Vegans & People who do not drink Milk, and have newborn babys?

Question

Some of us do not drink Milk because we find it Unhealthy. What do Vegan people do when they have a newborn child other than breast feed the baby itself. What about formulas?

Answer 1

I breast fed my son for a month and then we put him on soy formula (Isomil).  It provided him with all the key nutrients and calories he needed, plus there was no blood or pus.

Regular formulas that contain dairy can be very rough on a baby's little belly.  The soy formula didn't tie his stomach in knots like my first son who was on regular formula.

Answer 2

I'm not a mother, but I was breastfed until I was 5. I know I'm not gonna breastfeed that long, but it worked for my mom.

Answer 3

Dr Benjamin Spock advised breastfeeding kids till they are five years old. OK, perhaps that's too much but I don't think two years of age is too much. At the very least, 18 months. Don't wean before that. After that, you don't even have to depend on soy formula, you can give him or her a more varied diet.

Answer 4

I think formula is EVIL. Soy or otherwise.

Breastfeeding all the way.

In other countries with fewer regulations than in N. America these same American formula companies KILL children -- use propaganda techniques that are completely illegal in N. America etc.  That's why there are so many organizations fighting against these giant companies like Gerber etc.  They are evil.  Not to mention that nothing man-made can compete with fresh living breast milk -- the breast will react to the baby's needs getting information from the saliva of the baby... more antibodies when sick, more or less of this or that...  Just reading the ingredients, I would not drink formula myself, so there's no way I'd feed it to my kids, especially a newborn.

Answer 5

If and when I have a baby, my first choice would be breastmilk, hands down and regardless of my veganism.  Nature designed the perfect food for human infants and if at all possible, that's what I'll feed my baby.  If there's any issue with nursing, I'd first check into a milk sharing program and, as a last resort, supplement with soy formula.  There's no completely vegan formula available as far as I know (all have at least some nutrients from animal origin and many have whey.)  But if there was no other option, that's what I'd have to go with.

Answer 6

Human babies need human milk, not cow's milk.

I have 16 month old daughter. I breast fed her until she was 14 months old. I didn't begin to introduce solids until 6 months of age, and I prolonged breast feeding as long as possible.

My daughter is a human being, not a cow. There is no health benefit in feeding ourselves the breast milk of other species, especially past infancy. Cow's milk is as natural as soybean powder for infants. Babies are designed for the milk of their mother, PERIOD, anything else is unnatural.

That being said, if for whatever reason I wasn't able to breastfeed my baby, in a completely hypothetical situation, I would choose soy formula over cow's milk formula. Cow's milk formula is processed to the same extent as soy formula, has no significant nutritional difference, and is just about as natural. I wouldn't breastfeed a calf, so I won't make my child breastfeed off of a cow.

Not to mention the ethical aspects of what cows go through to be dairy cows, or fact that most dairy cows are given hormones to boost milk production, and that cow's milk is naturally full of bovine white blood cells and pus cells, bovine hormones that are both naturally occuring in cows and artificial (the milk boosting ones injected into cows). All these cow chemicals circulating inside a human baby's body aren't right.

According to the USDA and the FDA, soy protein is a complete protein, comprised of all the essential amino acids, and is equivalent in quality and value to animal protein.

However, I am an unabashed supporter of breast feeding. Human milk for human babies, basically. You will not find an honorable pediatrician that will say otherwise. Most pediatricians are weary of formulas, period, but because they are human like the rest of us, they are swayed by the provocative and endless propaganda that formula companies send them.

I am on a close friendship basis with my daughter's pediatrician since she is a professor at the med school I attend - and yes, I am a med student myself - and she told me she receives endless mailings from formula companies, sometimes she is barraged so much by them that she has had to set up a PO Box to make them stop sending them to her office and home.

Answer 7

Most of the soy formulas aren't really vegan. Some of the vitamins and minerals come from animal sources (such as vitamin D). If breastfeeding isn't an option, then there really isn't a readily available vegan infant formula.

Of course, even if there aren't any strictly vegan formulas around, babies of vegan moms should still get formula if their moms can't breastfeed! Babies have plenty of time to be vegan after one year, when they are eating solid foods and can drink calcium-fortified vegan beverages.

Answer 8

You get soy formula in the grocery store where you get all the other formula.  I gave it to my son and we're not even vegetarians at all.  It was easier on his stomach then the regular kind.

I will not apologize to anyone for the health problems I went through after having my son that caused my milk to dry up.  Formula is better than giving them a dry t*t or throwing them in the garbage can.  People should think a little before they start spouting off about what other people need to do when it involves bodily functions that are sometimes out of one's control.