A pediatrician suspected my son had leukemia. Turns out he was just drinking way too much cow's milk.

• My son's doctor was worried about how pale he looked at the checkup.

• He needed iron transfusions because he was anemic.

• He had been drinking way too much cow's milk.

Your son doesn't have leukemia!

On Friday morning, my toddler's doctor called to tell me. During a recent checkup, the doctor expressed concern about Johnny's pale complexion, which I had always believed to be the product of two very Irish parents.

He was found to have a severe iron deficiency after undergoing a complete blood-count panel. The normal range for someone his age was between 10 and 15 was between 4.5 and 5.6. He had developed a heart murmur due to his poor health.

I was surprised that the doctor thought Johnny was sick. Thankfully, the culprit was cow's milk. He got his first iron transplant the day after he was born. He began taking iron supplements.

A lot of people don't know this, but too much milk can be a bad thing

My stress level was high because Johnny was born during the first year of the Pandemic. I was adjusting to a new city after an interstate move and waiting for my older son to be diagnosed with an illness. I didn't try to change Johnny's behavior when he started drinking cow's milk at the age of 1 because he didn't want anything else. I poured to keep the peace.

Johnny drank more milk than the 16 to 24 ounces recommended for his age group. I didn't know that calcium can cause iron absorption to be disrupted, so any iron that made it into his body would be destroyed by dairy.

I didn't think milk could affect him so much

He was always in a sour mood and had many meltdowns. I thought that he had just started the terrible twos ahead of schedule, that he was becoming an overindulged youngest child, or that he was on the spectrum.

When Johnny was a baby, I found myself wondering if it was possible for him to return to being achy baby. I thought he drank too much milk because it was filling him up, but I didn't know how much damage it could do. My dad always encouraged me to drink a lot of milk because he wanted me to be taller and stronger.

Most parents don't know that too much milk can be a problem. We see our kids every day, but sometimes a visit from a doctor or family member can give us cause for concern.

The hematologist told me that recovering from anemia can cause headaches, weakness, fatigue, and a host of other problems in children. Johnny didn't have a way of telling me what was going on. When Johnny's heart was distressed, my husband and I assumed he was angry.

A month and a half into treatment, Johnny was back to normal. Everyone saw an improvement in his demeanor. He has the willingness and energy to eat, smiles at everyone he sees, and wakes up talking excitedly to his stuffed animals, which is a stark contrast to when he would start and end his day in tears.

I feel like I'm getting to know the real Johnny for the first time.

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