Breastfeeding - the lil man's first year

Dear Alex,

You are the sucker. Yes, you. You were a proficient sucker the moment you were born. After you emerged and got kissed, weighed and all the what-nots, you were presented with the life-giving boobies you are all too familiar with now. Though it was your first meeting with them, you knew what you had to do instinctively. Men and mammary glands have that sort of connection perhaps. Ok, ok, you have stronger survival instincts compared to your sister who couldn't latch properly till she was a month old.

But there you were. Barely an hour old, with mummy still recuperating at the recovery room after the c-section. You were doing so well the mid-wife and other nurses came to watch your marvellous performance, all lauding your ability to "suck so well". Apparently, very few people want to latch their babies that early after delivery - you are a lucky little fella you know? :)

You had no qualms sharing your milk supply with your sis. That is good because you know, the-one-who-bullies-you-every-day-now is the reason why you had milk to drink the moment you were born - your sis continued to take mummy's milk all the time that you were taking your time to grow inside.

You started off really well, sleeping through a stretch of 5-6 hours in the second month and gave mommy some peace and uninterrupted sleep for a few months. And then we shifted and you decided that you would start growing teeth all at the same time and you just had to get mommy's boobs to keep you company at night when you couldn't sleep properly. Trudging over to pick you up and put you back in your cot a few times a night is just too much for mommy, and you know it. That must have been your ploy - to get to co-sleep with us every night after your first middle-of-the-night summon to pick you up. I know that Sealy Posturepedic is much more comfortable than your foam mattress, and that is why you cry every night an hour or two into your sleep in your cot. Who can fault you, the discerning one? But try not to get too used to it, ok?

On and off, you didn't do your job properly and caused blocked ducts, which is really very painful by the way. And I really think that I'd rather eat cabbage the way that normal people do rather than have them on my body. But there was this once I just couldn't blame you because you were so ill with bronchiolitis and you had difficulty latching on to drink. Not blaming you didn't solve the problem of blocked ducts of course. Fortunately, your sister came to the rescue though she had already given up the privilege of drinking from mommy.

You know, I just have to tell you that I love to watch you while you drink milk, that innocent but cheeky little face waving your hands around - that's before you drift off to lala-land - and how you would try to trap my hand between your armpit and body just to make sure that I stay next to you on the bed after you fall asleep. You do have rather sweaty armpits sometimes, though I'm glad they don't smell half as bad as *ahem*, mine. I escape of course from your 'clutches' eventually, but I do love that feeling of being wanted and needed by your tiny little soul.

I know you hate the milk bottle and formula milk. Your daddy said that you might grow stronger if you took a little of formula but you flatly refuse, clamping down firmly on the teat. Nothing could change your heart and mind about it, even until now, after you have turned one.

How long are you going to continue to want mommy's milk? Your sister went on for four years and it has been more than five years of booby-duty for me. But take your time to think about it, son. Mommy will be here for you till you decide that you have had enough milk - from me. Just try to cut me some slack at night, yah?

Love,
Mommy

The end of tandem breastfeeding

*This is an overdue post*

Yes, you are reading right. I have finally weaned Alicia off my breasts. She was three weeks to four years old.

Despite the fact that I have mentioned that I will wait for her to self-wean, it didn't feel so right that she should still be reliant on my boobs at the grand old age of 4.

During June this year, we made several major changes to our lives: we moved, I weaned her and she started school, finally. During the busy moving days, we entrusted her to my mum who cared for her for the whole day, picking her up only in the evenings. After we shifted, she stayed over at my mum's with her cousin for two nights - and that was what really prompted the weaning. I took the opportunity to wean her. When she came home and asked for milk from me, I told her that mummy was going to stop giving her mummy's milk, but I'd accommodate this as the last request for mummy's milk. She continued to ask for milk for a few days but when I reminded her that she already had her last time at mummy's boobs, she just laughed it off and went about to do her own thing.

Her staying at my mum's helped greatly in the weaning process as she started to drink formula milk together with her cousin (read: peer pressure) so the transition to drinking FM twice a day was made smoother. Nevertheless, she still doesn't quite like FM but she'd drink it - with lots of nagging and threats coercing.

My tandem breastfeeding journey has ended. Do I miss breastfeeding her since we've kept up with it for so long? Nope. Breastfeeding her through almost 4 years has been quite a journey but at some point, I acknowledge that my little girl has grown up. I love her all the same, but weaning her at this point in time makes her transition to a school-attending preschooler even more pronounced. I weaned her not because people feel that she should be weaned but because we both know that she's starting a new phase in life, and mummy's little baby is now mummy's little girl :)

Guest Post: A Healthy Pregnancy for Mom and Baby

Taking a pregnancy test can be nerve wracking; finally seeing that “plus” sign, an epiphany. One of the initial things a soon to be mommy must consider is the impact of the pregnancy may have on her own health. To have a healthy baby, one must be healthy themselves.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Pregnancy and childbirth have a huge impact on the physical, mental, emotional, and socio-economical health of women and their families.” So, as a first step, it is imperative to make sure that a mom-to-be’s health is attended to. A healthy pregnancy aids in the easiest possible delivery, and working towards this actually begins in the first trimester.

Proper nutrition and vitamin supplements should be one of the first things a mother uses to assure her own health, as well as her baby’s. Prenatal vitamins are strongly recommended to be used throughout the duration of a pregnancy as well as months after delivery to help achieve a mother’s full recuperation. In the case of nutrition, cravings will definitely be a part of the process. Indulging once in awhile, so long as you stick mainly to a diet of lean meat and a variety of fruits and vegetables, is completely acceptable.

In the case of baby’s nutrition post delivery, it’s a good idea to consider your options. There are two ways to provide the necessary nutrition to your newborn: the first is breastfeeding, and the second is formula. Each alternative will supply an your infant with nutrients, so whatever way you choose to feed your baby is up to you. If you are considering breastfeeding, there are breastfeeding classes that will help you learn more about the process and techniques involved.

Taking a childbirth class is another great idea. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first pregnancy or your fifth, childbirth classes can help a mother prepare by informing her of the available birth procedures at that facility. Learning how labor will affect your body, what to expect during delivery and options available post-delivery will all help a mother feel more prepared.

Childbirth class will also help you prepare a birth plan if you’d like. A birth plan is simply an outline you can give your medical team about how you’d like your delivery day to go. Things to include are what sort of pain management you’d like to use, how you’d like your baby presented to you, and if you’ll be partaking in any optional procedures, like cord blood banking, post-delivery. Cord blood banking involves collecting the blood from your baby’s umbilical cord and storing it as a potential medical resource for your family to be used to treat potential future diseases that could affect your family.

Finding focus and peace, while adhering to healthy guidelines, are likely the most important preparations a mom-to-be can make.  The benefits of attending to your health the best you can will make delivery day as joyous as it ought to be.

This article was written by Alan Cassidy, an active writer within the blogging community covering maternity and childbirth, and always advocating for infant and children’s health. Connect with him on Twitter @ACassidy22

Review: Nan® Mom & Me Maternal Milk

Nestlé’s latest product NAN® Mom & Me launched in October 2011 is specially made for pregnant and lactating mothers. Having taken various brands of maternal milk in the past 4 years through my two pregnancies and my breastfeeding journey, I would say that Nestle's new product took me by surprise when I first tasted it. Unlike other brands of maternal milk supplement, it is available in vanilla flavour such that it totally covers the strong milky taste which may put off some people. I used to have to add Milo into some other brands of maternal milk powder to camouflage the milky taste till I got used to it but  NAN® Mom & Me needed no extra effort for me to get used to. :) 


Besides its distinctive taste, what I like about it is the fact that it's low in fat (60% lower in fat compared to full cream milk) - perfect for mummies who are conscious of weight gain during pregnancy and during the postpartum days (and months) where we are ever so anxious to shed the pregnancy weight! 


NAN® Mom & Me also boasts of the highest amount of DHA compared to other maternal milk brands in Singapore (as of August 2011) and is the only maternal milk with BL®Bifidus probiotics that helps fight against harmful bacteria to help maintain a healthy system.

The downside of this product is I guess dependent on whether you like the taste of vanilla (as opposed to the milky taste of milk)! :)

This product is available in supermarkets in Singapore. If you'd like to have a free sample, click here.

Additional information:
Nestle will be having a booth at the Mothercare Festival at Harbour Front on two consecutive weekends (3rd-4th and 10th-11th March). Join in for a day of fun with goodies and free treats from Nestle Start Healthy Stay Healthy! 


Furthermore, below are some special promotions:


Store                  Branch                            Date                            Time               
Giant                   Parkway                           3/3/11, 4/3/11               1-8pm            Promotion: Wet Sampling; Product explanation 


Fair Price            Bt Panjang                       10/3/11, 11/3/11            1-8pm            Promotion: Buy 1 get 1 FREE


Fair Price            AMK Hub                         17-19/3/11                     1-8pm           Promotion: Buy 1 get 1 FREE


Fair Price            Tampines Mall                   24/3/11, 25/3/11            1-8pm           Promotion: Buy 1 get 1 FREE


Fair Price            Jurong Point - Hyper         7/4/11, 8/4/11                1-8pm           Promotion： Buy 1 get 1 FREE


Giant                   Vivo City                          14/4/11, 15/4/11             1-8pm           Promotion： Wet Sampling; Product explanation 

Disclosure: I received a free NAN® Mom &Me trial kit as part of a campaign organised by 星星火Wildfire for this review.

Papaya fish soup (木瓜鱼片汤)

I found a really small papaya today at the vegetable stall - it was supposed to be a green papaya (unripe) but since most of it looked almost ripe, when I expressed interest in it, the stall holder gave it to me. :P Hee. 

And so, I changed the menu for dinner immediately... papaya fish soup was definitely gonna be on the menu for the night! I couldn't get sheng yu however since it was all sold out so I decided to just use the red snapper fillet I just bought from my usual fish stall. 

Green papaya fish soup is believed to increase breast milk supply so it's usually drunk by women who have just given birth (during confinement month - I drank this soup twice during confinement but didn't really like the cooking.. haha) or those who need that extra boost in breast milk supply. Normal papaya can also be used for this soup, just that you would need to cut down the time for simmering the soup so that the papaya will not disintegrate in the process of cooking. I don't think I need that boost in milk supply but I just enjoy drinking the soup... lol. Come to think about it, I've been breastfeeding for almost 30months! :P

Papaya fish soup (木瓜鱼片汤)

Ingredients:

• fish bones from 3 red snapper tails (I think it should be at least 500g) - you can use other fish bones such as threadfin
• 1 slab of red snapper fillet (costs about $5 at the market) - usually present in this soup is shengyu 
• 1 small (green) papaya
• 5 slices ginger
• 6 cloves garlic (skin on), rinse
• 2 bunches of scallions (cut into 2" segments)
• 6 seedless red dates
• 2L water
• 1-2 teaspoons hua diao jiu
• sesame oil

Seasoning for soup:

• salt/ fish sauce (I used fish sauce)
• ground white pepper to taste

Marinate fish with:

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• a couple of dashes of pepper
• 1/2- 1 teaspoon cornflour or potato starch

Method:

1. Skin the papaya, remove the seeds and cut into chunks. 
2. Scald the papaya briefly with boiling water to remove the sap. Drain and set aside.
3. Add some sesame oil into the claypot and stir-fry the ginger till fragrant. Add the fish bones and fry for a short while. Remove from pot and place in a cloth soup bag - this is to ensure that there will be no bones in the soup and hence safe for consumption, especially for young children. Double check that there are no bones in the claypot after removing the fish bones.
4. Add water into the claypot which you have just used and bring it to a boil.
5. Add the garlic, scallions, red dates, hua diao jiu, papaya and the bag of fish bones and bring the soup to a boil again.
6. Simmer for about 1.5hours.
7. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the fish fillet and slice the meat very thinly.
8. Marinate the fish slices with salt, pepper and cornflour (prevents the fish from disintegrating). Set aside in the fridge.
9. When soup is ready, remove the bag of bones, red dates, garlic, scallions and ginger, leaving only the papaya in the soup.
10. Add seasoning to taste.
11. Bring the soup to a boil again. Add the fish slices into the soup and turn off the fire. Cover the claypot and let the heat in the soup do the cooking.
12. Dish and serve after a couple of minutes.

Although I didn't use sheng yu today, the red snapper slices were wonderfully tender! Actually I thought they tasted even better than sheng yu slices! :) Hubby was full of praises for the soup - usually he complains about the fishy soups his mum cooks or those from coffeeshops but he actually liked this fish soup and asked me to cook it more often! hee.

Tip: To make this a one-dish meal, you can blanch some bee hoon or other noodle of your choice and add it into the soup.

The third year of breastfeeding...

Alicia just turned two two weeks ago and I thought I'd just pen down my thoughts about breastfeeding her so far.

Time truly flies as it feels like not too long ago that I had problems breastfeeding in the first couple of months after delivery. And now, the little baby has become a happy, contented, cheerful toddler - still little though. :P

Breastfeeding a toddler is really different from breastfeeding an infant.

In the first few months (after Alicia learnt to latch), she was not very proficient and always needed help with finding the nipple and latching. Not to mention all the gagging whenever the letdown came as I had overactive letdown reflex. She only managed to overcome that after she turned 5 mths or so... and ever since then, I think she's been looking forward to those gushes of milk!

After 5 months, it became harder to nurse her in public as she was so easily distracted and unless I wanted to risk exposing myself, I thought it wise to nurse her somewhere private - even if that meant the toilet cubicle at times. She didn't mind and I thought it was a far better option compared to flashing my boobies at someone. :)

Before I knew it, she turned one and I blogged about my breastfeeding journey and here I am again, moving on to the third year of nursing.

I can only say, nursing has gotten more fulfilling, not just for her, but for me.

Can you just imagine your toddler telling you 'thanks' after a milk feed and that your milk's 'nice nice!'? It's something that I've been so looking forward to - after all, it is a little boring to feed an infant who hardly knows how to appreciate your milk, except to show you that contented look after she finishes nursing... not that I didn't enjoy those moments with her... it's just... well, different, now that she's older and growing more appreciative. :)

Well, I do feel truly blessed to be able to breastfeed for these two years and how God has blessed me a bountiful supply of milk all along to meet Alicia's demands, and how He gave me the strength to overcome my breastfeeding problems in the beginning. Only after surviving the ordeals have I come to treasure breastfeeding so much - something probably most people would never understand.

So here comes the question, which I get asked ever so often: when am I gonna ever stop breastfeeding?

My answer is simple.

When she wants to stop.

And when will that be? Who knows?

One thing you can be sure though, I'll be happily nursing her till then.

Alicia's worst fall ever... and the power of breast milk (and latching)!

Late last night, just before Alicia went to bed, she fell down as she was playing near our bed. She was smiling cheekily at me before I turned away and the next thing I knew, she fell. Hubby witnessed the fall and told me that she had slipped and hit her face against the edge of the bedframe. Thinking that it was no big deal as falls are not out of the ordinary, we just did a routine check to find out if she was really hurt.

This time round, she was really hurt.

There was a deep cut in her mouth and the cut spanned all the way to the exterior of the top of the right lip. Poor gal. She was bleeding and this is the first time she's bled so much from a fall. Her cheek and the area around the lip became very swollen. Hubby kept asking me how to stop the bleeding and if there was anything we could apply to help the blood stop gushing out. Well, the only thing I could think of was to latch her on and she was looking for me to latch on to too so that's what we did.

Miraculously, she stopped crying, the bleeding stopped and the swelling went down by a lot and she was smiling and laughing when she unlatched herself. :) I know that breast milk has healing properties but we're constantly being astounded by the power of breast milk and the comfort latching can offer to our little one. Breast milk seems to be some antidote for Alicia's falls. :D

Though people may criticise the use of the breast as a source of comfort, I believe that it is perfectly fine to do so for now since she's still so young. Of course, it has to stop one day and she has to learn other ways to calm herself down and soothe her pain but for now, let's not expect too much of a young toddler who's still got so much else to learn. And meanwhile, I believe Alicia and I both enjoy that bond between us. :)

Breastfeeding my ill baby

It has been ages since my darling had any problems nursing. Now because of the blocked airway, she has problems suckling and she would just come and latch eagerly, only to unlatch feeling frustrated because she can't breathe while she's latching due to the phelgm. Then there are times that she can latch and drink but when the letdown comes (which is within a minute), she just can't cope with the sudden strong gush of milk and ends up unlatching and crying again (and of course, there'd be milk spraying everywhere).

I feel so sad whenever she fails to nurse. I can see that strong desire of hers to latch on and suckle (she'd behave like a hungry little puppy), but that look of disappointment and frustration when she can't drink is just so heart-breaking... :(

The most difficult part about her not being able to nurse is that if she doesn't nurse, it means that she's not drinking anything else. She's always been fussy about what we put into her mouth and that includes fluids. Till now, she doesn't like water and even glucose (which the doctor recommended feeding her when she's ill). In fact, she's so against any other method of feeding fluids (or milk for that matter) these days: she'd put the cap back on the sippy cup when we bring it near her then push it away (she did the same to the bottle when my hubby tried using the bottle which we haven't used for ages). It's almost impossible to get her to drink fluids and of course, that's terrible because she needs more fluids when she's ill. Sigh.

We brought her back to the doctor on Tuesday because she couldn't drink milk on Monday night. He rented us a nebulizer to clear her airway. It worked well and she nursed immediately after the treatment at the clinic. But this problem came back on Thursday afternoon so we brought her back to the clinic on Friday. We were told to carry on with the current medication as well as the use of the nebulizer. Last night she had some difficulty latching still but the two feeds today so far were fine and I hope there'd be no more hiccups from now on...

Latching Wars?

I'm not sure about you, but I had lots of problems latching Alicia in the first month. She gave me sore, cracked and blistered nipples from incorrect latching, biting and pulling at my nipples with her gums... After being discharged from the hospital, I no longer had the help of nurses or lactation consultants during feeding time so I was all alone and every nursing session was a latching war. It usually comprised of a screaming and crying baby followed by a crying mummy...

After a few days of latching wars at home, I gave up on latching and expressed exclusively for her. But I didn't give up hope on latching her as I read that sometimes baby just takes awhile to learn to latch. So in the mean time, I read up on how to latch baby since I didn't want to engage the services of a lactation consultant then.

I stumbled upon two very good resources for breastfeeding during that time which I'd like to recommend.

For breastfeeding information, I really like kellymom.
Whenever I meet with breastfeeding questions, I'd consult that website first and only when I can't find the answers I need there then I'd call the lactation consultant.

For latching videos, Jack Newman has a wonderful library of videos to show and teach new mommies to latch baby! If you think a picture speaks a thousand words, then well, his videos are a treasure to a desperate mommy with very painful nipples :D

I hope you find these resources useful!

An aside: for those with cracked and painful nipples, I find Medela's Purelan effective in healing:



















What I like about it is that it is safe for ingestion so there's no need to remove the cream prior to breastfeeding.


For those who really find too much pain in nursing due to painful nipples, you can try using the nipple shields:

Mummies with flat or inverted nipples or mummies with babies who are reluctant to latch may find this useful too. You can read more about breastshields here.

How to increase milk supply

The best way to increase milk supply is to let baby latch on as baby's suckle is the strongest pump on Earth. However, if baby cannot latch for whatever reason (like my darling in the first month), express frequently. I used to pump for every feed in the first month, so that means that I pumped milk every 2 hours or so for 30 minutes each time (5 minutes per side, alternate till 30 minutes is up). Yes, that means that I had to wake up to pump milk instead of sleeping through the night... which explains the lack of sleep then - hardly a two-hour stretch at a time! Besides expressing frequently, I also made sure I drank enough fluids and ate enough nutritious food at regular intervals to maintain milk supply (note: do not diet while breastfeeding!).

I never had any lack of breast milk but here are some ways to increase milk supply through my own reading as well as what nursing mommies have shared with me via forums and casual chats. Not every suggestion works for everybody as I have learnt from these mommies so I guess it's just trial and error till you find the best method that works for you! :)

Fenugreek
Fenugreek is a herb and Malays and Indians commonly use it in their cooking.

There are a few ways to take fenugreek.

• The fenugreek seed itself. Go to those Indian spice shops to buy. Cook with water or your soup & drink.
• Fenugreek pills. Most convenient, some brands are more effective than others. Some find Nature's Way more effective than GNC but I'd say you have to try it out yourself to find out if it applies to you as well.
• Fenugreek extract. This apparently is potent! (Not suitable for Muslim mummies though as it has alcohol extracts)
• Organic Mother's Milk tea. It's a blend of herbs for breastfeeding mothers to increas breast milk. Best part is it is organic & natural, no need to worry that you are taking anything harmful.

Papaya Fish Soup
Some mommies say that this soup works wonders for them while it has no effect on others. Whatever it is, you can try out this soup because even if it doesn't increase your supply, at least it's a nutritious soup!

• Ingredients
• Fish bones
• Fenugreek seeds 1tsp
• Lemongrass 1 stalk
• Unripe papaya half a small papaya, cut into slices

Method

1. Boil fish bones with fenugreek seeds and lemongrass.
2. Add unripe papaya.
3. Simmer for 1-2 hours (use slow cooker also can).
4. Just before serving, add fresh sliced fish, boil for around 3-5min (to prevent overcooking the fish)

You can vary the ingredients to make it more exciting.
Instead of papaya fish soup, you can cook ABC fish soup (big onions, carrots, potato) or herbal fish soup (wolfberries, red dates).
Oatmeal
Some say that eating oatmeal helps to increase milk supply. I'd say eating a bowl of oatmeal, if nothing else, is healthy for mom. At best, it may be a simple way to increase milk supply. That said, I did eat quite a bit of oatmeal during my confinement month (not knowing that it may increase milk supply!)
If these methods do not work for you and frequent nursing doesn't seem to help, seek help from your doctor or a lactation consultant.
Disclaimer: I've not tried any of the above methods to increase my milk supply. These methods are what I have gathered from other nursing mommies. Do feel free to try them and ask me any questions if there's any and I'll try to answer them if I can. But I cannot be held responsible for any mishaps from following the above methods.

Supply issues

All nursing mummies at some point in time have questions about milk supply. I also had some questions then and here I'd like to share what I've learnt in the process of finding the answers.



Supply immediately after delivery

Once after delivery, try to latch baby as soon as possible and frequently to help your milk supply come in quickly. One of the tricks the lactation consultant at Kandang Kerbau Hospital taught me, apart from latching baby frequently, is to pump frequently as well. This two-pronged approach would enable milk supply to come in faster. I understand that there are different takes on using the pump in the first 6 weeks of baby's life but using the pump on top of latching baby helped my milk supply to come in quickly so personally I would advocate the use of the pump together with letting baby latch. By the time I was discharged from hospital, I had more or less sufficient milk to meet Alicia's needs (but being paranoid, I had a tin of formula milk to stand by).

I borrowed the Medela mini electric breastpump from my sister-in-law... it's got the most basic functions but it worked well enough for me:


















Most of my friends got the Medela Swing Breastpump which has the added function of massaging the breast before pumping. For me, I had to manually massage the breasts since the medela mini-electric doesn't come with this function.

















Obviously, the double-pumps are the most effective in stimulating letdowns and for increasing supply. These however come with a rather steep price. But if you are intending to breastfeed for long and you need the pump to be efficient in getting the milk out from your boobies, then I think this is a good choice:



















Oversupply
Some time after the first month, I started to have an oversupply of milk as in the first month I pumped exclusively instead of latching as she, for whatever reason, only managed to latch properly at about 5 weeks old. Expressing milk instead of direct latching meant that my body wasn't producing the exact amount of milk that Alicia needed. I had to put up with terrible engorgement and wait for my body to adjust accordingly as by the 6th week, I was latching her and not expressing milk for her anymore.
A tip for nursing mommies who face issues of oversupply is to express only enough to make you feel more comfortable instead of emptying your breasts when you express (after your baby has finished feeding at your breasts). If it's not that uncomfortable, you can skip expressing altogether. However, if you notice any lumps in your breasts during this period of readjustment, it means that you have blocked ducts and in this case, you will need to clear them.





Soft breasts - drop in supply?
About 2-3 months of nursing and experiencing hard, engorged breasts, suddenly I felt that my breasts became softer, almost like it was before I started nursing. I started to think that my supply had diminished. Fortunately I didn't stop nursing just because I thought my supply had dropped. After reading up on this issue, I realised that having full and hard breasts is not supposed to be the norm throughout the whole breastfeeding journey: this happens only in the first few weeks. What happens after that is that the milk supply will begin to regulate and the breasts will begin to feel less full, soft, or even empty. My breasts also stopped leaking (they were leaking terribly earlier on and I had to keep changing breast pads throughout the day and I always woke up with a wet t-shirt... eww... gross!). I read that this doesn't mean that milk supply has dropped, but that my body has figured out how much milk is being removed from the breast and is no longer making too much. Finally! No more hard, painful and leaky breasts for the whole day!


Forceful letdown (Overactive Letdown Reflex)
I only realised that I had forceful letdown when I confided in an experienced nursing mom about Alicia's feeding pattern. Alicia would gag, choke, gulp down milk frantically, gasp, cough, clamp down on my nipple or pull out altogether when the letdown occurred (and milk would be spraying everywhere, sometimes all over my darling's face). I had read that the letdown was a baby's reward for suckling and yet it didn't seem so for my baby!

How I handled this problem:

• Feed her in cradle hold but in a reclining position so that the milk doesn't flow as fast and she wouldn't choke.
• Feed her in a side-lying position so that the extra milk can dribble out on the bed (place a nappy below)
• Feed her as per normal, but let her unlatch during the strong letdown and place her back to the breast when the 'spraying' was over (cover the nipple with a burp cloth to absorb the milk rather than let the milk soak through the breastpad)

I also tried latching her by placing her on top of me so that the milk had to flow 'uphill' so the flow wouldn't be too strong but she refused to be in that position so I just used other methods.

It was only when she was about 5 months old that she managed to overcome this problem and she started to enjoy the letdown... :)


Lop-sided breasts
This happens when baby has a preference for one side over the other. For some reason, Alicia preferred to feed on one side more so naturally the body responds by producing more milk on one side, and so that meant that the size of the breasts was different.

After consulting the lactation consultant, I was told to keep feeding Alicia on the less-preferred side as the first breast till things evened out. This is because the baby is usually hungrier and so suckles harder on the first breast and due to the hunger, baby will be less picky. I followed the advice and after awhile, she stopped having a preference altogether.


Can't pump out much milk after latching (and not expressing for months)
When Alicia turned 6 months old, I started expressing milk again to mix with her food. That was when I realised that while I had no problems expressing milk out in the past, suddenly I could hardly pump any milk out! What puzzled me was that Alicia was still drinking fine and putting on weight so I called the lactation consultant again.

What I found out was that my nipples are too used to baby's latch (which is much stronger than the pump) so the pump is less effective in getting the milk out. The lactation consultant suggested tandem pumping: feed baby on one side while pumping the other side. Apparently doing this for every feed for about a week would get the nipples used to the pump again. Well, I tried but the curious little one refused to share her milk 'bottle' with a machine that was making lots of noise. So I called the lactation consultant again. This time, she suggested that I cover the motor of the pump so that the noise doesn't affect the baby. I did that but it still didn't work out because Alicia was too busy trying to tug at the nappy covering the pump, the wires, the bottle that was used to collect the milk... oh well... so I will never find out if the advice works. Maybe you can try it and let me know. :)

Musings about World Breastfeeding Week and breastfeeding

How fast time flies. World Breastfeeding Week 2009 (1-7 August) has just passed. I remember last year's WBW: hubby and I brought our precious little darling Alicia to Kandang Kerbau Hospital (KKH) for a free baby massage lesson, specially organised for breastfeeding mothers. Back then, she was just a month old, and was still trying to master the latch.

Looking back at my breastfeeding journey, I recall how I almost gave up breastfeeding because of the problems I faced in the first month: very sore and cracked nipples (I could barely recognise them!), blocked milk ducts, and blistered nipples after Alicia bit them (more than once) during the 'latching wars'. If you think having blistered nipples are bad, having the lactation consultant clear my blocked ducts was far worse. It was definitely one of the most excruciatingly painful experiences of my life, comparable to labour pains.

Breastfeeding in the first month was terribly painful and tiring. I had to pump every 2 – 2½hours for 30minutes (because Alicia couldn’t latch well in the first month), bottle feed her, then wait for her to settle into sleep and hold her up for awhile just in case she regurgitates everything out, wash and sterilise the pump and bottle … and this cycle just repeats throughout the day. I hardly got a two-hour stretch of sleep and was literally a walking zombie. I always looked forward to the weekends (I still do!), when my hubby would help with the night feed after I pump milk so that I could get that little bit more rest. The fatigue was killing me and with the very painful nipples I had to tolerate 24/7 (they hurt just by being in contact with the air, not even fabric!), I really felt like giving up breastfeeding. This wasn’t what I thought breastfeeding was supposed to be. Nobody said that it’d be so painful and tiring. Everyone only said how good breast milk is and how it seemed so natural to just place baby at the breast and voila, the baby knows how to nurse.

I was so tempted to give up breastfeeding because the pain was really getting to me. I tried alternating between formula milk and breast milk for a few times to let my nipples heal and to monitor how Alicia took to formula. In the end, she didn’t take well to formula milk and always regurgitated most of it out. Even then, I was still in two minds about whether or not to make the switch. Eventually, it was the guilt of giving up breastfeeding that kept me on the course: for that few days that I pondered over the matter, I cried uncontrollably whenever I picked Alicia up, thinking what a terrible mother I was to even think about giving up the best milk in the world for her. I could never do such a thing to my daughter. One day, I just decided that I would persevere no matter how difficult it was going to be. I really couldn’t imagine how much worse things could get anyway. There has been no looking back since I made that decision. Now at 13 months, she's doing acrobatic nursing and is able to indicate that she wants to nurse. I love breastfeeding and I’m so glad that I didn’t give up.

Look at how contented she looks after nursing!

Alicia in the midst of nursing

It is only those who managed to overcome the initial problems of breastfeeding who can truly understand and empathise with me. Those who have had a smooth-sailing breastfeeding journey and those who have never breastfed before should avoid commenting on whether or not it is right for a mother faced with such difficulties to give up breastfeeding. Whenever I get someone asking whether they should stop breastfeeding because of the initial hiccups, I would share my story, hoping that they would understand (but not feel pressurised) that there is light at the end of the tunnel - only if they walk far along enough to find it.