Babies can be successfully weaned onto a vegetarian diet providing they are getting all the nutrients they need from the 5 food groups. For further advice consult your healthcare professional.
Have a look at the helpful hints below:
- Your baby will need at least 2 portions of meat alternatives a day for protein and iron. This does not include dairy foods as these foods contain very little iron. Meat alternatives include foods such as beans, pulses, lentils, nuts, seeds and eggs
- Vegetarian diets can be more bulky so do make sure your baby is not getting too much fibre at the expense of other more nutrient-dense foods
- Protein from plant foods (cereal, fruit, vegetables, beans, nuts & seeds) is not as good quality as protein from animal origin (meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products). By mixing plant proteins (beans on toast, cereal plus milk) you can improve the quality of the protein your baby receives
- Iron is particularly important to watch on a vegetarian diet, so ensure your baby is getting plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables with their meals to provide a source of vitamin C to help with the iron absorption
- SMA Follow-on Milk is specially formulated with the iron requirements of your baby in mind and can be a very useful complement to the vegetarian diet
- Make sure that all the breakfast cereals you offer are fortified with iron
