Inspired by the fact that breastmilk gives lots of health benefits, I already planned to breastfeed as long as I can our then most awaited bundle of joy. My doctor told me that the more the baby breast-feeds the more the milk would flow. So it was important then that as much as possible after delivery (that was last June 28, 2010) I would be able to breastfeed my baby. Unknown to us or we just didn't have an idea that a certain rule exists,the hospital doesn't allow rooming-in (having the newborn be stayed in the room you're in) so I had to visit my baby in the nursery.
I believe my baby was able to get my colostrum, a satisfying thought. I don't know why or it could be another test that God gave us when our baby was found positive of an infection. According to his pediatrician, he must had gotten it from me while I had conceived him but the infection just didn't manifest in me. So he had to stay in the ICU. For a week we never got tired of visiting him everyday and stayed for almost half of the day waiting for him to wake so he would get used to breastfeeding. It was also for my milk production to be stimulated. Gradually my milk came and at times leaked when he (my baby) wasn't able to took it. During his stay in the nursery, he was bottle-fed with a nipple that mimics close to that of a woman. So by this time he was already mixed-feed - bottle-feed and breastfeed.
Jaiden's first breastfeed at home wasn't good but I was glad that he still fed in me even though he was already bottle-feed much of the time in the nursery. However,I think my breast milk didn't satiate him because I nursed him from around three-thirty in the afternoon to around seven in the evening but still he didn't fall to deep sleep. He would wake up the moment I would put him to his crib. So we decided to bottle-fed him with a formula to complement my breast milk. This is what we did in his first two months. I breast-fed him much of the time. In fact, breastfeeding was what put him to goodnight sleep.
Going back to work after my two months maternity leave had made my baby be bottle-fed much of the time - now the opposite. So in order to at least have him a breast milk and to have my milk production continue I had to bring with me my breast pump paraphernalia. We had to buy dry ice for my pumped breast milk thereafter. My hubby has to carry the heavy dry ice inside the bucket to our office and bring it back home every other day (because it would take approximately two days to have the dry ice melt) for ice refill. Later on when I visited my OB for my dry cough check-up since I just can't buy any over the counter meds since I was lactating, I told her of our usual routine. She laughed when I told her that my husband and I just joked at each other asking how much ice candy have we sold (because the bucket that we had is the same with the one used for selling ice candy). I also told her that we spent twenty pesos every other other day for a week (so that made it P60/week) for the price of the dry ice (the one used in preserving fishes). She must had been moved by our situation that she was generous enough to gave me her three packs (500gms/pack) of gel ice (this is not an edible ice, just used for medicine cooling). So from then on, my hubby no longer carried a bucket of dry ice everyday but me carrying a one and a half kilo of gel-dry-ice (inside a pack-lunch bag) to be put later on in the ice bucket permanently (as of the moment) left in the office.
In the office, during lunch break I had to forgo my nap to pump. It was an amazing thing to know how a lactating breasts behaved. I learned that if I had much milk (when Jaiden didn't breastfeed much during wee hours) the moment the pumped breast begun expressing milk the other one (not pumped) would initially release a quite amount of milk just good enough to wet your bra (if you don't wear a breast pad). As usual the frugality in me came in. I put my leaked (milk) breast on a cover of the container to let the milk dripped in there thinking it would add to my certain ounces of painstakingly pumped breast milk. It would usually take approximately thirty minutes to get two ounces of milk (three ounces if Jaiden didn't breast-feed much during wee hours). Another pumping was done at about four thirty or five in the afternoon that would add up to a total of five to six ounces. Part of me was guilty for doing my second pumping during office hours but I reasoned to myself that I was just taking my equivalent snack or break time benefit. Doing just a couple of milk expressing in the office was good enough to have my breast milk production at bay. With this I could breastfeed Jaiden on wee hours which was really a convenience. I didn't have to wake up to prepare formula milk but just nursed him by my side. I could just breast-fed him half-awake.
Things changed when he was almost five months old. He didn't consider anymore going to goodnight sleep with me breastfeeding him. I think it was a gradual change for him without me noticing it. There were instances that we arrived late in the house and I wasn't able to nursed him to sleep instead he had already been bottle-fed by mama but during that time he still would breastfeed when he woke up on wee hours until the moment came when he stopped. At first I thought he didn't mean it and just didn't realize that he was already latching on my nipple. I would coerced him to latch after he would turn his head (for the second time) then sucked his thumb (a sign that he's hungry) but to no avail. That was then the first time I went downstairs to prepare formula milk. Oh! I was really astounded and was so sad because for the first time I felt that he could now live without my breast milk (what a silly thought) and my wee hours convenience was over. However, I think with his age he was already wise enough to understand that it 's an instant to feed in bottle than to latch,suck and wait for a while for the milk to flow.
Even though I knew that Jaiden can no longer be nursed, I still continued to pump in the office so that at least he would still have the breast-milk nutrients (even just a little) that would help his immune system at times when, God forbid, he would get sick. But then I noticed that I was just able to pump two ounces a day - a so little quantity which made me realized that my milk production has gradually decreases. This could be the reason why Jaiden wasn't patient enough because it would really took him long to take my breastmilk. Baby as he is, he doesn't have the perseverance. With this, I slowly realized that the time has come to wean.
Gradually, I had tried not expressing my milk from night time until the next whole day and had found out (in my breast pad) that no breastmilk leak had happened within the day. Hence, on December 15, 2010 I had officially stopped expressing my milk. Part of me felt sad because I had never realized that nursing my baby would end so soon. I had thought of ending it when he'll be six months though my hubby didn't want it to end that early (he was also thinking of the breast milk nutrients' benefit) but my baby Jaiden did. It never occurred to me that it'll be my baby who'll stop it early. I have always thought that it'll be me and even feared that when I would wean it wouldn't be that easy for my baby but I was very wrong. What can I do? but accept the fact that all good things come to end. On the positive side, I now won't have to bring a cumbersome bag of one and a half kilo of gel ice with only 5ounces of breast milk. It'll now be easy to go to the mall (after office hours). I now won't have to worry that my baby won't be able to sleep without me if ever it would be inevitable for me to go home early.
Though short, I would really treasure the bonding time my baby and I had during our breastfeeding sessions. Breastfeeding is such an awesome experience and I think is a memorable part of my journey as a mother. I'm glad I had tried my best and have given my baby breastmilk. It made me feel complete as a woman and as a mother. Hence, to first time expectant mothers out there, I advise you to do breastfeed no matter how short it will be. As the adage goes "breastmilk is still best for babies".
I also believe that breastfeeding is the second purpose why woman is created by God. Woman is capable of nurturing the by-product of procreation - the reason why God created woman in the first place. =)
I believe my baby was able to get my colostrum, a satisfying thought. I don't know why or it could be another test that God gave us when our baby was found positive of an infection. According to his pediatrician, he must had gotten it from me while I had conceived him but the infection just didn't manifest in me. So he had to stay in the ICU. For a week we never got tired of visiting him everyday and stayed for almost half of the day waiting for him to wake so he would get used to breastfeeding. It was also for my milk production to be stimulated. Gradually my milk came and at times leaked when he (my baby) wasn't able to took it. During his stay in the nursery, he was bottle-fed with a nipple that mimics close to that of a woman. So by this time he was already mixed-feed - bottle-feed and breastfeed.
Jaiden's first breastfeed at home wasn't good but I was glad that he still fed in me even though he was already bottle-feed much of the time in the nursery. However,I think my breast milk didn't satiate him because I nursed him from around three-thirty in the afternoon to around seven in the evening but still he didn't fall to deep sleep. He would wake up the moment I would put him to his crib. So we decided to bottle-fed him with a formula to complement my breast milk. This is what we did in his first two months. I breast-fed him much of the time. In fact, breastfeeding was what put him to goodnight sleep.
Going back to work after my two months maternity leave had made my baby be bottle-fed much of the time - now the opposite. So in order to at least have him a breast milk and to have my milk production continue I had to bring with me my breast pump paraphernalia. We had to buy dry ice for my pumped breast milk thereafter. My hubby has to carry the heavy dry ice inside the bucket to our office and bring it back home every other day (because it would take approximately two days to have the dry ice melt) for ice refill. Later on when I visited my OB for my dry cough check-up since I just can't buy any over the counter meds since I was lactating, I told her of our usual routine. She laughed when I told her that my husband and I just joked at each other asking how much ice candy have we sold (because the bucket that we had is the same with the one used for selling ice candy). I also told her that we spent twenty pesos every other other day for a week (so that made it P60/week) for the price of the dry ice (the one used in preserving fishes). She must had been moved by our situation that she was generous enough to gave me her three packs (500gms/pack) of gel ice (this is not an edible ice, just used for medicine cooling). So from then on, my hubby no longer carried a bucket of dry ice everyday but me carrying a one and a half kilo of gel-dry-ice (inside a pack-lunch bag) to be put later on in the ice bucket permanently (as of the moment) left in the office.
In the office, during lunch break I had to forgo my nap to pump. It was an amazing thing to know how a lactating breasts behaved. I learned that if I had much milk (when Jaiden didn't breastfeed much during wee hours) the moment the pumped breast begun expressing milk the other one (not pumped) would initially release a quite amount of milk just good enough to wet your bra (if you don't wear a breast pad). As usual the frugality in me came in. I put my leaked (milk) breast on a cover of the container to let the milk dripped in there thinking it would add to my certain ounces of painstakingly pumped breast milk. It would usually take approximately thirty minutes to get two ounces of milk (three ounces if Jaiden didn't breast-feed much during wee hours). Another pumping was done at about four thirty or five in the afternoon that would add up to a total of five to six ounces. Part of me was guilty for doing my second pumping during office hours but I reasoned to myself that I was just taking my equivalent snack or break time benefit. Doing just a couple of milk expressing in the office was good enough to have my breast milk production at bay. With this I could breastfeed Jaiden on wee hours which was really a convenience. I didn't have to wake up to prepare formula milk but just nursed him by my side. I could just breast-fed him half-awake.
Things changed when he was almost five months old. He didn't consider anymore going to goodnight sleep with me breastfeeding him. I think it was a gradual change for him without me noticing it. There were instances that we arrived late in the house and I wasn't able to nursed him to sleep instead he had already been bottle-fed by mama but during that time he still would breastfeed when he woke up on wee hours until the moment came when he stopped. At first I thought he didn't mean it and just didn't realize that he was already latching on my nipple. I would coerced him to latch after he would turn his head (for the second time) then sucked his thumb (a sign that he's hungry) but to no avail. That was then the first time I went downstairs to prepare formula milk. Oh! I was really astounded and was so sad because for the first time I felt that he could now live without my breast milk (what a silly thought) and my wee hours convenience was over. However, I think with his age he was already wise enough to understand that it 's an instant to feed in bottle than to latch,suck and wait for a while for the milk to flow.
Even though I knew that Jaiden can no longer be nursed, I still continued to pump in the office so that at least he would still have the breast-milk nutrients (even just a little) that would help his immune system at times when, God forbid, he would get sick. But then I noticed that I was just able to pump two ounces a day - a so little quantity which made me realized that my milk production has gradually decreases. This could be the reason why Jaiden wasn't patient enough because it would really took him long to take my breastmilk. Baby as he is, he doesn't have the perseverance. With this, I slowly realized that the time has come to wean.
Gradually, I had tried not expressing my milk from night time until the next whole day and had found out (in my breast pad) that no breastmilk leak had happened within the day. Hence, on December 15, 2010 I had officially stopped expressing my milk. Part of me felt sad because I had never realized that nursing my baby would end so soon. I had thought of ending it when he'll be six months though my hubby didn't want it to end that early (he was also thinking of the breast milk nutrients' benefit) but my baby Jaiden did. It never occurred to me that it'll be my baby who'll stop it early. I have always thought that it'll be me and even feared that when I would wean it wouldn't be that easy for my baby but I was very wrong. What can I do? but accept the fact that all good things come to end. On the positive side, I now won't have to bring a cumbersome bag of one and a half kilo of gel ice with only 5ounces of breast milk. It'll now be easy to go to the mall (after office hours). I now won't have to worry that my baby won't be able to sleep without me if ever it would be inevitable for me to go home early.
Though short, I would really treasure the bonding time my baby and I had during our breastfeeding sessions. Breastfeeding is such an awesome experience and I think is a memorable part of my journey as a mother. I'm glad I had tried my best and have given my baby breastmilk. It made me feel complete as a woman and as a mother. Hence, to first time expectant mothers out there, I advise you to do breastfeed no matter how short it will be. As the adage goes "breastmilk is still best for babies".
I also believe that breastfeeding is the second purpose why woman is created by God. Woman is capable of nurturing the by-product of procreation - the reason why God created woman in the first place. =)
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