I am not vegan (though I was many years ago) but generally vegetarian. I'm not really sure why that matters.

I posted that link because it was one of the first things I found, and seemed to have and link to some info that I found reliable. You want me to find stuff from other sources about people who have been harmed by Weston A. Price suggestions? Just give me a little time. I'm by no means a Pollan groupie, but I love the line "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants."

Notice I never said "don't give your baby eggs or meat". But at 6 months old? Really? Food is a new toy at that age. Mush the squash with your fingers, kid, and maybe lick a little off. New parents have so many things to panic about, and at that age, food shouldn't be one of them. Relax, introduce unprocessed yummy things, and enjoy.

The Weston A. Price Foundation is full of pseudo-scientific nonsense.

www.diseaseproof.com/[...]

I know nothing of the above website, but they link to a bunch of similar articles.

Interesting! Watching a Tibetan grandma make yogurt in a village, she first churned the milk (in an old washing machine...) and pulled out the butter, then drained the (now skim?) milk into a bowl which was then heated only for a short while on the stove before adding some whey as starter. The whey was also used to wash dishes and her hands. It definitely did not get to 180, which is also how I'm used to making yogurt. She did the blanket around the pot method, and the yogurt was strained into a VERY thick cheese through a woven conical basket then put up above the stove to smoke. I did a blog post on it a few years back, but it's not a hosted blog anymore. If I dig out the files and re-host, I'll certainly post a link to it here.

At 6 months, I wouldn't worry a bit. Your baby should still be getting all calories from your milk or formula. Food before 1 is just for fun. You can do veggie and fruit purees or just stick a piece of long food (think french fry or broccoli spear size) that they can grasp and gum to get the taste. First foods for mine were avocado, broccoli, banana, sweet potato, squash, etc. Most will get spit out for the next few months :) We skipped rice cereal, but tried some oatmeal with fruit. Yogurt was also a hit around a year or so. She got no food at all until a few days after 6 months of age, and for a few months wasn't even given food once a day. It's just introducing new tastes and textures.

As for tofu, I think my kid was under a year when we gave it to her. It's one of her favorites. We're in the US now, but we get the good stuff and cook it to be very flavorful. If you're not sure how to cook it, you should be able to find lots of tips online. Avoid the stinky tofu! :-P Have fun! Convincing your kids to eat all the yummy things you love is so much fun.

If the cost of a "yogurt maker" is a problem to anyone, you can also try wrapping your pot in towels or blankets to keep it warm after you add the starter. I have successfully done this with very large batches (3-4 gallons) in the US. I'm a full-fat kind of gal, so when I get back to China I'll have to hunt some down that doesn't have the aftertaste you speak of.