Veggie Bubba, vegetarian babies

Bringing up baby to be vegetarian can seem daunting but it really needn't be. Our little one is far from little. I was vegan when he was conceived and only staryed eating dairy again when I was about 14 weeks pregnant. I'm 5 foot nothing and had quite a neat bump compared to when I was carrying bubba 1 and bubba 2. I gained 4 stone with each of their pregnancies and only 28 pounds with the latest babe. So he should have been a little dot, but alas no. He was a whopping 9 pounds 2 ozs and on time. He was exclusively breastfed my vegetarian milk for 6 months and has remained a whopper ever since.

So what do you feed baby once he is passed the fruit and veggie early tasters? It's still important to make sure they are having some protein, but the best diet for babies is high fat and low fibre for some reason, the opposite to us. I give our baby plenty of yoghurt and I mix cheese in with his veggies sometimes. Beans and lentils are great for protein, but one of the best sources is quinoa flakes. It's so easy to add to baby food. Just soak in hot water then add to normal cooking. It's like a grain but high in protein, wonderful stuff and if you stick to the flakes, much more blendable for those early purees.

Be mindful when you are cooking the family dinner, don't add extra salt to your veggies and make extra so that you can blend them up for baby. Courgettes, sweet potato, broccoli and butternut squash whizz up a treat. When baby is older he will really enjoy the family bolognese made with Quorn mince mixed with the spaghetti pasta. Our 7 month old is over 20 pounds, bigger than many one year olds. He is also strong as an ox and has chosen the more difficult army style crawl to regular crawling. He's going to have arms like Wolverine and will probably be taller than me by the time he starts Infant School at this rate!.