use are nuts, tofu, beans, egg and lagume. Omega 3 you can get it from flax seed oil and walnuts.
As a meat lover preparing to get flame-roasted, I think it is a bit mean to deprive kids of the wonderful meaty treats that are available. Once they are old enough to start enjoying and experiencing food I think kids should get as many different tastes as possible. Food is one of the biggest joys in life that kids should be encouraged to experience for themselves.
No roast lamb shanks, slow-cooked pork, flame-grilled beefburgers, honey roast hams, fresh-made sausages, tender veal chops… such cruel deprivation!
[quote=“llary”]As a meat lover preparing to get flame-roasted, I think it is a bit mean to deprive kids of the wonderful meaty treats that are available. Once they are old enough to start enjoying and experiencing food I think kids should get as many different tastes as possible. Food is one of the biggest joys in life that kids should be encouraged to experience for themselves.
No roast lamb shanks, slow-cooked pork, flame-grilled beefburgers, honey roast hams, fresh-made sausages, tender veal chops… such cruel deprivation![/quote]
I didn’t eat meat as a child, then ate it for about a decade in my 20s, now don’t again. I see it as recreational food, like cake, not real food. I grew up fine, although I’m pretty short.
I give my boys choice. They can eat meat if they want but I don’t cook meat in our house. We been in restaurant and party that have meat and vegetarian serve. My boys will look at meat and said " this one has dead chicken" “poor chicken”
As a proud, card carrying conservative who genuinely believes America is the greatest nation under God (though I am an athiest who lives in foreign countries), I’d like to say:
raise your kids to eat whatever you feel is right for them. adjust accordingly.
I mistyped. Maybe mama will read up on fish farming later when she’s breastfeeding. What I 
Not that I am.
“poor chicken”