What's the deal with Soy?

[MamaVeg]

Hi everyone, I'm new here, and I am sorry if this is already posted somewhere else (I searched a few posts but didn't find anything), but I am making the conversion to veganism and taking my family along with me. I have an 8 year old son, an almost 2 year old son, and a 6 month old daughter. I also have a husband who has said he will never give up meat, but I will not cook it, so he will have to get take out LOL.

Anyways, my oldest son is eager to become vegan and switching my 2 year old and my daughter will be easy (since she has NEVER had meat).

But I have a couple questions:

1. I was breastfeeding her in the very beginning, but my dr. had put me on some anti-depressants due to severe post partum depression, so I had decided to give her formula. She was initially on a milk based formula and I have recently switched her to soy. Now I am reading all these horrible things about soy formula.......anyone else raise their babies on soy formula and have them turn out "ok" and "healthy"?? I feel so confused!

2. I just got done reading a bunch of stuff online about how soy or too much soy is BAD for you......is it not ok to eat soy everyday?

I've been giving my toddler soy milk at least 3 times a day.......should I not be?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[xrodolfox]

There is a whole section in this board dedicated to Soy things.

You should start there.

That said, my son drinks prodigious ammounts of soy, and he's fine at 4 (and vegan since before birth). I think that having any "mono" diet is unhealthy, though, including diets in which kids drink cow milk every day. So we just make sure to have lots of options on "milks" for our son, but we also make sure not to lean on liquid meals as replacements for solid foods like tofu, fruits, veggies, legumes, and grains. Our biggest problem isn't the soy, but the fact that our son loves junk food.

[Sluggie]

There is a passionate anti-soy lobby out there, but I don't see the evidence to back up their claims. Babies have been drinking soy formula for decades with no obvious problems.

Once your baby is old enough to be weaned from formula, I would try to introduce other milks too for variety. Rice milk, and nut milk are good, and there are a ton of others I haven't tried.