Vegan Momma Monthly: Do Your Kids Eat Their Vegetables?

Welcome to Vegan Momma Monthly! Our newsletter subscribers range from the newly pregnant and/or newly vegan to the new moms trying to convert their families to a plant-based diet.

Rather than give you a month-by-month guide to pregnancy like you can find in so many places, you will find general suggestions for a happy, healthy vegan pregnancy and for the first few years as a new vegan Momma. My goal is to provide encouragement to keep you confident and secure in your role, and support you with a community of like-minded individuals. I hope you enjoy this newsletter!

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In this issue...

Baby Led Weaning for Vegans

The basic premise is that instead of giving purees as baby's first foods, you give whole foods like whole pears, sweet potatoes, and avocados to give them real food to taste and work on chewing. Before long you add in real food that you've made for dinner and let them work on eating it themselves.

Does it sound scary? Intriguing? A little of both?

That's how it was for me. Read all about how I discovered baby led weaning, why I decided to try it out, what freaked me out and how I overcame that, and why I still think this is one of the best early parenting decisions we made for our daughter here.

As you can see, it led to me putting together a list of 60 simple recipes that the whole family loves. You can check out the ebook on Amazon too.

Balanced Food During Pregnancy

Most of the moms I knew made it a priority to eat a healthy, balanced diet during pregnancy. But keeping the recommendations on amounts of nutrients straight can get confusing, especially with pregnancy brain affecting your memory.

As a vegan you might feel like sometimes you have to defend either your protein, calcium, or iron intake. I hope that non-vegans are grilled by their health practitioners as much as we are, but I have a feeling it's not as much of a focus.

I made a chart to help guide you on the most important nutrients and the plant foods that provide those nutrients.

Question: What milk should children drink after breastfeeding?

Question:

My daughter is 9 months old now. I plan to nurse her for at least a year but probably a little longer as she is pretty much obsessed with my breasts :-) . What type(s) of milk is/are best for her? I know that she can get her calcium from other sources. However, non-vegans say that she needs the cow's milk to get the fat. What else can substitute for this?

-Crystal

Answer:

This is an interesting and somewhat contentious topic. Humans are the only animals that continue to drink milk after being weaned, and also the only animals that drink milk from another animal. Our bodies are designed not to need milk after we stop drinking our mother's, and in fact, most people develop a lactose intolerance shortly after being weaned.

So, what should milk should we feed our children? Read my entire response about what milk children should drink after breastfeeding.

Do you have questions about vegan pregnancy and raising vegan children? Join in the discussion on our site by asking and answering questions, as well as commenting on other answers. You can pay it forward by sharing your experiences with expecting and new moms.

Recipe of the Month: Homemade Fortified Almond Milk

A few years ago I started making my own almond milk. It's absolutely delicious- it actually tastes like almonds. And it's really simple, just a matter of soaking the almonds and then blending them with water and straining out the pulp.

I've learned the tricks to making it simple though, and they make a world of difference.

When I started thinking about giving my daughter other drinks besides breastmilk, I realized I can fortify my homemade almond milk so it's just as nutrient packed as any other milk option.

Check out this simple method and recipe for making homemade fortified almond milk.

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Vegan Momma is a natural extension of Vegan Nutritionista, which is a broad site on the topic of vegan nutrition, vegan recipes, animal rights, and general tips on the vegan lifestyle. We have lots of different downloadable vegan ebooks to help guide you on your new vegan diet.