Mum’s warning after toddler almost dies from drinking too much milk

We all encourage our toddlers to drink milk, but what happens if a child has too much? Recently, a mum experienced this exact situation, and it left her daughter fighting for her life. The devastated mother has posted the heartbreaking story on Facebook, in an attempt to prevent other parents from going through a similar experience.

The early signs

For Anastacia, the story began a month ago when her two-year-old daughter Mia was pulling at her ears. Suspecting an infection, she took her the GP, who confirmed the little girl had a double ear and chest infection. After a week of medication, she was fine – but not for long.

Six days later, Mia woke up lethargic, sleepy and with no appetite. They went back to the GP, who didn’t even examine her this time, simply gave more antibiotics. After another week, the little girl was no better, so Anastasia followed her instincts and took her straight to emergency.

An immediate response

Once they arrived at the hospital, the reaction to Mia was very different from that of the family doctor and within minutes it became apparent that her situation was extremely serious.

“We were not even in that waiting room 5 minutes before an amazing nurse noticed dad walking very impatiently with our limp baby,” Anastacia sais on Facebook. “She comes flying out saying, ‘I don’t care how long you have all been waiting, that baby comes with me’ We didn’t do triage, we didn’t register, nurse kicked people out of a room for my daughter and as we rush in, 6 nurses and 2 Drs follow.”

Before the parents knew what was happening, their little girl was being attached to a heart monitor and blood pressure cuffs. The medical staff tried to take blood but had trouble putting in an IV until finally having success with her femoral artery, in her the thigh. “It took 7 pokes just to get blood out of her,” said the mum.

Frightening results

Results showed that Mia had lost three-quarters of her body’s blood, yet she’d had no external bleeding. She was also not making any more blood. Eventually, the parents learnt that this was because she had milk anaemia, which is caused by having too much cow’s milk.

“You have heard of not giving a baby too much water well don’t give them too much milk either,” said the mum. “Cows milk in excess will actually strip your body of Iron – iron is what makes blood no iron no blood.”

A warning to all

Mia had to go through a full blood transfusion to bring her levels up as well as x-rays, ultrasounds and much more.

“She is still not out of the woods, she is still not safe yet,” says her mum. “She will need to be on iron for the foreseeable future, she will not be allowed more than 2 bottles or 8 oz portions of milk a day.”

Anastacia later added to the post that her daughter had been drinking four to six bottles in 24 hours. The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne says a toddlers cow’s milk intake should be limited to no more than 500ml in 24 hours.

Now Mia’s mother is determined to share this story to help others with milk-loving toddlers from going through a similar ordeal.

“Please if this nothing more then extra knowledge in your mom toolbox amazing if it saves you all from the fear, the scare, the terror of watching your child the way our child was,” she wrote.

Anastacia also encourages readers to spread the word about milk anaemia, which has zero warning signs, and to always trust your instinct when you feel like something is not right with your child. 

“A few more hours, one more day and this would be a very very different post.”

We’re so glad little Mia is on the mend.