MadPsychMum | Parenting + Travel: Faculty of Breastfeeding

Showing posts with label Faculty of Breastfeeding. Show all posts

Saturday, 31 July 2021

Breastfeeding Baby #3: Beyond 2 Years, Ending at 30 Months!

Filed under: Faculty of Breastfeeding, My Breastfeeding Diary, School of Parenting, Warning: May Contain TMI

I never thought that I will still be breastfeeding my Littlest Girl past 2 years old!

I'm a breastfeeding purist (i.e. only full breast milk and no formula) for the 1st year of each of my child's life; however, once my babies turned 1 year old, I will usually wean them by starting them on formula. Why? Because I'm a full-time working mum who really did not enjoy a toddler biting my you-know-where or pumping constantly at the office. It's a good to have but not necessary.

Slowly but surely, my two older children would realise that I didn't have any more breast milk and decide on their own to stop breastfeeding. The Eldest Girl decided to stop nursing at 18 months old when I went back to work full-time while the Boy stopped abruptly at 13 months old.

Not my Littlest Girl! It has been more than a year of drinking formula but my Littlest has not given up on breastfeeding! Perhaps the situation was also special this time as she had access to me throughout the day since I was working from home since Circuit Breaker last year. Even though she has finished a bottle of formula milk, she would still climb on me and 'beg' me to breastfeed her. She is very determined and I find it hard to refuse her! 😅

However, because my Littlest Girl has started preschool in April this year, we needed to transition her to less reliance on breastfeeding.

I started by slowly reducing the number of daytime feeds, breastfeeding her only in the morning and at night. She seemed to be ok with it so I removed her morning feed as well, replacing it with formula milk and other food.

For a month, she was only breastfeeding at night before bed as I wasn't able to remove her night-time feeds because she relied heavily on breastfeeding in order to sleep. I also wanted it to be a gradual process and did not believe in going 'cold turkey' (I'm a psychologist you know).

Slowly, by May, she was only breastfeeding every alternate night before bed (or when I couldn't get her to sleep!). She also no longer woke up in the middle of the night to nurse! 🥳🥳🥳

By June, she was only nursing whenever she needed comfort, though I barely have any milk left!

Sometime around July I stopped breastfeeding her completely and she seems to get by just fine without it.

Once in a while she would put her face on my chest, take a deep breath and say "boob, boob!" Don't ask me where she learnt it, I don't remember teaching her to say this! In response I would say, "no more, mummy doesn't have any more milk" and she would take it in her stride and did not pursue the matter further.

With that, I've breastfed my littlest baby for 30 months, the longest I've ever breastfed at one go! In total, I've breastfed for 5 years! 😊

And here's signing off on my breastfeeding diary series. Thanks for joining me on my journey.

P.S: if you are struggling with breastfeeding, feel free to reach out. I can't say for sure that I can solve your problems but I can certainly lend an empathetic ear if you need one. Stay strong and press on!! You can do this 💪🏻

~~~~~

This post is part of my series My Breastfeeding Diary, where I document the highs and lows of my breastfeeding journey.

Monday, 31 August 2020

Breastfeeding Baby #3: The 18th Month

Filed under: Faculty of Breastfeeding, My Breastfeeding Diary, Warning: May Contain TMI

My personal view on how long to breastfeed is this: my baby must be fully 100% breastfed until 12 months old, after which to continue depending on the willingness of mother and baby.

Hence, for all my babies, they were fully breastfed till they were 12 months old. My firstborn decided she wanted to continue, with no signs of stopping, until she turned 18 months old as I had started work and my supply probably dipped to nothing (I didn't pump at work). My boy decided to stop latching when he turned 13 months old and I decided it was not worth the effort to continue pumping at work so I stopped. As a result, I have never breastfed for longer than 18 months.

My littlest girl is nothing like her sister and brother. She does not have a favorite pillow and does not like the pacifier. The only thing that brings her comfort and helps her to sleep is my boobs, which are both the pillow and pacifier to her! 🤱

My 18-month-old littlest baby girl

At 18 months old, the littlest baby is showing no signs of stopping. When I'm at home or in the room, the littlest can only sleep when I nurse her. And with Work From Home being the default arrangement these days, she now has 24-hour access to my milk! I hardly ever use my breast pump anymore!

However, this also means that almost every night, I am rudely awaken from my slumber very often. Maybe it's a bad dream or teething pains; but she often wakes up in the middle of the night wanting to breastfeed. After 18 months of sleep deprivation, somehow my body has learnt to survive on disrupted sleep! 😴

View this post on Instagram

🎶Oh when oh when will I sleep thru the night, oh when oh when will it beeee...🎶 . These days I will be happy if I get 3 hours straight of sleep without her waking me to nurse her 😴😴 . #motherhoodconundrum #madpsychmum #girleejan #17monthsold #breastfedbaby #imherpacifierandpillow #sleepdeprived #ineedsleep

A post shared by Madeline Heng (@madpsychmum) on Jul 6, 2020 at 7:38am PDT

Nevertheless, I know from experience that this is only a very short episode in my journey of motherhood. Very soon my baby will not be a baby anymore and when I look back, I will miss the time when my baby only wanted me and no one else! What a privilege it is to receive the absolute 100% pure love of a child! 😍

My little cutie 😍

Many people have asked me out of curiosity on when I am going to stop breastfeeding. Frankly, I don't know. I've never had to force my kids to stop before (they have always decided when to stop) so this is new to me. I'm torn between wanting to continue being the comforter to my girl and also wanting back the freedom to wear my favourite dresses that have been collecting dust (quite literally) since I got pregnant! But I don't think I have the heart to tell her no when she wants to breastfeed. I'll just have to take each day as it comes 😊

~~~~~

This post is part of my series My Breastfeeding Diary, where I document the highs and lows of my breastfeeding journey.

Sunday, 1 March 2020

Breastfeeding Baby #3: The 12th Month

Filed under: Department of Birthdays, Faculty of Breastfeeding, My Breastfeeding Diary, School of Parenting, Warning: May Contain TMI

Reaching the 12th month mark is a significant milestone for all mothers who breastfeed exclusively! Definitely want to celebrate even though this is my 3rd time reaching this milestone 😂

Breastfeeding this baby hasn't always been smooth despite my years of experience with breastfeeding. My period came back around the time when the littlest baby girl was 9 months old. This definitely affected my mood and milk supply.

When my baby was around 10 months old, my supply started to drop to about 160ml every pump. I suspected that it was probably because the baby is less dependent on milk and eating solid food.

However, my baby probably noticed the drop in supply so when she turned 11 months old, she suddenly started drinking milk every 1-2 hours at night! I'm guessing it was likely that she had a growth spurt or she was not willing to give up breastfeeding as her main source of food! I'm perpetually tired every morning 😩!

Because of her constant need to latch, my milk supply has increased to 240ml every session! ❤️👏🏻

Latching the littlest baby at home

I'm loving how much my baby has grown and am glad I got to be a big part of it!

When she was 1 day old versus 12 months old with the same giant red packet my BFF made.
What a big difference! She can't even fit into the red packet anymore!

Learning how to do human things like using the remote control and walking

I'm especially thankful that I'm breastfeeding my baby as the world battles the COVID-19. At least I know that my baby will not be left defenceless with my antibodies.

Ironically, now that baby girl is 12 months old and we do not have to force feed her breast milk from a bottle if she does not want to, she is now ok with drinking from the bottle 🙄

She does not seem to want to give up nursing anytime soon and neither do I 😊 I'm happy to pump twice a day at work and feed on demand as long as she wants me to. I will cherish her babyness for as long as I can! ❤️

~~~~~

This post is part of my series My Breastfeeding Diary, where I document the highs and lows of my breastfeeding journey.

Thursday, 10 October 2019

My Breastfeeding Diary (Baby #3): Weaning

Filed under: Faculty of Breastfeeding, My Breastfeeding Diary, Warning: May Contain TMI

My littlest girl has been exclusively breastfed but part of that journey meant that we had to start introducing solid food to her once she is ready.

At 4-5 Months:
The recommended age to start pureed food is 6 months but we started to feed her pureed earlier because:

She refused to drink from the bottle so we thought she will have something to eat while I was at work.
She was very ready for food (watches us while we eat, licks lips, opens and closes her mouth, etc)

Enjoying her pureed meal

Loving her food! True blue foodie!

My mum-in-law, our in-house masterchef, is in charge of all our food. My children have always liked pumpkin so it was the first food that she pureed for the littlest girl. The food for babies this age is filtered through a sieve and contains no fibrous bits. We also added my breast milk to give it additional taste.

Her favourite food is pumpkin and carrot. For some reason, she dislikes apple!

To aid us in feeding her, her dad bought her an Ingenuity chair that can be used on the floor as well as the chair

At 6-7 Months:
The mum-in-law aka masterchef started making porridge with the girl's favourite ingredients for my baby girl. It was carrot porridge one week and pumpkin porridge the next. The mum-in-law cooked a batch and kept it in the fridge so that it can last for about 3-5 days.

We also introduced her to baby snacks, which she enjoyed in between her meals.

Her favourite snack!

At 8-9 Months:
Baby girl was starting to show her true colours as a real foodie and would sometimes reject food that she had eaten consecutively in a row. The mum-in-law had to think creatively on feeding her a variety of food so that she won't be bored! She was also extremely interested in the food that we were eating! There were a number of occasions where she rejected the home cooked food we were feeding her in favour of the food the rest of the family were eating!

I'm not one who insists my baby eats organic natural food. I prefer to let her have a little taste of everything just so that she can explore what she likes or dislikes. Balance is key of course.

Likes:
Pumpkin, carrot, old cucumber, soup, orange, tofu, chawanmushi, chicken, beef.

Dislikes:
Apple (though she eats Fuji apple selectively).

At 9 months old, she still drinks breast milk every 3 hours (via direct latch or spoon-fed expressed milk) but eats a small bowl of porridge twice a day.

Ultimately, despite her love for food, one thing is clear. It is still NOT yet a replacement for her favourite food of all: my breast milk! 💖😄

~~~~~

This post is part of my series My Breastfeeding Diary, where I document the highs and lows of my breastfeeding journey.

Monday, 8 July 2019

My Breastfeeding Diary (Baby #3): Back to Work

Filed under: Faculty of Breastfeeding, My Breastfeeding Diary, Warning: May Contain TMI

*Warning: Detailed documentation of breastfeeding and its related terms ahead. Reader's discretion is advised; please do not read if you feel uncomfortable =)

PREPARATION FOR WORK

Shortly after she turned one month old and fully breastfed by direct latch alone, I started to become worried about the amount of milk that I needed to prepare for her when I eventually go back to work.

I was entitled to 16 weeks maternity leave (thank you Singapore!) and it is compulsory to take the first 8 weeks consecutively, and the last 8 weeks according to your personal preferences (like annual leave).

I decided that I wanted to go back to work after 8 weeks of leave and then spread out the rest of my 8 weeks of maternity leave so that I only needed to work 3 days a week for about 5 months.

I had learnt my lesson the hard way with my boy, who didn't drink milk frozen for more than a month. I had to throw away bags and bags of my precious milk! This time, I was careful not to keep breast milk frozen for longer than a couple of weeks because I was sure littlest baby girl will not drink it.

In order to ensure freshness of the expressed milk, I decided to start pumping an extra 100-150ml of milk every day about 2 weeks before I was due to go back to work. By the time I returned to work, I had about six 180ml packets of milk for my baby.

BACK TO WORK

At work, I used a Spectra pump that I had borrowed from my friend. I really like Spectra as the suction is very powerful and can empty my breasts quite adequately.

My friend's Spectra S1

I have always pumped anywhere when I had my boy and that's not going to change now that I have my girl! I find it so much easier to just pump at my desk 😂

My daily output

I usually pump about 150-250ml per session. I tried to pump at least 4 times (i.e. every 2 hours) when I'm at work but, unsurprisingly, I haven't been successful! I suppose I was too ambitious! Now I try to achieve at least 3 sessions a day at work so that I can maintain my supply.

Pumping 3 times a day wasn't the problem for me; it's washing my pump 3 times a day that's the issue! I really don't enjoy washing the pump!

When I complained to my colleague, she suggested that I put the pump parts in the fridge so that I can re-use it and not have to wash after every session. That really helped to lighten the burden of washing for me!

I read about the usefulness of the Freemie online and bought it to try it for myself. Instead of the usual funnels, Freemie collection cups fit into your regular nursing bra and collects your milk so that you can go hands-free. Apparently you can even pump while walking and I decided to try it. Guess what? It works! 😄

Freemie collection cups

You can choose to buy Freemie's pump motor or you can use your existing motor. Freemie is compatible with motors such as the Spectra and Avent. Do check whether your pump motor is compatible before you buy!

Unfortunately for me, when my Freemie first arrived, I found a crack in barrier. I tried to get it replaced but the process took a reeeeeaaalllly LONG time!!

There was a crack in my barrier when it arrived. Don't forget to examine all your pump parts before you use!

After multiple emails and calls back and forth for 2 months, a representative from the distributor FINALLY called me and told me that she will deliver the barrier to my house! I was so happy to receive it so that I can finally use my Freemie!

I really like the Freemie as it is indeed very convenient. I connect the cups to the motor, put them in my bra and viola, I can do whatever I need to do with both my hands. It is especially useful when I need to pump while taking minutes during meetings! 😄

To help me to transport my pump and milk, I also bought a bag with a cooler compartment at the bottom.

Pump at the top, milk at the bottom

Cooler compartment to store milk

I have since upgraded to a bigger bag but still use this bag to store the pump motor.

BABY REFUSES THE BOTTLE

While I was managing my pumping at work, the mum in law was trying very hard to feed the baby at home.

Unfortunately, no matter how we tried, the baby refused the bottle!

It was not the milk because she would reject all types of my expressed milk, no matter whether it was frozen or freshly expressed.

It was not the type of bottle teat or brand because we tried 3 types of bottle teats from different brands such as Avent, Pigeon and Dr Brown and yet she would reject them (I refused to waste money to buy more after that!). She would suck on them for the first day and then completely reject them the next day!

It was definitely not because I was hovering around and the baby could smell me because I was at work the whole time.

The mum-in-law tried letting her cry, hoping that she will eventually realise she had to suck it up and drink. I mean, as long as you are hungry enough, you'll eat anything right? Who would say no to a growling stomach? Most people would eventually give in, don't they?

Evidently, not my stubborn and determined littlest baby girl. The longest she had ever gone on a hunger strike, having drunk only 20ml the entire day, was 10 hours!

She wants what she wants and no amount of coaxing will do. It was a nightmare for my mum-in-law, who couldn't bear to hear her cries all day.

Finally we decided to try feeding her using a syringe, which was painfully slow and exhausting but seemed to work to get a little bit more milk in her system.

When she turned 4 months old and showed interest in food, the mum-in-law tried feeding milk with a silicone spoon to some success, it really depends on the baby's mood!!!! 😴

However, the baby will only drink expressed milk for at most 2 feeds in a day. If the mum-in-law tried to feed her with expressed milk again, the attempt will be met with screams of anger! 😒

BABY AT WORK

I could tell my mum-in-law was almost at her breaking point and decided to give her a break by bringing the baby to office. I was hoping I could utilise my 'supermum powers' and take care of a baby while working a full time job.

Baby at work with her favourite person! 😄

Sleeping in her stroller at my cubicle

Although I managed to get work done while taking care of my baby (miraculously by God's grace!), it was physically and mentally exhausting! By the time I got home, both baby and I were so tired that we fell asleep earlier than usual and slept through the night!

If I can't take care of her for a whole day in office (especially not on days that I have meetings and/or trainings) and the mum-in-law can't take care of her for a whole day at home, the best compromise would be to split it between us (me half day, mum-in-law half day).

Usually this means that I will bring her to office in the morning, meet the mum-in-law for lunch and then she will bring the baby home (if I have meetings all day, she would bring the baby to me during lunch and go shopping till it is time for the baby's next feed). This arrangement has been very inconvenient for the mum-in-law logistically but has saved her a lot of frustration so she is happy with it so far. So thankful for a dedicated mum-in-law! ❤️

The littlest baby, on the other hand, LOVES going to work with me and meeting all my colleagues. She smiles at every single person she meets and wins their hearts! This is great because so far, no one has complained about her being in office!

So very grateful to understanding bosses and colleagues, who have had to endure the sudden cries of a baby every now and then but yet are always happy to see her in office! Colleagues have also volunteered to watch her while I finish my work. I really love my workplace! Very, very blessed! ♥️

Hopefully I won't have to bring her to work any more once she starts eating more solids when she turns 6 months old and can drink more milk via the silicone spoon. We're also crossing our fingers that she will suddenly drink from the bottle🤞🏻Until then, it looks like the baby is sticking to me for a while, everywhere that I go!

Thank God that I still have maternity leave left! I'm enjoying every minute with my very clingy baby while I still can!🤱🥰

~~~~~

This post is part of my series My Breastfeeding Diary, where I document the highs and lows of my breastfeeding journey.

Wednesday, 13 March 2019

My Breastfeeding Diary (Baby #3): First Month

Filed under: Faculty of Breastfeeding, My Breastfeeding Diary, Pregnancy and Motherhood, Warning: May Contain TMI

*Warning: Detailed documentation of breastfeeding and its related terms ahead. Reader's discretion is advised; please do not read if you feel uncomfortable =)

The moment after I had delivered my baby girl in the delivery suite, she started puckering her lips and sticking out her tongue, which was a clear indication that she wanted to breastfeed. As usual, I latched her directly as I had done with baby boy when he was born and fully remembered how to do it despite not having breastfed for the last 4 years!

When I got transferred to the ward, the nurse in the ward immediately checked, as is their SOP, on how I am doing with breastfeeding. She proceeded to squeeze my nipples very tightly (ouch!) before exclaiming, "wow, that's very good, a lot of colostrum!"

Tip: make sure you start breastfeeding as early as possible and as many times as the baby wants in order to develop your milk supply.

The nurse checked my latching and was equally impressed by the baby's strong sucking. I think it makes a huge difference choosing to give birth without epidural because the baby is not drowsy after birth as compared to an epidural assisted birth.

Seeing that I was a very experienced mum (not to brag but I have done this three times!), they left me alone for the rest of my stay in the hospital. If I were the nurses, I would love having me as their patient as I made their job really easy! *laughs*

As usual, I requested that the baby room in with me (and not return to the nursery) so that I can feed her on demand. This is so that I have full control of my breastfeeding and can learn about her breastfeeding style from the start. Of course, this is only possible if you stay in a single-bedder room so please consider it if you can afford it.

Tip: Keep the baby with you as much as possible so that you can learn to recognise the baby's cries for milk (which is different from the baby's cries for comfort and pain), and respond to him/her before those cries become uncontrollable and stress-inducing. Don't be over-reliant on the nurses or your confinement nanny otherwise you won't be able to do it on your own.

The first day of breastfeeding went well but the night was terrible. Baby wanted to feed every 15 minutes but only drank for 5 minutes before falling asleep. I did not sleep AT ALL for 24 hours since the delivery and was so exhausted that by 6am in the morning, I was slightly hallucinating!

Me and baby alone in our room in the morning

Thank goodness I decided to ask the nurse to bring the baby to the nursery for her vaccinations so that I have some alone time to freshen up. I felt so much better after that. Breastfeeding a newborn with a tiny stomach is not easy!

After discharge, I realised that my baby was still not pooping after 4 days since the first poop. Her paediatrician suggested feeding longer at each breast (10-15 minutes, instead of 5-10 minutes) so that baby can take in more of the fatty part of the milk. I had totally forgotten that the fore milk is made up of mainly water and that the hind milk which comes at the back is made of the fats that the baby needs to poop, stay full and gain weight. I did what the paediatrician recommended and viola, she started pooping a lot! 😄

Tip: If your baby is like mine and tends to sleep after sucking for 5 minutes, you can try burping the baby and then continuing to latch the baby from the same breast rather than switching breast. This is to ensure that the baby gets enough of the fatty hind milk.

Happily sleeping soundly after a feed

As with all my babies, my breasts started to be engorged by the time my baby was 4 days old. However, I decided not to pump like I did with my baby boy as it could make the engorgement worse. Pumping was also more exhausting than latching and gave me a lot of problems with mastitis when I forgot to pump during the night due to exhaustion! (You can read all about my experience here). I was keen to not repeat the same problems I had with pumping too early in my breastfeeding journey hence, I decided to hand-express excess breast milk instead of pumping.

So far, baby girl is drinking far more breast milk than her brother so hand-expressing has been sufficient. This has worked so well for me that by the time my massage therapist arrived on the 10th day of my confinement, my breasts are no longer engorged. Although my breasts will get full and slightly hard before breastfeeding, they will be easily emptied by the baby after feeding.

A selfie of me breastfeeding my girl at home!

The biggest difficulty that I have with direct latching is the soreness of my nipples. Despite having mastered the correct latching position, I still experienced pain simply because my newborn baby's mouth is very small and my nipples were, well, not. The pain can be so bad that I had to bite my lip to endure it for the first 10 seconds every time my baby latched. Thank God that the pain subsided by the fourth week of birth once baby grew bigger in size.

My baby's drinking pattern: drink from both breasts at least three times on each side at a go and then sleep undisturbed for 2.5-3 hours after that. It can be very stressful for me when she wants a lot of milk in a short amount of time but my breasts needs time to produce the milk!

But all my hard work is worth it when I get to see all my hard work getting translated into baby fats! 😍

Love spending quality time with her!

My eldest girl was a whooping 95 percentile by the time she turned 2.5 months old so I'm hoping that it will be the same for my littlest girl! At the rate that she is going, she is definitely on track! 😁

After 28 days of confinement, I could finally go out with baby girl for the first time! Breastfeeding on the go has also been really easy 😄

View this post on Instagram

Game of breastfeeding, Level 1 (1st baby): can only feed privately in nursing rooms. Level 50 (2nd baby): can only feed while seated either in nursing rooms or under a cover. Level 100 (3rd baby): can feed anywhere, any position, walk and shop carrier-free while nursing also can 😂 . #madpsychmum #practicemakesperfect #girleejan #breastfeeding #levelup #multitaskingmum

A post shared by Madeline Heng (@madpsychmum) on Mar 12, 2019 at 6:28pm PDT

Tip: The key to breastfeeding is PRACTICE! Make sure that you have useful tools that help you with breastfeeding as well.

I'm really enjoying my journey breastfeeding and bonding with my baby! Cherishing every moment, the good and even the painful because I know that it will not last long! ♥️

~~~~~

This post is part of my series My Breastfeeding Diary, where I document the highs and lows of my breastfeeding journey.

Monday, 26 January 2015

My Breastfeeding Diary: 13 Months (Finale)

Filed under: Faculty of Breastfeeding, My Breastfeeding Diary, Working Mum

I was going to update this series every month instead of every 2 months because it became apparent to me that every month that I'm still breastfeeding after 12 months is a month to be celebrated. I'll never know when my boy will decide to stop latching or when I decide to give up and stop pumping before I hit the 18-month mark as planned.

Little did I know that this post will be my last post in this series. Way, way before my heart was ready for it =(

It all started after a long holiday at the end of last year where I had only latched my boy and had not eaten any form of milk boosters. I went back to work this year and found out to my horror that my supply had dipped to only 80-120ml each session. Some days it was only 50ml per session (both sides)! I was horrified! I had to pump twice in order to fulfill one feed for my boy! This had never happened to me before! >_<

Plus Baby Boy got a bad case of the flu, which led to the 3-in-1 package: flu, cough and fever. He refused to latch no matter what so I had to feed him formula and whatever amount of milk that I had pumped out.

Brought Baby Boy to Tiong Bahru Bakery with me even though he was still sick so that both of us can get some fresh air and the mum-in-law can get a break

I thought, "you know what, he's sick that's why he doesn't want to latch. Maybe he will when he's better." And well 2 weeks later, he still refuses to latch!!!!!

Noooo!! This can't be happening to me! I mean I knew this day was coming, when I'd stop breastfeeding and likely not be able to breastfeed anymore because we have decided to stop at 2 (no more unless it was a miracle from God delivered by an angel!), but I DID NOT see this coming. At all.

Ever the optimist, I still harboured some hope that he would miraculously latch again and all would be awesome but deep down inside I knew, my journey of breastfeeding was about to end =(

I know what you're thinking. "Mad, this is great news! You should be happy. You have done your duty and got your boobs back. You can wear real-people dresses (and you love your dresses!) and not the same old nursing clothes that you have worn again and again for the last 13 months. You can finally carry that pretty Longchamp handbag that you had bought in London instead of that bulky backpack that you carry everyday to work. You can go out and not have to worry that you need to pump or need a place to store your milk. You are free!"

True that. But somehow I don't feel very happy. I was not ready to stop the bonding between my baby and I.

I cried real tears of heartbreak in the middle of the night because my baby didn't want to latch. I felt so rejected! And unprepared. I know you think I'm dramatic but if you're a breastfeeding mother, you can identify with me.

Which is a real irony because with my girl, I was soooo ready to stop at 12 months but had to continue till 18 months because my girl refused to stop. Now I'm not ready to stop but my boy is! *sigh*

So although I can continue expressing milk till 18 months if I wanted to, I have decided to stop breastfeeding because I see no point in continuing if my boy doesn't want to. Besides, you know how much I hate to pump.. I had envisioned myself bonding with my baby and not with the pump! =(

I'm still pumping at least once a day though because it takes time to stop completely. If I stop too quickly I'll get engorgement again, which is not something I particularly fancy.

This journey of breastfeeding was challenging; there were a lot of ups and downs but through it all, I realised that there were 2 ingredients for my success: determination and prayer! Thanks for following me on my journey! Hope you have learnt something along the way =)

<< Back to My Breastfeeding Diary: 12 Months

This post is part of my series on My Breastfeeding Journey.
Follow me as I battle the perils of milk production and heartbreak all over again.

Saturday, 27 December 2014

My Breastfeeding Diary: 12 Months

Filed under: Department of Birthdays, Faculty of Breastfeeding, My Breastfeeding Diary, Working Mum

My Baby Boy is officially 1 Year Old (more on his birthday party in the next post)!

Happy Birthday!! Woo hoo! *applause*

Looking cool in shades

This also marks a major milestone in my breastfeeding journey; we made it to 12 months! =)

My breastfeeding journey up until now had not been easy. Finding time to express at work is still a challenge even though I've been doing it for the last 10 months; you would think that I should already be used to it by now right? Nope. It definitely does not get easier. As the workload piles up and with deadlines to meet, it does not get easier to find time to pump.

Because I haven't been quite diligent in following my pump schedule, my milk supply depleted (from 180ml to 150-160ml per pump session). Added to that, my period returned 2 weeks after he turned 11 months (milk supply generally decreases just before our period returns). In case you are wondering, yes, it is very normal for breastfeeding mothers to not have their period during breastfeeding due to the hormones released as a result of breastfeeding.

With less breast milk for my baby, I finally caved in to the hubby's suggestion to supplement Baby Boy with one feed of formula milk every night before he sleeps. Although research has shown that feeding formula milk does not lead to better sleep for the baby contrary to popular belief (and I have found this to be true for Baby Boy), it does lead to less stress on my part to produce enough milk for him (he cries like crazy and refuses to sleep when he does not have enough milk to drink). Plus, we wanted to see how he takes to formula and surprisingly, Baby Boy had no issues at all with formula unlike his sister when she was his age.

Since he had no problems with drinking formula, there were so many occasions that I had wanted to give up breastfeeding once he reached 12 months. I mean, I have fulfilled more than my fair share of giving him the best right? Plus, I was the only one still pumping at work while the rest of my colleagues had already given up.

However, recently I noticed that my boy has grown closer to his primary caregiver, the mum-in-law, and even my hubby as they spend a lot more time with him and even bring him out on the weekdays (I work really long hours so that I can have 1 day to work from home a week); so much so that my boy started to (*gasp*) reject me! He sometimes pushes me away and cries when he sees his grandma or daddy walk away! I was so heartbroken (woes of a full-time working mum)! =(

The only time that he actually brightens up when he sees me is when it is milk time. "Mama!!" he cries and only wants me to carry him.

Enjoying the Christmas decorations at Marina Square

This is why I'm still going to continue breastfeeding pass 12 months. Even though I'm so tired of lugging the pump to work, tired of pumping and replying to emails at the same time, tired of washing pump parts, tired of seeing so little milk pumped out despite all my best efforts.

I will continue because it is the only thing that bonds Baby Boy with me. It is the only thing that I can provide for my baby when I am at work and not with him.

Besides, now that he will be eating more solid food and drinking less milk, it will hopefully be less stressful for me to bring home enough milk for him everyday.

Despite having only 2 teeth, Baby Boy loves eating and thoroughly enjoys his food!
Here he is looking greedily at the food served at his buddy's ducky-themed birthday party

My mum-in-law grumbles that my boy only has 2 teeth but I see it as a blessing in disguise. There were many occasions where he bit down on my you-know-where and it hurt!!! (>.<) I have had to flick his cheeks with my fingers a few times before he got the message that he was not supposed to do that! *sigh*

Although I've been so tired because he continues to wake up every 3-4 hours at night, I'm thankful that this is very normal especially for babies who are away from their mothers in the day. Baby Boy just wants to be with me at night since he's not with me in the day.

Exactly 7 days before he turns 1 year old, at his buddy's 1st birthday party

Hopefully I can make it to 18 months like I had planned! Wish me luck! =)

Continue to >> My Breastfeeding Diary: 13 Months (Finale)
<< Back to My Breastfeeding Diary: 10 Months

This post is part of my series on My Breastfeeding Journey.
Follow me as I battle the perils of milk production and boob-related pain all over again.

Pages

Saturday, 31 July 2021

Monday, 31 August 2020

Sunday, 1 March 2020

Thursday, 10 October 2019

Monday, 8 July 2019

Wednesday, 13 March 2019

Monday, 26 January 2015

Saturday, 27 December 2014