Just wondering how much soy milk your kids drink? if they dont drink soymilk what do they drink?
I am wondering if my 2 yo is drinking too much, he probably drinks about 4 cups a day. he loves the stuff. my 6 yo prob averages about 2 c a day.
but of course i think about all the not so good stuff i read about too much soy, but i also know there is good info out there on soy too.
im debating if we should try some rice milk or almond milk to mix it up a bit.

I think it's a good idea to mix it up a bit. Four cups of soy milk a day sounds like a lot. They could have diluted fruit juices sometimes, and of course, you can't start too early in developing the habit of drinking lots of plain water! If they are eating a wide variety of foods, it isn't so important that they drink a lot of fortified beverages.

The vegan lunchbox (http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/) (great blog!) has a post about the soy controversy (http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/2006/03/soy-controversy.html). Good, detailed reading.

I am worried about your son's diet in one regards though. You mention soymilk but not miso. Not having miso as a regular part of your diet is uncivilized. :D

Just my $.02

~ das_nut, who is now longing for a good cup of dark miso soup...

4 sounds a bit high, but I think most of the "soy controversy" is pure bunk. Just like some of the dairy scares. It's sometimes hard to separate legitimate science from the junk.

Just wondering how much soy milk your kids drink? if they dont drink soymilk what do they drink?
I am wondering if my 2 yo is drinking too much, he probably drinks about 4 cups a day. he loves the stuff. my 6 yo prob averages about 2 c a day.
but of course i think about all the not so good stuff i read about too much soy, but i also know there is good info out there on soy too.
im debating if we should try some rice milk or almond milk to mix it up a bit.

If they are eating lots of other soy products, like soy yogurt, burgers and mock meats why not switch to rice or almond milk? If you do go with almond milk, try Blue Diamond brand-almond breeze. it's the best tasting one out there, IMO. and it comes in chocolate and unsweetened.

thanks everyone, i am going to mix it up a bit for him, we dont use fruit juice here, just a little bit maybe once a day, i never was big on the fruit juice habit with kids cause they just get addicted to the sweet taste.
i know kids that all they drink are juice boxes all day!

anyway, he does drink a lot of water too, probably about 3 cups a day.......maybe 2 depending on if its a hot day and we are out all day.
oh and he doesnt eat a ton of other soy products, some days he eats none at all.
his favorite food is plain brown rice..........LOL

Well it depends on the "CUP" if its a 9 oz or + sippy cup. YES he is probably getting too much. However my opinion is if they eat tons of food and get enough healthy foods more milk than avearge isn't gonna hurt UNLESS there is a weight problem.

My dd is nearly 3 and still drinks 4 cups a day but I try to only fill sippies(when we use them she is mostly using regular kids cups) to an 8 oz line.

I think the recommended amount of "milk" soy or cows is 16-24 oz a day. ;)

I think since he doesn't get a lot of other soy products he will be fine. I dunno how much I believe about the soy "controversy" to begin with. I guess I believe that the China Study has shown that it can't really be "true" info these studies on soy are coming up with. PLUS the protein helps balance out if he has a "low" protein foods day.


I chose to stay with soy for the "fat" and nutrients. I said I'd do it till 3 years old then I may add in rice or almond IF she is getting enough of those nutrients in other places. KWIM? like vitamin D and B12. B12 is one of my big reasons for choosing fortified soy milk because even though we'v been omni so far she doesn't like much meat and only eats small amounts. probably and ounce or two a day at most on the days we eat it. But that may be a serving size for her age anyhow.

Thanks all! I got some fortified rice dreams rice milk at the regular grocery yesterday to see if he likes it, and he did.........he only drank 1 c regular soy milk, 1 c of chocolate soy milk, and 1 c of the rice milk yesterday, and water........
he has no weight problem at all, neither of my kids do.
I am going to whole foods today because surprisingly enough they have better prices on the vitasoy and the rice milk than my regular grocery store, so when hubby gets home from work we are going, its about 45 minutes away, which i hate but hubby is always willing to go for the ride!
I hate going alone because where i live its a long lonely ride on a country road most of the drive there, but anyway, im getting off topic,
im going to try the vanilla one too, oh and the almond milk too, the local grocer didnt have the almond milk.

Bono..Whole Foods rice milk/soy milk is very cheap too (like $1.09/container here). :yes:

Just wondering how much soy milk your kids drink? if they dont drink soymilk what do they drink?
I am wondering if my 2 yo is drinking too much, he probably drinks about 4 cups a day. he loves the stuff. my 6 yo prob averages about 2 c a day.
but of course i think about all the not so good stuff i read about too much soy, but i also know there is good info out there on soy too.
im debating if we should try some rice milk or almond milk to mix it up a bit.

thanks for posting this, Ive wondered the same thing for some time. Mine would seriously drink it all day if I let him, he LOVES that stuff.

The only thing I would be concerned about is the high sugar content. There are some unsweetened soymils that are suprisingly rich and creamy (Kikkoman is GREAT!) and one way to 'wean' them of the sugary kind is to mix equal parts of regular and unsweetened and slowly add more unsweetened until you are 100% unsweetened. :)

I agree with AHIMSA. I would worry much more about the sugar in the flavored milks than the amount of soy.

Is your child getting enough other foods? They may not have much of an apetite because they are replacing the meals they should be eating with the "empty" calories in the sugar - yes the actual milk is good for them, but variety is a good thing too... That seems like a lot of non-water liquids for a child to be consuming...

I could never get my kids to switch totally over to plain soy milk - we mix 1/4 vanilla with 3/4 plain unsweetened, they only drink maybe 1 cup a day and the older ones don't even use it for anything but cereal...

As far as "too much soy" - I really think the whole soy supposed "controversy" is largely facts that are distorted and blown far, far out of proportion by Dairy interest groups.

Everything in moderation.

thanks , i wasnt even thinking about the sugar, duh! i will buy unsweetened the next shopping trip. we use the plain now.
i have had him cut back and we also are using rice and almond milk too. does anyone know if the rice and almond come unsweetened? i know the soy does i saw it in the store.