Mom with twin babies is introducing solid foods into their vegetarian diet. She is looking for advice on where to find baby food recipes and baby food mills.

Question for Savvy Vegetarian:

Hello, I have a set of six month old twin babies and have just started introducing solid foods.

They have been on soy milk formula and breast milk to date and I would like to raise them on a vegetarian diet.

Do you have any advice, articles, recipes, or good web sites I can check out? It seems like there is mostly junk out there which tells you to still give them dairy. I would appreciate it! – J.K.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Congratulations on becoming the mother of twins! Double the joy – and double the work. Hope you’re managing to get some sleep!

It boggles my mind that medical people still tell Moms to give their babies dairy milk, and I also get pretty exercised about the low level of support for breastfeeding! But that’s a whole ‘nother topic!

As far as baby food recipes go, Homemade Baby Food Recipes has some good ones, and they also sell baby food mills. Those are Mom’s best friend, because then your babies can eat what you eat. For older babies, just mash things up with a fork, or give them finger foods.

Generally, bland food, non-acidic, is best for babies – you could start them off with potato, sweet potato or butternut squash, for example. Avocado or banana is usually a hit, or cream of rice cereal with breast milk or non-dairy milk.

Babies are pretty decided in what they like to eat, actually. I recommend Cathe Olson’s website, Simply Natural Books, about feeding your vegetarian kids. She has a baby food recipe book, and there are two of her articles in the list below.

I also highly recommend the vegetarian nutrition bibles, ‘Becoming Vegan’, or ‘Becoming Vegetarian’, by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis. They cover the topic of child vegetarian nutrition pretty thoroughly. As an intro to vegetarian nutrition, download the Savvy Vegetarian nutrition report.

Savvy Veg Articles and advice, related to your question:

How to Get Enough Protein in Your Vegetarian Diet
Vegetarian Protein Sample Menus
Feeding a Lactose Intolerant Child
Eight Ways to Get Your Family to Eat Vegetables
Feeding Your Independent Toddler
Going Veg With a 4 Year Old

All the best, Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

Dear Savvy Vegetarian,

I have been a pesco/ovo-vegetarian for several years. I had my first child  last summer, who is a healthy, thriving nine-month-old now.  It is my  intent to raise her as a pesco/lacto/ovo-vegetarian.

However,  at her nine-month check up, my pediatrician said that she needed to eat meat now, and that there was no exception. He even said she wouldn’t be getting complete nourishment without the complete proteins that were integral to her development right now.  He said that she can eat fish after age one,  but between now and then, she needed to be getting some meat in her diet.

but I would never do anything to impede her development.
I have been researching complete  proteins, and combining her foods to try and ensure she is getting  complete proteins in every meal.  Can you please let me know if there is a way around feeding her meat, if her health really will be impacted if I don’t feed her meat, and if you have any advice, etc.

Thank you SO much! This is an issue of GREAT concern for me as a new-ish mommy. – R. S.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Hi, R. S.! I’m not sure I understand why your pediatrician says you shouldn’t give your baby fish until after age 1 yr, but that you should give her meat at 9 months! Is he concerned about mercury in fish? Or does he just think that only meat has complete protein? Iron could also be a concern, as there’s little iron in breastmilk.

Maybe he isn’t aware that eating meat isn’t the only way for infants to get complete protein, besides breast milk. If you’ve breastfed your baby, and are planning to continue past 1 year, that’s one good source of protein, plus all the other nutrients that only breastmilk provides. Vit. B12 is a concern, plus Vit. D, iron, and fats, for vegetarian children.

Your pediatrician also may not know that, according to the most recent research, it isn’t considered necessary for vegetarians to combine foods to get complete protein at every meal. Amino acids are stored in the body, and your body will mix and match over the course of a day to make complete proteins. That may also apply to babies.

My own 3 children were raised mostly vegetarian. My daughter and many other young women I know have raised healthy children as vegetarians – so I know it can be done pretty easily.  One of my daughters is vegan, and her two children are vegan. They’re healthy kids. But she had to do a bunch of research on vegetarian nutrition and give it to her doctor before he stopped insisting that her baby had to eat meat.

This is just my personal feeling, based on my own experience, but it seems awkward to offer your baby meat if it’s not something that you ever eat yourself. It makes more sense to introduce her to the diet you intend to feed her for the long term. Of course you should make sure that it meets all of her nutritional needs.

Please understand that I’m not a dietitian, nutritionist or any kind of medical professional, so I can’t give you specific dietary recommendations for your baby that go against your pediatrician’s advice.

However, when it comes down to it, you’re the one who is responsible for your baby’s health and well being. It’s a big responsibility, and not one that you can just hand over to a doctor who doesn’t know you or your baby very well, doesn’t know much about nutrition – nothing about vegetarian nutrition, and doesn’t respect your lifestyle choices.

There are some doctors out there who are more knowledgeable and open to different dietary options. And other health professionals like naturopaths or dietitians who could be more helpful to you in making decisions about what to feed your baby.

I highly recommend the vegetarian nutrition bible, ‘Becoming Vegetarian’, by Melina and Davis – they are highly qualified and experienced RDs, specializing in vegetarian and vegan nutrition. Their book has an excellent section on nutrition for vegetarian (and vegan) babies and toddlers, that I think you’d find extremely helpful.

There’s also the book, ‘Simple Natural Baby Food’ by Cathe Olson, which is a very good baby food recipe book.

Medical Disclaimer: Any changes that you make to your diet, and the results of those changes, are your decision and responsibility. Savvy Vegetarian and its employees do not claim to be health care professionals, dietitians, or nutritionists. We do not treat, or recommend treatment, for any illness or health condition.