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Is Soy Milk Safe For An Infant?
Question: Hello Dr.
My baby boy is 28 days old (12/5/14) and was born near term (37 weeks) with a weight of 2.3 kgs. Baby is completely on top feed due to inavailability of breast milk.
He was on NAN Pro 1 formula for the first 15 days. Post this he started getting severe colic, flatulence and vomiting. The motions were also greenish and foul smelling. So our pediatrician advised to try him on Enfamil A+ stage 1 as it could be an intolerance to NaN.
With Enfamil he started getting severe diarrhea for about 3 days and so we switched back to NAN.
The diarrhea continued for almost 7 days and the baby was dehydrated. Though he used to take feeds on demand (60-80ml per feed) every 2-3 hours.
He had to be hospitalized for 2 days for re-hydration with IV fluids. Two CRP tests were negative. Stool and Urine tests also showed no infection.
Hence the pediatrician put the baby on Isomil (Soy formula) diagnosing him to be Lactose intolerant. Now the baby has revived his normal stools and is perfectly fine.
I’ve been reading on the internet about the Soy having hormones such as estrogen which can be harmful for the early growth of the baby as well as can have lifelong side effects.
http://www.healthcaremagic.com/questions/Has-Diarrhea-Add-Isomil-milk-What-is-the-alternative/314439
As per Dr. XXXXXXX Kumar’s advice, “As baby recovers from diarrhea there is enough enzyme production to digest lactose in breast milk.”
Does this mean I can try shifting back the baby to Nan Pro or Enfamil without further problems of diarrhea?
After reading about Soy Milk, I’m not very comfortable continuing with Isomil formula. Kindly advise any alternate plan.
Regards
XXXX
My baby boy is 28 days old (12/5/14) and was born near term (37 weeks) with a weight of 2.3 kgs. Baby is completely on top feed due to inavailability of breast milk.
He was on NAN Pro 1 formula for the first 15 days. Post this he started getting severe colic, flatulence and vomiting. The motions were also greenish and foul smelling. So our pediatrician advised to try him on Enfamil A+ stage 1 as it could be an intolerance to NaN.
With Enfamil he started getting severe diarrhea for about 3 days and so we switched back to NAN.
The diarrhea continued for almost 7 days and the baby was dehydrated. Though he used to take feeds on demand (60-80ml per feed) every 2-3 hours.
He had to be hospitalized for 2 days for re-hydration with IV fluids. Two CRP tests were negative. Stool and Urine tests also showed no infection.
Hence the pediatrician put the baby on Isomil (Soy formula) diagnosing him to be Lactose intolerant. Now the baby has revived his normal stools and is perfectly fine.
I’ve been reading on the internet about the Soy having hormones such as estrogen which can be harmful for the early growth of the baby as well as can have lifelong side effects.
http://www.healthcaremagic.com/questions/Has-Diarrhea-Add-Isomil-milk-What-is-the-alternative/314439
As per Dr. XXXXXXX Kumar’s advice, “As baby recovers from diarrhea there is enough enzyme production to digest lactose in breast milk.”
Does this mean I can try shifting back the baby to Nan Pro or Enfamil without further problems of diarrhea?
After reading about Soy Milk, I’m not very comfortable continuing with Isomil formula. Kindly advise any alternate plan.
Regards
XXXX
Brief Answer:
You may try breast feeding the baby. Breast milk can be increased.
Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXX
I have carefully gone through the details provided.
Your doctor has rightly diagnosed it to be a case of lactose intolerance. Most of the formula feeds are cow milk based and often not well tolerated. The diarrhoea was due to malabsorption of the lactose. So, other lactose based formulae would not really be helpful.
Still in most cases, even though breast milk contains lactose, it also contains enzymes necessary to digest it, and so can be given. So, in spite of lactose intolerance, often no problem occurs with breast feeding.
I would suggest you to try this alternative, if you can increase the breast milk production. Certain medications like Lactonic granules one XXXXXXX twice daily with a glass of milk for the mother, generally helps in increasing breast milk production. So you can give it a try.
Please note that breast milk production depends on the suckling of the baby. If the baby is hungry, it will automatically suckle more and breast milk production would increase. Without it, breast milk will not be produced.
If breast milk also is not a likely option, I would not suggest you to try any other cow milk based forumla. In that scenario, soya based infant formula would be the best alternative. I can assure you that although soya milk contains very small amounts of phyto-oestrogens which has not been proved to harm a child.
Furthermore, in spite of the panic related to it, no evidence of harmful effects have been documented in scientific literature. Please look up the following journal articles and probably you can be a bit assured:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1651-2227.2003.tb00655.x/abstract
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoestrogens#Infant_formula
You have already read about the other soya based formulae other than isomil, so I am not going in detail for the same.
You may try breast feeding the baby. Breast milk can be increased.
Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXX
I have carefully gone through the details provided.
Your doctor has rightly diagnosed it to be a case of lactose intolerance. Most of the formula feeds are cow milk based and often not well tolerated. The diarrhoea was due to malabsorption of the lactose. So, other lactose based formulae would not really be helpful.
Still in most cases, even though breast milk contains lactose, it also contains enzymes necessary to digest it, and so can be given. So, in spite of lactose intolerance, often no problem occurs with breast feeding.
I would suggest you to try this alternative, if you can increase the breast milk production. Certain medications like Lactonic granules one XXXXXXX twice daily with a glass of milk for the mother, generally helps in increasing breast milk production. So you can give it a try.
Please note that breast milk production depends on the suckling of the baby. If the baby is hungry, it will automatically suckle more and breast milk production would increase. Without it, breast milk will not be produced.
If breast milk also is not a likely option, I would not suggest you to try any other cow milk based forumla. In that scenario, soya based infant formula would be the best alternative. I can assure you that although soya milk contains very small amounts of phyto-oestrogens which has not been proved to harm a child.
Furthermore, in spite of the panic related to it, no evidence of harmful effects have been documented in scientific literature. Please look up the following journal articles and probably you can be a bit assured:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1651-2227.2003.tb00655.x/abstract
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoestrogens#Infant_formula
You have already read about the other soya based formulae other than isomil, so I am not going in detail for the same.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
Thanks Dr. XXXXXXX
Will read through the journal article in detail.
Breast milk production is not possible as the baby was delivered through a surrogate mother using our frozen embryos.
If the baby needs to try other cow-milk based formula could you suggest some of the best alternatives?
Is it possible to get any enzyme formulations so the baby can digest cow-based milk?
I have also heard of Goat milk as an alternative, but not sure whether it applies in this case.
Is there any formulation available which is lactose free? other than soy milk based?
regards
XXXX
Will read through the journal article in detail.
Breast milk production is not possible as the baby was delivered through a surrogate mother using our frozen embryos.
If the baby needs to try other cow-milk based formula could you suggest some of the best alternatives?
Is it possible to get any enzyme formulations so the baby can digest cow-based milk?
I have also heard of Goat milk as an alternative, but not sure whether it applies in this case.
Is there any formulation available which is lactose free? other than soy milk based?
regards
XXXX
Brief Answer:
Fully or partially hydrolysed protein formula can be an alternative
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back.
I understand that breast milk is not an alternative. Let me mention that be it cow or goat, their offsprings reach full development very rapidly, in a few years time. So, their milk is rich is protein. Humans grow at a much slower rate and hence human milk contains less proteins. So human gastro intestinal tracts are meant for human food and not cow or goat food. No enzyme supplement will actually help in this regard.
I would request you to rationally consider the options. Assuming both cow/goat as well as soya milk are not as good as breast milk, you will have to weigh the risks. The risk for soya milk is actually much lower if you consider the overall scenario.
On the other hand, there is documented proof that Soy formula presents no more risk than cow-milk formula and the study at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000 will help you confirm the same.
Other than soya milk, other alternatives can be fully or partially hydrolysed protein formula. It is basically cow milk protein broken down so that it is no longer a problem to digest. Google out with the above terms will give you enough information in this regard.
Fully or partially hydrolysed protein formula can be an alternative
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back.
I understand that breast milk is not an alternative. Let me mention that be it cow or goat, their offsprings reach full development very rapidly, in a few years time. So, their milk is rich is protein. Humans grow at a much slower rate and hence human milk contains less proteins. So human gastro intestinal tracts are meant for human food and not cow or goat food. No enzyme supplement will actually help in this regard.
I would request you to rationally consider the options. Assuming both cow/goat as well as soya milk are not as good as breast milk, you will have to weigh the risks. The risk for soya milk is actually much lower if you consider the overall scenario.
On the other hand, there is documented proof that Soy formula presents no more risk than cow-milk formula and the study at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000 will help you confirm the same.
Other than soya milk, other alternatives can be fully or partially hydrolysed protein formula. It is basically cow milk protein broken down so that it is no longer a problem to digest. Google out with the above terms will give you enough information in this regard.
Note: For further queries related to your child health, Talk to a Pediatrician. Click here to Book a Consultation.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
Answered by
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