‘Addicted to bottle feeds’

A mother of a 14-year-old teenager has tried everything including seeking the counsel of bomohs to help her daughter kick the 'bottled milk' habit.

SEREMBAN: Farah Sauffiah Rahmat is a 14-year-old ‘healthy’ teenager who is addicted to bottle-feeds. Like a young child she needs to have regular milk feeds – 15 bottles a day to be exact.

A Form Two student in Sekolah Menengah Tuanku Ampuan Durah, she is unaffected by public opinion of her strange addiction.

“I’m addicted to milk and I need to feed on bottled milk even when I’m doing my homework.

“The nice taste of the milk makes me want more. I have less appetite for rice and other drinks. Sometimes I don’t take rice at all for the whole day and I can depend on the bottled milk alone.

“Feeding bottled milk is a routine for me. Even though my age is not suited with the habit of feeding bottled milk, I will keep on feeding forever”, said Farah who confessed that her friends in school are aware of her habit.

According to her it was never an issue in school.

“My friends in school know that I feed on bottled milk but they never chided me. Even if they want to ridicule me, I don’t mine as long as my parents understand me and keep buying milk for me,” she said.

Farah’ mother Latifah Ariffin has tried every means possible to ween her daughter off bottle feeds, including seeking the assistance of bomohs, but to no avail.

“It is not that I and my husband didn’t take any initiative to stop her from feeding from bottle but all our attempts fails.

“I once didn’t buy the powdered milk and hoping she will stop feeding milk. But later she went to grocery shop and bought the powdered milk on her own money (money that she saved).

“Once my husband threw the milk bottle on the road in front of our house. Moments later Farah Sauffiah went out and brought the bottle back.

“We’ve even tried engaging the service of a “bomoh” to stop her from feeding milk from the bottle but it was without success.

“We don’t have any more ideas on stop her,” said Latifah.

Latifah added that although Farah had stopped being breast-fed from the age of five, she had not quit the bottle.

“She will feed milk every an hour and whenever she’s ready to sleep, she needs her milk and bottle.

“On the average Farah needs four kilograms of powdered milk a month whcih costs RM80 and that does not include the cost of new bottles. We need to replace her bottles regularly,” said

Latifah adding that Farah was “fine and doesn’t have any health complications.”

Latifah is fervently hopeful that her daughter will one day kick the habit and assume a normal life.