Soya food products - safe? Sorry - fairly long

[mommywillwin]

Hi, this is my first post but I have been an avid Mumsnet thread reader since I was pregnant. DS is now 6.5 mths old, and seems to have cow's milk allergy. He reacted to some cheese sauce (on broccoli trees) last weekend (hives down arms and on hands, swollen lips, itching) and is now being referred to Allergy Clinic for tests. He also has eczema which I believe is linked to dairy too.
So to cut a long story short, since yoghurt, butter, cheese, milk are no-no's, what alternatives do I have?
I have read that soya can cause havoc with boy's hormones, so am afraid to introduce that when he is ready. I have personally switched to rice milk in case of passing these hormones on to him through my milk.
I am trying to BLW him at the moment. He mainly eats toast, rice cakes, pears, plums, sweet potatoes, butternut, some chicken/fish. On the odd occasion, when he has been compliant, have spoon fed porridge made with rice milk/water/breast milk and pureed veg.
Now I'm thinking, as he approaches 7 months, can he rely totally on breastmilk alone for fat and a fair amount of protein (can't imagine him getting his quota of protein from the teeny weeny amounts he consumes)? I give a bit of avo for some fat.
I guess what I'm asking is should I just forget about soya, forget about dairy and move on with a veg and meat diet, with breast milk. Is he missing out on anything? Many thanks for any advice/info

[mad4mybaby]

you best speak to health visitor. My ds is 16 months old and has dairy allergy and soya intolerance. He has nanny goat milk formula and i use delamere in cooking etc (goat milk off the shelf).

I wish i had put him on that sooner. He is more than healthy on it....

I believe eczema is definetly linked. When he has soya it flares up aswell. Wierdly though he is the same with sheeps milk! Have since found that quite common!

It is very hard i know! He eats alot of things like spag bol i know your ds is obv alot younger. I think they need min of 1 pint of milk per day. My HV gave me calcium info and for under 1 year old they really need 525mg per day of calcium.

not sure if that helps at all?!

[mommywillwin]

Thanks! I will investigate the goats milk alternative.I have chatted to the HV and she just said once the tests were conclusive I could ask for a referral to a dietician. So I'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully the tests will shed some light on what he can and can't have.

[tatt]

if he has allergy to cows milk it would be best to avoid goats milk until after the tests. He may be fine with it but if he is allergic, as opposed to intolerant, there is a good chance he'll react to goats milk. If it was just eczema it would be worth trying but not with swollen lips.

Ask for a prescription for pepti junior, nutramigen or neocate to use in cooking. I'm not a dietician but his diet sounds ok to me. You could add some banana and perhaps try beans or lentils for extra protein.

Since I know a family whose milk allergic child also developed an allergy to soy after going on soya milk I couldn't recommend using that. It's quite a common allergen and nut allergy is more common in those given soya milk as babies. It may not be a direct link but its worrying.

[mad4mybaby]

nutamagin has hydrolysed milk protein in it. It may only be a miniscule amount but it was enough to cause my son problems.

I was told by our dietictian if they have a dairy allergy/intolerance they are more than likely to have the same with soya.

Yes definitly seek medical opinion before changing but i was told not to put my ds on nanny goat back then but there was no other milk to go on (because of the hydrolysing) but like i said before he has had no probs what so ever with it.Go with your instinct aswell if your not happy with what they tell you. Wish i had to begin with!

[Bilbomum]

My advice would be breastfeed as long as you can manage along with meat/veg/fruit diet. My ds is 14 months and has various allergies, one of which is dairy. He won't have the hypo allergic formula but I think he still needs something extra in his diet and have my doubts about soya. I will give him the odd soya yoghurt but don't want to overload his system with it. The dietician at the hospital thinks I'm mad but as her last suggestion was to give him ready salted crisps as a snack I'm not taking much notice of her. His eczema was severe but has improved no end in the last few months (I did have to give up dairy though). I was worried about calcium though and he now has a Calcium Sandoz supplement prescribed by the hospital. He's thriving though and his growth doesn't seem affected by his diet restrictions.

[pieceofcake]

My dd is almost 7 months and had eczema when we introduced cow's milk formula. my gp has prescribed nurimagen formula which is extensively hydrolysed menaing the body doesn't recognise the milk proteins and so doesn't have an allergic reaction to them. we also give soya but not loads which i think is the safest thing to do. you should avoid goats milk/cheest until they are 1. I have found no reaction to my breast milk so haven't excluded dairy myself. my dd has a very plain diet with everything home made or labels carefully scrutinised, the manufacturer's seem to put milk in everything! i've also been advised to exclude wheat until she's 1 as this is also a major allergy causer. asking your gp for the special formula might be worth a try. we had to exclude dairy and reintroduce it to prove it was causing the eczema but that was conclusive enough for them. good luck!

[mommywillwin]

Thanks for all your advice.Well, I now have an appointment for DS in early Dec, (sooner than I thought). Once we know what we're up against, hopefully we will get to speak to a dietician for advice. I am keen to continue breastfeeding until he is at least 1yr old, possibly longer if he's not eating substantially. I will look into the calcium supplement too. Do they not get enough from breastmilk?
I have noticed a marked difference in his skin since avoiding dairy myself. So farewell to the Brie and Camembert at least for the timebeing. From a weaning point of view, it's a shame because he can't have cheese on toast, cheese souse etc. whitch make it more exciting for him (for me??).
Thanks again.

[mad4mybaby]

im glad you got an app. If he can tolerate goats milk dont forget goats cheese. Waitrose sell quite a mild cheddar (just in case you do go down that path)

[tatt]

broccoli is a good source of calcium as is white bread. There is some in sweet potaoes. He's probably getting enough calcium from breast milk if he's still feeding a lot.

[gillylou]

My 14 moth old has a lactose intollerance which comes out in red rash and diarrhoea.

Intially we tried soya yoghurts as an alternative, but it made no difference to his symptoms so we stopped.

My HV then told me that boys under 1 year should not have soya products due to the hih amounts of oestrogen. This could cause problems with their fertility later in life.

I have found that some of the baby food products such as Banans Custard (Heinz) is fine as it has been heated and processed so much that the problem apart has been destroyed.

Also SMA have a great booklet of recipies which are made with formula (lactose free) milk powder.

HTH

[mommywillwin]

Thanks! Yes, the high oestrogens in soya products do concern me, so I'm avoiding those too. DS has bronchiolitis at the moment so isn't eating any solids at all, just breastfeeding. Tests are in a few weeks. After we get results we'll see if we can try the goats milk cheese etc. or whatever the dietician suggests. Many thanks!