Kim McCoy is a passionate animal and environmental advocate with a B.S. in Business Administration from UT Knoxville and a J.D. specializing in Animal and Environmental Law. She graduated with honors from Lewis & Clark Law School, where she served as Editor in Chief of the internationally acclaimed Animal Law Review and interned with the National Center for Animal Law and the International Environmental Law Project. Kim is a member of MENSA (the “high IQ society”) and previously worked for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in a variety of roles, including Executive Director, Director of Campaigns, and Director of Legal Affairs. Kim is also the former Executive Director of the One World One Ocean Foundation and the proud mother of a healthy, thriving son who has been vegan since conception. Currently serving as Executive Director of Big Life Foundation, which protects wildlife and wild lands in Eastern Africa, Kim remains deeply committed to the defense of animals worldwide.
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Kim McCoy
Vegan Mama 
Hi Kim, I learnt of your blog via the veganhealth.org website, from the profile on Zander. Together with my wife we have two young girls, both of whom we are raising on a vegan diet, following our own change to this diet a couple of years ago. We approached veganism initially as a health issue but now identify very strongly its animal rights and environmental causes. Lately I am having an internal crisis; worrying whether I am doing the best thing for my daughters’ health. I would love to have someone to discuss this with (via email), and wonder if you would be happy to, as someone travelling a similar path.
Regards,
Dan.
Hi Dan, I just emailed you. Thanks for reaching out, and I look forward to talking with you soon!
Hi Kim
I could have written the message from Dan above myself! I found your website from the same place and I am having exactly the same worries as he is. I wonder if I too could ask you a couple of questions via email?
Kindest regards,
Caro
Caro, I just emailed you, as well. Please feel free to reach out to me any time. I’d love to chat! 🙂
Hi, Kim! I as Caro and Dan would like to ask you something. I am mother for the first time (my baby girl is 8 months) so I do hope you understand all my worries 🙂 Especially now, when she begins with solid food, gets less my milk, so I am thinking a lot about B12, iron, etc. Your experience, advice, any thoughts would be very helpful!
Vaida, I am sorry; this got lost in the shuffle of a hectic schedule, but I have just sent you an email. Please feel welcome to email me at any time with questions. 🙂
Hi Kim , I am also a mother for the first time to a one year old and had some questions about B12 and iron especially since my daughter has just become a picky eater. Any suggestions would be helpful 🙂
Delores, we supplement B-12 (my son really likes the liquid spray) plus use nutritional yeast in sauces, dressings, and on everything from pasta to baked potatoes to popcorn. For iron, I haven’t supplemented, and I’m blessed to have a little guy who’s not that picky, but have you tried the “sneaky” approach of hiding/disguising iron-rich foods by pureeing and including them in sauces, baked good, etc.? It’s certainly worth a try, and I have used that approach when feeding other people’s children. You are welcome to email me with any specific questions, if you like. Good luck!
I haven’t yet tried the sneaky approached. She just started this picky behavior lol Thank you for your advice 🙂 I can’t seem to find your email on this blog.
Dear Kim,
As the others, I found you on veganhealth.org and I am worried with our vegan diet for our 4 months old baby. If you are not totally busy, could you give us some ideas on how to deal with the right diet for him? I read someone suggesting to supplement the baby with B12 from birth but we are not doing it, just my wife is taking supplement. Yesterday we went to a doctor who threatened us for being vegan and even with our strong beliefs on animal rights, it depressed us a little bit and made the doubt grow. Anyway, would be good to talk to someone at the moment, if you can, we would be glad.
All the best,
Hi Gabriel, I am so sorry to hear that you feel threatened by your doctor and that your are concerned about your baby’s diet. To be honest, it has been a long time now since my son was that young (he is now 6 years old), so it’s hard for me to remember exactly when we started to supplement his diet with B12. I do know that I exclusively breast-fed my son until he was 6 months old, so I would not have been supplementing with B12 at that point. If I remember correctly, the only thing we supplemented at that age was liquid vitamin D. However, I think the best advice that I can offer you is to seek the opinion of a doctor who is open to the idea of veganism. He or she doesn’t need to actually be vegan or even vegetarian, just open to it. Also consult with a nutritionist if you can. My son’s first pediatrician was not vegan, but she respected our decisions and offered excellent guidance. I realize that finding someone like this may be easier said than done, but I believe the best way for you to receive good advice that applies to the health of your baby based on his individual circumstances and needs is to find someone who is willing to accept your beliefs and help you work within those to provide all that is needed nutritionally. I hope this helps some. Also, remember that the best way to assess your baby’s health–because no-one knows your baby better than you do–is to simply step back and look at him as a whole. Is he thriving? Great! Does he appear to be struggling in any way? Time to get help from a professional–especially because this could be due to any number of things, and may or may not be linked to diet (his or his mom’s). I can’t tell from your note whether you are worried only because of your doctor’s threatening remarks, or if you are worried because you think there is a legitimate problem with your baby’s health. If it’s the latter, then you urgently need to seek medical care from someone who is open to working within the parameters of your belief system. Otherwise, simply change doctors and try not to let the last one get you down! I wish you and your family all the best. Kim
Hi Kim! I’m a spanish student working on a research project about whether it is healthy or not for children between 1-5 years old to be fed as vegans. It would be great if I could ask you some questions via e-mail 🙂
Thank you!
Irene, yes, please do feel welcome to email me any questions you may have, and I’ll do my best to answer them. I’ll send you an email separately so you’ll have my address. Kim