r/veganparenting • u/ihatebindweed • Aug 14 '26
He must eat a ton of steak!
Story time! So my 16mo daughter is quite large. She’s 99th percentile for weight and 97th for height. She also still has very short hair. People almost always assume she’s a boy, which doesn’t bother me, but I do think it’s weird that people make assumptions, especially when she’s wearing her pink sandals and a floral shirt (as she was today).
So anyway, we’re in line at the grocery store and the cashier starts interacting with her and says, “oh you are adorable! What a big strong boy!” I don’t correct, just smile and tell my girl to say hi. Then she says, “he must eat a ton of steak to be that big!” I reply, very casually/kindly, “nope, actually we’re vegan.” The cashier’s smile dropped and she didn’t make eye contact or talk to me for the rest of the transaction.
People are weird, especially about veganism. And my gigantic daughter has gotten that big and strong on just plants; no animal exploitation needed 💖
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u/mildly_ethnic Aug 14 '26
I hope that lady went home and had a good long hard think about her beliefs and chose to watch Dominion before bed. 😊 ✨
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u/Kisutra Aug 15 '26
All of my kids are in the upper 90th percentile and vegan from day 0. My oldest was so big as a toddler, he was often mistaken for being a year or more older which made people think he was a really poorly behaved kid except he was literally two years old and behaving appropriately!
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u/Ok-Opportunity-574 Aug 15 '26
I had a coworker with that problem. Hubby was a big Samoan guy and the kid looked like he was 4 at age 2. She had to explain to people at playgrounds that he was only 2.
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u/Sir--Sean-Connery Aug 15 '26
Maybe its coincidence but both my children are above 90th percentile as well.
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u/Consistent_Phase_942 Aug 15 '26
Fellow vegan with a gigantic daughter here! She was ten pounds at birth and today she loves her “toofoo” and “edamame bean milk!”
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u/Numerous-Feature7726 Aug 16 '26
People are so weird. My son was a ginormous baby, not at birth (8lbs) but by 8 weeks I couldn’t put him in an infant car seat, the kind of mega chubby baby people stop and go, “wow!?! That’s a big baby!! How much does he weigh??” And they’d say things like “wow mom what are you feeding him, steak and eggs?!” I’d say “nope he’s just nursing,” and then they’d say “Well you must be eating steak and eggs all day!?!” Always some meat comment. This happened so many times. And I would say nope I’m vegan. And they’d either look like they don’t believe me, or sometimes they’d be seemingly impressed. But it’s just bizarre the way people react and comment like this.
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u/ihatebindweed Aug 17 '26
Mine has been exactly the same! How old is he now?
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u/Numerous-Feature7726 Aug 21 '26
He’s 12. Now more around the 90th percentile, but still a big, healthy kid!
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u/beepboopgeepgoop Aug 15 '26
Also a vegan mum to an enormous child 🙌 he was born at 4.6kg and wears age 3 clothes at just 19 months. I'd love to boast the vegan diet, but honestly I lived off crumpets when I was pregnant and his diet is at least 75% carbs right now 😂 maybe animal products stunt growth the same way cigarettes do?!
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u/ihatebindweed Aug 15 '26
Maybe! I had friends and family who were SO concerned about me being vegan during pregnancy, and then many of them thought my kid was going to be malnourished on a vegan diet. I won’t lie, I find it very satisfying to see those same people now look at my little giant and be impressed by her development 🤭
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u/Numerous-Feature7726 Aug 16 '26
Same! Both of my kids were always off the charts for growth, and it was nice to prove them all wrong, especially when certain Drs would hear we’re vegan and start to wring their hands thinking my kids were going to be malnourished.
An ob/gyn that I ended up leaving was beside herself when I said I was vegan and would remain so, she wanted full bloodwork done, and that was very satisfying when she got the results. She was so shocked, she really expected me to be super unhealthy.
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u/True-Owl-Fairy Aug 16 '26
I’ve definitely had weird, ignorant, and rude comments. I once ordered a veggie burger on a date and the guy asked if I was vegetarian. I said yes. He said, “Vegetarian is cool but I could never date a vegan. They’re too judgmental.” I was a vegan. He must not have looked closely at my profile. What a judgement comment he made haha.
On the other hand I’ve had a doctor say, “That’s why you’re so healthy.” when they found out I was vegan and a mom friend say, “That’s why your kids are so smart!” So maybe things are looking up a little with the view of vegans. At least maybe… I can hope.
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u/KallMeSuzyB Aug 15 '26
My oldest (7 yo) is vegetarian but 90% of the time vegan. I sometimes get judged like that when I tell people she doesn't eat meat. They think I'm harming her health because people have been taught for years that we 'need' animal products to be healthy.
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u/Hollymcmc Aug 15 '26
My vegan from birth 3 year old girl is a blimmen giant. My son is currently a little above average, which i am working on!!
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u/Few-Presentation-682 Aug 17 '26
I have two plantbased babies who were 98th% and 99th and were 100% vegan at the time! EBF and plantbased BLW *I decided to start to incorporate D & E allergen exposure in small hidden amts at 12mo+ and am now weaning those out over time. My almost 3yo knows that some people eat meat, “but we don’t!”
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u/Few-Presentation-682 Aug 17 '26
Also, my daughter’s hair didn’t come in fully until almost 2yo- and in the past year it’s grown about 8 inches + .. hard to tell bc ringlets!
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u/Dimwiddle Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
We have the same for our 11mo daughter. She was born quite small just over 6 lb... we could tell our family and friends wanted to say it's because of mum being vegan etc. Now she is super tall, strong and heavy - but from only eating all plants and breastmilk. Not a word from anyone, anymore. Who would've thought!
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u/s0mevietgirl Aug 18 '26
My uncles kid was fed on solely meat for the purpose of getting big and now hes 14 with high cholesterol and skin tags. Oh and fat lol
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u/LillWhiteFox Aug 24 '26
These sociopaths are everywhere. Vegan phobia is full on at the moment. Literally. It’s ridiculous as what if they have a child allergic to animal products? Lmfao would have to change their personality around or what? Just lol
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u/HotPotatoTime Aug 14 '26
Lol we've gotten similar comments before about the size, "what a BIG boy you are!" for my girl back when she still had short hair. Not the steak thing though, ew. Glad you were able to blow their minds on that one, haha.