At the age of 34 my biological clock started ringing. LOUD. It’s such a cliché and I never thought it would happen to me, yet all of a sudden having a baby was forefront in my mind. My husband and I discussed how we would raise our child and I expressed my wish to raise our baby as a vegan. For me this seemed like such a natural decision to make, since I was a vegan adult it shouldn’t be too difficult raise a child with the same lifestyle choices.

Cue the internet research. Was a vegan lifestyle healthy for a baby? Would being vegan make him stand out from his peers? What would I do if he chose not to be vegan when he was older? How would my husband (who is an omnivore) deal with the difficult “why does Daddy eat animals” questions? What happens when his friends want to go to the zoo?

Finding answers to the health questions was fairly easy. My family doctor is a long time vegetarian and former vegan and is fully supportive of our decision to omit animal products from baby’s diet. I have been following a strictly plant based diet for five years and have read research on what plants have the best sources of calcium, how to get the elusive complex protein and I’ve been consuming all the delicious meat alternatives in the grocery stores. There are plenty of resources out there, although admittedly sometimes contradictory, on how to follow a healthy plant based diet.

Right now feeding him is pretty easy, he has just started solids and devours fruit, cereal and some veggies with gusto. Apparently he is not a big fan of tofu…so far. From what I’ve seen pretty much all babies start off vegetarian which makes him a normal part of his peer group. What happens when he gets older?

The toughest part of raising a vegan child is finding information on how a child can integrate socially while following this lifestyle. Being vegan is a lifestyle not just a diet, it’s about doing the least harm possible to others whether human or animal. When I was pregnant and couldn’t sleep I’d search the internet for blogs posts, books anything that could give me answers to these tough questions. What did I find? Not much. So I stopped looking and started listening instead.

I listen to other pregnant moms in prenatal classes talking about how they are vegetarian. I listen to friends who are restaurant owners that are expanding their menus to add vegan, gluten free, dairy free foods because those dishes are in demand. I watched Blackfish and heard the stories on the cruel practices of Sea World and listened to the news as people started petitioning and boycotting the amusement park. I rejoiced when Panago Pizza started carrying the vegan cheese substitute Daiya, knowing that my child would now be able to take part in pizza parties. I joined Vancouver Vegan Family Network and shared stories with the different families and their beautiful totally normal vegan kids.

As he gets older I look forward to my son developing his critical thinking skills and questioning why I do things a certain way. If at some point he decides to eat meat it will be something I have to come to terms with. I fully appreciate that he is his own person and is entitled to make decisions regarding his life. He’ll have to understand that we don’t eat meat in our house (unless Daddy barbecues it outside) and that it’s something he’s more likely to have when he goes out for meals. Until then I’ll continue making him delicious plant based food, we’ll continue protesting animals in captivity and I’ll keep telling people that yes, feeding my baby my own breast milk is actually an acceptable part of our vegan lifestyle.

Here are some resources I found helpful:

How it all Vegan by Sarah Kramer & Tanya Barnard

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Life

Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide by Sayward Rebhal

 

Melissa Maltais is a proud vegan and New Westminster mom and is the market manager for the Royal City Farmers Market.