New-ish breastfeeding/suppliment guidelines

[JewelsStrilaiff]

Alright.

My daughter had her 9 month appointment today and her diet obviously came into play as one of the typical questions.

In Canada we have a hot line called Call-a-Dietitian, the doctor referred me to them because she just didn't know a lot about raising vegan children. You call in, it’s free and you talked to a fully trained and educated dietitian and they’ll answer any questions you have.

My questions at first were pretty simple like how much iron she should have, how much b12, etc.


I wanted to know because we are still toying with the idea of having her be vegan along with us... I know it’s a lot of work and I don’t want to stunt her in any way. My husband thought we’d just have her non vegan until she could make the choice herself... but we’re starting to lean more towards her being vegan with us.


So, my next question to her was about what to do at about 1 year old when most people start giving their children cows milk. I still plan to breastfeed as long as possible, but we’re also trying to get pregnant again and if she self weans while I’m pregnant as many babies do... well then what? I need to know what to give her.

She said that actually, according to the World Health Organization, you should NOT replace breastfeeding or formula with cows milk AT ALL until 2, yes TWO years of age.

I had never heard this before, I had heard that 1 year minimum and then if you are lucky enough to last to 2 years of breastfeeding then that is best... but never that it HAD to be breastmilk or formula until 2.

She said that it is considered the standard, however, most families do not follow this as formula is very expensive and not all mom’s are blessed with the ability to breastfeed their babies for 2 full years! So it’s a ‘looser’ rule.

So, I asked about what I should do then... There are no truly vegan formula’s and honestly, not to be mean to formula users... but I do not want her to have formula!

But what happens then if she self weans I asked. The dietitian told me NOT to give her soy milk, even full fat and fortified as a replacement for formula... formula should come first, always. And of course, no other replacement milks would be acceptable either.

So... what the heck do I do!?

What are others doing?

I do pump... but she’s never taken a bottle, flat out refuses... and any time, literally any time I have tried giving her frozen breast milk whether in bottle, sippy, regular cup, spoon, off my finger, mixed in food... any which way... even in a dream feed she thrashes her head around and will not take it...Even then... if I were to replace everything she needed to drink with frozen breast milk with 2-3 feeds from me still a day as long as I could, it might only last a few months before I'm out... and then what!?


I’m looking for advice on what to do, what would you do in this situation given this information? I want to do the right thing but I don’t think we could afford formula (she said if I breastfeed 2-3 times a day, only 2-3 cups of formula per day should be enough, then water if she’s still thirsty)...

I don’t even know how many cups of formula you’d get out of a tin! How long would it last!?



UGH -_-

[Ms_Derious]

Wow, that's frustrating. We had lots of problems establishing BF due to a tongue tie. I can't imagine the extra complexity in your life by having to pump for each feed. Well done

I know nothing about FF as DD was exclusively breastfed for the first 6m and now is still mainly breastfed with a little bit of water and some solids. She's not overly fussed about food so i guess she doesn't feel she needs it yet.

I take a new mum multivit and she has a vitamin syrup which contains bvits, iron and omega oils.

What would be the best solution for you? To be able to transition her onto the breast, to find a vegan formula or something else.

[leela]

I breastfed my second child for the first year and a half, (she started solids around 6 months old).
I'm sure I could have easily carried on the BF for another 6 months, but I'm ashamed to say that constant pressure from my family, put me off doing so.
They constantly implied it was weird, and I let it get to me in the end.

Anyway, I never gave my child formula once she was off the breast, and she has always been very healthy and eaten a wide variety of nutritious foods.
She didn't have a milk substitute after that, no soy or other plant milk.
She was not vegan, but she never really liked cows milk anyway, so hardly ever had it, unlike her older sister.
I've heard that our ability to digest infant milk starts to tail off at about 2 yrs old.

Perhaps you won't need to worry about formula at all, if you can just carry on the BF for a few more months?

[JewelsStrilaiff]

That's what I'm hoping leela! Although we are still trying to get pregnant again I know there are a lot of people who will breast feed 2 babies at once, but there are a lot of babies who lose interest while mom is pregnant! So I'm really hoping she just keeps going.

Mrs_Derios - There is no vegan formula that I know of. I've tried looking online...contacting a dietitian... no answers. There are soy formula's but they still have vit-d which is animal based


I might just have to breast feed as long as possible and hope my stash for pumped milk holds out to a point where she doesn't need it and we can get away with not replacing with anything!

If I do need to replace with something... I think I'll go with whole milk from a local farm where I can see the animals and such... I'll try my best to get the best source of milk then at least we can just have her somewhere between vegetarian and vegan until we get to a point where she could have almond milk or something!