We Are Family

We’ve been breastfeeding for 10 and half months now. Just a little bit more and we’ll hit our 1 year target and from the way things are going right now, it might be extended for another year. Yay!

However looking back i haven’t posted much about the breastfeeding experience, have i?  So, here it is without further ado.  
Day 1 to 3 months

We we’re deadset on exclusively breastfeeding our child ever since. BFing moms from our egroup inspired me. Morning & i have always believe that knowledge is power. Thus, we began to educate ourselves to be able to succeed. The information from the net esp from kellymom were extremely helpful. It taught us the basic tips to a successful start, among which is:  Inform the doctors and nursery your decision to breastfeed. Include it in you birthing plan if you have one. It would have instructions for hospital personnel not to give your infant formula or glucose water. It was very fortunate that the baby is wheeled to our room whenever we call the nursery for 3 days. (I had 2 IVs and was too weak to go to the nursery) Since B.boy seldom cries, he stays in our room most of the time. The good thing in this setup is that we have him most of the time so we’re sure he wasn’t bottle fed and we can bring him back to the nursery when we’re already exhausted. Most of the time he stays with us for the whole night. (hahaha! I guess they never miss him in the nursery)

It’s quite easy getting him to latch. I break it off and re-latch when it’s no good. We’ve read that a good latch is achieved if the baby is transferring milk and mom is not hurting. The whole aerola should be inside the baby’s mouth.

There wasn’t really milk coming out for the first few days. I think it was after 4 days that the actual milk finally flowed. I wasn’t concerned at all. They say that they get enough nutrition from the colustrum (first milk) and the baby doesn’t really need a lot of milk on the first days. So i just ignore comments from nurses that my baby gets nothing from me. Meron noh! Di lang nakikita. During those days, i just position my baby, latch and let him suck away. 
The major hurdle we encountered was when B.boy was diagnosed with jaundice. He undergone phototherapy sessions and the nursery staff wouldn’t let me breastfeed. They say that I’m interfering with the treatment because they have to take B.boy away from the bili lights, dress him up and undress him and return him to the bili lights after. Hmpft! If i know tamad lang sila noh! They even suggested that i just express milk and bring it to the nursery. I was so frustrated that i cried over it. We know that giving in will jeopardize our breastfeeding success. We we’re determined and we won over the battle. Good thing that the pedia backed us up.

The first week was a breeze. B.boy’s sleeping for 4 hours and will wake-up and nurse. We got plenty of rest and sleep. However, the following weeks proved to be taxing for he demands frequent nursings. I think it went overboard when the nursing intervals became 30 mins apart. Seems like he’s stuck to my breast forever. I can’t eat, sleep, take a bath properly. During those times i purposely neglected any household work and just sleep everytime B.boy sleeps. It was also on those times that i want to give up BFing. Had we opted formula, i would have a bit of rest and “me time”. It drove me crazy but determination and commitment got the better of us. Afterall, it is just a phase and we adopted the mantra: ”this too will pass”. It did, and we’re glad we did not give up. 
We found out later on that this is what they call “growth spurt”. My boobs overproduced after that and suffered a mild case of mastitis. I had chills, fever and breast engorgement. It was too painful to nurse from the affected area. I was advised to bed rest, increase fluids and nurse frequently. It cleared after 2 days. whew!

(Coming up next : Going back to work and expressing milk. Stay tuned)

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