Beauty and the Breast (sic!) - Part 2

I congratulate all the new moms who decided to breast feed (BF) their babies! It would be a tough learning process for both mom and the baby.. Believe me, I know.. There would be tremendous amount of pressure as in our Chinese Asian society there are weird misconceptions:
1) BF is to save money and hence, for the poorer people.
2) Formula is more superior in nutritional value than breast milk (could not be more wrong! Read the labels on yr pack of formula - even the manufacturers say that breast milk is the best source of food for your little one).
3) Chinese Asian ladies have small boobs - so they produce less milk, unable to fully supply their babies needs. (Err, my boobs are small, but milk still comes in and satisfy my Little Tyke)
4) BF is troublesome. (BF is difficult to start, but after yr milk supply is regular, you do not need to carry bottles, warmer, formula, sterilizers, warm water and bib each time you go out. Just lift your shirt and pop a boob in yr hungry baby's mouth [pardon the crudeness])
5) Breast milk can go bad in your breasts! (This is a whole load of baloney! My confinement lady said that my baby had an allergic reaction due to bad breast milk in my boobs.. Err, for everyone's info - breast milk is more sterile than yr hands after you wash it with soap!)

I had to battle with one or more of these comments above during my early weeks of BF. No doubt breast milk comes in a little slow, you could supplement with formula for the first 2 weeks (some books totally ban the bottle until baby is around 8-9 weeks old to avoid nipple confusion), but lets not be too harsh on the new mom. I suffered from cracked, peeling and bleeding nipples from the first week onwards. Heck, I'm still having sore nipples as my Little Tyke is a ferocious eater after his 3 hour nap.

Oh, treatment for sore nipples would be to put Cocoa Butter or Papaw Ointment on the affected nipple. My mom-in-law was so sweet to buy me a tube of Palmer's cocoa nursing butter. I was using the papaw ointment at first, but it didn't heal as fast as the cocoa butter.

For bleeding nipples, I rested that breast for a day, but did not miss out on pumping it as baby feeds on the other breast. If I don't pump it, my milk supply would go low, and the breast would shrink in size. =( And after missing 2 feeds, my boob would be so hard, it's painful.

The expressed breast milk (EBM) could be fed to baby by bottle after he/she has finished with the good boob or if baby is satisfied with one boob, it can be stored in the freezer for emergency use. Depending on how good yr freezer is, it can stay fresh up to 1 week for a single door fridge. If it is a 2 door fridge, 3 months (but I usually use them in a months' time cos we open and close the freezer door a few times a day). If you have a separate freezer (temperature kept at a constant below 0 degrees C) that you don't keep other foodstuff other than yr EBM, it can stay fresh up to 6 months! Oh, precaution when pumping, we always sterilize our hands, the pump and the bottle to store our EBM. EBM must not be stored in the same compartment as raw meat to avoid cross contamination (this my hubby strongly agrees).

When I went back to work, I had to purchase a few bottles for milk storage. I made sure I pumped and stored at least 4 bottles of 3 oz of EBM before I start work. This is to make sure Little Tyke has enough to last him at least past the first day at work. It gave me added stress as I know I have to pump 3 hourly at work all the time cos Little Tyke would use up the supply in the freezer in a day. After that added stress, I purchased more bottles and used them to build up a supply of EBM. Hehe, I now have 12 bottles of stored EBM, but I don't use them anymore, cos I'm always around my baby now! Hmm, better start using them soon.. I read that the longer you store the EBM, the less antibodies it contains (The Nursing Mother's Companion - Kathleen Huggins).
Another book I find helpful is What to Expect First Year by Heidi Murkoff.

Beauty and the Breast (sic!)

New moms would have read (sometime during their pregnancy) how breastmilk is the best source of food for their babies. I was among one of them.. My hubby and I were advocates of breastfeeding (BF) until we found out how difficult it really is. =(

One interesting point though, formula was not invented until society became "civilized", so how did the people of biblical times fed their infants? @_@.. God made women with breasts (errm, duhh?) to feed their babies, so, I should be able to feed mine right?

Among my circle of friends in church (there were a few who were pregnant at the same time as I), all struggled with BF. 4 decided to supplement (I was one of them) whereas 1 of them decided from the start to give formula. Among the 4, two were still supplementing and 1 dropped BF after 2 months because she resumed working. After many desperate prayers, crying bouts, doubts, and very sore breasts, I managed to fully BF my little tyke (shown in photo) towards the end of the 2nd month. This is all thanks to God and my very patient and supportive husband (who still wakes up in the middle of the night to accompany me BF).

During the first month, both hubby and I were praying so hard.. partly because there were so many negative comments from the confinement lady. She claimed she was pro-BF in the beginning, but later on proved to be a stumbling block as she said my breastmilk went bad (in my own breasts?!!) & that baby doesn't like it. I'm thankful that God blessed me with the ones closest to me, my hubby, my parents, my in-laws, Godmother & friends who were supportive. At first, little tyke was suckling almost every hour and after pumping, I could only produce 1/2 - 1 ounce from both breasts. Little tyke was an angry little baby & hubby and I caved in during the 2nd week and bought formula for supplementing at night.

I guess my low milk production was due to a few things:
1) too many negative comments made me stressed out.
2) I was weak after childbirth due to an internal bleeding.
3) Not resting well enough.
4) Not eating more nutritious food.
5) Not drinking enough fluids.
6) Not giving baby suckle enough (my breasts were so raw and sore that each nursing session I had to cringe my teeth. =( This was due to both mother and baby learning to complement each other..)

My milk production increased slowly when my mom-in-law asked me to take some vitamin C pills and my dad bought Cellfood and Transfer Factor for me. After eating them everyday for a month, I felt stronger (and partly cos the confinement lady left us before the month is up, finally enabling hubby and I some breathing space). By then I was up to 2 1/2 ounces per pumping session. I then began to feel more confident and began nursing almost every 2 hours as soon as Little Tyke cries, I pop a breast in his mouth. =P After that, my pumping session went up to 3 ounces. My mom-in-law and hubby took care of me during the week of chinese new year and after (when the confinement lady left), I'd say I got more rest that 2 weeks than when the confinement lady was here.. She was such a basket case that she needed to talk to someone almost every hour! Not being rude, I had to entertain her while I BF (which is a NO-NO during the first few weeks, cos baby and mommy needed some quiet time to concentrate on learning about BF)!

Next, hubby and I were worried whether Little Tyke had enough to eat. There were people who commented that Little Tyke looks skinny. Especially that confinement lady - she said he's the skinniest baby she's ever seen (err, more of her negative comments). So, hubby and I did some research. Baby has enough to eat if:
1) He/she is contented after feeding for at least 1 1/2 hours. (check)
2) He/she has at least 6-8 wet nappies and 1 soiled nappy a day. (check)
3) He/she is gaining at least 1 ounce in weight a day. (check)
The above 3 points were just a compilation of what I read online and in books. If you need more info on this, do visit www.babycenter.com.sg. It helped me to clear my doubts.
If you can't get online, do the next best thing, purchase the book What to Expect, First Year by Heidi Murkoff.
Negative comments aside, we resumed our routine above..

When my maternity leave ended, my mom came to look after Little Tyke for half a month (while I served my resignation notice). I tried to pump in office but was quite stressed out as I pumped irregularly and the environment was not conducive (I had to use the server room). With that, and the added stress of working and handing over assignments, my milk supply went down to 2 1/2 ounces again. So, during the weekends, I did double-pumping (ie. pumping both breasts at a time, fools yr brain into thinking you are feeding twins, hence, stepping up production).. After the 3rd or 4th try, my milk production increased again to 3 ounces. One wonderful day, I was able to produce 6 ounces in half an hour! I was considering to do power pumping (pumping both breasts every hour, mimicking a baby's growth spurt, again forcing yr breasts to produce more milk cos the brain thinks baby needs more), but after that incident, I decided not to.

Now that I'm a full time homemaker, I did away with the pumping unless Little Tyke decided to take only 1 side at a feeding. All in all, I want to persevere till the end of the year at least.. My next worry would be whether Little Tyke's teething would cause me pain.. Oh well, we'll cross that hurdle when we get there.. God will watch over us all.. Amen.

Bowel on Strike! - part 2

As anyone who had read the previous posting knows, our precious bundle of joy, Little Tyke, has decided to go on a 5 day poo-poo strike. After lots of prayers and a visit to the pediatrician's, his little bowel decided to resume work.
However, immediately after that, his usual 2 poo-poo a day became 1 tiny poop. Hmm, daddy and mummy got a little worried and were considering the orange juice again (previously we didn't use the yummy concoction as he went massively at the ped office).
After 2 days of worrying (again!), he finally did a large poop at 4 in the morning, and another one at 7am. (grins)
Looks like it's business as usual in the Wong family...

Bowel on Strike!

Our precious little kitten had not been going potty for 5 days including today.. Both me and hubby were so worried that we took him to the pediatrician. The doc took one look at him, and said, Master Wong, what is your problem today?
Little Tyke just gave the doc a smile.. After we explained to the doctor Little Tyke's condition, doc opened his diaper and checked. Hmm... Doc poked his tummy and did the usual tummy check - you know, the kind where he places his hand on your tummy and uses his other hand's finger to knock on the hand? Hubby and I were a little shocked at how doc handled Little Tyke (pretty rough I would say), but Little Tyke seemed unperturbed and even smiled at the perpetrator (!).
Symptoms were interrogated: Little Tyke's bowels refused to move even though he was straining hard for 2 days. He did manage 2 drops of green poo poo yesterday.. He actually has a cooperative bowel, he goes potty everyday, sometimes, up to 5 times. The day before his intestines decided to go on strike, he went 5 big ones! They were mustardy yellow type bowels, the kind normal for breastfed babies.
Verdict: Doc said Master Wong has a case of lazy bowels. Even if it was pretty cooperative last time, it can go on strike anytime. We have to be careful of what he eats when we start to wean him off the breast. We must make him take plenty of veggies and fruit purees to make the transition easier.
Treatment: Doc gave us Duphalac, but he recommends us to try squeezing the juice out of a slice of orange (around 2 tablespoons), sour or sweet, it does not matter. Giving this natural medicine to a 3 month old is better than a prescription med.
So we thanked the doc and went out. After paying the dues, our precious bundle of joy gave a loud fart.. and since mommy was carrying him, mommy felt a gush of warmness on his small bum-bum. Mum and dad anxiously opened up the diaper to see if Little Tyke has relieved himself.. And lo and behold! His poop was so massive, it leaked out of the diaper and into his shirt. Mom and dad has never been so happy to see him poop before, and we changed him there and then at the couch of the pediatrician's waiting room (who needs changing rooms when you've got over-enthusiastic parents laughing at your poop?) -_-ll
Right after mommy wiped his massive mess, a huge gunk of watery yellow-green poop came out and coated mommy's hands. Daddy rushing out to assist mommy stem the tide, was also well soiled. =P well, who would have guessed, after doctor's poking about, Little Tyke made 5 days worth of poop come out without effort? Our little one felt so triumphant at his achievement, that he promptly fell asleep naked in public (we removed his soiled shirt). We wrapped him up in the swaddling cloth we have (good thing we have that in his bag) and went home. Lesson to learn: always bring an extra set of clothes in the diaper bag.. Little Tyke may have a massive one coming!
All in a day's event in our Wong household.. Let's hope Master Wong's bowel does not go on strike again.. Hmm, I think I hear our little one rousing from his sleep now..