The KInd Life Community Forum

Answer in a comment for a chance to be featured in Alicia's new book The Kind Mama!

I hope you don't mind if I answer all the questions here. My pregnancy was vegan quite by accident, as I started having an aversion to meat almost immediately.

• Did you ever hesitate about having a vegan pregnancy? How did you strengthen your resolve? Did you discover any facts or evidence that inspired you or gave you peace of mind? ~ Yes I hesitated, because I am not fully vegan or vegetarian all the time. When you're pregnant, though, your body SCREAMS for things, and mine was mostly screaming, "no meat!" (I don't eat dairy anyway, so that wasn't an issue.) I felt good throughout, and continued running and lifting weights until about 2 weeks before Emmett was born. I ran my first half-marathon at 4 months postpartum, and I attribute that to the vegetarian lifestyle I followed throughout that time.

• During your pregnancy, how did you deal with naysayers? Did anyone give you a hard time? ~ No one really minded my vegan choices for MYSELF. But for my baby? My son?! I got some extreme reactions to it, particularly after he was born. People said things like, "It isn't healthy for him", "He isn't getting the right nutrients", "You could ruin his development". In reality, my son is taller, fitter (no baby fat, thanks in part to exercising), and healthier than most kids his age. The best part is, he likes fruits and vegetables. I have the only kid in the neighborhood who refuses mac 'n cheese! He LOVES broccoli and would eat it at every meal if he could.

• How did you handle cravings for naughty foods? ~ I didn't crave meat or dairy or bread. So I gave in about half the time, my cravings were mostly for things like pickles and nacho chips. Chocolate, too. I ate a lot of dark chocolate chips. I still tried to make the 'best' choices possible.

• How did you involve your partner in your pregnancy to make it more meaningful for both of you? ~ We talked about everything as we were experiencing it, and the reasoning behind it. He is very sensitive to my feelings and my needs, and thankfully he is very easygoing. I didn't have to convince him that babies shouldn't eat meat or drink cow's milk, he agreed with me and supported all my choices. We had a birth plan, but I am little and my baby was big, so that didn't exactly work out. I'm so grateful for my husband, who kept me calm through the whole ordeal.

I can never say for sure if the vegan diet helped me get pregnant but I believe it did. After 7 years of trying and failing to get pregnant, I suddenly went from Vegetarian to Vegan mid-December through most of January. I got pregnant end of December- whether it was prayer (I sent up one last prayer for a child in December as well) or a combination of both, it finally happened. I had been on a vegan diet as part of our "get healthy before the new year" plan and it literally changed my life.
My son was born two months ago and he is thriving on his mama's vegetarian diet (still working on becoming vegan 24-7-365) but I eat very little milk/cheese because I'm trying to keep his reflux in check.
He is my little light and I can't imagine life without him!