Treyton should start getting more protein in the next month or so (he's 7 months old now). He's going to be a veggie baby, so I've bought a nice supply of tofu so I can prepare it for him and freeze the rest..
but.. what's the best way to prepare tofu for a baby?
About the same waoy you would prepare it for yourself, less added salt and stuff.
Okay, feel free to jump on me for this but I had always been under the impression that to much soy wasn't really the best thing for a baby. Yes, sometimes necessary when a child isn't nursing and allergic to cow's milk, but not a first choice.
I would think a more bean and lentil based diet would probably be the better way to go. Though at 7 months he should be getting all the nutrients he needs from breastmilk or formula. I don't think I started worrying about protein with my kids until they were closer to a year. For first foods we mostly stuck to veggies and fruits. We aren't veggie but they were still a year+ before either of them started with chicken.
Some links for you. Some say it's bad...
http://www.mercola.com/2002/oct/26/soy_formula.htm
http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/soy.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/2020_000609_soy_feature.html
Some say otherwise...
http://www.drgreene.com/21_536.html
http://abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/2020_000609_soy_feature.html
It's up to you to decide, I just wanted to present both sides of the arguement.
I've heard tofu is fine around 8 months.
What I think is a good trick is to add some water, blend it up, add in veggies/fruits and feed it to him like that.
Or get firm tofu (Mori-nu makes a great one), roll the whole block around in plain uncooked oatmeal and slice it up. Makes a great fingerfood.
my son is on soy formula (b/c hes allergic to cows milk and formula) but the doctor never said anything about soy not being good for a baby... maybe i'm wrong but...
generally soy is as "risky" an allergen as cows milk which is why they said avoid it if at all possible.
I never said Trey was on Soy milk... that whole soy formula thing, however interesting and well researched, kinda threw me by surprise. :)
He's lactose intolerant, he's on lactose-free formula, not soy.
But when he's old enough for cows milk, he'll be put to soy milk :)
Ahh. Soy in GENERAL not just soy formula. Gotcha *winks*
It's something I'm confused about now. Trey has allergies to normal milk, so if 5-30% of babies with allergies to normal milk are also allergic to soy products, than what the heck do I do?
It says up there that (soy) and in turn tofu, can lead to the infertility of men if consumed by them during periods of major development, due to the estrogen-like compounds. I've found about 4 other sites that say this as well. Babyhood is a pretty major developmental stage...
Trey's not getting the nutrients he needs from just veggies, fruit and formula. His doctor's concerned about the fact that he's growing tall really quickly but not putting on any weight. It's not too much of a problem yet, as long I started introducing a solid with more nutrients soon. How else would I get his protein, calcium, whatever, if not for tofu? He's not going to eat meat.
I'm confused. HELP. :shock: I'm vegetarian, trying hard to be a good little vegan girl (A week now without eggs! Damn tempting hard boiled eggs.) as I was vegan forever before I got pregnant. But I'm not a 'healthy eater', I eat maybe once or twice a day, one salad and one carb based thing, like a sandwich, but I'm not good at getting the nutrients I need, so I don't know how to go about getting Trey the nutrients he needs. I only have tofu when I'm craving it, and then I fry it, so that's not really healthy.
Someone with a veggie baby wanna chirp in here? :( Now I'm just lost.
Have you thought about Rice milk instead of soy milk when he's old enough?
I think soy in small amounts should be fine which is why I suggest rice milk as an alternative.
Never even thought of that. Brava, Eve, thanks :)
What about his other nutritional requirements than, I don't know much about alternatives. I feel like an idiot, been vegan for years but have no clue how to be a healthy vegan.
rawr.
broccoli is good for calcium, tofu (in moderation, like a few times a week) and beans/lentils/other legumes for protein, fruit, and oatmeal.
those are the only things i can think of offhand
The reason that I mentioned beans is that they also tend to be high in protein like soy. http://www.vegetarianbaby.com/ They only have 2 baby food recipes there but they had some good looking soup recipes that could probably be turned into baby food by running it through a blender.
Also from what you are saying it doesn't seem like protein is the big problem, but that it's weight gain. Have you tried adding in avocado? It's a good healthy high fat veggie. Making hummus would be another good way to get him some protein and calories.
Like Eve I was going to ask about rice milk as well. Both of my kids have dairy sensitivities so they drink either fortified rice milk or fortified almond milk. I did do soymilk with my son a bit but I felt better limiting his soy consumption so we switched. It's not that I think soy needs to be avoided 100%, just that doing tofu and then soymilk and then all the other things soy comes in gets to be to much. Cutting soymilk and tofu mostly out of my kids diets was a way of making sure that they amount of soy they ate was/is reasonable.
Haha! How funny is that, I just went to check Mothering's website and they have an article this month The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food. I might have to go and pick up a copy and see what they are saying. Anyway, the actual reason I went there was that they also have a lot of veggie children and baby recipes http://www.mothering.com/recipes/index.shtml#babyfood .
Again, I'm not trying to scare you or anyone else away from soy 100%. I just believe from what I've read and seen myself that it's easy to start using to much soy and that it's best used in moderation.
I hope some of these links help. Oh! If your library has it Whole Foods for Whole Families and Super Baby Food, they are two wonderful books for you to check out as well. They both have a ton of info on infant nutrition and are filled with recipes, most of which are vegetarian and vegan.
Avocado! How could I have forgotten! You can put it in ANYTHING since it has almost no taste and he'll never know. Mix it in with bananas, apples, anything.
Thanks :)
I've given him avacado because it is really high in good fats, but still doesn't seem to be working.
I'm wondering how long has the Dr been worried about your son's weight? Like is it over the course of a few months that he's been below his normal curve or was it just one check up?
I know when my son hits growth spurts he tends to chunk up, then grow really fast and get towards the skinny side. After the growth spurt he slowly starts putting weight back on until he hits another growth spurt, then he gets really skinny again. Is it possible your son just ended up at the Dr after a growth spurt? Or that he is just naturally long and skinny, like my daughter?
I second the whole growth spurt thing. Maddox has been in the 5th percentile in height and weight since birth then one doc appointment he was in the 50th for height but still the 5th for weight. He is only on breastmilk and his doc said he shouldn't be introduced to solids until 9 months at the earliest and then only if *I* think he's ready. (She's really cool... I'm sad I have to change docs) From what I've heard at LLL babies main source of nourishment should be breastmilk (or formula) until they are one. Before that, they are just practicing with solid foods.
Someone feel free to correct me if my info is incorrect :)
Well before, like 4 months ago he was in the 30th percentile for weight and the 75th for height, and than each checkup he dropped in the weight percentile but gained in the height, and now he's in the 5th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height.
i just steamed the tofu in the beginning and then cut it up for her to feed to herself. or you can try blending it and adding it to anything.
emma loves lentils and chickpeas too D