Avocado!

The vegetarian baby has embarked on this next stage in her life! She had avocado on her 6-month birthday -- you can see the results. She seemed to like it pretty well, but then developed a cold that kept her from enjoying much of anything for about a week. Since the cold ended, though, she's been eating up her twice-daily meals.

Her absolute, hands-down favorite food so far is oatmeal. Because I was concerned about iron, I opted to use a fortified commercial brand instead of making my own. We feed her Earth's Best organic whole-grain oatmeal, and it's a hit!

To date, her foods and opinions on them include (in order of introduction):

-- avocado (liked, then didn't like, now likes)
-- sweet potato (didn't like, now tolerates)
-- [rice cereal] (she has just had some tastes of this at our "baby pre-school" class, she likes it fine)
-- oatmeal (her favorite)
-- unweetened applesauce (also introduced at baby pre-school and I decided to go ahead and let her eat a little every few days -- she loves it)
-- banana (didn't like, now tolerates)
-- peaches (just a taste, at pre-school, she liked them)

And next on the lineup, later today, is butternut squash. So there's some variation from my original plan, but on the whole I'm happy with the schedule so far.

I've been asked why I was skipping rice cereal. In my opinion, there's not much point to it. Rice cereal is usually given as a first food because it has a very low allergy risk. However, it doesn't have much to offer - nutritionally - other than calories and fortified iron. I decided that I wanted to maximize nutrition, and oatmeal offers more vitamins and fiber, as well as the iron, with a similarly low allergy risk.

With the exception of the oatmeal and applesauce, I am making all her food myself. I use the "food-cube" method. I buy the produce -- all organic -- then cook and/or puree it at home. She'll eat a bit fresh that day, and the rest gets frozen in an ice cube tray overnight. Then I pop the cubes out and store them in freezer bags. So far I've made two avocados, three sweet potatoes, and 2 bananas . . . and I have enough of all these foods to last another 10-15 days. It's much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than buying all those little jars! Plus it's very satisfying.

Introductions

I've been vegetarian since the age of 18. At the time, it seemed like a solid way to do some good in the world. As I went through college and early adulthood, I learned more about factory farming, environmental degradation, animal welfare, health, and nutrition, and felt even happier about my decision. At a certain point, I realized that I wouldn't be able to feed meat to my own children. My husband agreed that we could raise them vegetarian, at least until they are old enough to make their own decisions about such things.
As we moved closer to starting our family, and the topic of vegetarian children came up on occasion with family and friends, I started hearing the same questions over and over. "How will you be sure they get enough protein?" "What will you do if they want to eat meat?" "Don't you think you should allow them to make their own choices?" The questions bugged me, just as I am sure that critical questions bug most parents (or future parents).
I started trying to find information about vegetarian families on the internet, and discovered that it's not so easy. What I was looking for was true stories of real people -- not how-to manuals or heated debates. So, the idea for this blog was born. Long before I became pregnant, I decided I would want to share the experiences of vegetarian motherhood with any others who are interested. I hope this site is helpful for anyone who is looking for information about raising a vegetarian family.