...and then there were two!

Got milk?

The first time we realised that DN was allergic to cow's milk was in April last year. According to my MIL, it was BAAAD. The few gulps of formula milk (FM) he had made him break out in blister-like rashes. For hours.

Dr Keoy (DN's PD) said some babies would outgrow it by the time they turned one, but DN hasn't. He's had "accidents" with cheese, ice-cream and salad dressing (?), accidentally eating a bit and then turning red (usually the area around his mouth). Because it's just a little bit, like a lick of ice-cream, the redness goes away in 30-45 minutes.

Qn : What would happen if he ate an entire ice-cream sundae?
Ans : He wouldn't. I would!
*cue : pitiful laughter*

Okay, I digress.

Because of this allergy, DN cannot drink almost all FMs because they're mostly cow's milk based. So we tried soya-based FM and hypoallergenic FM, but he didn't like the taste. I don't blame him, crap probably tastes better. So we tried goat's milk. As luck would have it, he's also allergic to that. (Damn you, Murphy!) A drop that touched his skin turned it red immediately. Oh well. We might try rice milk or hemp milk next.

Because of his cow's milk allergy, I kept up with the whole rigmarole of breastfeeding and expressing in the office for about 19 months. Last month, I decided to stop breastfeeding so DN doesn't drink any milk at all now. He does gets cereal (with NAN HA mixed in) twice a day, but that's it for his FM intake.

Now what's the first thing a mother does when this happens? Panic right?!?!
"No milk!? He's going to be 80cm tall for the rest of his life!"

So I did some reading up and what I've found out is, it's okay for kids not to drink formula milk. I guess it's such a norm in our culture that it seems essential, but it's not. As long as they get their calcium from other sources (700-800mg a day for young toddlers), they're fine. Phew. :) So here're some calcium rich foods that have got to be staples in DN's diet.

1. Salmon
2. Tofu
3. Broccoli
4. Calcium fortified orange juice
5. Soya bean milk
6. Spinach

Dr Keoy suggested giving him tau huay jui, so we tried it out. He drinks it! Yay!

(But the paranoid me still dilutes it with some water first.)

(And yes, we still haven't thrown away our CNY love letters. Ack.)