Soya milk for children esp boys

[Pitchounette]

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you can also get calcium from-tofu ,broccoli, leafy green veg ,and almonds.
my ds(2)is intolerant to cows milk and has goats milk which is apparently easier to digest-works for him.and goats cheese,but goats yoghurts are foul so he has soya yoghurt

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dont blame him!i love spinach but thats it and its not the kind of thing you have that often!
have you thought about goats milk produce?gp and hv both suggested trying on my ds as couldnt tolerate cows.

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I had a lecture while in uni years back that said, that ideally boys should avoid too much soya milk as it contains osetrogen ( thats why ideal for post menopausal women. And long term risks of infertility, breasts etc....

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Who advised you to cut back on cow's milk?
I think soya milk is generally inferior to cow's unless you are allergic to cow's milk.

My dd was allergic to cow's do had soya for 18 months

As soon as she got over her allergy I put her back on cow's milk.

I mean so, not do (third sentence down!)

I was under the impression that it was OK after the age of 12 months?

I think that both soya and cow's milk are high in oestrogens, especially full fat cow's milk.

Saying that ds (not allergic) did have cows milk after 12 mths, but I gave him semi skimmed after he turned 2 because I was worried about the oestrogen levels in full fat. Skimmed is evidently the best, if children are getting adequate fat content in their diet from other sources.

As for alternatives, sardines, pilchards etc are a good source, broccolli and other things mentioned by others, but the problem is that milk packs in the calcium at a much higher ratio than other foods (and I think getting a toddler to eat sardines and pilchards with their bones could prove tricky) DS hates all green veg at the moment, which is a nightmare for me, but if your ds likes these things you can always substitute dairy for these sorts of foods.

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found this on vegetarian society site-

Milk

Babies under two should not be given semi-skimmed and children under five should not be given skimmed milk because skimmed milk lacks the fat soluble vitamins A and D and young children need the energy from fat. Soya milks should be specially formulated for babies if they are used instead of breast milk and should be fortified if used as an alternative to cow's milk for young children. It is recommended that if avoiding animal milk products, soya formula be used up to the age of 2 years.

I researched oestrogens a bit when ds was born (he had a mild hypospadias and one theory is that the increase in this condition COULD be linked to the increase in oestrogens in our environment in general). I read several articles that said that milk was a problem because in order to keep cows regularly lactating they have to be kept pg much of the time and so most of our commercial milk comes from pg cows with high hormone levels.

there is an article from the Food Commission here I don't think that organic milk is really any different because the cows still need to be regularly pg to produce milk at all.

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my ds is allergic to dairy and has some soya milk (more often a soya yogurt), i looked into the hormone thing and as far as i could work out the main areas of concern were if soya formula was being used as the only source of nutrition - ie pre weaning age. From what i could work out the risk was more to do with the volume being ingested - so a small amount wouldn't be a big problem.

I'm not an expert but decided one yogurt a day would help stop me worrying about the calcium side but hopefully not be enough to do any potential damage.

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DS2 was switched to soya at 3 because of an allergy or should I say since allergies are not supposed to exist! to cows milk. He hated it and stopped drinking milk completely but then still eats soya desserts.

You need to look at all food stiffs re the dairy content. Its murder if you are new to it.

DD has goats milk and has in one form or another since I stopped feeding her myself. She reacts to dairy. Goats milk is OK but I agree the yoghurts are vile.

DS1 has never had any problems