Soy Milk?

Breastmilk and or formula is best. Remember, babies/toddlers need WHOLE milk from their 1st to 2nd years... they need the 'fat' in it which is essential for their brain growth etc. and their physiological development. After that, after 2 yrs. old, reduced fat milk can be used. Children and babies should not be concerned with dieting at this age, for cosmetic reasons. Organic whole milk is good, it does not have the chemicals in it that regular milk has. If you give your baby soy milk... don't depend on it for all it's nutrition qualities... formula (contains the needed iron, which babies need), and whole milk is nutritious. Also, regular dairy milk should NOT be given to a child that is less than 1 year old. For the first year of life, a baby should be given breastmilk or formula. I'm surprised your Pediatrician didn't mention this. Soy milk is an 'alternative' for children OVER 1 year old who don't like cow's milk or who are allergic to it. ALso, keep in mind that Soy Milk has natural occurring hormones in it... if a child drinks too much of it, it can affect their hormone balance as well. Some people say it doesn't.... but my friend relied on Soy milk for her 2 girls.... and they had problems with their biological development... in essence,among other things, they got their periods WAY too early... and their doctor said it was the soy mil and they had to stop it. Once they stopped drinking it, their 'symptoms' disappeared. It affected BOTH her daughters. Also, soy products are used to help menopausal women because it has natural hormones in it. Keep this in mind as you decide on what to do. Any 'milk' you give your baby, should be fortified with the essential minerals and iron, or baby can get malnourished. That's why formula or breastmilk is best for the 1st year, at least. Evaluate wisely. Don't just go Soy milk because it may be trendy. Research it. Your Pediatrician should have brought up these points.

Sweetie, I would research soy a little better before subjecting your child to it. There are many horrible health issues related to soy products. Here's a link from Dr. Mercola that I think you should check out first. Good luck.
http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/index.htm

Hi C.! :)

Please research soy formula and soy milk in detail before deciding to use it. Sadly, america has been brainwashed about this "health product". (England has actually banned the sale of soy formula in their country) It's a multi-million-dollar industry and the companies who produce it will do anything to keep the blinders on and the money flowing. To be precise, the ONLY people soy milk is good for is aging women and even that is questionable.

http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/soy%20dangers.htm

As far as regular cows milk goes, it's best to wait til they are 1 year old and only use organic milk. Regular milk is full of anti-biotics and growth hormones. Notice an increase lately in children starting puberty early? (8,9,10 years old) This is the reason.

Best of wishes!
M.

There is actually quite a bit of evidence that Soy Milk is really not a very healthy food and even less so for babies & children. There are a couple of great articles on this website that may help you with your research: www.mercola.com

Just type in soy milk in the search field and you will get quite a few articles. Here is one interesting one I found: http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/An-Urgent-Warning-...

You are right to question regular milk. At the very least, I would buy organic milk for your daughter (and the rest of your family) and as she gets a little older, you may want to consider giving her raw milk. That's what we drink in our house along with regular organic milk. You can also research raw milk on that same website.

Do your research and then when you make your decision you can feel that you made an educated one. Good luck!

hay not to scare you but i have been reading up on some autism sites and a link between soy products and autism look into it .
tani

I would have to agree w/some of the moms here, from age 1 to 2 they need whole milk (vitamin D). Soy milk is used for people who cant have regular milk due to lactose or related issue's. And giving your daughter soy milk can create more problems then help them. Whole milk has some important vitamins and more fat that soy milk cant offer, so you really should research it, but you really shouldn't make the switch till after her 2nd b-day after she has been able to comsume all the fat that whole milk offers.

when soy is consumed it will stop/slow the absorption of other vital minerals and vitamins from other foods consumed. It is not a nutritional sound substance and is not recommended for cancer patients since it "plays" with hormones (imagine what it can do to a little child's growing body). Soy is SCARY! Try goats milk or hemp milk if you want to try an alternative to cow's milk.

my kids ped suggested putting my first two on soy, because they have somewhat of a lactose problem, or at least they had when they were younger. I only had them both on it for about a week or two, because I couldn't take it anymore! I mean I couldn't take it anymore in the sense that it gave them the most terrible gas and the most aweful diapers. The diapers were so bad smelling that if they were in their room with the door closed and dirtied one up, the whole room smelled for a long time, and it's not your average poopy diaper smell, it was a very sickly sweet smell...gag! Don't know if your child will do the same, but I don't think I'll be trying it with my youngest. I don't think that soy is bad or anything, I just couldn't handle the smell of the diapers anymore!!!!

Yes, I switch from formula to Soy cause my oldest was semi-lactose intolerant. She never had a fussy tummy again and her weight gain was never a factor. She is now a Thriving 12 year old @ 105 lbs. Almost taller than me. Don't be afraid to try different things, if baby doesn't agree you will know right away. The taste is ALOT different though, FYI!

Good Luck!

A. F

My daughter prefers Silk (chocolate ofcourse!) but I think it's fine. It's fortified and there are many benefits to soy in the long run. I heard it's really beneficial in the teen years and if we don't start now it's hard to develop the taste for it.

Soy is actually known to help regulate hormonal balance and personally I think the reason girls start their cycles earlier is from the hormone in cows milk and the meat we eat. I started at 11 and I never ate soy. Usually a girl starts around the same age as her mom. My mom started at 11 too and she never consumed soy.

My daughter has only ever had soy milk after going from breast milk to supplementation with soy formula to exclusively soy formula, and then soy milk at age 1. She is in great health and has never had the ear infections and nasal congestion caused by cow's milk in so many kids. In fact we once tried her on cow's milk and she immediately got a stuffy nose! She consumes cow's milk dairy in baked foods, cheese on a pizza etc, but doesn't drink it. For that we are soy all the way and I think it's the way to go. Most sold is organic too. We buy the unsweetened plain so it's less sugar/carbs. There are plenty of other sources for that!!

I gave (still give) my daughter soy milk. She eats dairy products, but I found she got sick less often and recovered quicker on soymilk. The only thing that I have just recently found is that for the last bottle of the night, it makes her gassy and she wakes up in pain in the night, until she passes gas, then she goes back to sleep. She is 2 now, so I got rid of that last milk of the day and she is fine.

Hey C., I Breastfed my son for 19 months and then went directly to soymilk, and he has had no problem with it yet. He is 3 now and loves it! Hope this gives you some insight.

A. H.

My 15month is allergic to dairy so I give her the soymilk(I still breastfeed 2times a day), but she is healthy and seems to enjoy it just fine. I give her the vanilla soymilk as a treat and she loves it. No dairy and all soy products in our household and I have lost all of the baby weight and more from the switch to soy in our house. Her gastrointenalogist said so many foods are enriched with calcium that she doesn't need milk. Just give a multivitamin drop and feed healthy foods and it will be no problem. Hope this helps

I will say that whole milk is best if there is no actual health reason for it. However, if you have decided that you want to use soy milk and your doctor said go ahead then I will make the suggestion of Silk Very Vanilla Kid Fortified. It is a soy milk that has a lot of extra fats and vitamins that kids need. I supplemented my son with some soy milk partially because I've discovered that I'm lactose intolerant after years of different troubles. I have trouble getting through a whole thing of soy milk before it goes stale in a week so I've let my son have some too. He seems to like it.

Hello C., I have two daughters that had soy milk formulas because they couldn't tolerate regular formula. I think soy milk is a great idea. Does your child like to taste of the soy milk? Make sure that you give your child vitamins along with the soy milk (Poly-Vi-Sol). None of the milk has all of the vitamins and minerals that a child needs. Are you giving her baby food along with this soy milk? She should diffinitely be eating by now. If you are not doing this, please think seriously about that.
Good luck. R.

I know a family that are vegetarian but mainly drink soy milk for drinking and for their cereals. Their daughters are really healthy, so I think providing your daughter soy milk would not hurt.

M. *~

my sis in law did the soy milk thing for a little while and her daughter go so skinny...kids actually need the fat in the whole milk for brain development and whole milk tends to have more vitamins needed to help the body absorb other needed vitamins...i really dont suggest soy milk...it just gave my sis in law a whole lot of trouble...calcium levels tend to be higher in whole milk than a lot of soy milk brands out there...

I havent done any researching but have heard from friends that long term or major consumption of soy milk is not good for females. The whey(sp) in it is supposed to cause breast cancer. Im sure if you dig deep enough you can find the answer to all of the responses you have received. Good luck.

C., I would recommend it, as i have given it to my two girls for 4 years now. We ended up learning the hard way that they are both lactose intolerant. We also give them the regular milk with the lactose taken out. They prefer the soy milk however. Good luck in your decision.

Hi C.. I can't believe so many people gave you so many scary responses! I have never heard anything to justify what some people said about soy milk. My daughter is lactose intolerant like me and like my mom. I graduated her from soy formula to soy milk and I have never had a problem. She is a healthy 28-30 lb (not sure exactly until her appt in Sept) almost 3 year old little girl. Soy milk is great for you heart, blood pressure, etc. I have actually heard the opposite about weight gain (that it actually regulates your weight). There is a great website www.blionline.com that people can log onto for information about health. Also, I agree with vitamin giving but should weight until they are old enough to consume them. Good luck!

I never heard anything bad about regular milk. Where does that come from?

HI, my daughter is allergic to regular milk so shes been on soy for 8 and half years. She gets her protein that way and stuff. Soy milk is healthy and some diets say to switch to it. I have had no problems with her on it. Only thing is that schools dotn normally carry the soy brand. There is many flavors.... My daughter loves the chocolate ones. But eihter way you go it is good for children. And a lot easier to digest.
Whichever way you choose good luck...

my daughter would not touch milk. The only thing i can get her to drink is soymilk very vanilla. She loves it i never have a prouble with her drinking it. one less thing to worry about.

Generally I think soy milk and rice milk are excellent substitutes for cow milk, which is not tolerated by so many people, is often full of hormones, and is getting really expensive these days besides!

My older son has never done cow milk. He doesn't like it. Neither do I! We both used to do Rice Dream and now he prefers Vanilla Silk. He gets plenty of calcium and vitamins from other sources, and he's healthy as a horse and growing like a weed (how's that for a string of similies!), so the absence of cow milk in his diet clearly hasn't been detrimental.

I am not sure about some of the responses you've received regarding the dangers of soy - if it were that health-harming there'd be a lot of people in Asia very, very sick!

C., thanks for asking the question, I've learned alot from reading the responses. I've had my daughter on soy formula and now on soy milk, but after reading the responses I am going to stop that and put her on organic whole milk asap! L.

You should never give a child milk before a year of age, for several reason, one being that the extra calcium can block the absorption of iron -I actually have a friend of a friend who's child became anemic from too much cow's milk. It's really best to avoid daily milk drinking. It's not as healthy as they make it out to be.

Really, we're not supposed to be drinking Cow's milk at all. If your child gets dairy in his diet; cheese, yogurt, ect, he does NOT need milk at all. Soy is also not a great idea at this age because soy itself contains chemicals that effect one's hormones...it's especially important to watch the amount of soy our children get, and soy is in everything....more info here: http://www.mothering.com/articles/gr...soy_story.html

The effects of the plant estrogen in soy can cause premature puberty (I've had friends who had to stop soy on their daughters because they were going through puberty at 9). I would do a little more research on soy or consider the alternatives: Rice Milk and Almond Milk.

Good luck!

I switched between soy, rice, and oat milk for my kids (limiting the soy because too much of a "good" thing, isn't). Oat was the milk of choice until it became harder to find. I would buy rice milk by the case, which was very convenient. Also, goats milk is very good and the closest to human milk. =)

try rice milk instead. vanilla flavoured. people can be allergic to soy, but i havent heard of anyone having problems with rice. thats what i give my son.

Hi C.,
Any non-dairy milk is better than cows milk. I just discovered hemp milk is very healthy because it contains omega's which are important for a childs brain development. My dr told me milk of any source is not necessary because it is not meant for human consumption and is so rich with too many calories. Milk is a meal in it self, so if a child has milk with their meal they are actually eating two meals. Instead he advised giving the kids more fruits and vegetables and water was the best source of drink. I only use rice milk for my daughter's cereal and she drinks water all day. We are the only country that insists on giving children cows milk but our children aren't calfs. We are brainwashed to believe cows milk is the only way to consume calcium, vit D and fat. Calcium and fat are in a healthy diet of dark green veggies and other foods. Omega's are the best source of fat for brain development and are available in chewable form for children. Vit D is acquired by the sun and we get more than we need on a daily basis.
Here a few sources I found helpful:
http://www.askdrsears...
http://www.notmilk.co...
http://members.tripod...
http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/fn1.asp
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t040600.asp

Whole milk is best. Try Alta Dena - it doesn't have the hormones that most other brands do. Or try organic. Soy is an alternative, but I'd go with whole milk unless you have a concrete health reason why not to. Good luck. Gracie is a beautiful name.