When you start to introduce your baby to solid foods, you need to make sure they’re getting all the nutrients they need to grow big and strong and develop healthily. Just like a non-vegetarian diet, your baby can get all the energy and nearly all of the nutrients they need by eating a varied and balanced diet.

So how do you wean a baby on a vegan or vegetarian diet? Which vegetarian and vegan foods should you be offering? And what supplements should you be giving your baby?

If you’re raising your baby on a vegetarian or vegan diet, you need to take particular care that they’re getting enough Vitamin B12, protein , calcium, iron and omega-3 fatty acids in their diet. It’s a good idea to talk to a healthcare professional about any supplements you might need to give your baby to meet their recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals.

From around 7 months, when you start introducing a wider range of foods, a vegan or vegetarian diet can sometimes be high in fibre, which can make your baby feel full up before they’ve taken on enough calories and nutrients to power all that growing and developing. If you're worried your baby’s not getting enough energy from this age, try offering them higher calorie foods like hummus, smooth nut butters or full-fat unsweetened yoghurt or yoghurt alternatives. You can also offer white bread and rice rather than wholegrain or brown varieties as they contain less fibre and therefore won’t fill them up as quickly.

Proteins are essential for healthy growth. Made up of different amino acids, they’re found in every cell of your little one’s body and are essential for repairing damaged cells and building new ones².

Certain amino acids are considered an essential part of your baby’s diet as they can only be obtained from the foods they eat. Protein from animal sources, such as eggs, milk and cheese, contain the full range of these ‘essential’ amino acids². However, if you’re weaning your baby on a vegan diet, they can get all the amino acids they need by eating a good variety of plant-based protein sources².

• Dairy products like cheese and unsweetened yoghurt.
• Eggs stamped with the red lion mark.
• Lentils, pulses and beans.
• Grains such as oats, barley, rice and quinoa.

Iron is essential for the formation of haemoglobin in your baby’s red blood cells, which carry oxygen around their body, and plays an important role in their immune system6.

There are two types; haem iron (from animal sources) and non-haem iron (from plant sources).

While non-haem iron is harder for the body to absorb, vitamin C helps the body absorb more iron. So combining iron-rich foods with vitamin C-rich foods like red peppers and broccoli, or offering vitamin-C packed fruit like strawberries or kiwi fruit for dessert, will help your baby absorb more iron from their meals.

• Fortified breakfast cereals.
• Beans, chickpeas and lentils.
• Leafy green vegetables.
• Dried fruit, such as figs and apricots.

The Department of Health recommends that all little ones between the age of 6 months and 5 years are given a daily supplement containing vitamins A, C and D in order to meet their recommended daily intake8. Because infant formula is already fortified with nutrients, if your baby is having at least 500ml (about a pint) of formula milk a day, there’s no need to give them vitamin supplements.

Vitamin supplements for babies are given in the form of drops – your health visitor can give you advice on the best vitamin drops to complement your baby’s diet.

Not all forms of vitamin D are suitable for vegans – so if you’re raising your baby on a vegan diet, look for a supplement containing Vitamin D2 which is vegan-friendly. Certain varieties of Vitamin D3 are derived from lichen and are also suitable for vegans9.

If you’re raising your baby on a vegan diet, they may also need to take a supplement of vitamin B12 too.