Question for mommies!

I have one quick question for mommies out there:

Do you give your baby whole milk when he/she reaches 1yr old? Will it affect breastfeeding in some way?

Thank you in advance.

P/S: Next week I update this blog okeh. Currently swamped with work. Uhuk uhuk uhuk.

Glücklich

It seems that my 2012 is off to a good start.

I am (extremely) euphoric due to several reasons:

1. The experimental assays that I have been trying to optimize for over a year is up and running. My theory is right. I don't have the right test subjects and all along, I thought I don't have the right antigen but it was not the case. In a layman term, I resolved the main obstacle of my Ph.D thesis.

2. We have a functional family again. Faliela has her mommy and daddy all the time on weekends. Jai had been wanting to do an occasional double job, but I told him, money can never buy happiness.

3.  I weigh the same weight when I was 14 years old. Although this is not actually a recent news to share but as a continuation of my breastfeeding(BF) post, I could not stressed enough the advantages of BF and how BF has positively toned my body back into pre-pregnancy weight.

My weight never goes below 51 kg for more than a decade

4. My first co-authored paper has been accepted to the Journal of Virus Research. I may say, from all the authors, I probably give the least contribution but I am glad my work in 2009 is being recognized. Now, it is time to get back to writing my first first-author paper. I realized getting a manuscript to be published is not easy. It took 4 months for this paper to get accepted. When there is a will, there is a way. Insya-allah

5. Faliela's sleeping schedule has been crazy these last few weeks. I was really hoping it was due to teething and few days ago, her middle upper incisor teeth bud out. Thank god! It was funny that we were keep on checking her lower gum cos it is usually goes in that order, but not in her case apparently. I am happy the cause of her sleeping problem has been identified, not much on her teething cos nursing her is more painful now than ever.

6.  I am happy for my 'teman seperjuangan' on receiving a great news. I understand how does it feel to wait this long and to sacrifice time we do not have. This is not my news to share with all of you so I will leave it as vaguely as it could be .

7. Last but not least, I am happy to see this girl's smile. Everyday.

My breastfeeding experience

I have promised myself to get this post out of my draft box once I completed my writing deadlines. So, here it goes.

Faliela has been exclusively on breastmilk  for a bit over 8 months now. For one that aim to breastfeed up til 2 years (or at least 1 year), the journey is still a long way to go. I decided to put it in writing sooner, in case my memory ceased to store the first few months of experience which I value tremendously.

There were several times during this period that I often reconsidered my decision to fully breastfeed Faliela but alhamdulillah, I stuck to my guns. To note, the breastfeeding class I attended help a lot. I have compiled a file full of breastfeeding information and I am glad I get it organized as I often referred to it whenever I encounter problems. If I did not attend those classes, there were probably few misconceptions which will lead to the failure of me breastfeeding Faliela successfully.

The first week was hard, especially when I was still recovering from the post-op/delivery pain. The reclining hospital bed did help a lot in terms of positioning, but once I went home, positioning was such a nightmare. I was blessed to have a baby who pro at latching from day 1. But still, I had a cracked nipple the first week of breastfeeding and probably few more incidents of bleeding/cracked nipple after the first week. I applied some lanolin oil but found that, air-drying my nipple and applying some breastmilk around the area after nursing is the best treatment.

I had no idea whether I have started producing milk/colostrum or not, neither I bother to check. From the breastfeeding class I attended, I knew Faliela just need about one tablespoon at day 1 so I did not bother to express my milk. The next day when the paed came in for check-up, she told me Faliela had enough milk (probably more milk) based on her poo. I started to feel 'engorged' the second week after delivery. Followed by a big lump at my axillary area. I thought it was my lymph node that got swollen, but later to find out, it was a blockage of milk duct. And it was painful. I did not learn this part from breastfeeding class. After a few research on the website and a trial-and-error method, the best way to relieve a blocked milk duct (at least for me) is by pumping and at the same time, massaging the lumpy area towards your nipple. I have tried applying warm compression but it doesn't always work.

I started expressing as soon as the 'engorgement' period occured. At first, I was reluctant to use a manual pump, afraid that I will increase the milk production and being engorged, I do not want to have blocked milk duct all the time. But hand pumping was such a pain in the b*tt, so I decided to just manual pump everytime I started to feel engorge. After seeing the volume of my milk production each day, I decided to invest on buying Medela Freestyle and I am glad I did. I have more than enough milk on the first day I started working. More than enough that our freezer get overflowed. Luckily, Sandy, a friend of mine offered us to borrow her chest freezer. Thanks Sandy, if you ever read this!

A major transition awaited me when I went back to work. Whenever I have major experiments, I barely have enough time to eat lunch let alone expressing my milk. So, I improvised a little bit. I ate lunch and expressed my milk simultaneously. Most of the time, I get to express 3 times from 10 am-5pm but when I am too overwhelmed with work, I could only do it twice. So, basically, I don't have a fixed routine but I try my best.

As Faliela started on solids, my milk production has been decreasing gradually. Now, I understand why breastmilk production is based on 'supply and demand' concept. I am no longer getting 15-20 oz at work. Those days, my stored breastmilk was sufficient for a 3-month period. Now, my milk production is around 7-10oz, the same amount Faliela drinks when she is in her daycare. So, I am now starting to do extra session before I hit the bed just to make sure I have sufficient supply. Itulah, dulu malas lagi nak pump, sekarang dah tinggal sikit baru nak pump banyak kali.

During a random conversation with my supervisor, she told me about her failure to breastfeed her daughter and how her daughter battled with brief period of obesity when she was a teenager. My supervisor linked it to the fact that her daughter was on formula milk and she said research have shown that formula-fed baby is prone to obesity during the later period of their life. I don't know how true is the fact but I know that if Faliela contracted flu or cold from me, she usually clears it out within 2-3 days. I made sure I gave her my recently expressed milk during the period she was down with cold/flu as it carried the passive antibody.

There are too many advantages of breastfeeding your baby that I can possibly write. But one thing for sure, I feel a sense of pride whenever people ask me what did I feed her as Faliela is one lil chubby baby. So, being a breastfeeding mother myself, I salute those who have been breastfeeding their baby. Not to mention, partners who gave their full support and yes partners, it is extremely important. I am blessed to have a supportive husband. It is definitely a bumpy journey but as long as you have the motivation and positive attitude, insya-Allah the journey will get easier day by day.

As quoted from this article " I will always look back on my 'breastfeeding working mothers' days with immense satisfaction. A mother’s few months of sacrifice is a baby’s lifetime of goodness."

The good old days ;)

Fasting while breastfeeding

As the holy month of Ramadhan is approaching, I am just wondering what was your experience fasting while breastfeeding?

From a little web research, most of the moms were saying it is okay to fast unless your baby isn't getting enough milk. But when you are fasting, the amt of fat in the milk is reduced so it might affect your baby's growth. I would like to give it a try and see whether my milk supply is significantly reduced or not. Since she is exclusively on breastmilk, I do not want to see her starving :(  And the summer heat is killing me. Thank god I didn't live on campus anymore so I don't have to bike to school, kalau tidak pengsan!

Anyway, in another note, I made karipap pusing dengan jayanya last weekend and froze them down for Ramadhan's prep. Alritey, takde cerita sebenarnye. Til then!

Takdelah cantik sangat cam karipap makcik kat kedai tuh, tapi bolehlah kan :)

P/S: Tahun lepas puasa penuh sebab pregnant with Faliela. Tahun nih nak puasa penuh lagi, tapi kena pregnant lagi lah camtuh. Erk?

My sanctuary

I've been eager to make use the lactation room since I was pregnant.Selalu masuk bilik tuh untuk solat but I felt uncomfortable since I know some other women might need that place for pumping.Now, it's my turn to utilize the room for a right reason :D

The breastpump is a hospital-grade breastpump and I had to buy another kit in order to use the pump. Verdict: The suction is better than Medela FS, iyelah hospital-grade kan, mestilah bagus. But it doesn't have the 2-phase expression system so kena stimulate milk let-down by some other means.Other moms use their kid's picture like the one right here. Lepas nih leh letak gambar Faliela dekat sini :) Or I could also use Faliela's worn clothes which smell like milk spit-up. Haha!

This room is pretty busy. I know there are 5 other moms using this room as well, so I usually have to wait for my turn during the peak hours. There's another room nearby but since my work is not really on full swing right now, I can afford to wait but I guess in the future, I have to opt for another lactation room nearby. I could not imagine how things would be when I have back-to-back experiments in the future.

Oh well, when there's a will, there's a way. Insya-allah.

And here I presented my almost-2-month-old baby yang sudah botak :D