Hi-
I have 2 children. My husband and I are both lactose intolerant as well. Both were breastfed for the first 6 months. Then, my oldest had major problems with regular formula, so the pediatrician said to put her on soy, but my husband did the lactose-free formula instead, and it worked fine. When she was ready to move to milk, we tried it, and she loved it, but unfortunately, she vomited frequently when she had too much. We had to change her to soy milk, which has worked out fine. We then didn't take any chances with my son, and automatically put him on lactose-free formula, then whole milk. He has some feeding issues, so even though he's almost 4, he's still on whole milk, lactose-free. For the most part, the 2 differences I see is that with the lactose-free whole milk, you still get the milk fat that pediatricians recommend for young children. I'm not sure that soy milk has enough fat for the youngest milk drinkers. Lactose-free whole milk is generally MUCH more expensive than soy or regular milk, however, and can sometimes be hard to find. (I had to complain when my regular grocery store stopped carrying it for a while, but they did bring it back.)