My baby is 5 months old and eager to start eating "real" food. This week I started her on banana and she is coping well, swallowing properly, and even feeds herself with the spoon! I've got a couple of avocados ripening for her to sample next.

Has anyone here raised raw vegan kids? Where do I go after banana and avocado? What kind of texture do you add and when? Can someone tell me this vital information? I don't even know what to ask... I want baby raised as healthy as possible.

Personally, I am not raw vegan - yet. I was raw for 9 months prior to pregnancy, but hubby made me eat cooked because I was losing weight too fast for pregnant. I'm eager to start raw again, but haven't been able to because everytime I do, baby gets green @#$%&! Is this normal or something to worry about? Will the sudden switch to raw affect milk supply? Will the rapid weight loss that accompanies the switch to raw affect milk or baby's digestion?

One good thing to report: Husband was talking to his friends the other day and mentioned that his wife (me) will probably get him eating that "crazy diet, too." And he's OK with it!! Score one for family health!

Eager to eat raw again!!

I can only respond to your comment about rapid weight loss that accompanies the switch to raw. Rapid weight loss is not necessary (nor do I think it would be healthy) when you switch to raw -- you just need to eat enough, and if you want to loose, then monitor your weight loss and make sure you eat enough to avoid loosing too much too fast.

I think fresh young coconut juice & pulp blended together would be good. But I would caution that coconuts are like any live food in that they can go bad. It would be a good idea to taste test the drink before giving it to the baby. The blend should taste mildly sweet and delicious and should have no vinegar like taste.

Waaaaaaaaa!
Bravo to you for bringing up baby raw!

hiddenfang,

I am mostly "raw" and have an 8 month infant. Eating more raw does not affect my milk supply, and in fact, eating raw (or at least cooked vegan) affects my baby in a good way. If I slip and have dairy or other things, he gets real cranky and he will start getting little pimples here and there. When vegan, his skin is very smooth and beautiful. When eating mostly raw foods, my milk seems to relate even better to his stomach (jugding by fussiness).

I have given him raw bananas,raw apples blended with enough water to make my blender go (|I don't have a high speed blender YET, but I do have an Oster Beehive blender.),canteloupe blended with a little water, and apples and pears (the pear was real ripe and I used a food processor to get it mostly pureed then added to blender and I didn't need extra water). I have also shared some green smoothie which is made with raw OJ, orange, pineapple, and Kale (or other greens).

I just watch him for reactions...sometimes new foods seem to make him fussy a little (like the green smoothie). I also make a point to sample every food I give him...my theory is if it has bad bacteria in it, I will develop antibodies to it and pass those antibodies through my breastmilk. I do give him cooked organic baby food too, because of convenience. Cooked baby food seems to make him fussier than the raw. Each day, I only feed one serving of whatever I am giving him and the rest is breastmilk. He is growing just fine! Very healthy!

As for weight loss...are you overweight? If so, some weight loss is good. I have been steadly losing weight. I was 155 before pregnancy, 160 after birth, and 122 now. (I am 5'2) I still need to lose some more to look healthy, though I've alrady come most of the way. So, if you are overweight, it means your body has lots of stored toxins in your fat, that it will be trying to get rid of. I have heard those toxins pass in your breastmilk, but the only bad effects I've seen in my baby are when I eat bad, not good (regardless if I am losing weight or not). What do you mean by rapid weight loss--how much per week were you losing?

Let me know if you have any other questions. We are in similar situations!

PS. I have to ask, what is the meaning of your screenname?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2009 02:24AM by musicbebe.

Also, Shazzie has a book called "Evie's Kitchen." It's all about how she raised her raw vegan daughter, plus recipes. I got it and I am glad I have it. She goes into nutritional needs for raw babies and kids too. She has some very well researched stuff in that category.

I will mention, that there are numerous shots of Shazzie's breasts in the book (in relation to her breastfeeding), just in case you have young boys at home (I do, so I like a heads up about those sorts of things!) The photos are meant to be "natural" and beautiful, and they are if you like that sort of thing, but it caught me off guard and they were on the gratuitous side in my opinion--I'd rather not see so much boob.

Also, the measurements are in grams and milliliters, so you will need a simple scale (I got this one: [www.target.com] at Target for 14 bucks or so--not the greatest, but decent and my reipes turned out great). It's not as hard as I thought to do recipes that way! And there are some great ones in there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2009 02:25AM by musicbebe.

Thanks for all the ideas!!! It's good to know that I am not the first to go here with my kids. I love the idea of blending fruit and giving baby green smoothies. I will endeavour to be more creative with the baby food. Soft pears next!

As for losing weight rapidly: yes, I am overweight. Quite a bit. Husband made me eat cooked while pregnant and I'm just getting back into raw now. Last time I ate raw for a week I lost 11 pounds. I think you'll agree that this is a little too quick.

Musicbebe: my screenname is from a time long, long ago when I played LARP. It refers to vampires.

And breakfast this morning included an early morning jaunt into the yard to pick some weeds (amaranth) and raspberries to make green smoothie (with a little help from a banana). Tomorrow I'll try different weeds...I have a lovely patch of stinging nettle.

Well, I suppose 11 pounds does sound like a lot. But was it maybe your bowels cleaning out? And excess water being shed because you stopped all the sodium in cooked foods? But is it 11 pounds every week, or only the first few? How do you feel otherwise? You don't have to answer all the questions if you don't want to, but maybe your answers could prompt better advice

Hi there.
'My'baby is 8 months old now. He is healthy and happy and is almost full-time nursed. Since he is 6 / 7 months we are slowly introducing solids in his diet, like avocado, apple, cucumber, and other fruits. There is no hurry. We all really enjoy this process. Slow food...
I have read in a few books about breastfeeding (and also in Shazzie's book) though, that it is really better for the immunity of your baby to not feed solids before he is 6 months. Shazzie quotes from a breastfeeding book that it is even better to wait until 7 months, because the ability to absorb nutrients augments for life. So that may be something to consider.
I transitioned to raw 6 months ago, when my baby was 2 months old. I also lost weight rellay quickly, 24 pounds within a few months. But this also happened before I was pregnant, when I was raw for 1,5 month and stopped for that reason. I have a good weight now and don't want to loose more. I'm waiting for an order of hemp protein powder to take in my breakfast smoothie, I hope that this will help a bit. Also I make lots of cookies and bread, to take care that I'm never hungry, also while I'm not at home. And I do heavy yoga exercises every morning. This also helps for muscle building, keeping your weight up.
I'm not 100% raw. Often in the evenings I have a raw (vegan) dinner with a big salad. In the beginning I did this everyday, and also often had a non-raw lunch ( but no bread!), this to slow down the detoxing. I like going raw slowly, it is more sweet for my body that has worked so hard during pregnancy, labour and now still nursing. Slowly transitioning to raw, and slowly starting solids for our baby. Nature knows best when the time is right (-:

Great thread! I have four kids whose eating habits ran the gamut when they were babies. One of my kids didn't eat much until she turned one, and she was fat and happy on mostly breast milk. My kids all ate lettuce, raw carrots (grated), etc. after they turned one. My little one even ate raw onions and radishes! Everyone's suggestions here are great. Once your little one turns one, you can worry more about variety, but for now nursing gives them everything they need.