Mrs Elisabeth Socolow Vucinic scrutinises all food labels like a hawk. If this seems obsessive, the 40-year-old banker would tell you that it is key to keeping her three-year-old son alive and well.
The elder of her two children Marko Vucinic (above) is allergic to dairy products, including those that contain cheese, milk and yogurt.
His allergic reaction is so severe that he will break out in hives even when he comes into contact with someone who has eaten dairy.
'When my husband comes home after drinking coffee with milk and kisses him, he'll get hives on his cheeks,' lamented Elisabeth, who moved here from Hong Kong with her family in March 2005.
The little boy, who had just turned one, had been breast fed until then without problem.
But when he moved on to solid foods, the allergy flared. Each time he was given a dairy product, he would start vomiting almost immediately.
His parents did not realise how serious the allergy was until they were holidaying in Australia in December 2005. Over dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Marko was unknowingly served rice which had been cooked with one or more dairy products.
He promptly started retching and hives broke out over his body. He also had difficulty breathing and had to be given oxygen by paramedics and kept in hospital for a day.
The second time he had this kind of violent reaction was last August, when the family were in Thailand for a holiday. That time, he had to be hospitalised two days.
The family is extra careful now and would give him food brought from home if they are eating out.
Elisabeth has even prepared a medical kit for Marko. It contains an action plan detailing his allergies and what to do when he gets a reaction.
It also contains benadryl to be administered in event of a mild reaction and an epipen - a syringe and needle shaped like a pen - for more severe reactions like swelling lips and wheezing.
Elisabeth said: 'I feel bad especially during social events like birthdays where I want him to be free and easy but have to watch him like a hawk.'
Marko could have inherited his food allergy from his dad, Sasha Vucinic, who is allergic to some seafood.
Dr Lynette Shek, a consultant paediatrician at National University Hospital, said: 'Allergies tend to develop in some children when they are a few months old but they will usually outgrow them over time.'
She noted that half the children with milk allergies outgrow them by the first year and 80 per cent, by the third year.
Marko now goes for a check-up once a year to have his blood samples examined and compared with previous years.
