Before we left the United States my 3 year old, Azalea would drink almost a gallon of milk a week. Although this was an exorbitant amount, she’s never been a good eater so I was relieved that she was taking in fat & calories. The first milk we bought in Nicaragua looked like the stuff we drink in the US, but Azalea didn’t seem very interested in it and it sat in her sippy cup for the few days we stayed in Managua. While staying at Surf Tours Nicaragua I filled her sippy cup up with the box milk they had in their refrigerator but had the same outcome. Her sippy cup was left all over the resort still filled with milk. I positive byproduct of the sudden decrease in Azalea’s milk consumption was that she began eating more.
I figured Azalea was just adjusting to her new environment and once settled into a home she’d go back to drinking an outrageous amount of milk. I purchased again the milk that looked like what we used in the US. It comes in a plastic half gallon jug and is located in the refrigerator next to the yogurt and other dairy products. It seemed like this time Azalea was drinking milk again, but only for a couple days and not with the same voracity as she had before our move. I noticed after a few days of untouched milk, it had already congealed in her refrigerated sippy cup. Yuck!
While at our local grocery store, Palí someone told my husband Kharron, that the milk that comes in the bag is better than the carton. He happily purchased a bag of milk confident that he had solved our milk mystery. Confused as to how you dispense a bag of milk I poured it into a thermos and eagerly waited for our milk tester to come home from school. The bag of milk was not a success. Azalea took one sip and left the sippy cup laying on the sofa. We tried a couple different brands of the bag of milk, using it in our coffee with each defeat. One day our maid Juanita cut the corner of an unopened milk bag and set it in a bowl in the refrigerator. Ahhh…that’s how you do it!
The last option to try was the raw milk that gets delivered by horse cart, so I spent about 20 minutes one morning searching for a cart to flag down. Feeling a little uneasy about about not only raw milk, but milk that is kept in a metal container in 90 degree heat, I boiled it immediately when I got home. The next morning I tested this milk out by putting it in Azalea’s cereal. She wasn’t fooled for a minute, after one bite she looked up at me and said, “I don’t like this.” Another batch of milk for our morning coffee I guess.
Finally perplexed by this milk mystery I posted on a local Facebook Mommy page, “Okay Mamas, what’s the deal with the milk here? Which one is the most like home? What is the difference? Bag, carton, box (not real milk?). Which is the best for you?” My mommy friends came pouring in with advice and I was happy to hear this is a common problem after a move to Nicaragua. It seems most Expat families drink the milk that comes in a box. Turns out it is real milk, that’s been slowly heated multiple times to kill off the bacteria and bag or box it in seven layers so that bacteria cannot grow in the milk. That is how it can stay fresh unrefrigerated for so long. This milk also touts that it contains no additives.
I’ve settled on buying Dos Pinos in the box. Azalea recently found a love for cereal with milk and I’m hopeful that this is the stepping stone back to true milk consumption. Although, now that the mystery is solved, I wouldn’t mind if she just continued to eat her calories & fat…
