meat or meatless?

jersangl · March 2010

When do you start meat? Also, what if you want to raise your baby to be vegetarian. How does that work? What do you feed instead?

chelsearenee · March 2010

DH and I are currently are on a mostly vegetarian diet. We eat a lot of stir fried tofu, veggie burgers, and fake chickn patties. I imagine if I were to raise my child vegetarian they would eat much of the same. Of course it would require much more care and research. There are 3 categories of protein including beans and grains and such. You have to make sure they get enough of the different kinds.

jersangl · March 2010

we are trying to become vegetarians, we arent so strick on it though. We eat fish still, and have meat if family or friends make it or go out to eat ever. I feel like I need to do more research on raising baby vegetarian before making any choices

mommy411 · March 2010

I think raising your chid vegetarian is kind of selfish. If you choose to eat this way is one thing but your kid needs all the protien and vitamins in a meat diet.

I think it should be the childs choice.

Geek_Girl · March 2010

pigtails1031:
I think raising your chid vegetarian is kind of selfish. If you choose to eat this way is one thing but your kid needs all the protien and vitamins in a meat diet.

I think it should be the child choice.

Ditto.

Plus, I'd be so paranoid LO wasn't getting the right balance of nutrients. That can actually cause sickness and I wouldn't want to take the chance.

jersangl · March 2010

well that is why I would want to do research because I wouldnt want to harm our baby in any way. But, also I feel that meat can be harmful to a child who has no idea with all the antibiotics and chemicals in the meat today. That is the reason we have stopped eating it. So I may look into having organic meat instead

mommy411 · March 2010

jersangl:
well that is why I would want to do research because I wouldnt want to harm our baby in any way. But, also I feel that meat can be harmful to a child who has no idea with all the antibiotics and chemicals in the meat today. That is the reason we have stopped eating it. So I may look into having organic meat instead

I always use organic meat and antibiotic free

jersangl · March 2010

I saw in the stores there is choice of organic meat. But as she starts eating real meat that we eat, I am worried. No idea where to find organic meat. It's defiantly not in any regular food stores around here.

starlingrose · March 2010

There is are a few great organic meat markets within a 20min radius of us. They have weekly sales that we take advantage of. We are also starting to decrease the amount of meat we eat and I am hoping for ds's diet to rely mainful on veg and other sources of protein with a small amount of meat. I think the comment about raising children vegetarian being selfish sounds ignorant. Really there are so many other ways to get protien and the child would not suffer. There are so many disgusting things put into our meat these days, its definetly something Im looking into before I offer any meat to ds.

Mama Jan · March 2010

jersangl:
I saw in the stores there is choice of organic meat. But as she starts eating real meat that we eat, I am worried. No idea where to find organic meat. It's defiantly not in any regular food stores around here.

Do you have a Whole Foods around you? They carry organic meat.

I'm not sure why people think raising baby vegetarian is selfish? I see it as any other way you raise your child - if you choose not to feed your child sweets, is that selfish too?

just make sure you do your research and talk to your pedi to make sure your child is getting the right nutrients. Beans/lentils/legumes are a great substitution and baby can start eating those around 8-10mo. We intro meat when they are comfortable with finger foods (the idea of pureed meat makes me gag), around 10mo.

Kellyinpink · March 2010

Meat Good! DH and I eat lots of meat, almost at every meal. I introduced DS to meat at 6mo and he LOVES it. All of it! We have a carnivore on our hands. He eats it at least once every other day.

WyoGal · March 2010

If you are going to pursue it, I think you need to look beyond fake meats and tofu and really organize your diet around lots of varieties of beans and grains to make up for the missing proteins and vitamins in addition to a wide variety of fruits vegetables. It definitely can be done in a very healthy way for you and LO, but solely subbing tofu or veggie-meats if you will, into an otherwise standard American diet is not the way to go.

I was vegetarian for a few years and eventually realized I was going about it the wrong way. If I had been doing it the right and healthy way I would have no problem raising my child that way.

As a side story, I had a crazy college professor who was vegetarian but allowed his kids to eat meat until they were 10-12yo. At that point they had to be able to slaughter their own chicken if they still wanted to eat meat. I met his son was actually really cool, and ended up a meat eater and was rather proud of the his parents "rule" and that he was not a hypocrite about eating meat.

amber_tynan · March 2010

I was raised a vegetarian and won't do this to my son. It is far too limiting, and vegetarian does not always = healthy. I believe that it should be a child's choice to make whether or not to be a vegetarian when they can understand the full meaning of the reason one becomes a vegetarian.

I've been a vegetarian for 30 years, at this point it isn't a choice for me. I'm sticking with it because it's the only thing I know. I have no idea how to prepare meat, I have no idea what it tastes like, and I was really sick to my stomach the other day when I ate something made with chicken broth. It's extremely limiting and people feel like they need to prepare something different to accommodate me when I am at their home; I don't expect this at all, and I feel bad that they do this.

I do, however, believe in choosing organic meat for my child. I would like to teach him a healthy way of eating that includes meats, grains, protein, vegetables, fruits. . . I'm going to try really, really hard to never give him processed, fast-food meat (or anything else there). That is the meat exception I have.

vegetarian_chica · March 2010

pigtails1031:

I think raising your chid vegetarian is kind of selfish. If you choose to eat this way is one thing but your kid needs all the protien and vitamins in a meat diet.

I think it should be the childs choice.

oh, please. americans eat too much protein. also, you can get all your nutrients from a vegetarian diet.

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