Vegan Nutrition with Brenda Davis

Brenda Davis is a registered dietitian in private practice. She is the past Chair of the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association. Brenda is co-author of the international best seller, Becoming Vegetarian, and highly acclaimed Becoming Vegan. Brenda is an internationally recognized speaker. She has worked as a public health nutritionist, a clinical nutrition specialist, nutrition consultant and academic nutrition instructor.

Question:

How will my newborn get adequate B12? Does it pass through my breast milk? If we stop breastfeeding at 1 year how should I ensure she gets B12 from her food?

Answer:

Vitamin B12 does pass through your breast milk, but the amount in your breast milk depends on your dietary intake. It is essential that during pregnancy and lactation, you insure a reliable source of vitamin B12. You can use fortified foods (Red Star Nutritional Yeast - vegetarian support formula, fortified non-dairy beverages, fortified meat analogs, etc.) providing a minimum of 3 mcg/day, and/or a vitamin supplement containing vitamin B12. Unlike adults, infants have limited vitamin B12 stores (especially if mother's intake was limited during pregnancy), and can become deficient very rapidly. For this reason, many experts advise supplementing all vegan infants with at least 0.3 mcg of vitamin B12 from the second week of life until sufficient vitamin B12 is provided by fortified foods. Recommended intakes for infants are 0.3 mcg/day from 0-6 months, 0.6 mcg from 6-12 months and 1 mcg from ages 1-3 years. If you stop breastfeeding at 1 year, your baby can get plenty of vitamin B12 from fortified non-dairy milks (they generally provide 1-3 mcg/ cup), nutritional yeast (1 teaspoon = about 1 mcg of vitamin B12), fortified breakfast cereals and fortified meat analogs. However, if you can continue breast-feeding for 2 years or beyond, you will provide your child with important health advantages - both in terms of nutrients and immune protection.

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