Thanks for all of the information-rich responses!  I have some reading
to do now....

-j


An alien implant forced Brad Cooley to write:
> 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

--
                   jeremy bornstein <[log in to unmask]>

        A good soldier is not violent.  A good fighter is not angry.
                         [lao tsu, _tao te ching_]

                           http://dissolute.com/