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Question: Can infants and toddlers have regular soy milk or do infants need soy formula? Can children be on an entirely whole plant-based diet?

Answer: We are glad you are starting early; putting children on a plant-based diet helps give them the best chances towards a healthy life. It can be very confusing out there because a lot of the recommendations come from people who aren’t familiar with all of the data. To tell you the truth, we are not sure what everyone’s fascination is with milk and children. We are the only species to drink milk after being weaned from the breast and we are the only species to drink the milk of another species. Babies should be breast-fed until 1-2 years of age. After that, babies no longer need milk. Add fruits, vegetables, and whole grains after 6 months…allowing the baby to choose what food it would like. We would recommend the same healthy foods to a baby as we would to an adult. Children can eat more of the richer WHOLE foods like nuts, seeds, avocados, etc. as they are growing and gaining weight rather than trying to lose weight like most adults. And let the child gauge what and how much of these healthy foods it wants…provided you are only making available whole natural foods. All bets are off once a child gets its hands on french fries and processed macaroni and cheese! So, remember to let nature do its job. Animals and humans have been evolving for millions of years without problems…until we started developing nutrient poor, manufactured, fake foods. As long as you are providing nutrient dense foods, which is what we recommend, you and your child will be fine. That being said, we understand that feeding a child a plant-based diet is somewhat of a leap of faith now because it is such a foreign concept to most people, but we have seen it work well. We have also seen the damage a modern American diet can do to a child.

Now, we cannot speak specifically to you about your child without you being our patient. In the end. you have to do what you think is best for your child. We do recommend that you read what is out there and make the best decision based on all of the information you can gather. Many people will tell you different things and it takes a lot of guts in this day and age to go out and feed a child a plant-based diet. Moreover, pediatricians aren’t immune to nutritional information distortion so they may not support your decision (see if you can find a doctor that does). We know you want to provide the PERFECT balance of nutrients for your child but you can’t figure that out with a formula nor can a doctor tell you EXACTLY what your child needs specifically. Your best bet is to make a wide variety of healthy foods available and then trust that your child will eat what he needs to survive….a child will not starve himself to death. Furthermore, nature has made foods complete as well as designed an amazing human body able to absorb nutrients from foods as needed. Again we would lean towards the least processed foods (they maintain nature’s harmony of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals while providing healthy fats, carbohydrates and proteins in the perfect amounts) and always say that the actual vegetable is better than its processed version. For example, soybeans mashed up are better than tofu or soy milk. Flax seed ground up into applesauce is much better than pouring flax oil into the applesauce (try to NEVER use oils if possible). However, this is not all or nothing. As long as the rule is to feed your child the least processed foods whenever possible then you will be headed in the right direction. It is better to eat 50% this way than not at all!

It is funny that people worry about hurting their children with a plant-based diet. People say that a child will not get the nutrients it needs on a plant-based diet and will be malnourished. In actuality, it is the current American diet that is killing our children. If any child is malnourished it is the average American child today eating fast food and processed foods completely devoid of nutrients. Childhood obesity, many cancers, heart disease, ADHD, asthma, chronic ear infections, and diabetes, just to name a few diseases, would no longer be an issue if more children were taken off the "nourishing" American diet and put on this “unhealthy” plant-based diet! So congratulations on making this a priority as we highly respect you for doing so. Please go easy on yourself and simply do the best you can, making changes as you continue to learn about health and nutrition. Your children will not only live, but they will thrive…especially when you compare them to children on the American diet! If you need any further help, please let us know.

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