Switching from Soy to Milk Based?

I wouldn't worry about it. I gave my daughter soy formula for the first 12 mos. and then on her first birthday I gradually introduced her to older kid's formula made with cow's milk and that worked just fine. I usually give her a 6 oz. bottle at feedings and when I wanted to introduce the new formula I started out with two scoops of soy with one scoop of cow's milk for a week and then each week I'd add one more scoop until she was strictly on cow's milk formula.

I hope this helps!

K.

J.,

If he's doing well on the formula you have him on, I'd stick with it. You can always go to soy milk instead of cow's milk at 1 year. My son is allergic to both dairy and soy. It isn't all that uncommon. Many babies don't handle the cow's milk proteins well. My pediatric GI doctor said most babies outgrow the sensitivity between 6-18 months. So, if I were you, I'd wait.

:-)T.

Hi J.,

I work for the women infant and childrens program (WIC). I deal with formula intolerances for over 14 years. I would not worry about switching from soy milk to cows milk formula. If it aint broke don't fix it. Your child is thriving and healthy. He is eating other foods and not having any complications. However, most infants that need soy formula at birth is usually due to an immature digestive tract. However, if it was due to an allergy, than switching back may create more problems than you had in the beginning. Let your child have the soy formula. Once you have tryed all the fruits and veggies, moved on to toast and crackers, rice, ect. Then it may be time to introduce yogurt. If you would like the "BEST" kind. Than I would suggest plain yogurt and add your own fruit (less sugar). Though baby yogurt is fine too, just more expensive. If you can find whole milk yogurt, even better but not a need. If he tolerates the yogurt, then try pudding, pancakes (made w/ milk), a slice of cheese, or even macaroni & cheese. Milk in its drinkable form is the hardest to digest. But, if you work slowly with the "dairy product" foods and your child does well on them its not likely to create a problem. There are a few exceptions to all rules. If your infant was extremely premature or had an illness or severe allergies then the doctor may recommend formula a little while longer (more like 15 months). Only because the amount they drink has the most calories per ounce. Please do not introduce whole milk until about 2 weeks before his birthday. Again, if switched to cows milk before the body is ready, then we could actually cause stomach bleeding (not always present in the bowel movement) thus the leading cause of anemia or low iron storages. Remember always start off small, then can give more and more each time. If there is a reaction and you only offered a tablespoon, than that hurts the stomack alot less than if he were to eat an 8 oz. container. Only introduce 1 new food every 3-5 days. And, when I suggested pudding and icecream (those should be in moderation, due to limited nutrients and vitamins) I would only offer 1-2 times a week. stick with whole foods and nutritious foods. Never anything with honey in it until 1 years old and avoid citris juices until 9 months old. When you do give juice it should be no more than 4 oz. daily and if he is ready for juice, he is ready to start with a sippy cup.
I hope this helps.... My advice would be stick w/soy formula until 1 years old and experiments with dairy products.
By the way, who says your child ever has to drink cows milk. Its not the milk that is important but the calcium. So many other foods can replace the need for milk. As long as they have calcium in it or is fortified like oj.

H. B.

Feel free to write a personal message if you have further questions.

J. R,
HI! I would wait until 1 before switching. Both of my kids were allergic to regular formula and had to go on soy. My son I started on soy because he had complications at birth. At the hospital they gave him regualr formula and he threw up everything he took in. Have you had your son checked for ACID REFLEX? Both of my kids had it and it was no fun. My daughter is now 8 and just got over her last treatment. My son is now 5 and finished a 2 month treatment for it.
My advice is to wait until he is 1 then do the switch slowly. You don't want him to develop acid reflex from switching too early. Wait and use the soy to mix with cereal and other food I did and my kids did great. Good luck... M. Petersen

There is no need for you to change back to a milk based formula - why are you wanting too? My daughter was on soy formula since she was 2 or 3 months old due to some serious constipation and acid reflux issues, but soy formula is just as packed with vitamins and minerals as milk based formulas, so there is no need to change for any nutritional value.

When you child reaches 1, just go straight from the soy formula to regular milk (though you introduce it to them little by little so they aren't shocked by the huge taste difference). Starting a milk based formula now won't "get the system ready" for milk - by 12 months, his digestive system is old enough to deal with the milk without a problem. You don't need to mature his digestive system - the reason why we start our babies on milk at 12 months old is because their bodies are ready all on their very own - we don't need to do anything to help them along. We CANT mature their digestive systems - it happens regardless of what we do. In fact, if you switch to milk based formula now, you might have a harder time getting the baby to take milk at one after he has JUST switched to a different tasting formula - the only reason children may reject cows milk at first is because it tastes so different than any formula, milk or soy based.

Many babies don't tolerate milk based formulas for a variety of different reasons, but the beauty of your growing child is that they usually grow out of those issues once they reach one year. Stick with the soy formula, and at 10 or 11 months old, try offering him some regular cows milk to see how he does. If he does fine, go ahead and make the complete switch . You will find that it will be pretty painless, as regular milk tastes much better to their little tastebuds than formula :)

Well, here is the rub - Soy formula has it's own risks. Do some research on it and you will find that in many countries it is banned due to the high level of phyto-estrogens that act like regula esttrogen in our bodies. There is a great controversy on the appropriateness of feeding that much estrogen to babies...the safer alternative would be to gradually switch him out to Nutramigen of Alimentum - both are elemental formulas - designed specifially for babies with allergies. One has a touch of dairy in it - so read the labels to make sure. But, my advice would be do some hard core research and switch out to Nutramigen or Alimentum. I would NOT transition to dairy based formula - period.

Now in regards to the Dairy allergy - be very careful. You may want to have your child tested for dairy allergy BEFORE putting him on cow's milk. My son had a severe dairy allergy which kept me from eating any cow's milk products during his time of breastfeeding. Once weaned however, he still had signs of the allergy. We chose to transition him to Rice Milk (again NO SOY!). Later his father tried to challenge him with dairy products with disasterous results (and almost a CPS report by the Dr on his dad - we are divorced - due to the severity of my son's allergy and danger to his health!). At 13 he is still severely allergic and we still must read labels...

The message here is that if a baby has a true dairy allergy it is best to rule out that allergy when they are older first before putting it back into their diet. Human DO NOT NEED cow's milk products EVER. Vit. D can be obtained through 15 minutes of sun exposure per day and calcium is best gotten through dark green leafy veggies or supplements if you must. Humans are not designed to process dairy - which would explain the HIGH number of humans who have lactose intolerance and stomach problems when they consume diary producst - great for the pharmaceutical companies tho!

Hope this helps...

J.

I'm not sure about with formula because both my kids were breastfed, but I know they both were allergic to dairy in my breast milk and later grew out of it, one of them it took about 6 months, the other didn't grow out of it until she was about 14 months. So I imagine the same could be possible with a formula drinking baby, they're all different. I know there are formulas where the milk protiens are pre-digested such as Nutramigen LIPIL, Pregestimil and Alimentum Advance but I think you have to get them prescribed from a doctor, and they're really expensive. I do think if you can get them off the soy formula it would be a good idea to do so, as too much soy at a young age can cause a lot of problems later in life. Good luck!

My two younger sons both were on soy formula because of not being able to tolerate the other kind. They didn't have any issues with switching to milk at a year old from the soy formula. I would be hesitant to switch formulas though because if it makes your child sick, it'll take a while to get them straightened out from it. Most children (not all) that are not able to tolerate milk based formulas end up being able to tolerate milk by the time they are a year old. Both of mine did. I would ask my pediatrician what he/she thinks.

My daughter had to have soy formula also. At one year I tried the cow's milk and she was just fine, only took a few bottles and no problems. The pediatrician said they usually grow out of the problem about age 1. I would wait, C.

My oldest daughter Kaylie when she was a baby would spit up alot drinking regular formula..so her ped put her on Enfamil prosobee.. and that did great.. than when it came time to drinkin whole milk she did perfect.. I didnt know ur suppose to wean them on it.. i just put her straight on milk... but now at 5 1/2 yrs old she has no problems drinkin milk and stuff.

I have to partially agree with a previous post regarding soy-based products. "Soy formula has it's own risks. Do some research on it and you will find that in many countries it is banned due to the high level of phyto-estrogens that act like regular estrogen in our bodies. There is a great controversy on the appropriateness of feeding that much estrogen to babies..." or to adults for that matter.

My son has been on a home-made raw milk-based formula since he was 2mos old (now he is 2yrs old) You would be surprised how many people who are lactose intolerate can actually drink raw milk. Here is the website I found that talks about it and gives you an alternative to making your own formula (I found it's way less expensive that spending $100+ a month on formula.)

http://www.westonaprice.org/children/index.html

P.S. Congratulations on your family structure - the best thing you can provide for your children is a strong family unit with committed parents!