Parenting is a journey. New and established baby and toddler moms are often bombarded with voices sharing opposing advice on optimizing care for littles. As a parent, it’s tempting to find a lifestyle that looks interesting and just apply it to everyone in the family to make things easier. TikTok content creator and toddler mom, Alice, 22, has gone viral on multiple occasions for sharing how she and her husband, Caleb, engage in their life with their son, Fern.
From former Freegans to free birth, the family tries everything crunchy. Two of the videos in particular have garnered a lot of attention. One showcases what their Fern eats in an evening in their vegan eating style and the other, his bedtime routine, or lack thereof.
What’s on the menu kind of matters.
In the food video, a voiceover narrates the movements of a grinning toddler eating seaweed, fruit jerky, two pears, and orange/mango/cherry smoothie, avocado on sourdough bread, muffins, and a chocolate ice pop for dessert.
We can all agree that if they were allowed, toddlers would eat whatever they can grab, carry, and sprinkle around the house. That's certainly not unusual. But not all toddler diets hit all the right notes when it comes to nutrition.
A vegan baby or toddler's diet needs to be well-designed.
Manisha Panchal, MD, a pediatrician at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, believes that vegan diets pose unique risks for rapidly growing babies and toddlers, due to their exclusion of any animal products.
“Babies and toddlers need diets high in fat and protein and low in fiber, the exact opposite of many vegan diets,” Panchal says. She encourages including foods like cooked beans, lentils, tofu, avocados, soy yogurt, and nuts into a little one’s diet.
Panchal advises parents who feel strongly about their children following a vegan diet to do so under the care of a pediatrician and nutritionist. “Otherwise, it is very likely your baby or child will have nutritional deficits,” she says.
According to the University of Wisconsin Integrative Department of Family Medicine, our bodies are only able to digest 85% of plant protein, “Therefore vegan children younger than 2 years of age should eat 30 to 35% more protein than children eating meat. Children 2 to 6 years old should eat 20 to 30% more protein. Children older than 6 years should eat 15 to 20% more protein.”
The two additional vitamins they encourage parents to monitor are calcium and vitamin D. Calcium can be found in fortified soy milk, orange juice, and in vegetables like broccoli and kale. Vitamin D can be absorbed from 15 to 30 minutes in the sun twice a week and 400 IU of (plant based) vitamin D2 daily.
Rock-A-Bye … and, you’re up.
Alice addresses sleep, and how her family follows “Intuitive Sleeping” on TikTok as well.
“So we all go to sleep when we feel like it,” she explains. In the clip she further explains that she goes to sleep between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., and her husband and baby fall asleep sometime between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. The baby will sleep as late as 4 p.m. But there seems to be neither routine nor schedule.
Sleep hygiene and routine are critical to child development. According to the Sleep Foundation, a consistent, repetitive set of activities prepares kids for sleep by having them relax and wind down. This also imbues a sense of security, helping them learn how to fall asleep on their own.
They improve the quality of sleep, teach self-care, lay the ground for working memory, spark parent-child bonding, and may help improve mood, stress levels, and behavior.
While Alice’s comments section is carefully curated, TikTokers are not shy about sharing their opinions about the polarizing mom.
Holley Stevenson explored everything the family's fruitarian diet and its possible effects on their health to Fern’s lack of bedtime routine and beyond, using Alice’s existing content in TikToks of her own. Her comments section exploded with worry.
“Not only is he walking like that due to malnutrition and rickets, he also has probably taught himself to waddle from the full diaper down to his knees,” one mom opined.
“Of all the things — the free roaming when she sleeps at night is absolutely terrifying,” another mom worried.
“There is a difference between 'crunchy' and neglect,” a commenter interjected.
The sentiment that summed up all the comments best of all: “Someone needs to save that poor baby.”
*Disclaimer: The advice on CafeMom.com is not a substitute for consultation with a medical professional or treatment for a specific condition. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem without consulting a qualified professional. Please contact your health-care provider with questions and concerns.
