Soy Formula - Hobart, IN

I was allergic to milk as a child and drank soy milk. I don't think it harmed me. I am allergic to soy milk now, but I'm okay with soy sauce. I can actually drink regular milk now, but I do better on lactose-free milk. Of course, my body has changed considerably in the 30+ years that I've had it.

Every person is different. We went through 8 formulas with my first daughter to find that she did best with Nestle Good Start. My second daughter does wonderfully with lactose-free Parents' Choice. You will probably have to try some different things until you find what is right for your son.

I don't know how well developed a 2-month old's taste buds are, but there is a definite difference in taste between cow's milk and soy milk. Honestly, my husband was raised on the farm and drank milk straight from the cow, and he's one of the healthiest people that I know, so I think these reports that soy and milk are bad do not consider that everyone truly is an individual.

1 mom found this helpful

Hello K.,

Both of my daughters started out on the enfamil. They were both doing the same as your little one and only eating 2 oz at a time and it was wearing me down. With my first daughter I was struggling with switching her formula as it sounds you are. I will tell you I tried 3 or 4 others thinking the doctor just does not know what they talking about. I finally broke down and bought the soy and wow what a change in my daughter. She went form eating 2oz to 4oz. With my second daughter it was in the hospital that I choose to put her on soy after the nurses had a hard time getting her to eat. Both my daughters stayed on soy and did wonderfuly. I say take your doctors advice and do the switch. It is better for your child and you will know that he is eating the way he should be. Just because you use soy does not mean it will always be that way. Both my girls went over to milk quite easy. Instead of 8oz of formula I would do 2oz milk to 6oz formula and then so on. Well good luck and I say listen to your doctor.

you need to do what makes you feel comfortable. if you would feel better about your decision if you tried something else before soy, then do that so you know "yes this works" or "no, it doesnt." i personally took my son off of soy after reading about the effects it can have on their developing reproductive systems. but, i dont really know if that is true or not.

what my doc recommended for both of my kids is to increase by 5cc or 5ml every week. (30 = 1 ounce). keep doing that and eventually they will have enough to space out their feedings. or, have you ever tried giving him the bottle and just letting him stop when he is done?

i feel your pain! i have an 11 month old on a feeding tube who has eaten every 3 hours her whole life! sometimes i want to go insane with feeding! :)

good luck to you!

From what I've read you are right to want to research soy.
www.askdrsears.com is a site I love and use often. I recall an article on soy touting benefits of soy foods but cautioning against the use of soy formula. Might want to check it out. Just put 'soy' into the search and it should pop up.
Plus, I think it's usually smart to question what doctors say. I love ours but like to think things through.
good luck!

We put my daugter on soy formula when she was about 8 months old and she's fine. She had a reaction to Yo Baby yogurt and to be safe we put her on soy instead of regular formula but she has no adverse reactions to cow's milk now. We're thinking it was a fluke, but better to be on the safe side.

If you have a Sam's Club membership you can get the Enfamil soy formula (I believe it's Isomil) at a really good price for a big tub. Also, if you ever travel on a plane you can get the individual packets of the Enfamil and Isomil to take with you.

Those were lifesavers when we went to South America.

We never had any problems with the soy and I still nursed while giving the soy so it was more of a suppliment. I will agree it smells and if you ever get some on your hands rinse them off, don't taste it, it's not worth the gag reflex, but the kids seem to do OK with the taste.

I hope the bug has subsided. My daughter's just over 20 months now and in the past two weeks she's only had 2-3 days of regular eating due to back to back nasty colds and she's dropping weight kinda fast. It's a tough thing to see but they do come out of the funk eventually to start eating well again. I feel your pain.

Good luck!!!!

don't have time but READ UP ON SOY!!!!! It is poisonous in those amounts and do not listen to your doc just cause they eat more does NOT mean its healthier for them. DO NOT SWITCH TO SOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soy is not poisonous.

The latest research says that soy has had an effect on estrogen levels, affecting boys and girls differently. If you're concerned, just give your dr a call.

My son had a milk and soy allergy as an infant, then when he was a yr old outgrew the soy allergy and drank soy milk until he was about 2. He's prefectly fine.

At this point, your concern should be just getting your little guy to eat and thrive. If soy milk will do that and give you a happy baby then you should have absolutely no worries.

We had our daughter on a soy formula for awhile when she had a stomach illness and she did great. Some concerns that others brought up may be due to the fact that soy is a very absorbant plant and it has been found to contain a lot of pesticides. You may want to try to find an organic brand if you do use the soy. We used Earth's Best. I'm not sure if there are any other organic soy formulas out there. The only thing I didn't like about it was the first ingredient was organic corn syrup. Good luck!

K.- is there any other reason other than him not eating as much at every feeding the doctor wants you to switch to soy? Usually they recommend switching when your baby is having problems with the milk-based formulas, like excessive fussiness, gas, increased spit-up, overall irritability. If your baby isn't experiencing any of those, I'd just stick with the regular Enfamil and feed him on-demand- how much he wants, when he wants it. Even if it's just two oz every two hours. You could always try making a bigger bottle, and seeing if he takes that as well.

Good morning!
When my oldest son was an infant, we used the Wal-Mart brand (can't remember the name, though) of Soy formula. My son was very gassy and would spit up the regular formulas, so my doctor recommended soy. She also said it was fine to use the Wal-Mart brand, but recommended not to use the Carnation brand (and the reasoning behind that I can't remember, sorry). But he did fine. My other son (now 2 years) was fine on regular formula, but we still used the Wal-Mart brand. The only problem with soy is that is doesn't smell very well coming out (if you know what I mean! :)) But when switching from regular to soy, I would recommend mixing them first, starting with a larger concentration of regular and then more as the feedings progress. But of course, I would discuss this with your doctor if he/she hasn't already. Hope this helps. Good luck!

My daughter (6 months) has been on soy formula since October due to congestion since birth. The doctor thought she might have a milk allergy (haven't really been able to confirm that, but...) and suggested switching to soy. Since we did that, she's less congested and less fussy after eating. Even if it's not a milk allergy, it's definitely improved her mood, so I'm all for it! I don't know of any bad effects from it; her poop is green, but that's not a big deal. :) I also use the Parent's Choice soy formula--it's about $10.50 a can and has same nutritional value (though not the added DHA, etc.). I'd say if your doctor recommended it, it's not a bad thing to at least try. Hope this helps!

E.

Hello there ... May i ask why you dr said to try soy? It is soooo nasty!! It stinks, it's hard to get out of the clothes if your baby spits up like mine. Most babies just don't like it. With my 4 mo. old i have no choice! She's been on it since she was 16 hours old. If you are thinking about changing formula i'd try Enfamil Nutramigan first. It's not soy and it is very very expensive. We got some from our dr she said it was miracle formula but for us it proved to be a very bad mistake - my lil one threw it up all over the apt. I'd try a lil before i did soy but that's just my opinion. Hope it helps!

Probably the reason your doctor recommended that is because when people have a tummy bug...usually viral, it can cause a temporary milk allergy type of thing. 2 oz at a time is not really so bad for a 2 month old who is getting over a viral stomach thing. I would see if he is interested in any pedialyte if you are worried about his fluid intake, but otherwise I would imagine that he will start to bounce back and take more you just need to give it a little time. I wouldn't switch to soy unless he is continually still throwing it up all the time.

Before you do anyting, I would go back to your pediatrician and ask him why he feels it's better to switch to soy formula that use another type of formula. I wouldn't go out and buy the Gentleease without checking first - no sense in wasted money. Is your little one having a problem with his current formula? Is he lactose intolerant? As for his feedings, I wouldn't stretch out the timings of feedings until your baby "tells" you he can go longer without his bottle. Instead, you might want to try and increase his volume first and then increase the length in between bottle feeds.

Soy formula is wonderful for children who are lactose intolerant or get an upset stomach from regular milk based formulas.
I switched my son to soy formula when he was about a month old. There were absolutly no negative effects. My son was constipated, gassy, spit up a lot and at times I even thought colicy. When I switched to soy formula the problems were mostly gone, expect for a little spit up every once in a while. It was a lot less than the amount he spit up before the switch.
If you know that milk based formulas upset your child's stomach, why would you try other milk based formulas? You will still be causing your child's stomach irritation and you will be wasting your money.
By the way, I put my son on Target's generic brand of soy formula. It is the exact same powder as Prosobee but costs about $10 less than the name brand. Their generic brand even has the same hotline number as the name brand formula on the back of the can.

I'd also like to suggest these acticles to you. Both are from the previously mentioned Dr.Sears site.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t044700.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/fit8.asp

After reading some of the scary responses you recieved, I did a little research myself. I (still) believe that soy milk/formula has many benefits.

The only real side effect of soy is that it really smells. As far as switching it depends on why the doctor said that. If it was only because he only eats 2 oz or another reason let me know maaaaaybe I can help you out more. My son used soy my girls used sensitive. Let me know

Hey K..
Well I hope my other message did not post I was in mid sentence. But this is what happens when you have a nosey 3 year old. Anyway my little one would not take any formula except soy. And it agreed with her well. She never spit up and really never had to much gas. Another option might be the bottles. We used Dr. Browns and that helped with stomach issues also.
I don't know if this helps any. But I loved the soy(it made her happy)

If the doctor recommended it, it's probably the best for your boy. I do have to warn you though. It smells HORRIBLE when it comes back out/up. My girl had gas to begin with but when they put her on that I thought I'd die! It might be different with him, and I don't want to scare you away from what your doctor said. Hope it works out!