I'm not sure my children are thriving...

[happyvegan]

Vegma--Oh, child-led weaning! I don't know why I didn't get that. Duh. But that's what we do, I just didn't call it that. My 3yo was very attached to nursing (in a way that my 20mo doesn't seem to be) and I thought he'd go on for at least another year, but when I was 8 months pregnant with his brother he gave up, since I either had no milk or it was changing texture/flavor. We tried him on continuing nursing when my milk came in after the birth, and he did a few times (just enough to help with engorgement, thank you God), but mostly it seemed like he'd forgotten how. After the very last time he ever nursed, he told me that he was through nursing now and that he really thought we should save the milk for the new baby. I told him that he was wonderful and thoughtful but that it was okay to share the baby's milk. He told me that, no, he didn't need to nurse anymore. It broke my heart a little bit.

Feline01--What a great point, about the guilt of feeding them unhealthy, non-vegan foods, and what a great way to put it! You are absolutely right. I'd feel like every bit of egg or every drink of milk was poisoning their bodies. Now, I know that's irrational and I know that those things aren't poison, but we've been vegan long enough that that is exactly how I'd feel. Even though I don't always know for a fact that I'm doing everything right, I'm pretty sure I know what's *wrong*, and the idea of feeding them animal products just feels *wrong* to me. Not that I think it's wrong for everybody, but I just know what works for my family. Thanks for reminding me of that.

[vegma]

happyvegan, you're not so far off the mark in calling eggs and milk poison! Research shows that eating a whole foods, plant based diet can stop and often reverse many chronic diseases.

[Christa]

Feline's post made me remember the period when dd#1 was little. I was very concerned about her not walking (she didn't start walking until 15 1/2 months - although she was totally steady when she did start). It didn't occur to me that it had anything to do with her diet, but I was quite worried that there was something wrong with her. I did wind up having an early intervention program assess her & she came up well within the normal range for gross motor skills (the area that I was worried about).

When they are little, it seems like everyone is worrying about how their kid stacks up to other kids and worries if they are not doing everything first. 'Average' or 'low average' can often seem like 'slow' especially when you are used to 'above average.' I think that was some of my problem w/ dd. She was very fast in her small motor skills and spoke very early, so her gross motor skills seemed out of line with the rest of her development.

I think that I am beyond worrying now ! My dd probably isn't the best athlete in the world, but she has good rhythm and is a good little dancer (she takes clogging and ballet classes) and is not a clutz either. She's also so smart that it is scary!