Soy Milk

[basegoose]

I'm pretty new to baby sign so I hope someone can help me with this. I have an 18 month old that is DEATHLY allergic to milk. He drinks soy milk. He knows the sign for bottle and I've signed "milk" to him once or twice in reference to soy milk but I realized that I don't want him to learn that. I would like to be able to use "milk" to explain why he can't have something and help him understand that it's not good for him. So is there a sign I can use for soy? Besides finger-spelling? Thanks!

[jenml]

You don't want to hear this (or you're looking for another answer) but it would be a finger spelled word S-O-Y.

Maybe you can sign MILK for his soy milk, and sign COW MILK for what he cannot have (?)

And babies get fingerspelling... don't sell him short. We FS the word TOY and my kids get it (and sign it back as best as they can, depending on their age). If you just signed S-O-Y MILK, he will get it.

Let us know what you decide to do...

(and I'm afraid to ask how you found out he was deathly allergic... yikes... Must be hard to avoid in products.)

[ST! Rebecca]

We are a cow-milk-free household too. My toddler drinks Rice milk, and that's just what we call "milk." We differentiate from dairy by calling that COW milk, just what Jen suggested. We fingerspell S-O-Y MILK when we use that, too.