Hello and welcome...

Hi! My name is Jules and I have an amazing mini vegan who I will call Little Miss! Although my partner is not vegan we have decided to bring Little Miss up as a vegan! Yay!

A lot of people look a bit shocked when we say we are bringing up our child vegan but let me assure you it is perfectly healthy provided the right care is taken which goes for every type of diet! Plus it can have many beneficial health effects. Although we are not from America I want to quote The American Dietetic Association because they have a very clear and well written statement saying "...that appropriately planned vegetarian, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.".

But why are we vegan? There are several reasons! Firstly we are vegan because we don't want animals to have to suffer or die for our food when we can be perfectly healthy without that. In addition to this, eating plant-based foods means there is enough food and water to sustain the whole world population; much of the plant foods grown go on raising livestock and also producing 1 kilogram of meat takes a lot more water than producing a kilogram of cereals. Vegan diets are also better for the environment and a well-balanced vegan diet has great health benefits. If you would like to know more then I would suggest visiting the Vegan Society website as a starter but there is a wealth of information out there.

If you have found my blog then you probably know what baby-led weaning is but in case you don't here is a little breakdown:

Baby-led weaning throws out the idea of force-feeding babies with purées. Instead, it puts the power in the hands of the babies. Just like babies learn to crawl and walk and talk on their own this process allows them to explore food for themselves. By providing them with food they can handle themselves and put in their mouths, they decide whether they want to eat something or not and only swallow when they are ready. It may sound a little scary but babies have a good gag reflex that is further forward. There can be gagging (but this happens with purées too) and there are rare instances of choking. However, choking also can occur when purées are fed, in fact I have read somewhere (sorry I don't have the source) that there may be more choking instances with purées because the babies are not in control. By letting them take control they can actually learn faster and also tend to have a better relationship with food and mealtimes; being force-fed purées is not fun! If you are new to baby-led weaning, please read all the proper information first. There is a brilliant book by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett which gives great insight into this process and provides all the information you need to get going. It doesn't matter if you started with purées, you can begin baby-led weaning at any time!

Just to add:

Not all babies may take to baby-led weaning. Purée feeding is not the wrong way by any means and may suit some babies better. Baby-led weaning is just another possible approach to introducing complementary foods.

Little Miss is now seven and a half months old. We started baby-led weaning when she was five and a half months because she grabbed a piece of cucumber from my plate, put it in her mouth and started "chewing" (she has no teeth yet!). For the first little while we mainly gave her sticks of cooked vegetables and fruit. We then branched out into some pitta bread fingers and houmous and other simple foods but now things have got more exciting! We are now having foods that the whole family can have although often we have our bigger dinner later as well as a snack with Little Miss. I wanted to start this blog so that I could document the foods that I make for us and to help create a small resource from which other mums can get inspiration!

I hope you enjoy reading this and trying out the recipes as much as I enjoy making them!

Broccoli and cucumber are definitely favourites for simple finger food!

Jules XOXO