22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorite books!, October 31, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Vegetarian Mother and Baby Book: Completely Revised and Updated (Paperback)
The Vegetarian Mother and Baby Book is more than a cookbook. It is a guide to raising a baby on a healthy vegetarian diet. Elliot, a vegetarian since the age of 3, offers sensible and comprehensive information for mothers, mothers-to-be, nursing mothers and anyone who is caring for a vegetarian child. The book has information on all the essential nutrients needed during and after pregnancy and what a child needs throughout the various stages. Elliot clearly explains what each nutrient is and which foods have them. Weekly menus incorporating the essential vitamins and nutrients are offered. The down side here is that she suggests a mother begin to offer juices and solids around four to six months and does not incorporate breast milk into a child's diet past 8 months. In her defense it should be noted the book was written before the American Academy of Pediatrics came out with their recommendation of breastfeeding for the first year and into the second year as long as acceptable by both mother and child. Elliot also gives suggestions for planning ahead and how to save time and energy in preparing foods. Her nutrition charts are easy to read and to understand. Recipes range from the obvious Easy Yeast Pizza to the not so obvious Parsley Sauce. A favorite in this house is Healthy Ice Cream, made with soy milk. Mixed in with the recipes and feeding advice are toilet training hints, suggestions for playing with your child and tips on balancing family and work time.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent for food, so-so on other suggestions., August 28, 2004
This review is from: The Vegetarian Mother and Baby Book: Completely Revised and Updated (Paperback)
The focus of this book is primarily introducing foods to baby and keeping the food choices vegetarian. It also offers some other baby care tips.
Perhaps it is different in England, but some of the foods she suggests (carrots, spinach) are not recc. in the US for home preparation because of the nitrate content.
Attachment parenting fans will find some suggestions iffy. For instance...
The suggestion that potty training is not possible before 18 mos. runs contrary to what we're doing with our duaghter. Infant potty training is possible (see: Laurie Boucke's books). You can start to potty train any time you are ready to teach.
The book also suggests modified "crying it out" for getting the baby to sleep, and seems to lean to moving the baby into the crib and sleeping independently sooner than is reasonbable. Co-sleeping families are not addressed.
Weaning is suggested at 4-6 mos. and although she includes nursing in her schedules, I don't feel like the tone of the book gives terribly strong support to nursing to the year or beyond.
I found the suggestion of giving a baby carrot or apple to chew on but staying nearby in case they break a piece off a choke silly -- just don't offer it in the first place! They do make teething rings that do not break!
Some of the suggestions were useful -- keeping baby in simple clothing, avoiding too fancy party frocks, not fully bathing a newborn daily but every other day and "top and tail" on the non-bath days, freezing food in ice cube trays, etc.
On the food chapters -- the recipes suitable for freezing are marked with a star, and there's a nice variety to the recipes. Be cautious about allergenic foods -- I feel these aren't marked well enough.
Overall -- a decent book for vegetarian babies, but it takes careful reading. "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron would be a better pick.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A decent guide with practical recipes, though some flaws., March 8, 2003
This review is from: The Vegetarian Mother and Baby Book: Completely Revised and Updated (Paperback)
This book has many good tips and is quite reassuring. I do have some concerns, but the "Revised and Updated" version I have may not be the most recent, as the latest copyright date I see in it is 1996.
One concern is that she suggests peanut butter and peanut recipes for infants and toddlers, which is currently NOT recommended due to serious allergy risks. Another concern is that she discusses weaning fairly early, at 3 to 6 months. While this is an option for many mothers, it is not optimal and the Peds people are now recommending delaying the introduction of solids until *at least* 6 months (again, allergies). Also, the first suggestion she provides for 4-6 month old infants is juice, which is not usually not very healthy (unless you make your own or buy flash pasturized, etc.).
These are just a few issues I had with the book that I recall off the top of my head. Still, I think it has many great recipes. Hopefully the newer revision(s) addresses these issues.
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