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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookI have an 8 month old who is exibiting signs of lactose intolerance. I would LOVE to get her off of milk based formula (unfortunatly I couldn’t produce breat milk for her). Is it safe to change her to raw smoothies instead? Have any good recipes? Are there any things you can’t give a baby besides honey which I don’t use anyway. DH is leery of changing her to a raw diet but I woud love to try it out. Thanks for any help or advice you can offer!!
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I don’t know much about babies eating smoothies and fruits at eight months, but one thing I wanted to point out is that most certainly the acidic fruits that are too strong for their little mouths (pinapple, kiwi, citrus). Just to keep in mind if you find sufficient evidence that smoothies/fruit is the right thing to do.
I have read in a few vegan cookbooks that melon smoothies are good for babies…here is a “blurb” from one of them:
Melon Milk or Juice 1 ripe melon halved and seeded Use a spoon to scoop fruit directly into the blender container. Turn the blender on high and watch your melon transform into beautiful creamy milk. Try adding some berries or a banana to mix it up or half fresh and half frozen melon for an icy treat. Or if you have a juicer, juice your melon. Drink melon juices alone, on an empty stomach. Serve alone or with a fruit platter. Melons are a cleansing fruit with the highest water content of any fruit. They pass through the empty stomach, washing it and then cleansing the digestive tract. If melon juice is in the stomach with foods that are already there or that are eaten at the same time, the entire contents of the stomach spoil-actually ferment- causing indigestion, bloating and pain. The best time for melon juice is in the morning or whenever your stomach has been empty for hours. You can introduce fresh melon juice to breastfeeding infants after six months of age
My sons favorite food has always been green smoothies. When he first started drinking them at around 6 months we kept them simple with just 1 kind of fruit, a small amount of greens and water. Apple/spinach is a good combo. Also a nice milk substitute is hemp seeds blended with young coconut water. If you have access to a juicer carrot juice is almost identical in its nutritional make up as human breast milk.
Why not make your baby nut milk instead? I would buy a nutmilk bag (to make the milk extra smooth) and perhaps use sesame seed milk as sesame seeds have the highest in calcium. You can make it in bulk and it keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days in airtight container and it also freezes well. I have a 16 month old son and hes currently on raw Goats milk. I have ordered myself a nutmilk bag and will be making that for him once it comes. He has milk twice a day and I make a nice smoothie each day before dinner and he cant get enough of them. Today I used 1-2 cups water, 2 handfuls of baby spinach, I apple, 1 pear, 1 banana.
If ever I had a baby the very first thing that I would feed my baby is pure, cold-pressed, organic, raw, unrefined coconut butter/oil. The abudant supply of MCFA’S (middle chain fatty acids, very different than long chain fattty acids and extremely beneficial for you and your baby…this saturated fat of the coconut is very rare and is found in only two other edible places on earth, one of which is mother’s milk) protect your baby from viruses and germs (these MCFA’S are identical to the ones in Mother’s milk, just in lesser degree). They protect disease. It also improves the baby’s ability to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, minerals, and proteins. Without Mother’s milk, an infant can suffer from nutritional deficiencies and be more vunerable to disease. When it’s stored below 78 degrees it will be like a butter, so lovely for a baby to eat because it’s just a lovely cream to lick up. Not only that, it’s a great source of energy for your little baby’s needs. Coconut oil is a beautiful present from God, a true superfood. I think it would be a great food for your little one, tdg, because your baby is the ultimate gift from the Lord! Hope this helps!
I listened to a man from Hippocrates Institute, and he said that nut milks should not be given to children until they are older. Nuts are too hard to digest when they are babies and even toddlers. He also said that if a mother could not breastfeed, it would be one case where he’d recommend raw goats milk. Is your baby getting raw milk or pasteurized milk? You can also make rice milk if you want to? As far as juices, for that young of an age, I’ve read that you should only give about 2 oz. fresh juice with 2 oz. pure water per day to start out. I would avoid soy milk all together. I hope this helps…have you tried the Nana milk, just banana and water blended?
Sorry I had to cut out. We had a family emergency. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I am in the process of going over them and seeing what I can do. I had taken her off all formula for about 48 hours when we were called away. She seemed to be doing much better. Unfortunatly I couldn’t take all my gear so we had to resort to going back to the formula for a couple of days. She is again all full of mucus and coughing. I am going to have to find a permanent solution for her. She is just miserable like this. Thanks again for your suggestions. I will give them a try.
For a long time I have eaten half a cantaloupe with a mango and green juice for breakfast. I haven not had any stomach pains, bloating or gas (farts).
I may not believe that food combining stuff. The only food combining thing that is probably correct is starches shouldn’t be eaten with meat (but raw people probably don’t do that).
I would get the book “Baby Greens – A Live Food Approach for Children of All Ages” by Michaela Lynn (available on amazon). I would also check out the info Gabriel Cousins has on it in his books (Conscious Eating and Raibow Green Diet).
Oh yeah, and check out this blog: http://www.rawbabyalex.blogspot.com/
Cheers to you and your health! Kristen Suzanne
Please make sure that your baby gets adequate B12. Soy baby formula would work if breast milk or regular formula are no longer options.
There’s a lot of inaccurate information about B12 in vegan & raw circles. I suggest reading “Could It Be B12?” The authors have a lot of good information & case studies on vegans & babies.
I’ve been vegan for 12 years, but I learned quite a bit reading the book last week.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1884956467
Do NOT give your baby nut milk. I would shy away from that and soy milk. If your baby is showing signs of being lactose intolerent it is possible that your baby has other allergies and giving things too early, like nuts, can actually cause allergies down the road. (Most pediatricians note to stay away from nuts & honey for the first year or so.) My DD2 is allergic to dairy, soy, wheat, nuts, shellfish and seafood (two seperate allergies not everyone is allergic to both). She never took dairy formula and would refuse soy and, turns out, with good reason.
I would try the melon milk and carrot juice that others suggested. I would probably dilute both so that there is not so much sugar in them. Is your baby eating any solids or applesauce or anything like that?
Just as a mom with some experience with small children and allergies, if your baby is coughing and such, you should stop the forumla and not continue giving it to her—period. In someone with an allergy, they may not have a bad reaction other than something small and then one day (if their body is weak or whatever) they can have a full blow anaplyatic reaction. This is what happened with my daughter. She ate something that she had eaten before a few times and only had reactions, like coughing or whatever, after eating it that day her throat started to close. I know my daughter is a very special case, but it always freaks me out when people with known allergies eat stuff they’re allergic to. My daughter can eat wheat/soy without having a full blown analypatic reaction, but her allergist said don’t give her any ever because there is no way to know how she will react all the time.
Anyway, I am not trying to freak you out. I know it can be stressful enough with a baby. I just wanted to share my experience with you. You might check your local health food store and see what types of other formulas they offer. I do not know if they have rice based forumlas, but that might be better than milk based or soy.
i have read that the water of young coconut is very similar to breast milk and safe to give infants, but i would read up on that first
I have been looking at the Vega brand meal replacement shake mix. Do you think that I could use this blended with some fresh veggies and fruits for my baby? It appears to have proteins and such that she would need. Does anyone have any experience with the Vega shakes? How do they taste?
Please be careful with giving your baby foods you are not sure of!! Again, I agree with pp – do not give a baby that young nut milks. Too hard to digest. If you can’t breastfeed, your baby still needs formula during this all-important time of growth, both physical and mental. I’m all for a raw foods diet, but at this age, your baby needs milk from you, and if you can’t give it, get something that is as nutritionally similar as possible. Have you tried plain ol’ soy based formula? It may go against raw food principles, but you can give baby raw food for every other meal. Baby at 8 months is not ready to be weaned yet.
Another option – there are breast milk banks. Women are screened for any illnesses and tested, then they give breast milk to a bank. You can fill out an application to receive breast milk to feed your baby. This is a good option for women who can’t produce, and babies who have severe allergies (lactose, soy – then no formula will work). This may be something you want to look into.
I am a mother to two daughters, youngest was 100% raw for quite some time (no longer, but still a large percentage). Be careful. I’m not trying to scare you and I’m not against raw foodism (obviously) – but babies need a lot of calories and nutrion. My youngest experienced slow growth (failure to thrive), nutrional problems, extrememly low weight, etc. we had to begin supplementing with cooked foods for fear of her growth and development and health. She began thriving and has finally caught up after nearly a year off of 100% raw foods. It really scared me at one point.
Again, not trying to scare you, but I’ve been there/done that (raw food and the low calorie intake I had caused my milk to stop as well, so I couldn’t breastfeed, even though I breastfed my first for more than a year while non-raw, not even vegan).
And please, don’t give baby just coconut milk – not enough fat for brain development. Great treat, not sound for regular formula though.
Hi tdg, I am the Mom of a child who had many, many chemical and food allergies/sensitivies. He was covered in eczema from head to toe for some length of time. The list of his issues are too long to list and we were told by everyone, MD’s, ND’s, nutritionists, etc. that he had the worst case of eczema they had ever seen and by a GI Dr. that we won the prize of most allergic baby. Anyway the story is long but I will try to sum it up…I tried changing my diet and cut out all wheat, dairy, etc. and no matter what I ate my son would start itching and scratching after I breastfed him. I made it to 8 months of breastfeeding and finally knew for both our emotional and physical well being I had to stop breastfeeding. It was torture to feel as if I couldn’t support my child nutritionally and see him scratch all the time. I was doing alot of blame and guilt and had to someone get out of that cycle to help us both. We tried numerous formulas and he reacted, we tried Neocate, which so many people use with kids like this and he reacted, we tried a soy formula for about 4 months and over time he got worse with regards to bloating, constipation, etc. I have done lots of research on soy and I am not a fan of at all. I know many think it is great and if it works for them it is great but if from what I learned the formulas have way too way soy isolate and what not in them and can cause thyroid issues among other issues.
We ended up juicing dandelions and giving him dandelion juice also did red pepper juice along with trying many other things. He was able to heal and has come a long way from those early days. So I think if you can breastfeed then do so and make whatever changes you can to your diet, if breastfeeding doesn’t work I would explore juicing and feeding the baby any fruits and vegetables they can handle. My personal belief is yeah we need essential fatty acids but we need very little. I believe the reason we adults and kids are in desperate need of them is because it is such an imbalance of the Omega 3 and 6’s in our diet. The average person eating SAD is eating tons of soy oil, peanut oil, corn oil, sunflower oil and they are usually cooked. I would experiment with some first cold-pressed oils and try a 1/8 or 1/4 tsp. here and there and watch for any reactions…good or bad. I think the coconut oil may be an option, didn’t work for us back then but a nutritionist I worked with had good results with her own son and some clients so worth a try.
My child is 3 1/2 now and issues still happen….recently he ate alot of raw peppers from Whole Foods and got very congested from them. But they have waxes and whatever on them. So next summer we just have to grow alot of our own produce. But he is doing well and I know that he is better than he would have ever been if we had continue to feed him formulas, put him on all types of drugs, etc.
So from one Mom to another I wish you well on your journey. It can be tough but also a growing experience in many ways. This experience brought me back to God and my spiritual connection, put our family priorities in order and we wouldn’t be were we are now if my son had not had these issues.
Also something we did alot of is cranial sacral work. Many times structural issues could be an issue, misalignment of the spine, or blockages of energy, etc. I found cranial sacral very effective for me and my son. Many issues can stem from the way the child was delivered, any falls, etc. so just something you might want to look into.
Okay, I wrote enough. As you can see I am very passionate about this but it has been in the forefront of our life for 3+ and I feel as if we are finally seeing the fruits of our labor. We stayed up many a nights blending peppers, dandelions and before that making our own rice milk, cucumber juice, etc. We have TRIED it all.
Know you are doing a great job! And keep up the good work! Trying to give our kids the best start in life is a wonderful gift many kids aren’t getting these days.
Cajcookie
Hi Sky princes,
wouldn,t you might to tell me exact procedure how to prepare coconut oil to get to drink to baby?? I can’t really emagine how to do it as coconut oil is very thick and taste very oily.I believe its great but can you help pls??
Hi Renata, I know you were asking Sky princes but I saw your post and thought I would make a suggestion. Put the coconut oil on the babies skin. The skin is the largest organ and it does get absorbed through the skin. This way you can test it out first. Maybe put some on her upper lip or another spot and watch for a few hours, up to a day or so, for any type of negative reaction.
Also even though the coconut oil is solid you can run some hot/warm water in a bowl and set the coconut oil in it and it will go back to liquid form and then can be added to vegetables or whatever the child may be eating. It doesn’t have to be much at all, we need very little fat but the right kinds and be able to absorb it properly.
Hope this helps. Cajcookie
Thanks for all your help. I can not breast feed since I never did produce with either of my children. I gave my daughter the Vega shake last night and she seems to really like it. She did look at it funny though since it is green and she is used to the white of her formula.
I don’t like the soy formulas so I do not want to go back to those. She tried those a month or so back and had terrible issues with vomiting.
I would love to try a milk bank but we are in a very small community that is hundreds of miles from the nearest milk bank.
The reason I looked into the Vega shakes are because of family pressure. My extended family had seen the news blurb about the raw family back east whose child died from starvation. They are terrified of the “raw diet” as they think I am going to starve her. With the Vega shakes at least I can give her good nutrients and also be able to show my family the nutritional information and assure them that I am giving her proteins and ingredients that she needs. They think that I am nuts for following the raw diet but they really throw a fit at me “subjecting” my child to it. My family is very attached to their southern fried SAD diet. My husband, while he doesn’t follow the raw diet, agrees that we need to try something different with our daughter and is supportive of trying the raw diet with her. It is the rest of the family that I am having to deal with. I am still feeding her some table foods (raw and non-raw) but want to get her off the milk based formula. She is just so full of mucos and just can’t seem to get past that. There is no infection – just tons of mucos.
Whew, I was going to also say avoid soy milk like the plague! Our daughter had the same problem with severe vomiting from soy and there are sooooooooo many articles out there about soy causing many, many hormonal and emotional issues in children.
I know of 3 different families whose children and babies had big problems with allergies and mucous and they all quit any pasteurized dairy and went with raw dairy from a local farmer and the symptoms totally disappeared in ALL of the children! In fact, if they are out (school, traveling, at a friends house) and have pasteurized dairy or cheese or yogurt, the symptoms appear again almost immediately.
Hi TDG - just noticed you wrote this: “My extended family had seen the news blurb about the raw family back east whose child died from starvation”
I am wondering who it is you are referring to. I am worried that you’re talking about the Andressohn family. Their baby was born with had a rare condition, with no thymus gland, a condition which normally kills the baby in a couple of weeks. Their baby managed to survive a few months. They did not starve their child, and they were cleared of this ludicrous claim that was made against them, all be it after they had the most awful few years in jail, being separated from their children and each other, before their names were cleared.
There is a lot of information about the case here:
http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/articles/art_Andress…
tdg,
the mucous issue – ick!! Neither of my daughters have ever drank cow’s milk – my oldest was vegetarian until 2, my youngest has been vegan since birth (with a large amount of all or nearly all raw food). My daughters have never had the flu, only one ear infection that solved itself in a days time, no runny noses, no leaky eyes, no common colds even.
Now, I just recently began babysitting for a SAD family. Their one year old is ALWAYS sick. Her nose constantly runs, her eyes are red, she sometimes vomits after drinking her cow’s milk. She seems to have a constant cold. I feel so awful every time I give this child her milk that’s supposed to be so good for her!!
As for the milk banks, you don’t have to be nearby if I remember right. They will ship it to you.
Zoe – Thanks for the information. This doesn’t sound like the case they are talking about but it is still frightening that this family is enduring this just because they chose to feed their children a healthy diet. I think the one that my family is referring to is a case fairly recently that happened on the east cost – Georgia or the Carolinas. I am not sure where.
Skyespice- I do find it nasty to deal with. I feel so badly for her. She should be happily playing and not having to always be badgered by me wiping her nose. I have had her on the Vega shakes for about 36 hours now and she is tremendously better. I have been blending up a couple of bananas with the shakes. She loves them. It is expensive stuff but if it works for her, it is worth every penny.
Soy milk … couldn’t believe this came up as a recommendation!
For those who are just starting on this road, the first thing is to really make sure that breastfeeding is not an option, all too often difficulties are encountered initially that with perseverance and the right advice would be overcome, if that isn’t the case then alternatives to lactose formula need to be looked at. tdg, this is in no way a comment on your situation, so please don’t think it’s intended as such for a moment :-)
I haven’t researched this in any great depth, but, amongst other things, I understand that coconut milk contains lauric acid, which is contained in mother’s milk and promotes brain and bone development.
If I were in your situation I’d be looking at simple green smoothies, possibly with added coconut milk. This would be the first step that I’d be checking, it seems potentially very healthful and I’d want to make sure it is definitely so.
It looks like this little one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_M5w-xbbc4 enjoys them!
This is so interesting!
Renata, sorry I didn’t reply. I was gone for a couple weeks and didn’t see it.
I think babies, depending on age, would just love it from the spoon. It’s got such a creamy, soft texture, like baby food really. My family doesn’t even understand how I can take it by itself if I want to. Or at liquid oil stage you could mix it in a baby smoothie or milk.
My daughter was extremely sensitive also. My had to avoid 7 food categories while nursing her. It was very hard.
I agree, don’t worry about raw at this point, worry about calories and getting food in her that does not upset her system. There is plenty of time once she has outgrown (as many infants do) these issues or at least moved passed the critical growth milestones to teach a raw lifestyle. Find a pedi who is very in touch with dietary issues and familiar with raw diets before making any drastic moves. This time in life is critical for brain, muscle and bone development. Problems now can be hard to fix later.
Also, thanks for the coconut oil tip, I am going to try that myself with my toddler and tiny tot! :-)