Breastfeeding - what i know and what i did.

Part 1
The first few weeks and the establishment

I decided to do this topic, as my journey of motherhood, breastfeeding has been the most difficult skill i need to master within super short time frame.

While i don't have the experience of direct latch with Nayaka, i manage to do it with Nadia.
Here's my key findings:

1. The baby is as blank and frustrated as the mommy, so do talk often with them beforehand that we gonna do this together, and we will survive! and plus, your bonding moment that will pass too soon before you know it.
2. I thought bleeding nipple is a horrid experience, but nothing beat the wasted milk every time the baby rejects :(
3. Drink plenty of warm water work for me. (before going to bed, after we pee, after we pump/latch, after we shower... i keep a jug of water next to my bed)
4. Dont expect your lovely breast as a water tab, rather treat them honorably more like a gold mine... a slow hard-work but surely rewarding.
5.  I thank God for being born in the era where people had invented of electric breastpump!
6.  Pills or tea might work to increase the supply, but it differ for each person. (it doesnt do anything for me, but i heard success stories..) One recipe i always find successful is dont get stressed out. try to relax and take a deep deep breath whenever possible.
7. hmm i know i shouldnt say this, but sleep helps a lot. even if its just 10minutes.
8. if all fails, dont forget there still formula milk. remind yourself there is no hard rule of 100% breastmilk or else. i was so stress with establishing my milk i ended up loosing it. and strangely a day after we bought a big can of formula milk, my breast is as hard as rock and the milk just excessive!

THE FIRST FEW DAYS
i dont have enough sleep, i barely produce enough milk, and still recovering from the labor. The only retribution is the look of your little one sleepy face after they finished the milk...  :)

my workstation

Milk flow establishment require extra work, and the breastmilk progressively changes in terms of composition. So here's my first week schedule with Nadia:

06.00 am    :   pump for 20 min (even if there's no more milk coming out)
09.30 am    :   try to latch direct as much.
10.00 am    :   pump for another 20 min
12.30 am    :   try latching again
01.00 pm    :   pump for 20 minutes
02.30 pm    :   try latching again
03.00 pm    :   pump for 20 min
05.30 pm    :   try latching again
06.00 pm    :   pump for 20 min
08.30 pm    :   try latching
09.00 pm    :   pump for 20 min
11.30 pm    :   try latching
12.00 am    :   pump for 20 min

and here's the tricky bit.. for after midnight I normally wouldn't put any timing for pumping or latching, because every baby have their own preference (Nayaka woke up twice to drink while Nadia is anytime she likes, sometimes she can just sleep it off for 5hour without milk) so i would suggest mommies to sleep whenever the baby sleep.



So, overall, you will get the rhythm of pumping and trying to latch directly. The purpose of pumping often is to stimulate the breast to produce milk and the purpose of latching is for both mom and baby to get the hang of it, while in the same time trying to establish the feeding schedule.

Only after our body has adjusted to the schedule, slowly reduce the pumping frequency. i started as 3-hourly on the 1stmonth, and 4-hourly on the 2nd, and 6-hourly by the 3rd. 6-hourly is a comfortable schedule for working mommies, just nice to pump 1 time during lunch time.

THE SWEET AND SOUR NOTE
on direct latch and pumping (as my experience to both Nayaka and Nadia)

Direct latch
1. night time is easy for mommy and baby as we dont need to wake up and heat the milk. sometimes the baby is too hungry, we dont want them to wake the whole hdb block :p
2. another easy and convenient way to bring the baby out because less things to carry and less hassle on the equipments. i love how every mall in sg there's baby room.
3. the more the baby direct latch the lesser we bumped into the problematic mastitis or blocked milk duct. trust me, we dont wanna go there.
4. The extra special and amazed feeling deep inside; because your baby has grown with nothing else but your breastmilk. yours.

Pumping
1. Other family member can help to feed, thus you get more rest time. plus, and delightful to see the bonding between your husband or ur parents when they feed and fell asleep together :)
2. We can set the excess ebm for future use.
3. We can see how much the baby drinks and progressively set schedule from there
4. The baby is independent and learn to drink milk from the bottle, and less chance to cling to your breast just for comfort sake. Thus, getting back to office time is much easier.



So, mommies, when you are reading this article in the middle of 2 a.m, with one hand holding the pump and the other at google cursor, just remember, we did it all for that chubby little angel in our arms ;)