Lilypie 2nd Birthday PicLilypie 2nd Birthday Ticker

A Little More To Life

Friday, December 07, 2007

Got Milk?

Taking care of a newborn is really very demanding. I've lost track of night and day, in fact the only difference is that it is more trying at night when I've just managed to catch abit of sleep and the baby starts wailing for milk. He wakes up and cries for milk every 2 hourly. The most challenging part is keeping awake when he seems to take ages to finish up his bottle. I can't imagine how I'll survive when we need to return to work.

Breastfeeding is another challenge. It is ironic how something so natural can be a challenge to modern day mommies. Everybody does breastfeeding in our grandma's days. It is only during our mom's generation that formula milk was introduced to replace mother's milk. Now all hospitals and magazines advocate breastfeeding, as it provides antibodies and all the required nutrients to nourish baby and protect him from infections. I really salute those mommies that do total breastfeeding since day 1, cause there's no milk for the first 3-4 days after baby is born. How do they handle a fragile and hungry baby that is constantly crying for milk? Heart pain leh. That's how I succumbed to formula milk at the hospital. Mistake! As I'm depriving my baby of the precious colostrum that provides the most antibodies to protect him. I only started breastfeeding on day 4 when the milk supply starts to come in, after much tears of feeling like an inadequate mom and pain of clearing the blocked ducts. Then again the baby has already been used to 60ml of formula milk per feed, he started crying after getting only 10-20ml from mommy. My MIL will heart pain and ask if I have enough milk? More stress to me leh. Today my supply (40-70ml every 4hrs or so) is still insufficient for my baby's demand (60-70ml every 2hrs), cos I'm not able to religiously pump every 2-3hours. Milk supply is based on supply and demand theory. More milk is produced if the breast is emptied frequently. Quite tough tho when baby cries every 2 hour, then I take 1/2 hour to feed/burp him, not to mention other miscellaneous tasks like change diaper/shower/sterlise bottles/play with him, eat my meals/go toilet/wash up/sleep, and of course find a place and opportunity to pump for 1/2 hour. Worst scenario is when he wakes up and cry when I'm halfway through :S Got once kancheong and toppled the expressed milk, so sad. I seldom do direct latch nowadays as I'm puzzled why after 45-60mins of latching he is still rooting for milk. Must be he know mommy's milk very precious, slowly savour and fall asleep in between, that's why he is not drinking enough (that's what I'll like to think... ha)

Now supply abit stagnant, think need to start taking more milk-producing food, seems to help increase my supply previously:

1. Oatmeal

2. Green papaya with fish bone soup (must take for consecutive 3 days): 200g of skinned, diced green unripe papaya simmer with fish bones and a few slices of ginger for 1-2hours, serve with a pinch of salt.

3. Fenugreek pills (take with caution, not sure if any side effect)

Other food that are known to increase milk supply:

4. Blessed thistle (take with caution, not sure if any side effect)

5. Motilium (medicine prescribed by doctor)

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home