Baby PREFERS Soya Milk - Long Sorry

[AllTogetherInTheTeamBathsheba]

Sorry this is going to be long but I think its best to give you all the details.

DD3 was bf in hospital, but because of family issues and complete lack of support, she was bottle fed from day 5 when I returned home.

She suffered from silent reflux and colic. Before we could get help with these, we had 5-6 weeks of very unsettled, screaming baby. One Saturday morning I ended up calling NHS 24 who said speak to a pharmacist in the mean time but get her to the gp on Monday morning. We spoke to a phamacist, she suggested trying soya milk, made no real difference but took her to the GP on the Monday and start6ed to get things addressed.

Fast Forward 5 months, colic has settled down, reflux is still there, she has carabel in every feed, still uses Dr Browns bottles but was on standard SMA gold throughout.

Now, money is a bit tight, and I had 3/4 of a tub of soya milk still in the cupboard from that weekend, so I, stupidly in hindsight, made her bottles for 2 weeks with half soya milk, half SMA, just to use this tub up. She was a different baby....more settled, really chilled, more relaxed...

In the end, the tub was used up, we went back to SMA, and she refused it, screamed the place down if she was offered just 100% SMA. So, as I had a completely non feeding baby, I bought some more soya, she loved it..

Phoned up to check with my HV that was okay, or it was opkay to go back to half and half, and was told in no circumstances was I to give her a drop more soya milk, it shouldn;t be given to babies under 1 (despite my box saying suitable from birth), it leads to all sorts of problems and I must go back on to 100% normal formula.

We spent a few days trialling other formulas as she would not touch SMA, finally through trial and error we discovered that Aptimil doesn't upset her tummy and that is what we have given her for the last 2 weeks.

But she REALLY isn't up for it...she never finsishes a bottle the way she did, she never drinks it with any gustio, she fights and fights and then finally relents, and again, is nowhere near as settled as she was those 2 weeks on half and half...

My Dh KEEPS ON GOING ON about "why can we not give her the soya milk, it wouldn't say "from birth" if it was dangerous, what did the HV say, why can't we just give her that, she likes that, why can we not give her the soya milk, why why why" and it is all making me very very stressed.

I've had people recoil in horror when I tell them she was on soya milk - someone literally shouted "you gave soya milk to your baby..!!!!!!!!" (she is a science lecturere at one of the local universities so I'm thinking this reaction must be based on something) - I've got my DH going on at me all the time, I've got a baby who, whilst not very unsettled, is less settled than she has been before, and the whole thing is causing me a LOT of stress.

I was planning to get an appointment with the GP sometime soon to discuss this with her but I'm really worried I've done something very wrong by giving her this soya milk, and yet its what she is best with, and my Dh goes on about it ALL THE TIME (literally every time he is feeding her its all he talks about, when we were on holiday last week it came up every day, in the end I have asked him to stop talking me and asking me why why why about the soya milk as I have continually told him everything I was told)...

What can I do..?

Do you mean soya formula or soya milk? Soya milk should not be given under 2 years as it isn't nutritionally complete enough for babies. Soya formula is adequate, but there are a lot if concerns about the high levels of oestrogen (I think) mucking up young babies systems.... Have a google for more info.

Sorry, yes Soya formula - We bought Cow And Gate Infasoy which says its suitable from birth after being recommended to try soya formula by the pharmcist

Personally I would make an appt with your GP and have a chat with them tbh.

Soya formula is a no no for baby boys due to levels of oestrogen so have a chat with your GP about your DD.

My DD has intolerances and used to scream when offered SMA and I got soya (Wysoy) formula on prescription when she was 8mths old.

There are issues with soya formula which is something to do with oestregen as lukewarm says - so current medical advice is only to use it if there are no other alternatives, e.g. in the case of a severely allergic baby. I don't know how much research has been done or what the studies are though. The baby food companies can put whatever ages they like on their products unless restricted by law, (which is why baby food says "from 4 months" when it's recommended to wait until 6 months) so either the research is too new for a law to have been passed regarding it yet, or it's not substantial enough to say "Oh no we definitely should not give this to babies except on prescription"

I would probably go with mixing it half and half as you have been.

Both my sons had infasoy because they couldn't tolerate cows milk.
They are now 10 and 8 and perfectly healthy, well-developed boys.

Or maybe it was Wysoy.
ANyway - they are fine.

soya formula is supposed to be used only after a medical diagnosis of cows milk protein intolerance, and even then, there are safer alternatives.

The concern is not just the oestrogens, but also aluminium and the high sugar content which can damage teeth if a child continues to have bottle feeds of it when teeth come through - google risks of soya formula for the info.

Obviously some babies need this formula if they are not breastfed and cannot take regular formula or the alternative special formulas, but it's a bit shocking that a pharmacist and a GP recommend it without exploring further, and that an HV just says 'NO!' without explaining why.

Your dilemma, OP, is a hard one. Would be helpful if you could see a paediatric dietitian, perhaps?

It's certainly a tricky one and seeing a paediatric dietitian is a very good idea. You'll probably need to be referred by a GP. Trouble is (as I know from experience!) it can take ages for the appointment to come through.

Maybe your GP could prescribe one of the alternative specialist formulas in the meantime? If you tell him/her what you've told us then s/he ought to be sympathetic, although I realise this is not always the case. You can ask to see a different GP if you feel that your message is not getting through. Also, I have heard that you can buy the specialist formulas over the counter if necessary, but they are very expensive.

Hope all goes well for you.

How about pushing for hypoallergenic formula on prescription? I think neocate and/or nutramigin are what are prescribed usually.

I don't want to put a downer on this but it is incredibly hard to get a hypoallergic formula on prescription unfortunately

My DD was on wysoy and then developed a problem with that too after a few weeks and I had a massive battle to get neocate for her.

Most GPs won't prescribe it (as its over £40 for a small tin ) so you need to get referal to dietician first and get them to prescribe iyswim

I forgot to say in my last post that the only reason I got neocate in the end was because they tested a sample of DD's poo and found she had a lactose intolerance..