On Mon, 2 Oct 2000 19:31:04 -0700, jeremy bornstein <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>I'm seriously considering impregnating someone.  (Yes, someone
>specific.)  I've just started eating paleo and am very happy with it
>myself.  The prospective mother, however, is a vegan.
>
>So, for the optimum health of my potential future progeny, how
>important is it for me to prevail upon the prospective mother to
>reconsider her diet?
>

She probably doesn't have to go strict paleo to have a healthy baby.
My
wife had fertility problems, irregular periods, etc. until she started
eating paleo.  She had a normal period shortly thereafter and  got
pregnant.  We had gone 4 years without using birth control.

As for her diet during pregnancy, I was very adamant that she stick to
the
paleo regime, until she ordered "Chuckwagon Cheese Fries" at Saltgrass
Steakhouse.  I, of course, said "What are you doing?!  You can't eat
that!"  She promptly began crying uncontrollably.  So I quit
commenting on
her diet.  Everything turned out fine though because she was very
interested in making sure that she was getting adequate nutrition.
She did
her own reading on prenatal nutrition (which was almost always
near-paleo
strangely enough) and made sure to eat plenty of meat and fruit and
take a
prenatal vitamin.  She had a very easy pregnancy and relatively easy
birth.  She gained only 25 lbs and lost 35 within a month of giving
birth.

>(What to do once the child is born is another issue which I would also
>be happy to discuss.)
>

If you want a paleo-baby, you will want to breastfeed.  Well, not you,
but
the prospective mother.  You may want to leave the research to the
mother,
but it seems to me, based on my research and experience with my 5
month
old, that a diet centered arount meat is essential to having an
adequate
milk supply and a growing baby.  My baby is in the 95th percentile for
her
size and age.  This is consistent with other breastfed children that I
know
whose mothers do not restrict their diet to vegan/vegetarian.  I am
aware
of one vegetarian mother that had to start eating meat because her
milk
supply was dwindling.  In fact, my wife has started craving red meat
that
is cooked medium rare as opposed to well-done red meat or chicken
which she
preferred before the baby.

Also, Native Nutrition by Ronald Schmid has some information on the
effects
of diet on pregnancy and breastfeeding.  You can also research the
following website which has some information on problems with
Vegan/Vegetarian prenatal diets and the impportance of Omega 3 fatty
acids.
http://www.best.com/~falcao/archives/nutrition.html#General

Good Luck,

Brad