When little Schizandra, daughter of Dariya Quenneville, turned six months and was time to try solids, there was no apple puree or banana porridge. Instead: raw egg yolk and chicken liver puree. Sardines, butter and even bone broth ice cream came later. A quite unusual diet for a baby, which is gradually being part of a growing phenomenon: “carnivores”.
A booming trend. In a report for The Wall Street Journalmore and more mothers document how their babies suck bone marrow or bite ribs, inspired by doctors and Influencers that promote the carnivorous diet In YouTube channels With hundreds of thousands of followers. In Facebook groups with names such as Carnivore Motherhoodtips on how to prepare “pallets” of bone broth or serve the tongue and heart of beef are shared to the little ones.
For Quenneville, who lives in Ontario and teaches survival techniques, thus feeding his daughter makes sense: “I think that butter fat and meat helps my baby to sleep better.” Another mother, Lorraine Bonkowski, a Michigan dietitian, started being skeptical, but after watching videos on the Internet ended up convinced. Today he gives his adopted daughter Isabella bone broth in a bottle and leaves her groove chops. “If it makes sense for adults, why not for children?” He asks.
In Tennessee, nurse Neisha Salas-Berry and her husband, doctor Ken Berry, are an influential couple in this movement. She says her children Bonnie and Beckett learned from babies that “first meat, before anything else.” On family trips, the little ones eat chicharrones that Beckett called “cookies” and carnivorous bars that cost $ 95 a box. “My daughter calls them sweet meat”, He told WSJ.
Experts have something to say. The introduction of meat in child feeding is not, in itself, eccentricity. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization They make it clear: From six months, babies must incorporate foods rich in iron and zinc. The flesh, for its natural contribution of both minerals, becomes one of the main allies at this stage.
However, as the pediatrician Mark Corkins, from the University of Tennessee, has warned, In statements to WSJ: “Babies need vitamin C and fiber for proper development of connective tissue and intestinal microbioma, nutrients that shine due to their absence in strict carnivorous diets.”
A great preparation behind. On the practical level, According to Healthlinethe meat must be cooked a lot – never raw or little done – and sausages, sausages or beicon should be avoided due to their excess additives. The meat provides not only Hemo Iron – the easiest to absorb – but also high quality proteins, vitamin B12 and zinc, all crucial for growth.
The Specialized Solid Starts portal, dedicated to child feeding, even offers detailed guides to serve ribs either fillets To babies: from using bones as bite at six months to offering well -cooked meat strips as part of the Baby-Led Weaning. Of course, always eliminating loose pieces of fat or cartilage and under strict supervision for the risk of choking.
The other option, totally opposite. While meat can be a nutritional ally, there are families that opt on the contrary. Vegetarianism and veganism are also booming in parenting, According to eldiario.es. The document adds that these diets require special care to avoid energy and nutrient deficits.
As the country explainedup to six months the food is identical for all babies: breast milk or formula. In the case of vegan families there are regulated children’s formulas based on soy or rice, but they should never be replaced by commercial vegetable drinks, which do not provide the necessary nutrients. From six months, the protein comes from legumes, nuts and seeds – always crushed or cream – as well as soy derivatives such as tofu or tempeh. Of course, all specialists agree on one point: vegan babies should receive a vitamin B12 supplement from the introduction of solids.
Neither so much, so bald. Between chop as almost exclusive food and strictly vegan diet, most experts recommend an intermediate path: variety and balance. Professor Steven Abrams, from the Faculty of Medicine Dell of the University of Texas, remembered at the Wall Street Journal That meat is valuable because it brings iron and zinc in an easily absorbable way, but insisted that young children also need fiber, antioxidants and polyphenols that are only in fruits and vegetables. “The restrictive diets in young children are not the way to follow,” he warned.
In Spain, fashion has not yet arrived, but the practice is well settled: from six months, babies begin to try white meats in small quantities, always next to vegetables, According to the Spanish Pediatrics Association. The Mediterranean tradition reinforces the idea: the flesh not as the main dish, but in small portions, as garrison, and accompanied by cereals, vegetables and fruits.
The debate is served. Between babies that bite lamb bones and others that begin with lentil puree, child feeding has become a field of cultural, scientific and even ideological debate. While parents claim chuleton as “biologically appropriate,” others plan vegan diets with nutrient supplements and tables. The truth is that, as official guides conclude both in the US, and in Spain, the fundamental thing is not that the first bite is meat or carrot, but that the child receives a varied, safe and adapted diet to their growth needs.
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