We thought that my daughter was lactose intolerant when she was about a month old (it turned out to be reflux), so we put her on soy formula. She's been on soy since then, but because she is nearing a year old and cow's milk will become a part of her diet, I thought I would try her on milk based formula. I gave her a bottle of it, and she didn't like it at all. Does anyone know if I can I mix her soy with the milk based to ease her into the new flavor?
Many thanks to you all for your thoughts and suggestions. My picky eater (it's struggle to get anything other than store-bought purees in her- she won't eat the fresh stuff I make) will probably need a decent amount of time to adjust, so I will make a big effort to go slow and gradually introduce her to something- I haven't figured out whether to go with milk-based formula or cow's milk or soy milk. She's a little one at only the 5th percentile for weight, so it's really important to me that she gets the nutrition she needs.
Definitely !!! You are a smart lady. Start out with mostly soy and a little milk - by the way, she is nine months old and you don't need formula anymore. Then gradually add more and more milk. If you aren't comfortable with going to milk, then use milk-based formula. If you do it VERY gradually, there should be no problem! Besides, when she is really hungry, she'll take it anyway.
Good Luck!
+B+
Why not continue with soy milk? I know my 10 year old wishes I had never switched her to cow milk, but now she has the taste for it. Eventually drinking milk should be occasional, not every day, anyway. As we grow we move towards just water, hopefully, with juice & milk being once in a while. The soy is a bit more expensive but it will only be for a year or two.
My daughter was lactose intolerant too. She is 18 months old and has grown out of it. I mixed formula without any problems. Just keep an eye on her to make sure that she doesn't have a reaction to the dairy now that she is older. When my daughter was a year old, I started adding a little cow's milk to her formula. I kept adding more and more until it was an entire bottle of cow's milk. She now likes the taste and is no longer drinking formula. Good luck!
My daughter was on Soy Formula because she didn't do well on regular formula due to the Cow's milk. I was really worried about switching her to whole milk at a year for that reason. After she turned one I gave her a full bottle of whole milk and she didn't want anything to do with it. So I started with about 1/4 whole milk and 3/4 Soy Formula and she took it easily and then after about a week I went to 1/2 and 1/2 and so on. She now drinks the whole milk fine and actually loves it. It just takes a little time to get used to. Also, the 1st couple weeks she was on she was a little fussier than usual (she also had her shots), but now she is the happiest baby (her stomach got used to the milk).
hello J., i would think that you can start her on reg fresh soy milk.. i gave it to my child as an infant and now toddler,,, you might want to consult with your doctor..
All 3 of my childred were lactose intolerant as babies. At about a year I started to switch them over by mixing the soy formula with milk based before switching over to just regular milk. I took about 3 weeks to make the switch completely to make sure their tummies didn't have problems.
I would say just try it...we are weaning our "bottle loving" 1 yr old right now...I started to transition her to milk based formula (from soy) by mixing in a little into her soy and diluting them both a little more with an extra oz of plain water....now, she is on milk based formula only (the grow and go) and I've started mixing in an oz of water to 2 oz formula to 1 oz milk.....so far so good! Next week I'll add another oz of milk and dilute the formula to 1/2 scoop per 2 oz water....also, we started giving our little one plain water in her bottle following a formula bottle so it still had the formula flavor she was used to but got her used to water too....now she is happy to drink plain water too....hope that helps...just another mommy's trial and error but it's working for us.
:-)
Don't worry about getting her on cows milk. I have had soy milk as a baby and I still have soy milk and other soy products and I am just fine. If she doesn't like cows milk, it's no big thing.
Hi J.,
My second had reflux pretty bad till she was about 9 months old. I breast fed her on a strict non-dairy diet till she started weaning herself at 10.5 months. After trying formula for about a month without much success I started her on organic whole milk and she did great, even liked it. I am not sure how old your little one is now, but 9 months is a little young to start them on dairy, especially if they have reflux still, but you could probably start giving her taste here and there around 11 months.
Also another thing to note is if you are switching back and forth she will tend not to drink the one she does not like because she knows the one she likes will be offered next. I would wait as long as you can and then just start serving milk only.
She can also stay on soy milk...
I am licensed acupuncturist specializing with children in the east bay. and mom's often ask me about soy formula. this does not answer your more specific question but i would like to show you some information about soy formula that many people are not aware of. here are some links outlining the specific dangers of soy for children, especially infants.
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/infant.html
http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/03summary.htm
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/soy_controversy.html
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/0...
http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/soy%20dangers.htm
Soy formula for infants is outlawed in many European countries and has been shown repeatedly in research to be dangerous to children's health in several capacities. As you will read in some of these articles it has been shown to be a major thyroid disrupter, it disrupts the body's ability to absorb calcium, along with a myriad of other issues.
I bring this up because although your baby does not seem to do well with cows milk there are several options other than soy formula to deal with this. My first recommendation is the amazing homemade formula from the book NOURISHING TRADITIONS by SALLY FALLON & MARY ENIG. It is by far the most digestible and complete formula possible when breast milk is not available. It offers options with Raw cow's milk, goat milk OR a meat based diet. Though it seems overwhelming at first when you first look at the recipe I have several patients who make it and have found that it takes about 20 minutes every other day.
Well I hope this helps and if you have any questions I am happy to answer any that I can.
J. Stevens, L.Ac.
www.yourwholefamilywellness.com
____@____.com
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I am a married African American stay at home mom. We had the same problem with our daughter. Cows milk did not agree with her and Soy gave her the runs. We asked her doc about mixing them and she said that that was NOT a good idea. We finally settled on Sensitive Similac Formula. It is milk based and lactose free. There is no reason why your daughter has to start drinking cows milk. I invite you to research it. It is full of hormones and other things. Your daughter can get her calcium from other sources. GOOD LUCK!!
Hi J.,
I was told by the pediatrician that it wasn't safe to mix different formulas. So, maybe ask your daughter's doctor for specific instructions for your baby switching over. Good luck to you!
Molly
My son had horrible reflux, and whenever the docs had us change what he was drinking, they had us make the change slowly. Switching all at once is too tough on kids' tummies. Try three to four days of 1/4 new stuff, 3/4 old stuff followed by 1/2, 1/2 for about the same amount of time, and then 3/4, 1/4, and then 100% new stuff. We did this with soy formula at one point and then off of the soy formula when we saw it wasn't helping. I'm not sure, though, if there is any benefit to switching to a milk-based formula before introducing milk. Did a pediatric doc or nurse say that? If not, I would check with one to see if you can just go with one switch when she is older and ready for milk. If you do decide to go forward with switching to milk-based formula, keep in mind that they do not all taste the same. You might want to try a little yourself first to make sure it's not gross. We tried one of our son's formulas once and it was nasty! We then switched him to a comparable one from a different brand that tasted much better.
K.
Hmm. I've never heard that mixing formulas is an issue. It is commonly recommended to combine two liquids when trying to make the transition from one to the other. I would have done it without even thinking to ask the doctor, but if you'd feel better, have your doctor OK it.
P.S. Two of my children have food allergies. I would recommend going very slowly with the introduction of dairy and watching carefully for rashes, diarrhea, fussiness, etc. Our third child tolerated Good Start formula (which is partially hydrolyzed dairy) and tolerated occasional servings of yogurt without any noticable reaction, so I thought he was not allergic to dairy. But from 12-14 months he got very fussy and developed a bad rash on his face. When I switched him from whole milk back to the formula, the rash and fussiness went away.
Also, our second child had silent reflux as an infant and toddler that turned out to be triggered by food allergies. Reflux meds had no impact. But once we identified his allergies and removed them from his diet, the reflux (and all his other symptoms) went away.
It's quite possible that she was sensitive to dairy and it was contributing to her reflux, but that she has outgrown it. Most babies outgrow their allergies.
I would not mix. You could overload her with one or more ingredient. Also, I would take her off the soy. Studies show that soy is not good for children. Small amounts from time to time is fine. Soy had natural hormones that can cause early development in children. I personally am not an advocate of cows milk. I believe cows milk is for baby cows. There are other options. Good luck.
Yes, you can mix. My daughter had lactose intolernace around 6 months. SO she was on breastmilk and soy formula. At 1 year I would give her soy milk. Then I started mixing soy milk with regular milk until she was eventually on regular milk 100%. Her allergy was only temporary. She has had no problems since.
Why don't you try organic rice milk? It also comes in vanilla. It's better for children than soy which is high in estrogen. The longer you can avoid dairy the better. If you must, go organic there too to avoid the growth hormone and antibiotics.
i wouldn't think there'd be any problem as long as she'd drink it.
My son was lactose intolerant and I had him on sy formula for the first year. When he turned 1 we switched him to regular cows milk and he didn't have a problem. I don't know if you can mix the soy with the regular formula but you could ask your doctor about it or just try giving your daughter the cows milk.
Hope this helps and good luck.
T.
We did the same thing with our daughter and she too hated cows milk. We tried to mix the soy formula with cows milk, which is fine to do, but she rejected that as well and now we just give her organic soy milk from Trader Joes.
Have you tried to give her soy milk yet to see how she responds to that? It fulfills all the nutritional needs....but is definitely more costly than cows milk.
You can mix them, but why not just have her drink soy milk instead of cows milk?
