soya milk

[leckieg]

My daughter is allergic to dairy, as a baby had nutramigen formula and was fine on this, now she is older she has a small amount of lactofree milk with her cereal but it still upsets her tummy to a degree, I've tried her with goat milk and there is no improvement. Can I give her soya milk? I was told by both my GP and the peaditrician to avoid soya formula due to possible links with early puberty as it contains mostly gm soya, does this just apply to formula soya or soya milk too?

[Dr Adam Fox]

the issue with soy and puberty only relates to having exclusive soy formula under 6 months of age. There is no issue with it now she is older....as long as she isn't allergic to it. Many children with milk allergy are also soy allergic so it's worth asking your doctor if she was tested to check for allergy to soy (she should have been). Please note that lactofree milk is not suitable if she has a milk allergy - it has the same milk protein as normal milk (as does goats milk) it just has the lactose sugar removed. It is great for lactose intolerance but it will upset her stomach if she is milk allergic. I suggest you find out about the soy and go for that as a milk alternative.

[leckieg]

thankyou, thats a very helpful answer. She wasn't tested for a soy allergy, it was a battle to get her tested at all, she was tested for only milk protein allergy and lactose intolerance and both got negative results but we weren't given the option of any more tests, or really given much advice other than she 'probably' has a mild lactose intolerance and should grow out of it by the age of two and to periodically try her with milk and cheese or a yoghurt. I have mainly been trying to keep her away from dairy rather than run the risk of her being ill. Just before her second birthday she stole some cheese off her sister and spent the week vomiting, having lots of dirty nappies and being very grouchy. TBH i don't actually know what it is that upsets her tummy, she tried a variety of formulas, including neocate and peptijunior and the only one she could tolerate was nutramigen. But if you say she may be allergic to soy too don't think I'm going to take the chance! Did see some 'milk' derived from oats and one from rice in the health food shop so may give them a try.

[Hasita Prinja]

The food Standard Agency published a report in May 2009 saying that children between 1 and 4.5 years old should not have rice drink as a replacement for
cows' milk or infant formula.
I would recommend that you try your child with a calcium enriched oat milk.
Also do make sure it does not say organic, as it will contain no calcium.

[Jimbob]

My son has tried oat milk ad he quite likes it. My son was still on neocate advance at your dd's age though due to having multiple food allergies. My son was fine with neocate but not nutramigen. I hope it goes well with whichever miilk you decide to try.

Kelly