As a practicing vegetarian for over six years when I became pregnant it never occurred to me not to raise my child as a vegetarian. That sentiment changed when my son was six months old and his pediatrician, a family friend with over forty years of experience, firmly let me know that he felt it was time for me to introduce meat into my son's diet. When I expressed my desire to raise my son as a vegetarian he argued that a vegetarian diet is not necessarily healthy for young babies and that he would not recommend it. He believed that although vegetarianism is my choice, my son should be able to make his own choice in that regard.
Generally speaking, I have never really cared what other people thought of my vegetarian lifestyle. My family is a southern family in which the idea of cooking food without meat as a side dish or as seasoning is an altogether foreign concept. Despite this I always knew that for me becoming a vegetarian was the best decision I could make, regardless of what anyone else thought. Suddenly, my son's doctor's recommendation contradicted my independent minded view of the world and gave me something to think about. Despite myself I began to debate the merits of feeding my son meat.
My son's father, a vegetarian for nearly twenty years and a vegan for the past five years, felt very strongly that our son should not eat meat of any kind. He and I became vegetarians for two different reasons. On one hand I felt that it was morally the right thing to do, while he felt that it was the best way to eat from a health standpoint.
From his viewpoint, feeding our son meat would be detrimental to his health.
In the end, I am my son's primary caregiver, and his father left the decision up to me. I felt an enormous amount of pressure to make the best overall decision for my son's long-term health and well being. A decision that initially seemed like a no-brainer had quickly begun to weigh on me heavily.
Luckily, just as it was time to completely do away with baby food and give my son a diet of regular table food, I happened to come in contact with a pediatrician who was the mother of three healthy vegetarian children. She was totally supportive of my choice, and offered me tons of good advice as well as helpful tips. After speaking with her I knew the right thing to do. Since then I have never once regretted my ultimate decision to raise my son a vegetarian.
As a bit of a compromise, I have decided that once my son is of an age to understand the whole debate I will revisit the issue. But until then he eats what I eat, a diet rich in soy, fruit, nuts, grains and vegetables with moderate amounts of dairy.
I feel that it was the best decision that I could've made, for both of us. The only other alternative would have left me doing double duty at mealtime; cooking meals with meat for him, and without meat for me. Now, he is a happy, rambunctious twenty-month old who is in excellent health, and I only have to cook one meal for everyone at mealtime. Despite occasional grumbling from my relatives it feels wonderful to have stuck to my principles on such an important issue.
--Angelena Alston is a full-time mother, a freelance writer and a novelist living in Port Chester, NY, which is 45 minutes from Manhattan.
