Babies and Keto

(Clara Teixeira) #22

I used Similac formula for sensitive stomachs for my 2 formula fed babies. They seemed to just be happier on it. I practiced baby led weaning and they began sampling tiny tastes of things from my plate at about 5 months. Of course I wasn’t keto then but they still ate wholesome foods and not rice purees. My oldest was breastfed until 12 months and I only fed her rice cereal and fruit and veggie purees and she is to this day my pickiest eater with the worst emotional issues. I feel awful for depriving her brain of important fats early on but the doctors encouraged low fat, high carb foods. I simply didn’t know better.

#23

We all do the best we can with the knowledge and ability we have at the time. I do not believe that what we eat early on (although possibly important at the time) causes un-reversable damage. Or else we’d all be screwed. God my diet from infancy was craptastic, I was never breastfed a day in my life. We lived off hamburger helper and processed cheese and hot dogs. Luckily I am completely healthy. I know this is anecdotal, but sometimes kids are gonna turn out how they turn out.

(Clara Teixeira) #24

That is a good point. She now eats mostly meat, cheese and plenty of healthy fats. We can all see the difference in her mood swings when she has grains and sugar. She is starting to recognize it is a trigger for a sore tummy and angry outbursts as well. Baby steps. Thankfully she is very healthy now!

#25

She’ll be better for having the experience of knowing how grains and sugars affect her. Imagine if we all learned that lesson at such a young age.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #26

We are working on teaching the Keto WoE to our kids (8, 5, and 2). Its very interesting because my littlest isn’t bothered by things like plain yogurt (no sweeteners added) and my other 2 want it sweetened with something.
We are going to be switching my 8 year old to a Keto diet for about 2 weeks. He’s already very aware of what is/is not Keto.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #27

No, because keto isn’t a welght-loss diet, it’s a weight-normalization diet. The kid will grow up healthy and put on weight when appropriate, without becoming obese from all the carbohydrate in the standard American diet. Just saving the kid from eating all the sugar in all the processed food people give their kids these days will go a long way toward preserving the kid’s emotional, mental, and physical health.

(Chelsea Barnett) #28

I never knew that. I’m glad I asked. I thought about letting my kids try my keto meals but haven’t because I was afraid it would make them drop weight. Lol

(Chelsea Barnett) #29

From my understanding, the body burns fat for energy when you don’t have carbs. So why wouldn’t a kids body burn fat for energy without carbs?

#30

They will get hungry and eat before they lose any bodyfat. Kids are good like that lol

(Chelsea Barnett) #31

Makes sense. I breastfed my kids. Currently breastfeeding twins. And they are doing baby led weaning with food. I let them eat all sorts of things. But never considered letting them try low carb bc I was afraid. Already scared and paranoid that somehow ketones may get in breast milk. But their pedi knows I’m on keto and she never told me to stop breastfeeding

#32

I personally (and this is only me and my thoughts with my way of living) do not worry about what my kids eat. I breastfed both until about 2 years (I didn’t want to mind you, I just have stubborn kids). I baby led weaned both. They ate what I ate. If I was doing keto back then than they would have had more keto foods, but I wasn’t so they just ate whatever. Once they were old enough to ask for things, I usually let them eat whatever (they eat the snacks they choose, but meals are whatever we are making). I have no medical history of diabetes or any other dietary medical issue. I offer them a wide range of foods and my youngest will try anything, my oldest is picky - but not on junk food. She likes barley and kidney beans (I like to tease my husband that she’s turning vegetarian), but today she put a big dent in a steak so?

The biggest take aways I want them to have are:

Eat when your hungry, stop when your full. So I never make them finish their food or “just have 3 bites etc.”

And:

Food isn’t intrinsically bad. I know we do low carb here, and I will lead by example and my oldest daughter knows that I don’t eat sugar or food that turns to sugar, because that is my choice, I tell her it’s because it makes me feel better. But I personally do not believe that all grains are bad for everyone, or that all people should drastically cut their sugar. I definately don’t want them to buy into the whole “fat is bad” but nor do I want to freak them out about any other food group either. My husband summed it up well when he told my daughter that to know if a food is healthy, just look at the number of ingredients. Simple.

I just want them to have a healthy relationship with food as well as the ability to listen to their bodies. I have neither lol.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #33

They will, and you’ll be feeding them protein and fat to satiety, so they’ll be just fine. Also, the protein level we recommend for adults? Doesn’t apply to growing bodies.

#34

The kids I took care of on ketogenic diets had severe seizure disorders. Because of the way the diet was formulated, they didn’t lose weight on it.

(J) #35

This is my experience as well.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #37

My post was from 18 months ago. Now my little boy is drinking milk and eating table foods. Sometimes, he eats 1/4 to 1/2 of a tub of toddler food (depending on the size of the container).