We love our pediatricians at the office we go to. The one we saw this week is anti-vegan. Wait, what? We're vegan. At some point in his career he read about a study of vegan babies that were fed vegan diets that all ended up with brain damage. Um, this is my 3rd kid, and my first two are super smart! They aren't lacking in brain activity! Not only are my kids doing fine on vegetarian diets, but they are RARELY sick. I can't remember the last time I had to take my kids to the doctor for a sick visit. Well, to be fair, I did have to take the baby in for an ear infection (her 1st sickness @ 7 months old). However, the ear infection was probably my fault because I nurse her lying down and then let her sleep right afterwards.
The doctor suggested that the best way to get her slightly low iron levels up were to feed her meat. Um, no, I won't be doing that. I just smiled politely and told him no. I'll get on those iron-rich veggies real soon though. I told him that I was excited about making my own baby food this time around. On his way out of the room, he poked his head back in and told me not to use canned food to make her baby food. What? I would never even think of doing that. I only use canned tomato products for making sauce. No canned veggies at our house. He said he had a parent who owned a restaurant make their own baby food, using canned food, and the baby got BPA poisoning. Or something like that. I would've never thought to use canned food because I'm so pro-fresh produce. But after thinking about it, I can see why someone may go that route...canned foods are already cooked, so ya just open and puree. Parents, fresh is best. Take the time to cook those veggies.
Oh, another thing he mentioned was about my exclusive breast feeding. Of course he was encouraging me to go ahead and start her on some solids since her weight is down. He mentioned that sometimes mothers get attached to nursing and it's hard to give it up. (He caught me!) The interesting thing he said was that sometimes the babies will enjoy it so much too that they won't even show signs of hunger for other food (solids), which causes them to loose weight due to needing more food for their age. Interesting. My beebee baby does like to nurse and it's one of momma's favorites too. Maybe it's time to pull out the Baby Bullet and whip up some avocados.
Despite the doctor disagreeing with the diet choice I choose for my kids, it was a great visit. Even though he's anti-vegan, he was nice the whole time. I really like them there. And my kids are happy and healthy. Praise the Lord!
