How much soy do you feed your toddlers?

[Jane93]

We have been feeding our daughters edamame and then also adding some soy to certain dishes (like pasta sauce) to boost protein.  However, I'm starting to wonder if we're giving them too much.   What are other people's comfort levels around soy?

[mommy212]

I feed my DS (18 months) a decent amount of soy- probably more than you do, but then again I have never worried about it very much... He drinks soy milk regularly in glasses and in baked goods/smoothies, and I often use tofu as a smoothie base. I wouldn't worry about it unless it seemed to give them stomach upset or, of course, an allergic reaction. 

[KellyandBean]

We are vegan so we do a lot of soy but i have tried to keep it as minimal as i can. In a day she might have some tofu for dinner and maybe a bit of soy yogurt for a treat but we usually keep it to two small servings a day if that. We have tried to use beans, nuts and hummus as our main sourse of protein for her.

[crunchy_mommy]

We try to minimize soy, I'm just not comfortable with relying on it too much (hormones etc.) and it's soooo prevalent in everything that I feel like if we don't consciously minimize it he'll end up with way too much of it! But we are vegan so the soy temptation is always there!

I'm OK with soybean oil as an ingredient in processed foods or soy lecithin in chocolate (since we already minimize those foods anyway). We aim to do tofu less than once a week, and we don't buy much else in the way of soy foods (edamame, etc.) but if we are eating with friends/at a restaurant we don't worry about it and just enjoy it. So I guess we generally avoid soy but aren't militant about it.

[springmum]

Personally I'm most uncomfortable with the fact that most soy is GMO these days - and it's in everything. I'm also uncomfortable with processed soy (milks etc. vs fermented soy) b/c it is highly processed and there is conflicting info on the affect on hormones. 

So we do go out of our way to avoid it if possible, but that's my personal comfort level.

[grethel]

We do eat some soy, but I have a slow gainer/small appetite kid and one of the things I struggle to get her to eat is protein. She loves tofu, miso and edamame so I feed them to her - but I do limit to once a week at the most. We buy organic, non-GMO soy products (although I know it's hidden in a lot of foods and that the GMOs are so prevalent they may have slipped into non-GMO crops - we just try to do our best).

I think about the estrogenic issue whenever she eats it, but it's something I can only spend so much energy worrying about. I worry more about meeting her daily nutritional needs at this point.

[organicviolin]

We avoid it as much as possible.  There are too many mimicking hormones as well as the GMO issue as well.  I personally prefer using other sources of protein.  Best of luck

[Llyra]

We don't eat it, but that's because DS is allergic, and because it doesn't agree with my colitis.

[SuburbanHippie]

Originally Posted by organicviolin 

We avoid it as much as possible.  There are too many mimicking hormones as well as the GMO issue as well.  I personally prefer using other sources of protein.  Best of luck

[cocoanib]

We don't have it everyday, but a couple times per week. We are tofu lovers, so I make it at least once per week.

That or we will have some type of soy burger or something.

For milk, we only use soy if nothing else is available. we prefer coconut or almond.

I try to only use organic and not rely on it too much. 

[lifeguard]

We don't do it. I know we are getting some thanks to it being everywhere but we generally avoid processed foods as much as possible. I am very uncomfortable with anything that might potentially mess with hormone balances because of my own personal history & with so many environmental things in that category that are next to impossible to avoid I try to at least avoid those things I can.

[newmamalizzy]

Same here - phytoestrogens really worry me, so we try to stick to the fermented and less processed varieties of soy and don't eat it very often.