Breastfeeding Made Easy

While I was pregnant with LT, I had a comforting vision of me and baby rocking together on a rocking chair, breastfeeding. That lovely vision encouraged hubby to purchase a nice rocking chair from Ikea..

Together we anticipated LT's arrival with lovely visions of the perfect lovely, cuddly and well-behaved baby. Haha, we were 2/3rd correct except for the well-behaved part (LT's is one alert and mischievous baby..) Little did we know, or are prepared with the difficulties of breastfeeding. Everywhere from adverts on telly, articles on books to word of mouth from strangers echoed that breastfeeding is the best for babe and mommy. Yeah.. they forgot the most important part.. It takes a lot of determination, pain and confidence to pull it off successfully.

An article in Reader's Digest on October 2009 that I came across totally bowled me. I should have read that before I started to breastfeed. Many people say that breastfeeding is best, but they fail to tell the moms-to-be that it is super-difficult and it is not by instinct. Both mom and child need to learn this process and complement each other.

I dare say that I had a rude shock when I dealt with painful sore breasts, thrush and cracked nipples.. No one said anything about discomfort, let alone pain.. Everything made it look so easy.. And then it hits you.. Are you a failure being a mom? You cant even feed your child properly.. Is your child getting enough nutrition? How come you cringe each time your child feeds? Silently praying that the ordeal would be short and yet baby has enough to feed.. I cringe & grit my teeth everytime LT starts to suckle during those first few weeks.. The pain was enough to bring tears in my eyes.. That and with the added stress of "entertaining" the confinement lady really made confinement difficult.

Confinement lady was chinese, from Kepong.. At first, she said she was pro-breast-feeding, but after a few days of saying I have not enough milk & pestering us to get formula, Hubby & I felt that she wasn't walking her talk. Anyway, Hubby told her up-front not to be so negative and start encouraging me instead. She took the advice none to graciously.. She told LT after one bfeeding session, "Why? Mommy's milk not nice?" Anyway, I'll talk more about Chinese confinement and myths later in another posting..

Back to breastfeeding.. During the early weeks, both mother & child are learning about each other. Particulaly a new mom and her newborn. Me, a new moms knew next to nothing about bfeeding, only what I read in books, therefore instinct, or the lack of thereof, was not one I possesed immediately. I had no exposure to bfeeding and didnt know anything about proper latching on. LT too, had lots to learn.. Together we went thru sore nipples, bleeding and hunger (on LT's part). We were both tired and stressed out. Hormones were doing yo-yo on my moods. Sometimes I felt like crying and giving up. I prayed often for strength and perseverence, and God graciously extended them to me.. What I also found helpful during those few weeks were the encouragement I recieved from family and friends. Thank you all! =)

I'm glad we persevered thru all that.. LT is now 6 months old, healthy, strong (thank God for His blessings!) and naughty. Even though his weight is on the borderline of 25% and 50%, the ped said he's doing great. Oh, and the rocking chair from Ikea? We didn't use it all too often.. We found that armchairs from Ikea are better.. Rocking made it difficult to latch on.. But on the hindsight, the rocking chair was good to lull LT to sleep. =)