Mothering Corner

Sasha said her boss’ wife is about to pop, and she was referring her to my blogs. But the thing is, it’s a bit hard for her to read a blog now. I have been through this phrase before. Weeks before baby comes out is full of excitement and anxiety, and I didn’t have the mood to read that much! So, I’m doing a summary for her reference…

1. Get as much knowledge about breastfeeding as possible. Remember that not everyone has smooth experience in breastfeeding, and it’s normal to be frustrated about it. I had my bad experience with my first born too. But as long as you don’t give up, you will make it.

2. Decide your hospital well. Go to Baby Friendly Initiated Hospital if possible, you will have a better successful rate as the babies will not be bottle fed to avoid nipple confusion.

3. You may also experience a lot of hiccups in breastfeeding, like

• Latching on
• Position
• Not enough milk
• Nipple sore
• Engorgement

But these will be over once you get your breastfeeding position right, and if you can find a good lactation consultant to guide you through. I was in and out of hospital during my confinement because my engorgement was bad. The nurses helped me a lot, if not, I would be down with mastitis.

4. I prefer not to say this but if you would like to succeed in breastfeeding, hide all the bottles and formula milk. I kept telling myself that for millions of years, human babies drink breastmilk, so why can’t my babies have it too? But I’m not suggesting that you would starve your baby. If you have problem in breastfeeding, get help from lactation consultant. If you would like to supplement, use a feeding cup.

5. Get the support from your hubby and breastfeeding friends. It’s very hard to get this through if you don’t have the encouragement you are yearning for during confinement. When I was trying hard to get my first born to be exclusively breastfed, I had a lot of disagreement from my parents and relatives. None of them have seen a fully breastfed baby. So, they will give you a lot of negative thoughts and comments. But I stood firm on my decision.

6. If your baby is diagnosed with jaundice, try to stay in the hospital with him. If not, express with breastpump (here and here too) and supply your milk to the hospital as much as your can. I prefer to nurse directly as to be pumping every 2 hours day and night is more tiring to me.

7. Monitor the output of the baby, instead of input. It’s hard to measure how much you baby takes in with direct nursing, but as long as baby is producing 6 – 8 very wet nappies, he should be taking enough of milk.

The last but not least, email me.