Negatives of Soy-based Formula????

I haven't heard any negatives about soy formula.

My husband has a rare and severe milk allergy, so we can't give my daughter any milk products until she is at least a year old.

I am mostly breast feeding, but at 6 months my husband started giving my daughter a bottle of soy formula each night and she has done great with it. We haven't had any problems. My husband and I were both given soy formula as babies as well with no problems.

Good Luck!

Hi K. -

If you're not sold on soy, you may want to try Similac Alimentum, which is an allergen-free formula. I had to wean at 7 months and my son was not doing well with rgular formula (very gassy, spit up a lot). After we discovered he has a dairy allergy, my pediatrician recommended Similac Alimentum and it has worked like a charm! He is eating a lot more and his belly, for the first time since birth, is doing really well!

S.

Soy contains phytoestrogens. Adult women should not consume more than 35 grams of soy protein in a day. I am raising my daughter vegetarian and have been scouring the internet for information regarding soy and babies (she loves tofu). I cannot find a difinitive answer about how much soy is ok.
I'd like to trust that the formula companies are making their formula in a way that will not cause any issues down the road, but I just don't know.
I am limiting my daughter's soy consumption a bit until I can find an answer. If my daughter was allergic I think I'd just *try* to keep nursing. If there is a reason you cannot continue to nurse I would talk to your doctor about other options. There are milk based "hypoallergenic" formulas.

My daughter is a soy baby. She's turning one this week, and has been on soy since 2.5 months. We had issues with breastfeeding, and she had horrible BMs and a bleeding diaper rash from milk-based formulas. Aside from being easily constipated on soy, we've had no issues. We gave her a few ounces of whole milk this week (our doc said most babies outgrow the milk sensitivity by 1), and the rash and BMs came back. She'll be drinking soy milk I guess. We're lucky enough, though, that she can have regular yogurt and cheese.

Please don't worry about the soy formula. The authors of the negative articles about soy formula have probably written negative articles about all formula. Do what you need to do. Your baby will do fine!

I started my son out on soy when he was 10 weeks. I was trying to cut all dairy out of my diet and continue to nurse, but it was very difficult. I put him on Wal-Mart brand soy formula and he did fine.... no more gassiness and he would sleep again. happy baby, happy mama. He is 15 months now and on whole milk. It took me almost two months to wean him, but he does fine now......

We used soy because she had horrible gas pains from regular formula, she continued to go on to soy milk, and by 18 months she was drinking regular milk. So we slowly got her on regular milk, and it seems her dairy allergy is gone, I also had a dairy allergy early and can drink milk just fine now. We had her on the Similac Soy, I think it is in a red can.

Hi K..

My son is allergic to soy, and was also lactose intolerant. We had to use a lactose free milk based formula. Carnation and i believe similac make this kind, but Walmart also does (or at least they did 3 yrs ago when my son was on it) and it was a good 3-4 dollars cheaper then the big brand names, and he did terrific on it. I believe the brand is Parents Choice, just make sure it says lactose free milk based. Then he wont have the probs of the regular formula, and u wont have to risk the chance he is also allergic to soy, which was the case with my son, and many of my friends children. Its very common for babies to be allergic to the soy from what i have read.

Hope this helps..and if you will feel better, just run the idea past your doc about the kind i mentioned.

Thanks
B.

Hi K.,

My 8 month old has been on Soy formula for about a month or so now and is doing well. She wasn't drinking a lot when I was breastfeeding or giving regular forumla and had a lot of gas so her pediatrician suggested trying Soy and the first bottle she drank twice as much as she would have before.

I too was concerned about what I was reading about Soy but her pediatrician said Soy is just as natural as cow's milk....in fact, cow's milk was made for calfs not humans so it is not unusual for there to be a sensitivity.

In my opinion, at the end of the day, as long as your baby is thriving and doing well that's all that matters. I hated having to wean her from breastfeeding but the bigger picture was she wasn't drinking and wasn't gainging weight so I had to do what was best for her. Every baby is differnt. Trust your gut and your doctor...and your baby....they will let you know what is working for them.

Good luck!!
C.

I never had any reactions with my daughter but she had pebble like BM's. we were on Similac Isomil Advance
Good luck
L.

Hi K.,
I did decide against using soy formula, and good thing, because my daughter was allergic to that too. I opted to continue nursing while eliminating soy and dairy from my diet. She outgrew her allergy at about 8 months for soy and 10 for dairy. She currently (at 1 1/2) eats about anything with no problem. If your little guy is 7 months, I am guessing he is starting to eat more solids also, which means nursing may be less frequent. If you can, maybe try to go to a year, then on to milk. That is part of why I kept going, so that I didn't have to choose a hypoallergenic formula (expensive and not too tasty!). Just another option.
Good luck!
E.

I don't remember the specifics, but I know there are some real negatives about soy. Allergies, and I seem to remember something about learning disabilities.

Having said that, when my son was first born, and I did not have milk yet due to drugs I received during my c-section and the stress of having a baby in the NICU, he was given soy formula because he could not tolerate the dairy one. It was only for a little while, though (2 days) and he was getting breastmilk, too.

I would say that if you have been exclusively breastfeeding until now, that SOME soy would be okay. But how come you are giving him formula? If you've been nursing till now, i would try to keep it up until he's a year old and then you don't have to make this choice. If you are supplementing with some solids, he should be fine with just nursing a bit and having some solid foods.

I know this isn't much help because I did not use formula for long, but wanted to encourage you about nursing, since it's the best thing for him. :)

K.,
I started feeding my now 8 month old soy formula when he was about 3 months old. He would get terrible gas from regular formula. I suspect a lactose intolerance (like his mommy)!
He's thriving just fine. In the 100 percentiles, happy and healthy.
I would not be concerned about giving your baby soy formula. I'm not sure what other alternatives are out there if you don't use a milk based or soy formula.
Best of luck to you!

What? There are negatives about soy based formula? I've not read anything about this.

We used it for many months because my daughter was too gassy on the regular formula. We never had a problem and she's very happy and healthy at age 3.5!

My 7 month old daughter has been on soy formula since she was 2 months old. She was born early and wouldn't breastfeed, and the milk-based formula was causing her to be extremely gassy. So far there has been no problems at all!! My doctor was the one who switched her to soy, and he never stated anything negative about using soy. Also, my father was on soy when he was an infant, and he is perfectly fine. Graduated from college and is a computer programmer. I honestly don't believe that soy causes learning disabilities.... Hope this helps!!

My daughter had reflux and her pediatrician wanted to make sure it wasn't a milk allergy and had me switch to Nutramigen. I've copied and pasted it's description below:

Nutramigen® LIPIL® is a hypoallergenic formula for infants who are sensitive to intact protein found in milk-based and soy-based formulas. Nutramigen LIPIL contains extensively hydrolyzed protein proven effective for colic due to cow's milk allergy. The formula includes docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA), nutrients also found in breast milk that promote brain and eye development.

So if you would prefer to stay away from soy it's a good alternative but beware........it's VERY VERY expensive!!! Maybe ask your pediatrician if something like nutramgin would be ok for your baby. There are other hypo-allergenic formulas that are similar, this is just the one our docotor recommended. Did I tell you it was EXPENSIVE? ha ha Good luck!

I have heard of many babies doing well, and I know many doctor's reccomend trying that if they have trouble with regular formula, both of my kids alawys vomited soy formula, so I tried Lactose free formula and they did fine. Turns out my son cannot tolerate milk very well to this day,although he can have some cheese and yogurt ( he's 4 1/2)...we will see with my daughter, but so far she is tolerating yogurt fine. Also I have heard a lot about babies doing well on the Good Start...mine did not...still too much lactose. Good luck with your decision.

I have 2 soy babies and they are perfectly fine. I have read and heard all the soy articles and firmly stand ground to what has worked for my children. My 3 year old used soy from 1 month, also problems nursing, and drinks soy milk. Today she can't drink milk but can have foods with milk in it. We're slowly getting her accustomed to it. My 6 month is on soy formula also. No problems!

All the things out there about soy are just like anything else. You'll hear the good and the bad, as in anything. What I kept saying to people is if it was that horrible, don't you think the doctors would say not to give it to babies?

Good luck,
K.

My boy is allergic to dairy and soy, which apparently is common to be allergic to both. Soy is a natural hormone and really you don't want to give it to boys, i hear it can kinda stunt their growth and their, uh, boyhood.
; )

My 6 year old was allergic to milk base and so am I,I fed her alsoy. Since then I just fed my other 2 alsoy from the start. I am due in Aug and plan to feed him that also .. I have had to neg. problems with it.. Good luck...

My daughter is is allergic to dairy. She's been on soy since I stopped nursing. She's now 15 and can tolerate some dairy but has to be careful with how much she has. I never had a problem with any soy products. Most children do out grow their sensitivity to dairy, it just takes longer for some.

Cheryl

K. ,
My son was on soy based formula when he was a baby. He is now almost 10. He is a perfectly happy, healthy,very athletic, smart young man. He had many problems with the milk based formula, gassy spitting up. Soy was the only logical way to go. I think back to when we were kids, well some of us, we were fed regular milk. My brother was on goats milk because he could not handle reg. milk. Talk to your doctor about the formulas, what ever you do get your questions in during your visit's make sure you are at ease. Don't let them rush you.
Good luck,
Kris