Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I'm taking a class in pregnancy/baby nutrition right now. We are reading a ton of different books about nutrition and feeding your kids. Some of them are awesomely vegan friendly. The one I'm reading right now called Child of Mine has been really really interesting. It's mostly about trusting your baby/toddler's hunger cues and being really alert to their needs without forcing any of your conscious or subconscious feeding agendas on them. However, now I'm up to the chapter about what specifically to feed and she seems to be all about meat and dairy and just said that she does not recommend a vegan diet for babies/toddlers/kids. So, up to this point I've been trusting what she says because it all made sense to me, but now I feel like maybe she doesn't really know what she's talking about.

what do you guys do in terms of books or other resources when advice seems generally good, but then they discourage veganism?

Get a second opinion.

We've all run into smart people who just don't get veganism. Baby nutrition authors are no different. Check sources and credentials of other authors.

Ask yourself whether this author has special knowledge or experience different from what Dr. Spock had, or from what that vegan baby book author/doctor whose name I can't remember has, or from what the ADA has.

thanks! that makes sense. this particular author is a psychotherapist and a dietitian and it's her advice on the psychological impacts of feeding that I find really good and interesting. So maybe she's just a better psychotherapist than a dietitian.

I try to remember that everyone has his or her biases, and that even if someone is against feeding children a vegan diet (or against anything else that I feel very strongly about), I can still get some good information from that source. I try to balance what the experts say with what my intuition tells me. So far, I haven't found an expert - on anything - who's a Perfect Fit.

Of course, it's very disappointing when you're going along great, appreciating someone's point of view, and then BAM! Something completely contrary to your goals and knowledge pops up.

I say take the information from this author that is useful and helpful to you, and try to ignore the rest.

i don't trust anyone, not in the sense that you're asking. i don't think that any author or expert is going to be a reliable source of information and advice 100% of the time. i'm kind of skeptical of parenting books anyway... i mean, i've read bits and pieces of lots of books dealing with pregnancy, birth, babyhood, parenting, etc, but so far i haven't found that anyone has said anything that i didn't already know instinctively, or said something that made sense immediately followed by something i thought was a bit off. especially in the areas of sleep and food, i think there is a huge market for "experts" because they are two things our parenting culture is obsessed with.

My oldest is 18 so I saw the whole "attachment parenting" movement rise in books and on the internet.

I love the attachment parenting ideals and liked to be able to discuss them with La Leche League friends and on the internet, but when one of the internet moms wrote a book on Attachment Parenting I was disgusted. It's about reading your baby's cues, paying attention, being involved, trusting yourself, and all of a sudden there were moms saying they were "attachment parenting" so they had to do this or wouldn't dream of doing that. It was infuriating.

Not that books can't be helpful - I read a lot of them and some were useful. Sometimes it is nice to have an expert with a book backing up your philosophy when family members are opposed to how you are raising your child, and reading the book may help them understand your parenting/feeding.