Breastfeeding Journey

It was never an easy job for mummy... Mummy can recall the moment when Baby Zheng arrived, it was really a blessing that he is a healthy and demanding baby. This is going to be a long story starts from the failure mummy encountered when trying to breastfeed En En 3 years ago.

Lack of knowledge and support from family members is the major cause of mummy's stress and depression to breastfeed successfully with En En. Mummy never knew breastfeeding is a demand and supply cycle until mummy met with a few successful breastfed mothers from this forum. The chance of becoming a blogger also widens up mummy's network to get more information and tips from mummies blogger.

Mummy joined MMPS group thruogh Facebook and attended the monthly meeting as much as possible. Lots of experiences sharing moments and that reinforced mummy's awareness about many different ways to handling problems that may occur during breastfeeding time.

On the first day when baby Zheng was delivered, he was passed to mummy's immediately after wrapping to start suckling in order to stimulate breast milk production. Mummy was very proud and surprise that he did know how to suck! Never have this experience before with En En because didn't know that this is the first stimulation which is very important for breastfeeding.
Mummy was worried baby won't be send to mummy in every 2 hourly and thus keep reminding nurses and midwife to help sending baby to breastfeed.

During the 3-days stay in Adventist hospital, mummy was very alert to make sure baby is keep by the side most of the time. Baby Zheng is a nibble baby... he sucked for as short as 15 minutes to 3 hours... mummy was having a breastfeeding marathon with him on the first 2 days and nights. Some mothers told mummy normally babies will have 1-2 hourly interval of feeding but this is just an average as baby Zheng feed almost every half hourly! Different baby has different feeding pattern, mummy just have to observe and offer the breast even it was so tiring.

Mummy went back to hometown with baby Zheng for confinement. By Day 3, the milk already dripping like the tap water! Mummy was delighted as this means the milk will comes abundantly. Luckily the confinement lady is experienced with breastfed babies as her daughter in law was a breastfeeding mother too. Mummy was able to learn how to identify baby's poo during the early days from her.

Nipple pain - this is what mummy felt from Day 1 until Day 11!!! Definitely, this is a WARNING sign of baby's latching on problem. During the first 3 days mummy thought it is normal if nipple feels pain as it wil toughen up after baby sucks. Things went very terrible after 7 days as the pain was so severe till mummy felt scare and tensed whenever it's feeding time. Baby nursed very frequently during daytime but mummy was reluctant to offer both the breasts since they were cracked and bleeding. At that time, the confinement lady and Po Po also advised mummy to give bottle for the baby. Mummy insisted to pump and feed by spoon or cup with the help from them. (Mummy got spare milk bottle, but hide away...)

Mummy fell sick twice during the first 2 weeks of confinement because lack of proper rest. Mummy still very persistent but was very sad when both nipples were bleeding and baby was screaming for suckle! Finally, mummy sms mothers from MMPS and went to see a lactation consultant in Penang immediately.

Poor breastfeeding position led to baby's unproper latching on. Luckily with the help from Dr.Balkess, the lactation consultant, mummy was able to learn all over again on cradle hold position and side-lying position to ease the back when feeding. Mummy was very surprised with the correction on feeding positioning and checking on baby's lips (to be turned out like the mouth of a gold fish) there's no more pain!!!

Mummy had a log book to record down how many times baby was fed, how many times baby pee and poo as well as how many cups of water intake for mummy per day. This is to ensure mummy have enough fluid throughout the day to avoid dehydration from breastfeed and reminder that breast milk consist more than 80% of water. Baby had jaundice for over 2 weeks but fortunately didn't need to admit to hospital. At this moment, mummy kept on feeding baby on demand and monitoring very closely on baby's daily output. Finally by the end of third weeks old, the jaundice dissapeared.

Mummy believes breastmilk is the best for baby even mummy went through so many challenges and difficulties. It feels so rewarding to breastfeed my own baby!