Breastfeeding

Before I went to labor, I always thought breastfeeding was easy. I mean, it's a natural thing to do, so, it should come to us fairly easy, shouldn't it?

Well, I was wrong.

The truth is, breastfeeding is hard. Even the latching is hard, if we are unaware of the way baby latch onto our breast. Thankfully I went to the breastfeeding class during pregnancy, so I was aware of the latching part of breastfeeding, but I must say, even so, it was still a bit tricky. Sometimes my baby attaches beautifully, but other times, it can be quite frustrating.

Other than latching, many new mothers will soon discover that they may not have enough milk/colostrum to give to their babies in the first few days. I experienced that. I always had colostrum, even before the labor, but it was never a lot. It was enough though for the first day, but not for the second day. On the second day, my baby cried the whole day because he was hungry. I did not have the time to sleep, because I was either feeding him, or trying to put him to sleep. When he was finally sleeping, and I thought I had the time for myself, he woke up again, crying. I remember one of the midwives felt sorry for me and asking me to express some colostrum into a cup so that she could feed the baby and I could sleep. However I could only express a drop or two. It was frustrating.

However, since I was determined to breastfeed my baby, I kept on feeding him for as long as he wanted, as frequent as he wanted. It was very tiring, especially since the labor started very early in the morning and I hadn't had enough rest since, but it paid off. On the fourth day, my breasts started to produce more colostrum/milk, and by the end of the week, my breasts were as hard as rocks because they were producing so much milk; more than my baby could consume. My baby lost 200 g on the first week (around 7% of his body weight), but it was normal. By the end of the second week, he gained almost all the weight that he had lost (3.760 kg when born, 3.560 kg after a week, 3.740 kg after two weeks).

Anyway, having that said, keeping on breastfeeding is hard especially if we are surrounded by people who are not supportive of breastfeeding, especially our own mother/mother-in-law/husband. My mother and husband are supportive of breastfeeding (alhamdulillah), but my mother was kinda skeptical/worried too much about my ability to breastfeed. The usual thing that she would do was to press my breast every time I was about to breastfeed my baby, and she would ask, "Ada susu?" She also consistently told me that it is okay to mix with formula milk, especially when I start going back to school. It was a bit frustrating, because the last thing that you need when you want to breastfeed is people doubting your ability to breastfeed (and making you doubt yourself).

Another thing that is hard about breastfeeding is pumping/expressing our milk. This is my biggest problem, because although I have sufficient amount of breastmilk, I seem unable to pump efficiently. At most I would get 3 oz from both breasts at one time, but usually I would only get 2 oz. I know I am producing more than that since my breasts still feel full even after the pumping session. This worries me so much, because I will have to go back to school soon. However, after asking around and doing some research, I found out that my inefficient pumping is due to unfitted breast shield/flange of the pump. The normal breast shield that comes with the pump follows the average nipple size; however, apparently some women need a larger size. I, however, need a smaller size. Thanks to my friend, I learned about Pumpin'Pal, and I have ordered the breast shield. Now, I am just waiting for it to arrive, and hopefully it will solve my pumping problem.

And the last thing that is hard about breastfeeding is that, it is tiring! Newborn feeds very frequently--once every 2-3 hours--and my baby feeds for a long time, usually one hour for every session. It is very physically demanding, but like my mom said, our milk is our babies' food, why denying his right to his food? So, tiring or not, it is not an excuse not to breastfeed.

Anyway, throughout my 2 months+ journey of breastfeeding, I have learned a few things. I have learned, of course, breastfeeding is hard, but as a mother, I can't stand the thought of shoving something other than my milk down my baby's throat. Looking at pictures of other babies drinking formula milk upsets me, and I don't want that to happen to my baby, at least for the first six months of his life. I feel babies less than 6 months old should not be given anything other than their mothers' milk..it's just..unnatural. That's why I am very determined to exclusively breastfeed my baby until at least he is 6 months old.

Another thing that I have learned about breastfeeding is, we, as mothers, need to be very determined, consistent, and persistent, to exclusively breastfeed our babies till they are 6 months old. Exclusive breastfeeding is not for the weak-hearted. There will always be people (especially those who are close to us--our mothers--because they have gone through the whole experience of having children) telling us that we are not producing enough milk, and we have to give formula milk and water to our babies. The truth is, no, we are producing enough milk, and we don't have to give formula milk and water to our babies. As mothers, we have to be strong and ignore these discouraging statements. The moment we fall for their words, is the moment our milk production deplete, because lactation is highly influenced by our state of mind. If we think we can't produce enough milk, than, we can't, but if we think we can produce enough milk, than, we will. We have to believe that we are capable of producing enough milk, and never to worry about it. Unless, of course, if we really have problem producing milk (will usually show in our babies' growth), then we should consult with a doctor/lactation consultant.

Some people think that breastmilk is not the best food for babies because formula milk has all these additive (DHA, etc) in it. I am not sure if breastmilk has all these components (although I believe it has), but logically, how can we possibly believe that something man-made is better than something provided by God? Plus, people formulated the milk by mimicking breastmilk, so why settle for the fake thing when we can get the real thing? And our babies need the antibodies available in our breastmilk to protect them from getting sick. Alhamdulillah, my baby has not gotten sick until now although at one point everyone in the house was infected by cough, and now i am still coughing like crazy.

So mommies, lets get stronger and exclusively breastfeed our babies for at least 6 months (aim for 24!)! God gives us the milk to feed our babies, so lets not deny our babies right to it!

p/s:  Daiyan will usually smile after breastfeeding. Yes sayang, you're welcome :)