When you choose to raise your body with vegetarian ways then surely it could be one of the best things to give to your child. In initial days, babies have a fixed menu and that include only milk. Therefore, when you start getting them to feed solid food after 12 months then you must look forward and try to give them the best baby nutrition care. A good baby nutrition food is what is necessary for them to develop and grow in healthy manner. Babyhood is the best time, if you want your child to be a vegetarian baby. This is because it is the initial stage where they are learning eating and other habits. Therefore, when you start at this age, surely they will cultivate it when they grow up.

Many people have confusion that if you bring up your children in vegetarian way then much baby nutrition would not be able to meet up baby’s body. So, it becomes necessary to understand the demand of babies. However, if you truly understand the food and the nutrients vitamins it gives to your baby then in a way you can achieve every nutrient requirement that is needed by your baby. This is because major of the vitamins, nutrients are present in plant sources, and hence this is considered a healthy way of living life. Now let us start with the procedure of turning your baby in to vegetarian baby with all kinds of baby nutrition care.

How to raise vegetarian babies

1) Understand the nutrient requirement of your baby: This is the major step, as every kid is different. You can consult doctor and make yourself aware with the exact nutrient that is required for your baby to grow in healthy manner. Although breast feeding provides any baby with the best nutrients that is required by baby but after 12 months it becomes time to start your baby with some solid food. It is with this requirement that should be continued even after baby stop their breast feeding. In initial stages, babies have to grow up in healthy manner. Some major nutrient requirement includes calorie of 1300, 16 gm protein, 10mg iron, 3mg magnesium etc. Hence, this entire list should be prepared, as this will help you in knowing exact requirements that you are giving to your baby.

2) Know about the nutrient sources that you get from vegetables and fruits: You must start making a list of plants sources and what all does it provide you. Try to make a list of all major things including protein sources, etc. When you are raising a vegetarian baby, one of the most urgent baby nutrition requirements is protein. If you compare protein sources from animal source and that too plant source, here is a differentiation. It is seen that 100gm of turkey breast has 26 gm of protein. Whereas if you look in plant sources, peas give 16gm of protein, baked beans-11.5, egg-7.5, tofu-10.3 gm of protein etc. Now, you can better understand how to serve with each one of these sources so that your baby gets good protein intake in order to have perfect baby nutrition care.

3)     List all other major nutrients and their respective plant sources: There are many nutrients that are required for baby nutrition. Hence, you need to make yourself aware of all such sources that are there in plants. This will make you understand how to make your baby a vegetarian baby by providing all required nutrients for his healthy baby nutrition care. Some of the main deficiency that kids suffer in their growing age includes deficiency in iron, zinc, magnesium etc. So try to make yourself aware with all of this nutrient rich content.

• Some of the rich sources of zinc are unroasted nuts and seeds. Walnut, Brazil nuts, almonds, peanuts etc are some more examples of vegetarian sources.
• Iron deficiency can cause major issue as anaemia. So you must give your baby good iron efficient diet. In vegetarian, you can find iron in oatmeal, asparagus, mushroom, spinach, green peas, apricots etc. Eggs are also said to be good source of iron. Oranges is famous iron rich fruit.
• Vitamin B6 is very much necessary in growing ages and these are found in wheat gram, bran, molasses, and cabbage.
• Vitamin A rich sources are carrot, tomatoes, pumpkin and other leafy vegetables.
• Vitamin B12 is found in many plant sources as yeast extract, fortified cereals, soya milks etc.

4)     Deciding whether to continue with breast-feed or not is entirely your decision. However, when you are going ahead with stopping breast-feeding then it must be made sure that you must provide some kind of baby nutrition food that can help your baby to grow healthier. Breast-feeding has every essential nutrient that is required by babies. It also helps in boosting the immune system.

5)     Now, as you are going part with the breast-feeding, take out a substituent like soy based or cow based formula food for your baby nutrition care. Cow’s milk formulas are very much on to allergic side with babies. Hence, you can choose out soy-based formulas, as they do not cause allergy and have good content of protein.

6)     When you start feeding your child, you need to be very careful from the first day. You need to avoid any iron content food in initial 3 months of baby. The main reason behind it is that babies already have rich content of iron in their body. The content is so much so that it can last for complete three months without feeding them any iron content.

7)     Just as your baby crosses 6 months, you can start giving some kind of light solid food items that are having good baby nutrition value in them. You should make a list of proper baby nutrition care list and know what all foods can be given to the babies. To begin with, you can start with rice cereal and these are very easily digestible in baby. These rice cereals are also said to have least allergic reaction in any body.

8)     You can start introducing all other kinds of baby food but slowly: Babies are very much vulnerable and you need to maintain that whenever you introduce anything new to them it must be slowly and steadily. This is because their body should understand the new kind of food that is being taken in it. Then later on, the portions can be increased.

9)     Try to avoid any baby food that has good sugar and starch content. This is a major step as when you feed the baby with sugary baby foods then it may cause allergy or some other reactions. All kinds of chemical additives and preservatives in any baby food should be avoided. When you go out to shop for baby nutrition food, try to keep away from all foods that have added preservatives and chemical additives.

10) Get one vegetarian baby book: try to get a book that will give you correct method and correct foods with, which you should feed your baby to make him a good vegetarian baby. This is a necessary step and you need to take precautions while you feed your baby with baby nutrition food. You must follow all nutritional guidelines. In between, you must keep on consulting doctor. This will make you understand whether your baby is growing up normally in healthy manner or not.

11) Make sure that your baby is getting all required amount of baby nutrition care. You need to contact your doctor with this issue of baby nutrition care. This will help you to understand that there would not be any left nutrient that may cause deficiency.

While you feed your baby with complete baby nutrition food in vegetarian way, then you need to come up with all sources to be included in the food. Most of the time there are some deficiencies that are found in young babies. These deficiencies are of iron, zinc, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6 etc. You need to take special precaution while feeding your baby. Any kind of deficiency may hamper the normal growth of baby. If you want to make your baby vegetarian since early day then there is no issue in that. Only thing you need to do is make natural parenting and have to be precautious with the baby’s requirements.

It is thought that children who grow up with vegetarian mode are healthier and have faster growth. This is because plants have almost all essential nutrients in them. Therefore, if baby nutrition is understood then surely you can bring up your child in most healthy manner by feeding him with vegetarian foods. With all necessary baby nutrition being received by the children, they surely will grow up in open environment. In fact, vegetarian children tend to have healthier life span.

Mothers are encouraged to read more information from articles or books about what foods that cannot be fed to your baby. From what I observed, the foods listed below should not be fed to your baby.

1. It is suggested that babies should not be given cow’s milk until he/she is 1 year old. Mothers should aware that raw or unpasteurized milk contains pathogens and micro-organisms which can cause serious illness to the babies as their immune system is still very weak.
2. A lot of mothers are aware juice contains plenty of essential nutrition which is good for their babies. However, unpasteurized juice can contain bacteria such as bacterium E. Coli which is harmful to the babies.
3. Dairy products contain a lot of essential nutrition such as calcium. Nevertheless, soft cheeses such as feta and brie should not be fed to babies as soft cheeses can contain bacteria Listeria monocytogenes which is harmful to baby’s immune system.
4. Another nutritious food that mothers might feed their babies is honey. However, honey can contain the Clostridium botulinum bacteria which can cause botulism.
5. Egg always is the good source of protein for babies. Nevertheless, egg whites can cause allergic reactions to the babies. On the other hand, eggs also have to be cooked until yokes are firm so that bacteria can be killed thoroughly.
6. A lot of people are allergic to nuts and peanut butter. Try to avoid these foods for babies as these foods can cause allergic reactions to them. It is advisable to offer these foods until baby is older.
7. Mothers might think that fruits are the good nutritious food for babies. Nevertheless, citrus fruits such as oranges can cause allergic reactions to the babies.
8. Another food can cause allergic reactions to babies is wheat and wheat products. Do not feed these foods to your babies. It is advisable to offer these foods until baby is older.