soy intolerance

[golemmings]

DS is 6mo. He's had silent reflux since 3 weeks and used to spend the nights writhing and moaning in pain. The GP I saw at 6 weeks agreed it was reflux but refused to medicate. I tried other solutions and since he is breast fed, I gave up dairy; he was much more settled within about 48hrs. I went back to my friendly gp a few weeks after and demanded gaviscon which fixed most of the rest of the problem.

I've stayed dairy free but I have tried drinking lacto-free formula to see if ds reacted to it and he was fine. I thought it was the most disgusting thing I've ever consumed but that's beside the point.

I initially gave up soya too but the GP persuaded me it probably was making my life too hard (I don't eat meat). At first it didn't make any difference but then as I ate more soya products - alpro milk on cereal and soy yoghurts, custard. choc puddings etc, ds started being more sick. So I dropped soya products - although I don't always read ingredients for small amounts of soya and he seems OK.

Mostly he's only sick now when he sits up or lies on his front to close to a feed.

However, on Friday we ate out at a restaurant with loads of vegan options. Mine was listed on the menu as containing cheese and I assumed the vegan option would just be cheese free but it came with vegan cheese. I suspect it was probably soya. About 6 hours after lunch the sick began. It was a relentless sea. And the screaming and writhing and back arching began...

We're just weaning him now.

I assume I'll not be trying him on anything made of soya.

Is the use of soya flour etc in other products likely to me a matter of trial and error? He's clearly fine if I eat it but is that because it's slightly differently processed or just because the quantities are smaller and my body filters most of it out before it reaches my bm? Should I just avoid it?

I guess I'm also going to have to try soya again myself to see whether there is a reaction or whether it was a coincidental bug or something.

It it just me who finds it really hard to eat something which is going to upset my lo and end up with a disturbed night or a very hard day for all of us? How do you keep doing it?

Anybody got any advice?

Cow's milk protein allergy and soya allergy do often go hand in hand so it sounds as though your DS may be allergic to both. I think you need to push for a referral to a specialist and also a dietician to get some good help and advice. Some babies can tolerate the small amounts passed in breastmilk but not when they consume the foods themselves. Others are unable to tolerate even the tiniest amounts in bm, it just depends.

Thanks freefrom

I agree with freefrommum, I'd push for testing. My son had tests done when he was 6 months old. I know some people on here have been told they can't be tested so young, but we had not problems getting it done.

DD is soy and dairy intolerant, so am I actually. Anyway we are also vegan.

For the moment I don't think the amount of soya flour in bread causes too much issue, although I do plan to test by making bread for a few weeks as I suspect something else is still happening with her. However soya in chocolate is too much for her. I've noticed a big difference in me since I stopped soy as well (which I only did as prompted by her). I suspected she might have my issues so she didn't have soy or dairy for the first year except to test for allergies.

Anyway no actual advice there but if you need recipe ideas then I am getting used to it.

Hi PA. I knew you were vegan but didn't know you avoided soy too.

I'm trying to completely exclude soya from my diet at the moment. It makes eating anything preprepared really hard. DS had another sicky day on Wednesday and the only thing I'd eaten that was new was bread from the village bakery so I've now excluded anything that admits to containing soy.

It doesn't seem to be getting any better, Infact he was back to several changes if clothes today so I'm wondering if its something else or just coincidence.

Trying to find a single cause is so hard - trying to balance what I eat, what he eats and other factors like teething...

Ds was similar - in fact his reaction to soya was worse than dairy IMO. I tried him with soya yogurts etc and he ended up with rashes and green poo.

You could try making your own bread (bread machine)? Then you can give him bread when weaning.

Soya isn't that great anyway - have heard bad things as it mimics hormones. I actually prepare all of DS's meals from scratch and eat the same as him - he's 2.6 years now so I'm used to it. He's outgrown the dairy intolerance almost but haven't tried soya although he's had shop bread and been ok. Dd, 4.5 months, is going the same way though.