I have 19 month old twins who were born at 36.5 weeks gestation. I breast fed them for 4-5 months. We dealt with acid reflux when they were infants now they have 10 different food allergies. (beef, chicken, cow's milk, soy milk, wheat, rye, barley, green beans, apples and garlic) They seem to never be satisfied with food. I am seriously thinking about putting the entire family on raw, but their pedi and natropathic doctor doesn't think it is a good idea. We live in Alaska, so being raw will be difficult, but I will do whatever it takes to get us healthy. I need some feedback, on what is needed in their diets, what amount, so that they will be healthy and strive. Some info I got from David Wolfe was marine phytoplankton and krill oil is really important for kids. Thanks

They are old enough that they shouldn't "need" breastmilk.
Alkalinity is important for everyone. Fresh fruits and veggies should be the focus with some fats.
Will they drink green juice? Carrot-Romaine juice tastes like chocolate milk and is very kid friendly. Sliced banana with dabs of tahini is popular for breakfast.
My daughter drank "baby shakes": a fruit, green and fat smoothie.
Her favorite was fresh OJ, a bit of spinach and some Avocado.
Banana a leaf of romaine and a drizzle of flax oil is another nice one.
Make sure they get some sun for the Vit. D everyday (wow, Alaska!)
Almond coconut yogurt or almond and sesame milk are great for kids too.
I give my daughter healthy grains as well like quinoa or kamut pasta with Seeds of Change sauce. Buckwheat noodles with sesame tahini sauce are a hit too!
Her favorite is sandwiches with coconut butter and raw honey.
Roll a banana and some raw nut butter in a brown rice tortilla.(not so messy to walk around with then!)
She also loves beans and I mash them and roll them inside a tortilla too or make a black bean soup she likes.
My daughter will eat a bunch of broccoli if I provide her with a tasty dip for it. I think that if it will get them to eat it because they can't chew such vegetables steaming them would be better than them not eating them at all.
Olives are another easy alkaline food that my 2 year old loves. I cut avocadoes in half and sprinkle them with Nutritional Yeast so they don't go brown. She likes to scoop it out of the shell and eat it with a spoon.
I use the Nut. Yeast because she likes it and I don't have to worry B12.
We make "Mac&Peas" with quinoa elbows Nut. Yeast, Olive oil and salt.

Just curious..what are you feeding them now that they never seem satisfied?

GREEN SMOOTHIE GREEN SMOOTHIE GREEN SMOOTHIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
everything the human body needs is found in green smoothie. add in avocado and seeds and nuts and its awesome. Basically i will post real quick here so you dont feel alone on this. I have 15 month old twins, they have been raw vegan since day one. we just weened them from breast milk 2 weeks ago. and they have been eating raw foods since 6 months old I think. We feed them greens, fruits, soaked seeds and soaked nuts. they are healthy as can possibly be and they only crave crackers and green smoothie. by feeding kids cooked foods, they will have deficiencies, with that will come rough cravings as cooked food acts just like drugs in the system causing addiction and withdrawl symptoms. cooked food in fact makes the human body think we are sick, and our bodies react by trying to heal us of the toxic matter. We go into a state called leukocytosis, which basically every american is in almost all the time. this just means that we are toxic and ready to brew up cancer ! so you are on the right track! going 100% raw now will only reduce your baby's suffering. the only book you need is the book called BABY GREENS by dr gabriel cousens. has all the lists of what baby's need at what stages. GOOD LUCK !!!! feel free to ask me questions also.

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

Thank you all for your responses. They love green smoothies, fruits, and nuts. Vegi's not much by themselves. They love oatmeal so when I was trying raw I soaked oats, put nuts, dates, flax seed, hemp seed, and a banana and they were in heaven. Right now they aren't on any raw because the natropathic doctor said their digestive tract is too immature, it is too much for them to digest. So they are on a bland diet with rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, millet, salmon, turkey, brocolli, cauliflower, avocado, peas, corn, all kinds of squash, bananas, pears, strawberries, blueberries. I was told to not season stuff so that they can aquire their own taste and not my husband and my taste. I thought kids couldn't have honey. Is it important to have sea vegetables in their diets for b12 and fat? What about qrill oil? We do supplement vit D because we live in Alaska (not much sun light in the winter time). I saw the baby green book, but was trying the natropathic first, but they taking a ton of meds now. Err I hate it. I will definately get it, since it looks like it will help.

Sounds like your naturapath is an idiot. Get a new one. A lot of us like to believe in natuapaths because at first they seem like Gods after dealing with a conventional doctor..but they're not always better. The one I had advised a high meat/high fat/low carb cooked diet for ALL problems. He also liked to sell supplements for every little thing.

Lots of people have their kids/babies on raw. There's probably a specific forum on it somewhere. LOL@digestive system being too immature for raw fruits/vegetables. That is just ridiculous. It's the most natural thing they can eat!!!! So this guy thinks they can't digest something like green smoothies but could digest canned, dead baby food in jars and chicken? LOL.Right.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2010 12:41AM by BackAgain.

I should of gone with my first gut intincts (sp).

I would advise you to go all-raw with your kids only if/when you have been successfully all-raw yourself (no slip-ups) for some considerable time. A year at the very least.

I'm speaking as a grandmother and a raw vegan for 24 years.

Are you and your husband both already all-raw vegan?

I think it's best not to try to have your kids on a diet that you may need to experiment with yourself for some time before you get it totally down. Otherwise, you'll be sending unhealthy mixed signals to your kids about food, and maybe even denying them some important nutrients essential to their healthy development.

I agree that babies at 19 months should be able to digest raw fruits and vegetables. If they do appear to have a problem with a raw food item, just don't feed it to them again for a while.

You might also be a little careful about choking. Blending or mashing harder raw foods will be safest, especially nuts and seeds. Maybe soak and blend nuts and seeds in small amounts.

I would allow your children to have some cooked vegan foods if that's what they like and they're not allergic.

From the age of 6 (although 3 or 4 is probably OK), I always kept raw fruits out where my son could have some anytime he wanted. Raw greens were also available whenever. He never asked for a candy bar or anything sweet as he was growing up.

Sea vegetables don't provide B12. They do provide iodine, which is essential for healthy metabolism. Yeast also is not a sufficient source for B12 unless it's been enriched with B12. You would have to check the exact source. Some Red Star yeast is enriched and some is not. Vegan children should not be guinea pigs for B12. If your children are not eating meat or dairy products, be safe and provide a regular vegan B12 supplement.

From What Every Vegan Should Know About Vitamin B12, by Stephen Walsh, courtesy of The Vegan Society:

"Infants typically show more rapid onset of symptoms than adults. B12 deficiency may lead to loss of energy and appetite and failure to thrive. If not promptly corrected this can progress to coma or death. Again there is no entirely consistent pattern of symptoms. Infants are more vulnerable to permanent damage than adults. Some make a full recovery, but others show retarded development.

The risk to these groups alone is reason enough to call on all vegans to give a consistent message as to the importance of B12 and to set a positive example. Every case of B12 deficiency in a vegan infant or an ill informed adult is a tragedy and brings veganism into disrepute."

You may read the entire article here:

[www.vegansociety.com]

I've had a lot of doctors tell me to make sure to eat my fruits and vegetables and they do it in a way that makes me think that they believe in the power of fruits and vegetables. But if you go and call your diet a name, like "raw food", then red flags will come up because raw food is veiwed as an extreme diet. So just don't use the term raw food when you talk to your doctors, just say you're vegetarian. Most raw foodists aren't 100% raw anyway, so "vegetarian" is a more accurate term to use rather than "raw food" - which implies that you eat nothing but raw food.

My sister had food allergies that were cleared by a homeopath. There was some procedure that was done that involved eating something or having something applied to her skin and then she had to rest for 20 min or so while it took effect. I just heard about it, I wasn't present for the procedure and I can't find a direct reference to that type of procedure but here are a few other websites about clearing food allergies with homeopathy:

[www.amcofh.org]
Homeopathic Approach to Food Allergy
Homeopathy pictures food allergies as an expression of an interruption in the patient’s immune system. Under stress, the immune system will cause certain symptoms, such as food allergy. These symptoms are not a disease to be cured in themselves, but a reflection of an underlying, deeper malfunction. Homeopathic remedies treat the entire person with deep acting constitutional approach which will help desensitize, reinforce the immune system and also prevent the recurrence of the problem. Homeopathy maintains all the tissues and organs as well as the emotions and intellectual functioning at optimum level. Homeopathy seeks to naturally stimulate the body's natural defenses against food allergy symptoms and situates the body in a position to react less and less to allergens. Homeopathic remedies are made from natural substances and include specific allergens to gently, safely expose the individual to their specific weak areas. This allows the natural defenses to properly adapt to the allergen and no longer react to it adversely."

[highcountryhomeopathy.com]
"Today my daughter is thriving and developing at a rate she has never experienced before. She is no longer the “kid that’s allergic to everything”. She is simply Rowan, and people now gravitate toward her as much as they once shunned her for being “different”. Her new teeth are coming in strong and she has good endurance, especially for someone who has experienced asthma. She still has food allergies, but they are much less severe, and we continue to work with this, using certain deep-acting nosodes and various constitutional remedies to strengthen and restore order to her bowel, which was once incredibly compromised due to a badly timed dose of antibiotics. "

Thank you, we appreciate your help!

@Rawlion- I went to amazon and looked for the book but I couldn't find it by Dr. Cousens by chance can you please give me the link to that book. Thanks a bunch!

Harriet

The kids in this link aren't all raw, but they're vegan from birth. They're so cute, I couldn't resist posting!

Some of the toddler pictures come with descriptions of their diets. Plus, there's a sidebar with more info on vegan nutrition for kids.

[www.veganhealth.org].

Seems that link didn't work. Here's one more try:

[www.veganhealth.org]

The Book Baby Greens is actually by Michaela Lynn, not Gabriel Cousens.

[www.amazon.com]

Thanks for the clarification. I can't afford all this probiotic meds. So I need to figure something out.