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Newborn Vegan here!

Newborn Vegan here!

Started by Becca Lewis-Rowan on December 27, 2010

4 Comments

Becca Lewis-Rowan said #1 Dec 27, 2010 at 10:30am

I am on my second day of living as a vegan. My MIL has been flirting for a few weeks now, and she gave me a copy of The Kind Diet for Christmas. It took me only a day to read it all, and I completely fell in love. I'm so enthusiastic about it, that I've even been able to get my husband interested and willing to try with me!

My goal is to continue making family favorites with a vegan twist. I have a four year old son named Raurie, who can be rather picky, so if he can recognise what we're eating (such as macaroni and "cheese"), I'm off to a good start. Luckily he loves vegetables (especially in salad form) and fruit. We're just going to have to work on getting him to eat more whole grains.

I also have a 3 month old baby. Sadly, due to the fact that I wasn't producing milk efficiently, he's on formula. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the prospect of getting him off of the milk based formula, because I don't like the potential rammifications of using soy...does anyone have any alternative ideas on this? I've already had to go with a lactose free milk-based formula, because Finn didn't react well to lactose.

I look forward to getting to know everyone, and I'm so grateful to have stumbled upon this path in my life's journey...however suddenly and unexpectedly I came to it .

Love and blessings to you all!

Jen75 said #2 Dec 27, 2010 at 10:48am

Hi Becca,

I don't know if this information will be of use to you since I don't know all about your circumstances. But have you read anything by Dr. Jack Newman yet? He is a breastfeeding specialist from Canada. He has published a book on breastfeeding, you may be able to get it at your local library (I can), definitely at any bookstore or on Amazon. Anyhow, I am pregnant with my 4th. I had milk supply issues with all my children but once I found Dr. Newman and his advice (after consulting more than one breastfeeding specialist and trying all the usual methods of increasing supply, one of the specialists pointed me in the direction that led to increased milk supply), I resolved my milk supply issues. I was able to nurse all my children until they were a little over year old. I believe his advice also covers mothers who adopt (yes they can nurse apparently) and mothers who are looking to restart lactation. Please check out his book if you think it would be of use to you. This website has some of his articles online so you can get a flavor for his advice. He is VERY well known in Canada and very well regarded. I even had a little side nursing issue with my 2nd child, contacted his office via the internet and they responded with some excellent advice. The website that has some of his articles is http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/newman.shtml

Best wishes to you. --Jennifer

Becca Lewis-Rowan said #3 Dec 27, 2010 at 12:36pm

Thank you, Jennifer! I didn't even know it was possible to re-start lactation once stopped!!! I'm definitely going to look more into the subject, I'd love to be able to nurse my little Finn! I nursed Raurie until he was almost a year old, then he weaned himself.

This time around, I was looking at starting a new job, I was really stressed out about leaving my kids at home (I've been a SAHM for over 3 years), and all of the anxiety and guilt just made my milk supply dry up. I tried to increase my supply by having Finn latch for longer periods of time, but that just ended up hurting - a lot! I ended up just giving up, thinking maybe it was for the best since I would be working full time anyway.

Now, after issues with lactose, the expense of formula (especially non-GMO soy formula), and the separation anxiety and guilt I have gone through over all of this, I really wish I had fought harder to keep nursing.

Thank you for giving me a resource where I can explore trying to nurse again !

theplant rx said #4 Jan 3, 2011 at 10:42pm

Hello, Becca (& hubby!)

Glad to have you join us! Very exciting. I am a physician who advocates a plant-based diet! As a hobby I also keep a blog on Plant based diets as a resource for people who are interested. It is largely from a medical perspective of course, because well, that is what I know. I'm here to learn from other people about the benefits from an animal welfare and environmental perspective. That being said my reasoning for adopting a vegan diet for myself was all due to the data on health and wellness benefits. The fact that there are additional benefits on top of that is a wonderful bonus!

If you have a few moments you and your husband may be interested in taking a look at my blog, particularly a section on our "mini-experiment" that will be starting in two weeks on Jan 15th. It is an experiment in which people who are currently consuming either a SAD diet (std American diet), a flexitarian diet or a vegetarian diet convert to a vegan diet for 60 days. (I only require 60 days for the experiment but I have done this before with patients and they almost always stay with it) I measure various health parameters prior to the onset of the experiment, at the 30d mark and at end. The participants will be blogging about their experience the entire 60 days sharing the experience with my readers. I hope to have bios, etc up by the end of next week! (Actually, I hope to have a lot more done site wide by then, but I digress) I thought it may be interesting since you will be on a similar path. Best Wishes, Jenn (www.theplantrx.com)

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