Is it Healthy to Raise a Vegetarian Baby? with Dr. Bob Sears

http://www.parentearth.com

Are you a vegetarian? Are you planning to raise your baby as a vegetarian too? Sometimes parents are pummeled with criticism and questions like "Are you sure that's a good idea?" or "How will the baby get enough protein?" and "Have you checked with your doctor?"

Here are some clear answers from the noted baby book author and pediatrician, Dr. Bob Sears. Watch the video yourself and share it with confused in-laws, babysitters, and friends to calm nerves and deflect any concern.

This video shows an actual check-up -- the patient is a healthy and adorable vegetarian baby, accompanied by his mom.

See more videos on food for families, find recipes, and have fun at http://www.parentearth.com

Dr. Bob Sear's advice:

• It can be very healthy to raise a vegetarian baby
• Some vegetarian babies don't get enough B12, so once your baby reaches one year of age, Dr. Sears recommends a multi-vitamin with B12
• It is easy to get vegetable proteins into a child's diet -- lentils, beans, yogurt, cheese, and egg yolks. After baby is one year old nut butters are another good choice (**but wait til after age two to introduce peanut butter**)
• There is some controversy over soy -- right now Dr. Sears recommends that parents limit soy to one serving per day
• Listen to your baby and give them food when they seem interested
• Try to feed your baby organic whenever you can


This video was made by Parent Earth with sponsorship from Happy Baby http://www.happybabyfood.com/ and Stonyfield Farms http://stonyfieldfarms.com/. Care2 http://www.care2.com is a media partner. Stay tuned: there are five more videos in this series about babies, kids and healthy eating featuring Dr. Bob Sears.

Sign up for our newsletter to find out when the next video is up: http://www.parentearth.com/newsletter/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Parent Earth
• Dr. Sears
• Dr. Bob Sears
• Happy Baby
• Stonyfield Farms
• vegetarian
• veggie
• baby
• baby food
• pediatrician
• doctor's visit
• children
• baby health

[codybear4you]

@TheSeaMyst DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE CALLING HIM THAT.

[squarekolt]

@luispihormiguero ah no i just meant eggs and milk as i said, as well as of course other dairy products like cheese :) small clarification mistake; hope you don't mind :)

[1imesub]

It's actually healthier to raise a baby without any dairy or meat. The only problem I have with his advice, is that he says processed soy is ok for a baby. I wouldn't recommend feeding a baby any processed foods, including tofu and soy milk. All babies should be breast fed, without exception. As they come off the breast milk, feed them a plentiful diet of fresh fruits, maybe some steamed potatoes, some nut butters, some vegetables and rice. Keep it whole foods based organic, nothing processed.

[squarekolt]

there is no problem with B12 unless you have been VEGAN your whole life. Vegetarians can get B12 from eggs, milk, and other animal products.

[SaganAppreciationSoc]

Anybody who thinks vegetarians have issues with protein or B12 needs to hit the scientific literature. I'd like to see the data that back up your suggestion that vegetarian babies need vitamins, etc.

I am agog that anybody still entertains the nonsense that phyto-estrogens are problematic, especially while having no problem with dairy, which is loaded with real mammalian estrogens.

[TheSeaMyst]

doctor death!