However you decide to raise your child, chances are that someone, at some stage, will feel the need to criticise your choices. And there are few issues more inflammatory than what you decide to feed your child – people have opinions on everything from breast milk versus formula to whether or not organic is worth it, and how much sugar you should be giving them (if any). Meat is another thorny issue. Despite the growing prevalence of vegetarianism and veganism in the UK, many parents raising their children meat-free will be used to 'warnings' that their kids will be malnourished.
However, research shows that children raised on vegetarian diets grow and develop at the same rate as carnivores, and generally receive a comparable amount of protein, energy and other key nutrients. The NHS advises parents to ensure their child gets sufficient nutrients – particularly protein, iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids – by giving them plenty of fortified foods, dairy, eggs, whole grains, leafy greens, and beans and lentils.
Refinery29 UK asked three women raising vegetarian children how they're doing it.
Kelly Bradford, 44, is a journalist and broadcaster who has been vegetarian since she was 14. She is raising her son, William, vegetarian.
I breastfed William until he was two and a half, and I didn't introduce solids until he was a year old. By this point he had a lot of teeth and so we bypassed the puree stage, and he just ate small portions of what I was having, which was vegetarian food – pasta bakes, macaroni cheese, vegetable pie and lots of side vegetables. I didn't feed him processed veggie food, such as sausages, Quorn pieces until he was older. I didn't want to introduce meat or fish into his diet because it wasn't in mine, and I felt it was a healthier option for him; I also didn't want to prepare it. I also felt strongly he didn't need it.
Until he was six, William's father also lived with us. He wasn't veggie but ate mainly veggie at home. He was fully supportive of William's veggie diet, and continues to be when he is staying with him. It's something I would have fought for if he hadn't been – seeing the rubbish other small children ate at the time was enough to convince me my tiny child had the best diet.
The biggest challenge in raising William veggie has been other people. When he was really little I had a lot of criticism from other people who claimed his diet would be lacking in essential vitamins and minerals, and that I was forcing my ideas on to him – and even that I'd make him a social outcast. Now he's older no one bats an eyelid, and now of course, it's also his decision to be veggie. His school actually only serves veggie food and school dinners are compulsory, so all his friends are veggie during school hours.
When he was little it was also hard to get decent kids' veggie food when eating out – all the kids' menus were all nuggets and chips, with only pasta and tomato sauce for him. He'd mostly end up sharing a main with me and with extra sides until he had a big enough appetite for a normal adult main. Raising a veggie child has become much easier over time. Mainly because he's older but of course, there's so much more choice now, although we do like to holiday in the English countryside and find that rural pubs are still very much focussed on vegetable lasagne as the sole veggie option. Parmesan is often sneaked in, too, which isn't veggie.
I hope – and think – William will continue to be veggie, but I'm happy for him to choose. If he does choose to eat meat, I'd prefer he looked for ethically sourced options and doesn't eat processed stuff. To anyone else considering raising their child veggie, I'd say go for it – as long as you don't rely on processed foods, it's the healthiest diet, and it makes kids aware of what they're eating.
Kate Orson, 38, is a writer and parent educator who is raising her 6-year-old daughter vegetarian. She was a vegetarian herself from the age of 13 to 37.
I became vegetarian as I found out about factory farming and thought it was really cruel, and decided to raise my daughter veggie because my husband is too. So far, there haven't been many challenges, although my daughter was once low in iron and we thought that might have been related, so we gave her an iron supplement.
A typical meal for us would be an omelette with potatoes and vegetables. We eat quite a few eggs because they're full of protein and a good source of vitamin B12. My daughter really likes Vietnamese noodle soup which contains tofu for protein, as well as tomato soup with lentils for protein, and tacos and refried beans.
I wouldn't say I've noticed much of a stigma about being vegetarian. Although when I was pregnant my grandmother phoned me up and told me she was having sleepless nights about me having a vegetarian baby. But then I explained to her about all the kinds of protein we eat and she relaxed.
I don't mind whether or not my daughter continues to be veggie as she gets older. I started eating small amounts of meat again recently, as I was getting extreme hunger attacks and meat has solved the problem. I only eat organic. I've come to the conclusion that our bodies are all different, and perhaps at different stages of our lives our bodies need different things. I've never been a militant vegetarian, because I know people who've had serious health challenges and who recovered on the paleo diet, so I stay open-minded.
Caroline Perry, 40, is a writer and documentary producer who gave up meat at age 11 after watching a documentary on factory farming and abattoirs. She is raising her three children vegetarian with her husband, who has been vegetarian since birth.
The decision to raise our children vegetarian wasn't taken lightly. We read a lot of books on raising vegetarian families, and consulted an expert in child nutrition when I was pregnant with our first son. We were reassured by what we learned, and worked hard to ensure that our kids wouldn’t have any nutritional shortfalls in their diet.
We haven’t faced any significant difficulties in doing it. People would take it upon themselves to tell me it wasn’t healthy to be vegetarian during my first pregnancy, and that my baby would be malnourished – he was 9lb 7oz at birth and at age eight is a full head taller than all of his classmates. Their paediatrician believes their diets haven't disadvantaged them. The minor niggles we experience as a family usually occur when we travel – some countries don’t cater well to vegetarian diets, and the kids’ choices in some restaurants consist of burgers, chicken strips and hot dogs. Thankfully, our children are pretty adaptable, so they’ve never gone hungry, even in the most meat-centric of destinations.
Being vegetarian forces you to be a bit more adventurous, I think, as you can’t rely on ‘meat and two veg’ as a fallback. The experience is becoming easier in the sense that veganism, in particular, has finally entered the mainstream – restaurants and supermarkets are catering to a consumer base that was considered very niche until recently.
As they get older, it'll be entirely their decision as to whether or not they continue to be vegetarian, of course. It’s too early to say what my daughter thinks of it all, as she’s only 21 months old, but my sons are both very proud to be vegetarian. They love to cook, and ask a lot of questions about the provenance of their food – I hope that they'll remain conscientious consumers, whichever diet they decide to follow as adults.
Raising vegetarian children is far easier than you think. So many things that kids love, like hummus, peanut butter and baked beans, are loaded with protein, and you can always sneak avocados and veggies into smoothies that even the pickiest eaters will enjoy. Most people don’t even blink when they find out my kids don’t eat meat, and there’s usually a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan choices in supermarkets and restaurants now. There’s never been a better time to try it and see if it works for your family.
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