Infant soy allergy - vomiting? do you have experience?

[jess5377]

So, it seems my LO has a soy allergy that manifests as vomiting (everything she consumed and then yellow-y bile) and lethargy.

The first time was at 3 months when we gave her a soy-based formula. She's typically breastfed and it was our first time giving her formula, so it was an all-around scary experience. At the time we were told it was most likely a reaction to the soy which is actually a pretty common allergen (I didn't know that...duh).

The second time was today when I let her have a bit of my smoothie. I wasn't really thinking that, duh, there was soy in it. She's sleeping it off now, but this evening was also scary.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? Did your child outgrow their soy allergy? If so, how did you know - did you just keep trying it or did you opt for allergy testing? Are there any other names that soy goes by in ingredients listings?

[cheryllynn]

Any reason you are using soy?

I would read more about soy formula for babe. Since you are breastfeeding, can you pump extra and then feed that when needed?

Dr Mercola has a lot to say about soy and none of it good.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...-part-one.aspx

[jess5377]

Hey, thanks for the response, we're not actually using soy, it was a one-time thing. Well, a two time thing.

I just didn't have any milk pumped, wasn't going to be there, needed to feed her and bought the soy formula (not realizing at the time that it's a pretty common allergen). The second incident was an accident (I let her have some fingerfuls of my smoothie and there was soy in it).

[atlantafemme]

We had similar experiences with our DS and green peas. Severe vomiting, followed by lethargy and ER trips. Ugh. That was around 7 months. We've avoided all legumes since then. He's 1 now and we haven't had any more incidents.

Allergy testing isn't accurate until they're older so I've been told to hold off and hope he outgrows it. Our ped suggested giving him a small amount of a different legume (like lentils) as a test but I've been putting it off b/c I'm afraid we'll have another episode. She gave us epipens just in case his allergy ever manifests more severely b/c peanuts are also legumes and an allergy to one legume could mean an allergy to others, though not necessarily, but we all know how scary that is.

Has your LO eaten other legumes w/o trouble?

[jess5377]

She hasn't. So far the only dabbling into solids we've done have been that smoothie, some peach slices and a little avocado.

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to have to keep my eyes out for that. Do you know - does the soy protein stay intact through breast milk? Does the peanut protein? Or other legumes?

[atlantafemme]

I'm not sure. I can tell you though that I eat legumes all the time and my son seems unaffected by my breastmilk.

Good luck! Hopefully it's just a soy thing. If so, it's not easy to avoid but from what I've read lately, it's probably better for us all to avoid it more.

[Llyra]

DS was also given soy formula as an infant, and also had an allergic reaction. In his case, we were trying to offer a supplement, because I was very seriously ill and my supply was low, and he wasn't growing, and we needed something to put in the SNS. He turned up dairy allergic, and he refused the hypoallergenic formulas, so we tried soy. His symptoms though were classic allergic symptoms-- hives, runny nose and eyes, and rattly congestion.

Anyway, we avoided soy religiously after that; I can't tolerate it myself because of my illness, and so it wasn't too difficult. He's three now; the only soy he gets is as soy lecithin in the very occasional snack cracker, but he seems to tolerate that without trouble, and also he eats fresh roasted edamame in the summer when it comes in at our CSA farm, and he does fine with that, too. Which leads me to think he's maybe outgrown it. I haven't tested it with large amounts of soy, though.

FWIW, he has no trouble with lentils and a great variety of different kinds of beans, and has no problem with peanuts.

[americajane]

My 4.5 month old is EBF and I have been taken off all soy, dairy, gluten, plain eggs, shellfish, tree nuts and peanuts. Soy allergy is supposedly getting to be very common with babies but they say 80% outgrow by 1 yo. So, to answer your question, YES! soy does get into the breast milk. I would agree with cherllyn, soy is bad news! the more reading we've done, the scarier it gets. And it's tricky to stay away from soy b/c its in so many things!!!

[svensgirl]

I think your baby has FPIES (Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome).  We had the exact same experience.  I breastfed our daughter and at around 5 months we supplimented with some soy formula (free from the hospital).  Two hours later she started vomiting and didn't stop for hours.  It happened again when I had a soy protein bar and nursed her.  We went to a good allergist and he confirmed that FPIES was the issue.  The nice part is that she's only allergic to the protein, soy lecithin and soy oil don't cause any issues.

[memz]

This happenned with my DD first with sy based formula at 3 months.....it scared me so much she never had a bottle again. And then around 8 months she ate what we were having for supper and there was tofu in it...well she pucked 3-4 times and was lethargic after that and then about 2 hours later was back to her old self again. She is 11 months now and we haven't tried soy again so I don't know if she has or will outgrow it. But I can eat it fine she doesn't mind through my milk...

[dakotablue]

DS never had formula, but he had such bad vomiting due to soy and dairy allergy from what I ate.

Seriously I would slip up and he would throw up every where.

At first the doctor was insisting it was reflux ad when he suggested a barium swallow and xray I stepped back and did my own research. He had given me a med that didn't work, replaced it with a med with traces of dairy that made DS break out. it was bad. 

Anyway. Yes, projectile vomiting...no fun. Totally soy and dairy based for DS.