Why did a wonderful enthusiastic vegan family return to being veggie? Why was there so much media interest when a pair of cruelly ignorant parents killed their baby with a poor diet that happens to be plant based?

As soon as you are pregnant everyone tells you to handle it their way. Unsolicited advice escalates when the baby is born. You will be luck if you have health visitor who knows much about diet. It's a tough time to be different and you and your kids will find your veganism scrutinized like never before. Parenting is never straightforward and there are as many ways to handle it as there are babies.

Being well informed increases confidence in finding your own way through parenthood. Knowing vegan kids, seeing them thrive and chatting to their parents is a great asset. There are some invaluable books on the subject of vegan parenting. Start reading up on nutrition before you reach the sleep-deprived world of being a new parent if you want to remember much of it! Beyond that, Liz Cook's nutrition wall-chart is a wonderful reference which kids love too.

All of us can help parents by being reassuring and supportive, sharing food, researching anything they are worried about, and most importantly, not judging them. Although vegan parenting can be exceptionally healthy and rewarding, the stress of being different along with learning all the basics of parenting can take its toll. If cast aside by other vegans, those families who slip out of being vegan will feel alienated and defeated. By being understood and supported they have a great chance of coming back when they're ready.

Visit activeg.org/parenting for support and information, and see the Network Contacts listings for family contacts.

By Sophie Fenwick-Paul, as published in the Vegan magazine Summer 2007. You can subscribe to this excellent magazine through the Vegan Society, and by becoming a member (you don't need to be vegan) you support their great positive veganising work too.