Happy World Vegan day 
Hey I’m Emily, a vegan and mum of 3 year old. I’ve been vegan for 5 years now and my son has been vegan since conception!
Whenever I meet someone new & the topic comes up… there is always lots of questions and it amazes me how fascinated, shocked and little people know about veganism. It’s really very simple… we don’t eat any food derived from animals. There are many reasons for this but our chosen ones are moral, health and environmental factors.
For the first 2.5 years of my son’s life, he was breastfed and for the first 6 months it was exclusively on my (vegan!) breast milk. I always knew I wanted to breastfed, as my mum did with me and I understood the many benefits. But also due to the lack of vegan alternatives and our views on this, breastfeeding was extra important to us; It was the only available choice of milk in our world so we knew we had to get it right.
Although breastfeeding is so natural, it doesn’t take away the fact it is not always easy, you need to both learn what works for you & that sometimes you can experience discomfort/pain (emotional or physical)- please seek support if this is you!
We had support in the very early days and without this I don’t think we would have had the same positive experiences. Breastfeeding has definitely been a parenting tool for us; it gave me the freedom & confidence to take my baby around the world with me, on days out, long car journeys, festivals, weddings etc as I always knew I had breastfeeding to soothe him!
At 6 months old we introduced solid foods and alternative milks (oat and soya) in foods & at around 12 months we gave these milks alongside breast milk as a drink. We tried to give my son as many whole foods as possible and although people always ask ‘what do you even eat?!’, he had tried 100 different foods by the age of 9 months old, all 100% vegan!
Our breastfeeding journey ended earlier this year at 2.5 years old and I couldn’t be prouder. I have loved this journey with my boy so much – it has not just nourished & comforted him – it nourished & comforted me too.
My now nearly 4 year old takes veganism in his stride. We have always tried to teach him compassion when it comes to animals through real life experiences and books/ toys. We explain in a simple way that we ‘don’t eat animals’, that animals are ‘friends not food’ and ‘if it’s not your mum, it’s not your milk’ and from this he seems to understands the basic concept of being vegan. I do also feel it massively helps that we are all vegan and we only have vegan friendly food at home.
My son understands that sometimes he can’t have treats at parties but that mummy always has something else he can eat. Our friends have been great and usually arrange an alternative as well & most places are vegan friendly these days! On occasions he will ask me when shopping, ‘is this vegan mummy’ whilst looking at the label
. As long as there’s an alternative for him, he has never really got upset for missing out, and considering this was something I worried about when raising a vegan child…I’m so relieved how he managed this.
Although we’ve mostly been met with curiosity for raising our son vegan, we did have the odd negative comment that our baby would be ‘small’ and suggestions of malnutrition before he was born, but anyone who’s met our boy can tell you otherwise
If you are considering being vegan, like everything – do your research. You can get ample protein, calcium and iron from a vegan diet but you will need to take some additional supplements to ensure you are getting enough vitamins (e.g b12, omega 3 which are only found in animal products due to what the animals are fed). Regardless of diet, nowadays most professionals will recommend you take a multivitamin anyway especially vitamin D given our climate!
I have found @theoriginalvegansociety a great source of information, if you’re looking to do your own research!
If you have any questions about veganism or raising a vegan child, I’m happy to try and help, I’m definitely no expert just a mum bumbling through 
Emily x