Becoming Vegan - Madison Heights,MI

Just a thought, what if you put a little chocolate syrup in the soy milf, or tried to give me chocolate soy milk. Maybe that will atleast get her started in the soy direction. Good Luck :)

When we made the switch my daughter (5y.o.) didn't like straight Almond Milk but thought the vanilla flavor was great - so, I began mixing original and vanilla 80-20 vanilla working down to straight original flavor. She knows the difference but will drink 100% original now and occassionally will ask for some vanilla "as a treat".

Congratulations on your decision!!! We've been mostly vegan for a few years and I've been committed to cooking completely vegan for the last few months. I'm honestly more excited and passionate about good food now then ever before.

First of all, people don't realize that you loose more calcium by drinking milk then you gain from the glass, so drinking milk to get your calcium is silly to begin with. We get a lot of calcium from fresh produce, but if you're concerned there are some great calcium and Vitamin D supplements (that though they do have sugar, they are artificial sweetener free - huge deal for my DH) made by Lil Critters, and my 3 year old loves them. Also there is calcium fortified orange juice. Bottom line, don't sweat her missing the Calcium.

About learning to drink soymilk. Its important for kids to learn to eat the food put in front of them. So keep being persistent. Most American parents cater to their children's every whim and that's why our kids are obese. It sounds like you're interested in their health, so just keep presenting the food and don't give in to getting her something else.

Best wishes!

I'll post a link to my recipe blog (some of the early ones include dairy, but most everything is vegan) if you want some variety. martasrecipes.blogspot.com
Also check out fatfreevegan.com, its a great site too!

Yay! Good for you!! My daughter drank soy when she was two, then we switched her back to cow's milk when she was 3, and now we are trying to be mostly vegan (especially with the "milk") and she hated soy! However, I just bought a case of the vanilla soy from Costco (it's organic with no GMO's) and she loved it! She said it tasted better than the other kind (which was Meijer and Silk). Just keep trying, I put rice milk in her cereal, which she doesn't like to drink, but she loves it in cereal. She also takes a kids vitamin (probably not a vegan one, but we are using up the giant container of vitamins before we buy new). It has like 300% of her B12 or something crazy like that in it. If you haven't already, I highly, strongly, suggest buying "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone. It's my new "bible" and I read it over all the time, plus, it has great vegan recipes and my family loves them. There is also a ton of calcium in broccoli and spinach I think, it's in so many plant foods. You are doing the right thing, keep it up!

I want to applaud your decision!! :) I also believe that vegan is the healthiest way to go. However, my kids (who are 13mos, 4, and 6 1/2) have been vegan all their lives so I haven't had the transition struggles. I would definitely say to give it time. Have you tried vanilla soymilk? Maybe a little sweeter would help the palate? She would also get calcium from foods such as tofu, almonds, and orange juice. Kale is also high in calcium (and other great nutrients). We make "green" drinks with kale in them. It's basically a smoothie with kale in it. Just blend up your favorite fruits (frozen and/or fresh), add some juice concentrate, and kale and there you go. You can even add the tofu or soymilk to a smoothie and they'll never know. :) The B12 is a little harder but is found in fortified cereals and nutritional yeast (google that if you need more info).

Best wishes to you! I hope the transition gets easier!

A. A.

Have you tried rice milk (not the flavored kind, but the original) - fortified w/ vitamins etc? My kids won't drink soy, but do like the ricemilk.

My kids have been vegan all their lives, too (7 and 4). Like a lot of the other moms, we use rice milk for cereal, rice and soy for cooking and fortified juices, also. We also use Daiya cheese, which has calcium. My friend and I write a blog that has vegan recipes, too, if you're looking for some ideas. www.welcomingkitchen.com.

Oh yeah, there's also fortfied coconut milk and yogurts from soy and coconut.

Good luck! Once you make the transition, it will be a lot easier. Also, you can check out spawnbetter.com for vegan parenting support.

I didn't read the other responses, so if I repeat, I'm sorry. My son has a dairy allergy, so I kind of know what you are going through with the transition:) Try Silk, very vanilla soy milk. It seriously is like a milk shake. You can also try the chocolate silk soy milk, and mix the two. That's how I started out for my son. Now he really just prefers the regular or the light. The light silk soy milk isn't that thick, so if it's a texture thing, try that kind. Also as far as food I personally love the website vegweb.com It's a vegan website with a ton of recipes...kind of like a kraftkitchen.com website, except for vegan. I love a lot of recipes on there and have gotten a lot of good ideas. Once you have cooked vegan for a while you get good and making things taste like you want.
Oh and another thing I have heard that works, but have never tried it, is mixing the two milks (cow's and soy) and transition the child that way. Again, never tried it, so I don't know how it tastes. I would recommend taking everything before you give it to your child since you know her likes and dislikes. Let me know if you need any other vegan ideas or products, I have a ton! :)

Hi,
My family is vegetarian. We have a 4-year-old and a 17-month-old (boys). I agree with you about dairy for so many reasons, but I also believe that moderation is good as well. For example, if your daughter is happily and healthily drinking milk, I would leave that alone. You could always be "mostly" vegan by cooking vegan meals. We cook vegan much of the time. My older son won't touch cow milk, but my younger son drinks cow milk (we have not really tried giving him soy milk). I guess it depends on how strongly you feel about becoming vegan. It can be done and you can get all your nutrients of course. I would be most concerned about calcium, iron, Vitamin D, and B12. Another person mentioned that you can get B12 from nutritional yeast, but that is an inactive form of the vitamin and cannot be relied upon. However, B12 is in a lot of fortified cereals and in supplement form. I've never done this, but I think it's a great idea to go to a nutritionist. In fact, I think I will do this. I would love to test myself and my family to see if we are lacking anything important.

We switched to soy (mostly) when my son was 2 I think...so maybe that helped...but we started with the chocolate and vanilla flavored so he felt like he was getting a treat...I don't know how you feel about sugar but now he'll drink straight soy milk no problem (if we get rice or almond though I usually get it flavored because we don't have it as often), or make a fruit smoothie with the soy milk, she'll love that I bet. Just keep trying, and put it in things like cereal, oatmeal, things you bake, or noodles, that way you know she's getting it even if she's not drinking it straight from the cup...also keep in mind that you will all need to take a B complex vitamin if you take animal products completely out of your diet...but you can get waay more absorbable calcium from spinach and broccoli than you ever could from milk :)

There is absolutely no reason for cow's milk in one's diet, even a child's. People think we need cow's milk because it's a lie that has been sold to you by the dairy council so you will buy milk. We do need calcium and vitamin D, but there are many other sources for that and cow's milk is actually the least effective. My pediatrician said it's fine for my son so long as he gets the vitamins. Many cultures abstain from the use of dairy.

My son never drank milk and neither do I. Do we give human breastmilk to cows? Why would WE then drink a cow's breastmilk??

I would let your 3 year old continue drinking milk if that's is what she likes. If you push the vegan style on her she may reject it. If she is doing everything else except the milk, maybe she will grow to want the other milks instead as she becomes older and starts getting a mind of her own.

It is opposite with my family. We are not vegetarians or vegans, but my 18 month old son doesn't care for meat. He will eat it every once in a while and I'm usually very surprised when he does. Anyway, it doesn't bother me at all. I have even been cooking less meals with meat and trying to get protein and iron other ways. However, my husband gets really upset when my son doesn't want meat. He always tries to push it on him and when I joke about him being a vegetarian or fruititarian he gets really upset. Since my husband is not home for meals very often, I cook what I want. Anyway, my point is that we like our meat, but if my son chooses when he is older that meat or other animal products are not what he wants then I will definitely respect that and work with him for meals (much to my husband's dismay :-)

If you are concerned with the treatment of the dairy cows, then maybe you could find a local dairy and see how the cows are treated. You could purchase some from them. I worked for several dairies during college and I must say....those cows had the good life!!! Not sure about the major dairies, though.

Without making your child aware, try mixing half cows milk and half either soy or almond milk, which may help with the transition.

So it sounds like you will be eating as close as possible to the Food Pyramid Guide. Good for you!

While my family is by no means vegan, we do consume very little meat/dairy as we live in India and it's just the norm here. I had some worries about my daughter getting all the proper nutrients too once I stopped breast feeding. After I stopped nursing her, she really hasn't had any interest any sort of milk like product (or even milk itself). My Dr. here said it's fine as long as her diet is supplemented with either vitamins or other foods rich in calcium (like broccoli!). I figure, no one forces me to drink/eat what I don't care for so why shoud I do that to my child? I'll keep offering and maybe someday she'll like it. I've heard that you have to get a child to try something around 10 times before you find out if they really don't care for it or if it's just unfamiliar to them.

Some uninformed individuals such as "the cow woman", need to educate themselves! If you watch movies while drinking the pus in your cows milk, you might enjoy watching Food Inc. or Got the Fact on Milk documentary, because getting the facts before telling people milk is healthy is just plain unhealthy.

take a look at this. Mixed with your soy, almond or rice milk.......being chocolate she may not balk. http://healinghappens.myshaklee.com/us/en/products.php?sk...

Rice milk in cereal works for me, but if i were going to drink it straight....

That's funny. I grew up across the street from a dairy farm. We ALWAYS had fresh cow's milk. We raised our own cows, pigs, and chickens so we had fresh meat everyday.
If there is "no need for dairy" in a diet, What on earth did people drink BEFORE soy, almond, or any other nondairy milk? How about 40 years ago when there wasn't any infant formula and a mother couldn't breastfeed?? What did they do to feed their babies?
There IS A NEED for dairy in a persons diet. And if your daughter likes milk, it is unfair for you to make her change.

I didn't use dairy for a long time and my son is fine. We weren't strict though, we put cheese on sandwiches, etc. If you are cutting out soda pop, and other foods that rob your body of calcium that will help a lot and she won't need so much. Anyhow, try making cashew milk, the cashews will completely dissolve ( use raw) and other nuts, etc. Flavor with strawberries and perhaps some very dark chocolate. This is what my MIL uses, I would like to go vegan somedays, but it seems a little harder on foodstamps. Good luck.

There are dietary supplement that everyone in your family will need to be taking. I encourage you to consider Isotonix. This way you can drink your vitamins (and get 95% absorption within 5-10 minutes) and know that you are all getting the vitamins that you need! We take them and love them. As a distributor, I am available to answer questions any time!
http://www.marketamerica.com/thevoiceoftruth/brands-214/i...#
We have formulas to meet every individuals needs. Check the science behind the products and FAQ at my web site! Enjoy!

Hi J.---Haven't read the other posts yet but I wanted to share what I have learned in a series of wellness classes I'm taking, taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition.

Don't worry about her not drinking any kind of milk. It is fine for her to just drink water. There are tons of excellent food sources of calcium. I have lots of resources I can share with you, one being a list of calcium rich foods. I would have to do a little research on B12. You'd most likely have to supplement with that. Dr. Popper offers a B12 supplement and I would highly recommend it. Dr. Pam is research based so I know that this is one of the best that can be had.

We both recommend, along with Drs. Bill and Jim (ABC The Doctors) Sears, a whole food based supplement made of 17 different fruits and veggies...and there are lots of calcium rich leafy greens. The dehydrated juice powders are put in capsules and gummies. It is backed by more than 12 peer-reviewed, INDEPENDENT studies showing is it absorbed, strenthens and balances the immune system and protects and repairs DNA, among other great cellular support.

A word on supplements. Be sure that you ask for research and that research should be done on a human consuming that product. Most research out there is only done on components of a product, ie. vit c does this, we have vit c in our supplement, therefore our product will do this. This does NOT tell you what that entire product does in a human body.

Let me know how I can help. It is my passion and honor to help others learn how to optimize their health, especially our little ones. The sooner we can teach them to take care of their health, the better the outcome when they are taking care of their great-grandkids.

Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you. Oh, btw, my family and I are not vegans, but we do eat mostly vegan and vegetarian meals, using animal protein sparingly, more like a condiment or flavoring. So I know a little about what you are trying to accomplish. I think I can help. Have a great day. D.