Healthy Vegan Food for Babies (6 months and up)

Many of my family members, colleagues and friends have been telling me how amazed they are by my boy being vegan and yet he is still so strong and big-sized. It was funny because my mum's not vegan but when she heard these comments from my relatives, she said "horses also eat grass". Then my cousin also chirped in to say we are all pre-conditioned to think that meat makes us strong but actually strong animals like bulls, elephants and rhinos are all herbivores. 

There were also some vegans who asked me for advice on what to feed their kids. So I thought why not just share what I've been feeding my baby. We have been feeding him like this since he was 6 months old and he is now 11 months old. Honestly all this food can be eaten by adults too, which to me is important because on days he doesn't want to finish everything, I can show him that I am eating it too and he will copy me and obediently finish his food. And there wouldn't be wastage too since when he really can't finish everything, I can also just finish the remainder. I don't like freezing food either as nutrients are destroyed in the process of freezing and reheating. And frozen food tastes horrible TBH.

Protein

• Lentils (Dal) - there are many versions of this and we mix it up every day. Some days would be brown lentils, some yellow, some pink. I prefer using one type at a time as they take different amounts of time to soften. My favourite are moong dal (similar to taosuan taste) and brown dal. Moong dal also disintegrates if cooked long enough, so you don't have to puree it. Lentils are awesome because they contain certain essential amino acids that can't be found much in other vegan foods. They're also really high in iron and calcium.
• Chickpeas - everyone knows they're super healthy so I won't go into detail. I love them because they taste great.
• Kidney beans/ pinto beans

The thing about beans is that you have to soak them overnight (at least 8h), throw away the water, refill with fresh water and cook them in a pressure cooker till really really soft. Lentils don't have to be soaked but they should still be cooked in a pressure cooker. This is so that their lectins can be broken down to avoid leaky gut and inflammation.

Cruciferous Vegetables

I include these in my baby's diet via purees, which include the following ingredients:

• Cauliflower/broccoli/cabbage/radish (these are the cruciferous vegetables)
• Potato/sweet potato
• Carrot
• Tomato
• Onion/apple (I prefer onion)

I love these purees because they are like soup spoon's creamy soups (so yes I eat them with my baby). When I first introduced this to my baby, he gobbled it up much faster than blueberries or lentils. If you're hardworking enough to handle corn, you can probably add that in as well. I don't like buying packet corn (or any other processed food) and I don't have time to handle corn so I have never included it in my baby's diet.

Green Leafy Vegetables & Omega 3

I include these in my baby's diet mostly via green smoothies:

• Raw spinach (Phuay leng works too) - this is the main ingredient and should make up 75% of your smoothie
• Ground flaxseeds/chia seeds
• Bonsoy (Or water or home-made soymilk)
• Banana
• Orange

I also recently found one interesting combination that my baby loves:

• Raw Tang Oh
• Potato

Hope these come in useful for some of you! I will be adding more in future if I find more combinations/recipes that I like.