DS allergic to dairy but now I'm worried about soya formula

[SamJohnsMum]

I'm also going to post this under general health, just in case.

My 7mo DS is allergic to dairy - he comes out in a red, bumpy rash. Although I am currently BFing, I'd wanted to start fading that out soon, so I wanted to start using some formula in his diet. My doctor advised me to try soya formula so I have been using this in his morning cereal and he seems to like it.

However, I have now read about some concerns with soya formula. First of all, this was just about further allergies. I asked my doctor again about this and they said, no current studies show soya is fine. I went away happy but someone mentioned soya formula can have a hormonal effect on boys and when I read up on this, all kinds of really horrible things are supposedly linked with soya formula.

Now, I'm scared witless about what I'm giving to my gorgeous boy and how on earth to deal with his dairy allergy without soya. What should I do?!

Bumping for you.

There is about a 50% chance that if your DS is allergic to dairy that he is allergic to soya too.

My DD1 is allergic to both and her allergist says this is very common.

The only way I found to deal with it was to breast feed for as long as possible and the use rice or oat milk for things like cereal, making pancakes and so on.

I have read the info about soya you refer to and I think it is concerning.

Sorry not very helpful, but there isn't an easy solution.

Just a quick message as I'm just leaving the office. I had the same problem with my son who is allergic to dairy. I think soya has high oestrogen levels which have been linked to problems with fertility in later life for boys (don't know if it's been proven or not though). The consultants we've seen don't advice switching to a soya formula, there are special 'anti allergic' formulas that don't contain soya, Neocate is one that I know of. They're expensive so doctors don't like giving them out on prescription unless you make a fuss.

In my experience there are a lot of kids with dairy/nut allergies that also end up being allergic to soya (my son has gone down that route. There are similar proteins in them I think.

A word of warning though. The special formula tastes vile, I think the younger you try them on it the more receptive they are. My son wouldn't take any of it even when disguised in cooking. When I tried some myself I realised why! I ended up breastfeeding until he was nearly two. Good luck!

DS is also dairy allergic and I can only concur with Beachcomber - I kept on feeding him and then used Rice milk for additional drinks/cereal etc. He wouldn't touch soya formula nor will he touch soya milk - in fact only soya thing he will eat (he is 27 months now) is the vanilla flavoured pudding, which is in fact quite tasty.

If it is any help I don't find it too difficult as time has gone on. You might find it helpful to know that I found him a reluctant weaner and he didn't really eat 'well' until about 14 months when I drastically cut back on boob action and somewhat forced the issue
He eats very well now and will lick or kiss new foods and decide whether to eat it or not!

I would try to give as little soya as possible. My Ds developed a soya allergy after giving him 2 soya yoghurts a day on the advice of a dietician.

Rice and Oat milk doesn't have enough nutritional value to be used in place of breastfeeding or formula.

The various formulas have been mentioned, my DS wouldn't touch any of them, so I ended up bfing him until nearly 2, feeding morning and before bed and he had the oat and rice milk during the day.

DS2 is allergic to dairy and was on Wysoy formula for ages until we realised he was intolerant to soya too. It came on gradually and he's allergic to many other things too, so it was difficult to isolate at first. We've just started to reintroduce soya (at 6) and he can tolerate it in small amounts now. If I had my time again I wouldn't have put him on soya formula, for all the reasons already mentioned and would have bf him for longer (I only did 5 months). A friend of mine uses goats milk, but her child is older - he tolerates it well.

I'd echo not to give soya formula - more than likely to also be allergic.

Ask for a referral to an allergy clinic to get tested and get neocate prescribed. Neocate is more palatable than nutrimigen. I had problems weaning ds off neocate as he used to guzzle it down. For him it was just a normal taste.

My son was diagnosed as allergic to dairy at 7 months. He also had a skin reaction like you describe. The paedeatric allergist we saw who has a good reputation told us to try him on soya formula if I wanted to stop breastfeeding. He told me that we didn't need to worry about the soya/boy thing because its only really an issue for younger babies. Not sure whether that is correct but he is an expert in the field. He also said that we would be better off not excluding soya unless we had to because it would make life much harder in terms of what DS can and can't have.

That said, as other have said, he has proved to be allergic to soya too. I didn't ever try him on soya formula because he reacted to soya yogurts with projectile vomiting and he has nutramigen, which he has taken to well.

Thanks everyone. I am going to see the doctor again on wed and I'm going to push for a referral to an allergy specialist.

I may well BF for up to a year now, but although I support others' choice for extended BFing, it really isn't for me. After a year, can I ensure he gets enough nutrients with stuff like rice milk?

The NHS dietician and allergy specialists at Kings College Hosp that we see have said that the hormone issues with Soya are not a problem for past 6 months, ie once the diet is not solely milk. They have advised us to have Wysoy and soy yoghurts etc as the easiest way to get calcium into the diet to replace dairy products and eggs, which we need to avoid due to allergies. My son has thrived on this diet from weaning stage until now, 16months.
The articles on fertility are worrying but then again children in far east are raised on soya and the population doesn't seem to be suffering.
I've decided to go with the hospital advice and try to keep his diet as wide as possible within the constraints of his allergies.
Try to get a dietician (or is it nutritionist, I'm not sure) referral as they can help you look at what is needed to get calcium and protein levels right.
x

The advice we had was the same as Helio - ie ok after 6 months.