It was just before my baby turned 2 months that I returned to work full-time. I was fortunate enough to have my mum look after him during my working hours and would express my breastmilk a day in advance for her to feed him with. I also bought a tin of formula as back-up…just in case.

Well, one day, the situation arose where my little one had to use the formula – the hungry bub had finished up all my expressed breastmilk earlier. He drank just a little bit of the formula then refused the rest. Then he turned pallid and threw up. Hives appeared as well. By the time I got to him from work, he was lethargic and cranky. I recognised the symptoms of allergy (his dad has numerous allergies!) and gave him cool bath to relieve his hives. He was much better after being breastfed – thank goodness he didn’t drink that much of the formula.

The next time we visited his paeditrician, we shared what had happenned. The paeditrician suggested that he may have a milk allergy but told us that most babies grow out of it. We also told him that our baby refused all other types of milk – soy based and goat’s milk – and would only take my breastmilk, to which he replied, “Well, he’s already had the best (breastmilk), why would he want anything else?” Thus having little or no alternative, I learnt to incorporate breastfeeding and expressing my breastmilk as part of my everyday life…and I’ve had no regrets since