Vegetarian diets for young children

A strict vegetarian diet is one that doesn’t include any meat, fish, seafood or animal by-products like gelatine, although most vegetarians do eat certain animal products such as milk, cheese and eggs.

There’s no reason why even very young children shouldn’t follow a vegetarian diet and still get all the nutrients they need to grow up healthy and strong. It’s simply a matter of making sure you give them enough of the right sort of vegetarian food to make up for the essential nutrients they’d otherwise get in meat and fish.

In particular, it’s important they get their guideline daily amounts of protein, calcium, iron, zinc and vitamin A.

Protein and the ‘essential amino acids’ it contains can’t be manufactured by the body, so we have to get it from the food we eat. Red meat, chicken and fish are all rich in protein, but for vegetarians, there are plenty of alternatives, including:

• Beans on toast.
• Hummous and pitta bread.
• Bread and cheese.
• Beans and rice.
• Breakfast cereal and milk.
• Lentil soup and bread.

By mixing these different plant protein sources together in their diet, it’s easy to give kids all the essential amino acids they need.

Dairy products like milk, cheese, yoghurts and eggs are a ready source of calcium for growing teeth and bones, as well as zinc and vitamin A, so make sure you include plenty of them in their daily diet.

For iron rich alternatives to red meat, try green vegetables, dried fruit such as apricots, pulses, beans, fortified breakfast cereals and bread.

Make sure you give them fruit and fresh vegetables or a glass of diluted fruit juice at the same time, as the vitamin C will help their bodies absorb iron more efficiently.

Another easy and tasty way to boost their iron intake is to give them an iron fortified breakfast cereal in the morning.