Breastfeeding Journey

 

As the title shown, Breasfeeding Journey....

 

Mine was a hard one....

 

I had a caesarean op when i was week 38 due to high blood pressure.

 

My reading was like 150-160 and Dr Wan went like "no way..u  gotta go man~"

 

 

 So there I was, wheeled in and ready to be cut...

 

Baby came out like 2.65kg, an ok weight for a baby girl.

 

 

 

(Baby Sam's detail)

Before I was shown to my baby. I was asked whether I want to breastfeed my baby a not..

 

Automatically, I said why not?! Breastfeed is A mother nature act, it should not be hard...

 

To my dismay, I got no milk yet when Baby Sam was taken out from me. A drop also tak ada!

 

So scary and she was crying like non-stop till the nurses offer me another alternatives. which is formula milk.

 

The whole situation backfired. I thought I will have my milk kicked in immediately after labour so naturally I did not prepare any FM as backup. My baby bag only consist of diapers, change of clothes, milk bottles, towels, wipes and some toiletries for the babies that I grabbed from baby hampers. So sadly I told the nurse, I didn't bring. HOW?!

 

Lucky for me, MMC is sponsored by Anmum. So they gave Anmum FM to her first for her first 3 days on earth.

 

Yea...3 days only. Cuz after that, my milk kicks in. Hoooray!!! u know how do I feel when it first kicks in? I was like on top of the hills when I wet my bed!!! (yes, it came when I was sleeping)

 

Ok, so I latch and latch and begins to feel like I gotta stock up all these gold drips in case suddenly no supplies.. (kiasu lady) So I uses my first set of pump from Pigeon.

 

 

(Got these all from their Breastfeeding talk at Marvelux)

 

 

Did  I mentioned that I actually rushes for the breasfeeding talk that Pigeon organized at Marvelux Hotel before my next day of delivery?! Oh yes I did.... and I got myself a pump of their brand to extract my golds..

 

But to my dismay, this Pigeon Single Breastpump is not good enough.. Got not enough horsepower to pump out all my BM...This pump costs me like RM299, bought it at Parkson.

 

The best I can get is like only 4 oz from both sides..which is like after 30 minutes! Membrane of this pump is bad. Whenever I took the pump away from me, it will fell out along or stuck at my breast no matter how I put it. It felt very plastic and I don't feel safe using it as it feels like it might tear apart if I were to have a slight drop.

 

Lucky for me, I was having my confinement with a helper beside me to care for the baby and me. So I can slowly pump at will and carefully or else....this pump will end up in the bin

 

 





 

 



 

(Pigeon Breastpump)

At the meantime to increase my yield, I was introduced by my cousins to take this particular brand of Fenugreek. I got this from GNC at the price of RM68. And lucky for me, GNC was having this BUY 2 FREE 1 bottle program! Damn super lucky right?!


Without further a do, I started wacking these pills like 8 capsules a day. Two capsules at a time to increase my yield.

(Fenugreek From GNC)

 

 

After 2 weeks of using the Pigeon Portable Single pump and direct latching, my nipples are not that sensitive anymore. Plus I was starting to be pekcek with that pump liao and it too sorta gave up on me or should I said my nipples gave up on it. It doesn't stimulate my breast anymore with its massage mode.

 

So I have to search for another pump...

 

 

I was then introduced by Yong Fong; a renowed babyshop in Melaka that sells all babies stuff , an  Avent Single Eletronic Pump.

 

It was heaven sent as this has more horsepower!



(Avent Single Eletronic Pump)

 

This brand not only has enough power for suction, the membrane is very soft enough to cup your breast. Unlike the Pigeon ones, the membrane feels more solid and not easily drop out. And best of all, it has a cover to cover my membrane! Hygienic right?! 



 

 

 

(My yield of 10 mins)

 

 

I uses this pump till I started working which then i come to realise....i got not enough time to pump...I was devastated as it was a single pump not double pump. meaning I have to wait for 10 mins of pumping on a side then change to another side for another 10 mins to pump again. Such waste of time!

 

 

So I began to search for double pumps online and got myself AGAIN lucky when someone was putting their Medela Freestyle on sale!!!!!

 

 

At the price of RM950, i got myself a good secondhand double branded pump! HOOORRAY!!!!!!

 



 

(My medela FS)

(Medela FS when it is on)

 

 

It is really god sent.

 

The horsepower the everything was nothing like the two pumps before.

 

It was a great pump but I will not buy it first hand as it comes at the price of RM1899! Hefty price which includes all the essential breastfeeding materials.

 

(10 mins of pumping of both sides)

 

I usually pump for 10 mins as my nipples sores easily. Unlike other mothers, they can withstand a pump of 30 mins each sides...I simply cannot lo as I too am a low-supply mum who mix feed my Baby Sam with FM. (check out my post of FM that i used on mixed feedings)

 

 

To BF mums out there, do train your babies to take bottles early. I know u guys want to latch as much as possible, trust me guys....u gotta give the bottle a go else your breast will be solely own by your baby only lo.

 

 

Wait you go work liao after confinement, baby don't wan bottle how?! Then your MIL or your Mother will be like, "His/her mother la! act clever, hisap tetek saja! tak mau bagi susu formula.kasi buat hidup saya susah!"

 

 

So to avoid this kinda situation happened, I gave milk bottle as soon I half latched Baby Sam with formula milk. Many asked me why i didn't give all BM, my reasons are.. im a low supply mum. second i was pain near my pelvic area, so my helper gave FM when i was resting. third, the reason I gave earlier..to avoid unwanted scenes n arguments..

 

 

(Avent Glass Bottle)

My choice of bottle was Avent. A glass ones as I think glass one are better than the plastic ones when we reheat BM. I mean we are gonna reheat it a gazillion times right? plastic wait melt how??! I know got BBA and etc, still....worry pots like me...cannot accept the fact of reheating with a plastic materials lo!

Plus, these glass bottles can be used over and over again. Unlike plastic bottles that needs to be change every 3-6 months! I know u guys will ask what bout the teats and the covers. Also made of plastic mer...

Teats, I will change every 2 months as I think 3 months is too long and this one is direct contact to your mouth one...then the cover and the white ring hor can be recycled! Avent sometimes will have those recycled event to trade in the old bottles and buy the bottles at half price one..and I have those small plastic Avent bottle ones that I got it as presents. What I did was I changed the older ones to the new plastic ones and trade it in to get a new ring and cover! Wahla! Smart kan?!

Anyway, I also got buy plastic ones.. I kinda use it when I go traveling. Much lighter lo, else my Papa bag super heavy~

 

The cons of having this bottle are only two.
 

1.) will break - but to tell u the truth, I dropped it almost everytime when I washed. still it looks fine. maybe cuz of the thick quality of the glass.

2.) heavy than the plastic ones. so if you want to try your baby to hold her own bottle, this might be an offset for you.

 

(The holder for the bottle to keep warm n avoid breakage)

 

 

To reheat my BM, hubby bought a Avent Bottle Warmer to make my life easier. However the offset for this warmer is there are no timer or temperature to show.

Meaning you gotta guess and estimate by your own as there is no display of it. It is an overall quite simple warmer to use. Just put some water in and then turn the heat up according to the level of milk you have put. BECAUSE of this SIMPLICITY, it is the BIGGEST OFFSET point!

 

(Avent bottle Warmer)

 

So, pls pls pls do not let your ignorance helper use it as it will destroy your BM!

 

I have this experience once, my helper went and reheat the milk then proceed doing her chores.

 

With no timer or  temperature shows, my helper actually put it more than the time needed. The BM actually turns out to be too hot and the whole milk bottle was really hot to be hold which i proceeded to throw away the BM as i m afraid that the entities inside has been destroy or not safe for consumptions.

 

So, Avent...pls do take this into consideration. Develop a new one with a timer and temperature display ok! our BM is too precious to be thrown away lo!!! Your brand is supposed to help us in our BF journey, not helping to destroy my BM!