Is SOY MILK ok for 1year old baby girl?

[zoesmom]

help please. i'm weaning my 1 yr. old baby girl off of the boob and i'm trying soy milk vanilla flavored. she loves it! but now i hear about articles proving the possible danger of soy milk to baby girls especially 1 yr and abouts. what can i use instead? is there any validity to this?

Why don't you want to give her ordinary milk?

Must be better than the small baby I saw today being given blackcurrant Fruit Shoot - I kid you not !

my niece has been on soya milk and formula since birth

never heard of this risk!
what is it?

There are several concerns about soya formula and soya milk - if you put risks of soya formula into Google you will get several results.

Some babies need soya, if they are not breastfed and cannot tolerate cows milk formula.

But it really shouldn't be given to other babies.

Basically the concerns are that it is high in phytoestrogens (hormone like substances); aluminium; added sugars.

HTH

tiktok - how long would it have to be used for it to have any affect.

ds was on soya formula for a few months of his early life.....

I read in one of dh (GP) journals "official guidelines" to discourage the use of soyamilk in young children and babies. There was something about infertility in boys.
Unfortunately ds doesn't like cowsmilk so has also been drinking soyamilk...

OH GOSH! ds (now 5) was on SMA wysoy for 2-3 years, because he was intolerant to cow's milk. His eczema improved, but at the age of 3 i thought it was about time he came off it. I'm so worried now about the risks, but the GP just kept prescribing it for me. I've only just battled to get him allergy tested and referred to a dermatologist.

thanks for all the feedback! this is my first time on mumsnet. the concern i heard of was from regular soy milk not the formula. she's not allergic to a thing quite honestly she'll have anything but now she prefers vanilla soy milk.

...blackcurrant fruit shoot?

Regular soy milk has the same risks, sorry

I'm not an expert on this at all - the only info I have had is reading the newspapers, looking at the government's advisory comittee on this (seach on SACN soya if you want to see what they say), and reading other good sources. I have no idea if anyone has found that there is a certain period of time that's more risky than others.

I don't want to scare anyone. I don't even know how great the risk is, though it is real enough. It's been around in the USA for ages and probably millions of babies have been on it. Trouble is, the long term effects of it probably don't get linked back to the infant diet - the only obvious short term effects are a risk of tooth decay, esp if it's been drunk from a bottle, because of the high sugar content.

No doctor should be prescribing it routinely without proof of need, that's for sure.

umm yeah read about the risks in last weeks observer food magazine, sure you should be able to get a back copy from them, or it maybe on their web site? have to say really put me off it, not to mention the environmental harm the farming of it is doing....

I'm afraid I'm really wary of soya now as well because my ds1 (mainly breastfed) was given some soya formula between about 8 and 10 months and developed an intolerance to it. Had bad advice from HV, GPs, dietitians because he was intolerant to cow's milk and they all said 'if he seems okay on the soya formula, carry on' but I now know that a very high proportion of dairy intolerant children are likely to develop an intolerance to soya if exposed to too much of it.

Also read the Observer magazine and it echoed an article in our NCT newsletter by a local nutritionist. To paraphrase her article, as well as the phyto-oestrogens mentioned by others, unfermented soya contains:

1. enzyme blockers which can produce symptoms of gastric distress, deficiencies in amino acid absorption and lowered protein digestion;
2. haemagglutinin, which can cause red blood cells to clump together (so they aren't doing their job very well);
3. and higher levels of phytic acid than any other grain. Phytic acid is known to block the uptake of essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium and especially zinc in the gut.

(Fermented soya products, however, have lower levels of these 'antinutrients')

Sorry if this scares you , but this all seems to fit with my experience. We never had any problems with the volume of food that ds1 ate, but after he went off the soya formula (and similar products like soya cheese and yoghurts) ds1 put on loads of weight and was far healthier.

Incidentally, if you're using the soya milk because of suspected dairy intolerance, or if you just want to avoid creating a dairy intolerance, I would recommend a book by Jonathan Brostoff and Linda Gamlin called 'The complete guide to food allergies and intolerance' which has a section on food sensitivities in babies and children. It also flags up that children who appear to be free of symptoms of food sensitivity may find they have problems when they are older. I'm not a bf counsellor but agree with tiktok that GPs shouldn't be prescribing soya formula unless they have very good reason. Unfortunately many GPs don't know very much about food intolerances.

Hth and sorry if it's a bit strong but I'm speaking from bitter experience.

please don't apologise. i've been on a mission to find out more. I'm completely amazed by this revelation, and feel like having it out with my GP. It frightens me that i tend to rely on my GP for everything in relation to mine and kids health, however I find the knowledge and help on mumsnet far better.

Hello

I am going to resurect this old thread after a link was put on a recent one about dairy allergy - how do you know whether the soya milk is fermented, or not? Both of my children have soya after being diagnosed with dairy allergies some years ago

Thanks

Don't know.......try asking at a health food shop??