I'm recycling my tips on how do I make my breastfeeding works from my old blog as I've been getting some messages and emails from mums-to-be asking me questions about breastfeeding.
Now before you brush me off thinking who am I to be giving you tips, oh well, up to you whether you want to read and follow/try my tips. All I can tell you is as of this date (29th March 2012), I have:
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breastfed both my children exclusively for first 6 months (1st child had some sips of water thanks to nagging and concerned MIL) but other that, both my children are 100% on my breastmilk with no formula or water to supplement
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breastfed THROUGHOUT my second pregnancy
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is still tandem nursing both my children - my 1st child is 3 years old now, my 2nd child is almost 7 months old
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still 0 formula in the house
Now back to how do I make my breastfeeding works:
#1 - Start with the thought of breastfeeding from day 1
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You know, it's the same as having your goals and ambitions. You dream and fix your aim towards it from day 1. Then you only have 1 goal to achieve for and focus all your concentration to it. If you are yoyo-ing from bottle to breast to bottle to breast, then when the baby comes, you'd be lost and ppl around you could easily influence your decision making.
Real Life Example: From day 1, hubby and I decided we must go for breastfeeding. Nothing and no one (except God of course!) can come between our decisions. Unless I really cannot produce even a single drop of milk, then I can't say anything about it. But as long as I can produce even a droplet of milk, we will stand still and be firm on this decision and try, try, try! We even go to the extend by not buying any formula milk, no pacifier, no milk bottles, nothing. The 3 bottles we have later on are baby gift hampers we received from Ben's full moon party.When MIL mentioned Ben seems hungry, we said no. We'll make the breastfeeding works. And with child number 2 now, it is still working!
#2 - Remember the 3 Rs!
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This come out of the blue, but I decided to call it the 3 Rs! (I wonder whether I can copyright this just in case this appears at other ppl's blog one fine day hahahah!) So the 3 Rs are: Research, Read up and Rehearse!
Research all you can find about breastfeeding (why do it, benefits, myths, techniques, how to avoid any problems, what to do if there's any problems etc)
Read up all you can, be it from books, hospital/clinic leaflets on breastfeeding etc. The reason why I don't lump this into Research is because you can research all you want but if you don't read it, then no use right? And thank God I love to read!!!
Rehearse - go for antenatal class where they actually teach you how to breastfeed and different methods to do it. If you don't attend the classes (please please do!), then look it up in the Net, Youtube or anything that shows you pictures or videos on how to breastfeed correctly.
#3 - Choose your birth hospital correctly!
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Now, you may wonder what the heck the place I'm going to give birth at gotta do with breastfeeding? Well, it has everything to do with breastfeeding! You can research, read, rehearse all you want but if you deliver at a place where they immediately introduce your baby to bottle-feeding then it is still no use right?
Sadly, most of the private hospitals and some government hospitals are all for bottle-feeding. I'm thankful one of our close friends were 2 months pregnant ahead of me, so we pestered her to let us know her feedback and she recommended Putrajaya hospital to us (I was 7 mths pregnant then and switched my gynae to Putrajaya hospital).
Now, what is great about Putrajaya hospital is that they are a semi-private hospital. Service, staff, environment, equipment are excellent (partly cos they are located near the govt HQ). I registered at the hospital for both my pregnancies and signed up under the Full Paying Patient (FPP) scheme - meaning, we still have to pay instead of getting FOC treatment but it is still way cheaper than private hospital. This hospital is pro-natural delivery and pro-breastfeeding. You see brochures and posters on breastfeeding everywhere and they banned formulas, bottles and pacifiers.
Also, the nurse actually pass your baby back to you right after they clean him up (and after I was ready) and stand next to you and check your techniques in breastfeeding. The nurse and doctor make sure you try to breastfeeding when you settled down back in your room after delivery by checking every few hours and they fill up your medical book after they are satisfied with your 'performance'. So choosing the right birth hospital helps in making my breastfeeding works!
# 4 - Get encouragement and support from other ppl
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OK, we don't have a confinement lady. We did our own DIY confinement. So, there may be things we did wrongly. So, what we did was asked around from other in-laws and friends who have kids already to check whether we are doing the right thing and compared our methods with theirs.
For our 1st child, hubby and I got the postnatal home visits from Jenlia Maternal Services - which also conducts the antenatal classes we attended 2 mths before I delivered. They came in 3 times (depends on your schedule and their availability) each visit lasting for 1 hour and they will check your baby and your progress and conditions. They will also observe and advice on your baby care methods, breastfeeding, and everything you wanted to find out on.
For us, we know we are doing the right thing, just that we need some other ppl to acknowledge and confirm our thoughts. And when you hear from the mouth of experts like them telling you that you are doing a great job and your baby is progressing very well, that sure does a lot of help with your motivation level! With child number 2, we did not get the home visits anymore as we know we are doing things right!
# 5 - Quitting my job
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With child number 1, one of the reason I quit my job is so that I am able to continue breastfeeding my baby since I am not able to extend my 2 months maternity leave and I was not allowed to take unpaid leave. On the 1 month I'm serving my notice (and paid off the other 2 months), I had to force myself to express my breastmilk at office every 3 hours - reason why I said force is because, if I didn't do that, I could be sitting at my cubicle and doing work non-stop, not even going to toilet (until lunch time). And there are times when I only remembered I had to go express when I felt my breasts swollen hard and painful.
On my last week at the office, my supply dwindled down to 2 oz per day... from the beginnng when I returned back to work and start expressing at office I could express about 12 oz per day... down to 2 oz per day... the pressure and busy-ness of the work took its toll on me of course (I could even remember one time I didn't express from 12pm-8pm... total 8 hours...the reason? I was stuck in meetings after meetings and after office hour ended at 6pm, I was again stuck in conference call with vendors and bosses until 8pm) So the decision to quit my job really helps alot with making my breastfeeding works.
# 6 - Pray!
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Pray for God's will on whatever you have put your mind to. If it is His will, He will settle the bill :) Meaning, if its meant for you to breastfeed, no matter how hard it is, you must persevere and hang in there.
The first few days when the breastmilk has not come in - those times are critical. It will make or break a new mummy. Old folks and ppl who do not know better will tell you that your baby needs to feed, he cries because he is hungry, you don't have enough breast milk so must give formula already... Pray for strength and patience and comfort in times of pain and stress like this. The breast milk will come! Babies do not need to feed for the first few days of their life! (This is because they still have storage in their bodies)
And when the breast milk comes, still there will be ppl telling you its not enough. Do not give up! The more you breastfeed, the more milk your body will produce. During the first 2 weeks after delivery, I will keep on breastfeeding Ben every 2 hours. Even the wee hours of the morning, I'd wake up and just latch him on. Suffer now, and reap the benefits later. With child number 2, my breastmilk came right after delivery as I was still breastfeeding my first child throughout my 2nd pregnancy.
Of course, some of you may disagree with what I said above as different mums have different reasons on why their breastfeeding couldn't work and so on. Hence, like I mentioned earlier, this post is on how I make mine works.
I do understand and know that every mother would've wanted the best for their babies.
For those of you who are in the midst of your pregnancy stage now, please, please, consider breastfeeding. Even if you can just breastfeed for the 2 months during maternity leave, it is better than none at all. At least give it a try rather than not doing anything at all.
The benefits of breastfeeding is so much more greater and advantageous both for you and your baby (not to mention your hubby's wallet too! Think of how much you saved by not needing to buy formula milk, bottles, steriliser, etc etc
Happy breastfeeding!
** P.S: Feel free to leave your comment if you have any questions to ask me!
