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.