Switching from Pepti to soya milk: any advice?

[garliclover]

Hello again. Would really appreciate any tips or advice about this one:
My DS just turned 2. I have a feeling his GP will stop prescribing Pepti, which he used to have as his main milk -- now he has 8oz every bedtime. It has been a life-saver and I'd rather not give it up, but sooner or later we'll have to make the switch!
I think of all the alternative milks available the Alpro soya milk for toddlers seems to be the best because of its high iron and vitamin content. But how to get DS to like it at this age? And to like it so much that he won't mind it being in his bottle instead of Pepti? At the moment the only other milk he drinks is Kara, but apart from the calcium it doesn't have much else going for it.
So, do you think it might work if I very very gradually replaced the Pepti with soya, say 5mls a day for 6 weeks? Or is he too old to be deceived by this? The other question is whether Alpro is in fact the best alternative? He's allergic to a lot of legumes, and I'm kind of resigned to the fact he'll eventually become allergic to soya aswell.
Has anyone else had a similar dilemma?

DS2 had just turned 1, he is on Aptamil pepti 2, Nurse practitioner and HV's have all said he will probably stay ok it for a, few years yet as threw is no sign of him building up a tolerance to normal dairy. I think you should speak to your Doctor about your concerns, if it is needed then he should prescribing it. Alternatively you can buy it on Amazon but it's stupidly priced.

Oh and Soya for youngsters is not a good idea as there have recently been studies on links to infertility in later life.

Thanks for your reply, 2Old2. That's good to know your DS will be prescribed Pepti for a while yet. About the soya links to infertility: I know that it's not recommended as a main milk for babies under 6 months, but is there evidence that it has a detrimental effect on older children? I'd be interested to know more about these studies. I wonder what conclusions have been drawn about Japan, for example, where children have loads of soya in their diet and presumably don't have fertility problems. It's all very confusing! My main concern about soya, really, is that my DS is allergic to other legumes.

Given your DS's allergies to other legumes I think I'd steer clear of soya milk tbh. What about fortified oat milk instead? It's available in all the supermarkets and has lots of added vits/minerals. We're in a similar situation at the moment as DS is still on Neocate twice a day but he's 5 in a couple of weeks and the dietician had always said that he could stay on it until he's 5 so now we have to try to get him used to a new milk. We've tried both oat and soya milk and he's not fussed on either but slightly prefers the soya so we're going with that (he's not allergic to any legumes). At the moment we're using it on his breakfast every now and then plus getting him to drink the occasional beaker of the stuff but he keeps saying 'why can't I have my Neocate?' :( Given the age of your DS I think gradually mixing larger quantities of the new milk with his old one is a good idea. That was the method we used to get DS to tolerate Neocate in the 1st place all those years ago!

Hi. My DS was on Pepti until he was nearly 3. GP never questioned, we just kept ordering on repeat prescription..... Dietician suggested move to Soya at almost 3. He was fine with it (he is also allergic to some legumes). I think the hooha about soya and negative effects is only applicable to babies having it from birth, it's something to do with the large amounts they are having vs their size. It's ok for toddlers and upwards because it's not the only element to their diet. Our dietician sent us a leaflet / article about it (I haven't really explained it very well here!)

p.s. why do you think GP wants to stop prescribing? I know it's expensive but you are entitled to it.

Hi garlic! Sorry, I have been away from MN for ages! Little DS is still struggling, waiting for endoscopy and bronchoscopy now which will both need general anaesthetics :( But his weight is picking up on the plus side!

You should be entitled to prescription formula until 4 yrs old really, so don't let them fob you off. Otherwise for dd who was diagnosed late and never accepted the hypoallergenic formulas, our dietician advised us to give hemp milk and add calogen to it and also calcium sandoz three time a day, as well as multivits (animal parade babyplex and also d3 drops.) she did say there isn't really s huge difference between all the other milks though because they are all low in protein and so we need to just give them high protein diets.

I completely agree considering your DS' other allergies that soya would not be a great idea. Although we were told recently that soya lecithin has no protein in it so if you see that in the ingredients then it shouldn't be a problem for most people. I hope that helps. And I hope your little man is much better now. :)

Hi Garlic, sorry I posted and ran! Dr's/HV didn't give me much more info on the detrimental to fertility side of soya, think it may take a bit of googling. HV and Dietician really not keen on soya, I have been looking at the free from section in Sainsburys, for in the future, there seem to be quite a few alternatives out there. Stick to your guns for the time being until they can give you an alternative your son and you are happy with :)

Sorry for being so slow at thanking you all for your very helpful replies! freefrom, I hope your DS is accepting the soya milk more happily. I forgot to say that my DS seems to tolerate soya and has one yoghurt a day, but perhaps I should steer clear of it for his main milk and use Oatley instead, as you suggest.
loislaine, it's good to hear your DS's GP kept on prescribing Pepti. I thought I read somewhere that you're only entitled to it until age 2 but I won't say anything and hope that I was wrong!
Choca, I am so sorry to hear your DS is still struggling, little thing. So good his weight is up, though! When will you hear about the endoscopy and bronchoscopy? Thanks so much for your post. I might try DS with hemp milk as well as the Oatley and see what he prefers. He has calcium sandoz as a top-up on the days when he doesn't meet his 350mg and Boots multivits which have vitamin D3. On the whole he's ok. Very itchy these days, and gets mysterious rashes, but I'm putting it down to combination of heat and damp (can't face thought of another delayed allergy)!
2Old -- thanks for coming back! and lovely post