BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans

Subject: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: leeneia
Date: 09 Jan 18 - 01:52 PM

There's an African woman who comes to my church, and she has a baby girl 5 months old. Last Sunday she spoke to a vegetarian church member and said, "I'm like you. I don't feed her any meat, just beans. She likes beans!"

The baby goes to day care and she breast feeds, so her diet is not 100% beans yet. But how do I convince this mother that the baby needs other foods? We have the following challenges:

low income

can hardly read. If I give her a booklet, it has to be designed for that.

can't travel to the burbs for specialty foods.

may resent me for being a know-it-all.
===========
I did some reading about plant foods high in protein, but asking this woman to buy cashews, almonds and avocados is ridiculous.

Does anybody have any helpful suggestions?

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 09 Jan 18 - 02:06 PM

Soybeans?

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Senoufou
Date: 09 Jan 18 - 02:10 PM

I'm no expert on baby nutrition, but that sounds rather deficient in many things.
I'll ask my husband when he gets home from work in a couple of hours what the Ivorians feed their babies on when weaning.
It's kind of you leeneia to help and advise the lady.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Jan 18 - 05:01 PM

She's probably ok for now as she's breastfeeding. She does need advice within the next month or two.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Senoufou
Date: 09 Jan 18 - 05:18 PM

Husband says babies in Ivory Coast are not weaned until well after a year. But between around age 6 months and a year, they also give them pounded-up maize (a sort of flour) mixed into a kind of porridge. Sometimes they add a little dried milk powder if they have the money for that.
After a year, the child is given what the adults have (white rice- not as good as brown!, with a 'sauce' made of onions and tomatoes, with tiny bits of whatever meat they can obtain)
This is not a good diet. My husband and all his siblings have bandy legs and fragile skeletons from poor nutrition during their childhood.

I wonder if there is a Health Visitor in your area leeneia who could advise the lady?

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Jan 18 - 09:59 PM

Thanks, everyone.

I think I've had a good idea - eggs.

I've heart that there are plant combinations that supply all the amino acids we need to make proteins. Corn (maize) plus beans. Peanut butter plus whole wheat bread, The baby's too little for peanut butter, which sticks to the mouth. Is there another combination? And is this information valid?   

I'm in the U.S., and we don't have health visitors.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Senoufou
Date: 11 Jan 18 - 04:12 AM

My other thought is, are there mother-and-baby groups which the lady could join? Here, most women with a young baby or toddler go to one of these groups once or twice a week, for chat, support and mutual advice etc. There may be other vegetarian mums in the group who might share their strategies for baby-feeding.

Many of these groups here invite an expert of one sort or another to give a talk, advise and give out leaflets and so on. (immunisations, breast-feeding, diet, behaviour, sleep issues, teething advice etc)
It's a shame there are no Health Visitors where you are leeneia. They keep a regular eye on all babies, weighing, examining and assessing their health. They also advise the mums about their health too. And it's all free!

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: BanjoRay
Date: 11 Jan 18 - 07:42 PM

According to the Highwoods String Band you should feed your babies onions so you can find them in the dark.......

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Gurney
Date: 11 Jan 18 - 09:20 PM

I remember seeing a thing on television about a chap in his late teens or twenties who ate nothing but baked beans. "Never fancied anything else."
He'd been on that diet since he was old enough to make his wishes stick.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Jan 18 - 01:07 AM

One could do a lot worse, than a steady diet of beans. Beans contain both protein and complex carbohydrates, plus a lot of vitamins and trace minerals. Bananas and sweet potatoes are other high-nutrition foods.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 12 Jan 18 - 05:16 AM

"feeding the baby nothing but beans"
Might be a great idea if you could find a practical use for the farts
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Jan 18 - 05:24 AM

The baked beans we eat this end are deficient in Vitamins A, D and B12. In addition, the sauce they come with contains far too much salt and sugar. The latter would matter only if you ate them all the time. Baked beans are fine eaten occasionally, being a good source of fibre and protein (though they don't contain the whole range of essential amino acids). They can be very nice with a bit of chorizo or bacon thrown in, or sprinkled with grated tangy cheese and a touch of paprika. Once in a blue moon I abandon all normal cookery and we have fried eggs, chips and baked beans. What's not to like? You can get four own-brand tins for £1.15 at Waitrose and they're at least as good as Heinz, which I find to be slightly soft and gloopy. Cucina povera Brit-fashion!

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 Jan 18 - 05:59 AM

It's a bit dangerous to try and advise a mother on infant nutrition unless one is a qualified nutritionist or someone with training in the appropriate field.
Adults may eat whatever they like and will probably get by, but a young infant is growing and developing, has a more delicate digestive tract and his/her needs are different (and very important).

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: BobL
Date: 13 Jan 18 - 04:39 AM

Steve, I also enjoy baked beans occasionally, and use them as a cooking ingredient - they go well added to a beef stew. However (to drift back to the context of this thread) kidney, runner, broad & soy beans, and chick peas, are all available in this country, variously dried, canned or fresh.
Leeneia, what part of Africa does your friend come from? I gather beans are an important part of the diet in East Africa, if she's from there then she'd (I guess) be following the pattern of her own upbringing.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Jan 18 - 06:37 AM

Would it be possible to arrange a Cooking for Babies class by a nutritionist and someone with experience in food from the part of Africa she's from? That way you won't be telling a new mother that she doesn't know how to feed her baby (eeek!) but offering a service to everyone that may open up a great dialogue with various mothers offering their favourite recipes.

And what about having a party, and asking people to bring their favourite foods (both adult and baby) from home, and providing good food from African cultures, and also have the nutritionist along to talk about vitamins and minerals and protein and lactose intolerance and the danger of sugar, and not feeding honey to babies under a year, and so on.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Jan 18 - 06:54 AM

It would also be good to see if there's someone - a brilliant mother - from her own culture who can act as an auntie… poor girleen sounds awfully isolated somehow. And maybe see if her local library has a mothers' group who talk to each other about bringing up their babies.
Here's a nice little video by a mother on preparing pureed carrots which also has a piece from the Health Service Executive in Ireland linked below - unfortunately, the video (and obviously the HSE advice too) contains written stuff which she won't be able to read. Can you direct her to reading classes too?

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Thompson
Date: 14 Jan 18 - 03:27 PM

Has nobody ary a thing to say about this poor mite?

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 14 Jan 18 - 06:01 PM

Some great suggestions above.

leeneia, maybe if you've better access than her to internet\transport\shops(\money?) you could ask if there are any beans or other foods the lady struggles to find, then let her have a small gift "for the baby"?

~~~~~~~~
for adults but link here to " African Heritage Diet Cooking Classes" so there might be other stuff
https://oldwayspt.org/traditional-diets/african-heritage-diet?

UK NHS advice page, vegetarian babies
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/vegetarian-vegan-children/??

~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm in the U.S., and we don't have health visitors."
:-(
I'm glad this lady has good neighbours.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Jack Campin
Date: 14 Jan 18 - 06:18 PM

Misread thread title: "Feeding your baby nothing but brainz".

This is Trump's America we're talking about. Books on Child Rearing After the Zombie Apocalypse should be a hit.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Thompson
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 05:55 AM

Trouble is that she can't read.
She sounds like she badly needs a good grandma circle and circle of mothers her own age.
The video I linked, by a young mother, a Nigerian doctor living in Ireland, who's making carrot puree and feeding it to her baby, is great, but assumes, like so many of these videos, that the people watching it can read the ingredients.
It would be great if there were videos that didn't assume this, but showed how many carrots to chop and peel, how to puree, etc, without any reading.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: leeneia
Date: 16 Jan 18 - 12:32 PM

From 1980 to 82 I worked in a public library, and we had government publications aimed at people who could barely read. I have sent an e-mail request to the Superintendent of Documents to see if they still print those.

The mother has a full-time job and is getting a divorce. No car.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Thompson
Date: 17 Jan 18 - 02:48 AM

Car schmar, I don't have a car either.

How could she drive safely if she can't read? A lot of driving involves reading notices on the roads, for instance explaining diversions on motorways.

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 17 Jan 18 - 06:42 AM

leeneia, can you help her to find a circle of African (or vegetarian) mother's?
Or help a circle of African (or vegetarian) mothers to find her?

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: Jack Campin
Date: 17 Jan 18 - 07:05 AM

Perhaps her home country produces nutrition-education materials for illiterate mothers?

Not much use if it all uses ingredients you can't get in the US though - is that part of the problem, that beans are one of the few things she can identify as being food?

Subject: RE: BS: feeding the baby nothing but beans
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Jan 18 - 12:51 PM

It may be, Jack. More likely it's that beans are cheap. And they are good food, but they are not complete, as I'm sure you know.

Church was cancelled last week. Ice. So I haven't seen her in a while. I had no idea it would be so hard to find a simple publication on nutrition for babies/children.