Seeking Food Item Ideas for Vegetarian Baby

I don't have any ideas for you, but just a word of advice. Since you are already vegetarians, you know the nutritional value of the food you eat which will be helpful. My sister-in-law decided that she was going to be vegetarian because her mom "sometimes" was and that it is very healthy. She decided that her 5 month old was also going to be vegetarian. She had no clue what she was doing and didn't give him the proper nutrition that his growing body needed. He wasn't growing at the rate he should and after several tests, she told her Dr that they were on a vegetarian diet - they found that she wasn't feeding him the protein nor the fat that he needed to grow. They severly stunted his growth and are still paying for it 12 years later. Good Luck to you!

Hi LH!

I would definitely give the Morning Star products a try. My son has only eaten (and loves) the Garden Veggie Burger (he is not a vegetarian, I Just try to think of creative ways of giving him his veggies.) But they have a whole lot of great foods you can try giving to your son.

You can also consider:

Cooked noodles (plain, with butter, with marinara sauce, or mac & cheese.)
Cottage Cheese
Apple Sauce
Yogurt
Toast
Veggie Soup (minus the soup!)
Cheerios
Gerber Fruit and/or Veggie Puffs
Cheese (slices or string cheese.)

That's all I can think of right now. Just make sure you start off giving him tiny, tiny pieces at first, until he gets used to everything. Good luck! :)

I STRONGLY recommend the Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron. The best first foods are avocados and bananas. My 7 month old did great with them. He eats avocados everyday. We started at 6 months with food but, we are introducing quite slowly. He now eats rice or millet porridge with brewers yeast and molasses (for iron) or brewers yeast and a fruit mixed in. So, he has the rice/millet porridge once or twice daily and the avocado once daily. The rest of the time he breast feeds. To make the porridge you first grind the grain in a vitamixer or coffee grinder; 1/4 grain to 1 cup boiling water, simmer for 10 minutes covered. It's so much easier and healthier that commercially prepared baby food. Also green veggies are more in season that yellow/orange right now so you may want to introduce those first. Good luck!
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My daughter adores kidney beans. We mashed them at first and then they were great finger foods when she was older. Since she wasn't eating meat they were a great iron source.

My daughter and I are vegetarians too, though we haven't started solids yet. I would love to here what suggestions others have to give. I have a friend who isn't a vegetarian, but often gives her baby girls tofu, hummus, and avocado. I also found a website called vegetarian mom and baby- the address is http://www.vegetarianbaby.com/

I agree with the woman who advised that you should be careful about balancing a baby's diet if you are going vegetarian. Your protein choices, as well as the amount of fat your child receives, should be carefully monitored if you won't be feeding your child meat - lentils, black-eyed peas, veggie dogs (Morningstar) cut up small, and when your son is old enough, eggs, peanut butter (or other nut butter) are good proteins. You should also provide whole milk if you have started that, or are going at some point, because that little brain still needs all the fat it can get!

Soft Cooked Veggies (green beans, carrots, small chunks of squash or potato), Avacado (this is a great source of healthy fats for baby!) beans (both my boys loved black beans) thawed frozen peas, bananna, gently cooked apple and pear (pears might be soft enough that you don't have to cook it to soften it) Oh and Noodles were a big hit here as were crackers with hummus or cheese (assuming you aren't vegan that is)

Give your baby tiny bites of what you eat. We are vegetarian, too, and our 4 children (ages 1 - 9 yrs) are all vegetarian (lacto-vegetarian), and have all thrived well -- they are healthy and strong both physically and emotionally.

Food -- we eat a lot of indian food. Basically, that is a lot of lentils/beans and grains, spiced as we like, (but we always go easy on the hot pepper for the baby-but we don't neglect it either!) and they have all loved it. Fresh fruits and vegetables, tiny pieces that the baby can chew once s/he has teeth, and a bit mushy before teeth. Carrots and apples, fresh, whole, have been great for teething under close supervision so once larger pieces start coming off, then can be dealt with appropriately. Broccoli, fresh, has also been (and still is) a favorite. Simply be sure that there is plenty of protein in the diet overall (in your's too) and well, we also breatfeed as much as they want until about 3 yrs, so that covers any potential holes in what they might be eating otherwise. This time is largely trying and experimenting, and learning new textures and tastes, so don't be discouraged, just enjoy the time and the effort! :)

Thanks for posting this topic. I have a 17 month old, and we're vegetarians. He likes cut up veggie dogs, black beans, lentils & rice, full-fat yogurt mixed with fruit, and cheese. I would caution you on soy, eggs, and milk if you have any history of food allergies.

Breastmilk is also a great food.

my daughter is a year old and a vegan. she is incredibly healthy and only has had 2 or 3 mild colds her whole life! i would recommend the cook book simply natural baby food by cathe olson. it has different recipes the vary by age so you know what would be appropriate for what age. i would recommend a lot of nuts, seeds and beans and there is so much you can do with them. this book has a lot of recipes to do with this kid of food. some basics that we like are chick peas blended with avocado. every morning she gets a cereal made of sunflower seeds, oats and sometimes we add some flax or crushed almonds or some soft fruit like apples, bananas or pears. my daughter also really likes different grains like quinoa and millet, and you can mix in any steamed vegetable and some tahini (which is just sunflower seeds). the opportunities are endless! once you find some basic recipes youll figure out how to easily combine different ideas to the taste of your child. and you can be confident knowing you are giving your child a healthy start!

Make sure you're providing lots of healthy fats for your baby's growing brain! Avocado, butter, coconut oil, sunflower seed butter (and other nut and seeds/butters when he gets older), full fat yogurts and milk, eggs (just yolk for now, whites when he's a little older). With our low-fat, sugar-free, highly processed diets, healthy fats sometimes get overlooked.

Other than that, let him eat whatever you're eating! Just make sure it's soft enough to chew with few teeth. Check out: http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voeds...