Breast feeding and wanting to go vegan
Posted by Kallah on Jan 08, 2011 · Member since Jan 2011 · 6 posts
Hello I am new to this site. I have been vegetarian for 5 years and I have tryed going vegan about 3 yrs ago but I did not stick to it.
Right now I want to go vegan but I am breast feeding, my husband thinks I should not switch right now because he thinks that the baby wont get enough nutrition. Has anyone gone through this situation before, or has breastfeed well being vegan?
Thanks you reading this
And I love all the recipes on this website.
I haven't breastfed, but I think your husband is being a wonderfully concerned father while being misguided by popular media.
Non-vegan foods: dairy, eggs, meat
Dairy: Humans did not evolve to require milk as adults; there's nothing inherent in dairy exclusively that we require for nutrition.
Eggs and Meat: Less confusing than thinking we require dairy, but they are ways to get nutrition that you could also get from vegetable sources. Plus, large amounts of protein can block the absorption of nutrients, so by eating eggs and meat you may be getting less nutrients. The only thing you can't get from plants alone is B12, which produced by bacteria (not an animal or plant) and you can find in supplements.
What are your husband's specific nutritional concerns?
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back on the forum. I have 4 kids at home and go to school full time. I always say there is not enough time in a day.
My husband is wearied that I will not get enough iron, vitamin B(like you said) or just a over all nutrition out of a vegan diet. But I maybe only taken in one or two servings of deary a day, not even that some times for the past few months now. So it would not be hard to stop all together. But my husband is not a vegetarian he believes in eating meat. But I can say he honers me going lacto-veg 5 yrs ago. I just don't know where to look. I have tryed to look up information on line, but there is stuff saying its bad and then I find information stating its good (healthy). So I don't know, I was hoping to find someone that has breastfeed well being vegan to tell me about it.
Thank you for responding to me.
I dont take any vitamins right now, should I? What do you take?
Do you have a history of lacking in vitamins and/or minerals?
If not, I don't see the need for any concern, even while breastfeeding. Although like humboldt_honey mentioned, vitamin B12 supplements are good to have.
When I breastfed my kids, (in my omnivore days) I had multivitamin-mineral supplements that were made for breastfeeding mothers. I've always lacked iron, and sometimes other vitamins/minerals, so I wanted to be on the safe side.
If your husband is worried maybe you could look for vegan multivitamin and mineral supplements - ones that are made for breastfeeding mothers. Or maybe just get blood tests on a regular basis to check your vitamin and mineral levels.
Sorry if I didn't help at all. :-\
Hello Dark_Cherry, It did help thank you for responding to me. I found a Raw Vegan Multi Mother vitamen for breastfeeding mothers I like it so far. I have made the vegan switch its a little hard only because I am making two different meals for dinner, but other than that I love it. My kids eat what I eat, its my husband that is not fully vegi... yet, but hopefully that doesn't last long,
Thank you Ladies for helping me.
Kallah