@abbyleesy left this comment for me the other day. I told her I'd try. Well, today, I'm trying. But do forgive me if my updates come on and off throughout the day. It gets crazy around here with a leaping babe and a teething tod. 😅
First up, a disclaimer. 😅
#coverbackside
I'm not saying my way is 100% right or that it's guaranteed to work for you. It's probably not the only way around your problem either. Plus, bear in mind that I'm in no way a Lactation Consultant (LC) of any kind or qualification. I've just been through enough ups and downs in my breastfeeding (BF) journey to have accumulated a tip or two under my belt. So, I'm writing this in hopes that what works for me will work for you, too. Here goes!
1. Have a support group of likeminded individuals. It takes a village to raise a child, an a #momsquad to breastfeed it. Haha. So find a support group of breastfeeding moms who share the same breastfeeding convictions as you do. Because, trust me, you'll need them when the going gets tough. And it probably will. Cos no matter how determined you were to fully BF your child before said child was born, resolve does tend to crumble when you've been up for 36 hours with little or no sleep, holding a crying baby in your arms, with painfully cracked, bleeding nipples you no longer recognise as your own.
2. Ease yourself into breast feeding. Imma put it out there from the start that the first month is the toughest. The first week? Even more so. 😅 Many women sabo themselves by latching 24/7 during the first week or two cos
"the baby is always crying" or
"to boost supply". Before they know it, they're tired and worn out, and their nipples are painfully cracked, bleeding and bruised from overuse. (Common reasons for giving up.)
Your Nipples of Steel will only arrive later. So if you're feeling nipple tenderness and soreness while breastfeeding, you'll need to go slow. Nurse for a maximum of a half hour on one boob, then change sides. After that, give your nipples a break. You'll need the downtime to prepare for your next BF session.
3. Persevere and you will be gifted with Nipples of Steel. 😂 We all begin our breastfeeding journeys in the same way – scrunching up our faces in pain when our babies latch on. Whether it's your first child or your tenth, you'll feel it. The excruciating pain in your nipples like they're set on fire while being scraped along a gravel road. 😰 I felt it with JZ and I felt it with JJ even though I had only stopped breastfeeding for a month in between.
But guess what? That pain doesn't last. 😏 From being super sensitive to every touch and suckle, your nipples will eventually toughen up... by softening. (Weird but true. 😅) It takes a week or so. Max max also 2-3 weeks. So just tahan, ok. Hang in there and in no time at all, you won't feel the pain anymore and you can begin to really enjoy breastfeeding.
4. Forget the fancy nipple creams. Mother's milk is best at healing cracked, sore, bruised and bleeding nipples. It's free, it's always on hand, plus, it's 110% safe for your baby's consumption! That's a win-win-win if you ask me! 😄 So, if your nipples look like they're about to die a tragic death, just squeeze out some breast milk (BM), apply on your nipples, then leave 'em out to air dry. Then just keep doing this over and over and over again. Your nipples will heal in no time.
5. There ain't no pain like a plugged duct pain. Until you know the pain of mastitis, that is. LOL! 😂 Okok, not funny. 😅But seriously, if you think a plugged duct is painful, you better nurse the sh*t outta that duct or you're in for more pain when Mastitis says "hello". Which brings me to my next point...
6. Ditch the hot and cold compress and take a looooong, HOT bath. This is my secret weapon to removing plugged ducts. It works every. single. time. If not immediately, then eventually. But it works. Waaaay more effectively than stupid hot and cold compresses and old aunty methods like cold cabbage leaves. There's just something about the magical combination and equation of Heat + Moisture = Steam that works.
Here's what you do: Wait until your baby is hungry. Like really, really, really beh-tahan-wanna-die-liao kind of hungry. Then, hop into the shower and enjoy a luxuriously long bath in the hottest water your skin can tahan before it melts off your muscles and bones.
Take your time. Wash your hair, shave your legs, give yourself a whole body scrub, then periodically massage the plug while you're at it. All while you're baby is crying for milk right outside your door, of course. Whatever you do, don't rush it. Give it a minimum of 10 minutes. Which is probably considerably longer than any bath you've taken since you gave birth anyway. 😅
Here's where it gets kancheong. Do the following as fast as you can. Get out of your steamy shower and into the room with no aircon and no fan on. The warmer your environment, the better. Drop the towel, grab your crying baby and nurse, nurse, nurse while pushing at the duct. Don't even bother drying yourself or your hair.
Very important note!! Push from the outer part of your breast, toward your nipple. Don't just anyhow rub in any direction ok. No point wan. Milk flows from the duct to the nipple so you need to help it move in that direction. Sometimes it helps to lean forward and let gravity work to your advantage, too. So dangle them boobies!! And FYI, your baby needs to be really hungry for this to work. Desperately hungry baby = more suction power. Not that I saja ask you to torture your anak ok. 😅
7. Bust that blister. Milk blisters or milk blebs sometimes form when milk gets stuck and skin grows over it and ends up trapping the milk in. Pressure builds and it can get really painful. (Yes, there's a lot of pain associated with BFing. 😅) Treat it before it holds up so much milk that you end up with a blister (pain on or right behind the nipple) AND a plugged duct (pain in breast where the duct is located). 😱
I do either one of the following: 1) most hardcore/badass – use a sterile needle and burst the blister, 2) use a face scrub and gently massage the scrub on the nipple with the white spot on it, or 3) use a baby face towel and rub it gently over the bleb. I prefer the needle method because it's quicker.
8. Prevention is better than cure. If you find yourself getting milk blisters or plugged ducts too often, take Lecithin. It changes the viscosity of your milk so you have less problems. Take 2 daily until the immediate problem goes away, then reduce to 1 a day and subsequently 1 in 2 days and so on and so forth. Reduce until you find the problem coming back then bump up the dosage to the minimum that worked for you and stick to it throughout the course of your breastfeeding journey.
Also, it helps to wear the right bra and clothes that do not apply pressure on your ducts. (Bye-bye push-up bras and anything with underwire! 👋) And change the way you sleep if you tend to squish a boob or two on your way to Dreamland, too!
9. Drink lots and lots and lots of water. No water, no milk. True story. So drink up! One glass before, one glass while you feed/express, and one glass after to replenish and rehydrate yourself.
10. Demand = Supply. Only 2% of women in the world are actually unable to breastfeed their babies. And those women either have weird nipple problems or some other medical/physical reason that causes them to be unable to do so. The other 98%? It's just a matter of starting on the right foot and then establishing supply.
The more milk your baby needs, the more milk your breasts will produce. The less your baby drinks, the less milk you will produce. It really is as simple as that. There's actually no such thing as "not enough milk" (biggest lie ever!) if you generously offer your boob whenever your baby so desires to nurse.
The more you nurse, the more milk you'll have to offer. That's the beauty of breastfeeding! More begets more! Like the song in All Dogs Go To Heaven says, "The more you give, the more you're gonna get!" 😄 But!! Yes, there's a but...
11. Oversupply is as much a problem as insufficient supply. You know those FB groups where people upload pics of their freezers full of #FBM while they're still in confinement? Or pictures of a 20oz yield per pump session? Don't envy them. Cos unless their babies are able to drink 20oz at one go, they've got oversupply problems.
For once in this materialistic world, More does NOT = Better. Instead, More = More Problems! LOL. 😂 Who the heck wants leaky breasts or worse, painful, rock hard boobs all the time?? Not me! That's why I had to reduce and adjust my supply after JJ was discharged from the hospital. Thankfully, our bodies are smart and they respond pretty quickly to supply reduction techniques. I solved the issue in two days. You can, too. Just use your baby.
Don't pump out all the extras after your baby is done nursing and unlatches on his/her own. Leave it. If your breasts feel really full but your baby isn't hungry yet after that, just offer your boob (babies will usually willingly suckle a little even if they're not hungry cos it's comforting) then let them unlatch on their own and repeat the process again later.
If they refuse the nipple altogether but you're already painfully engorged, just pump out a super little bit. Just enough to ease the pressure and eliminate the risk of giving yourself a plug. But that's all! Don't, don't, don't empty your breasts with a pump. You'll just perpetuate the problem.
The only time a bit of oversupply is good is when you need to store for a drought. Like if you're going on a holiday without your baby. Or if you plan to give your baby a diet of breast milk for a year but only want the inconvenience of nursing for 6 months while your baby isn't yet on solids. That's it. I can't think of any other reason oversupply could be good because usually, it's not.
12. You can initiate a second (a third and a fourth) letdown anytime you need more milk. 😎 This point combines the Demand = Supply point and the Drink Water point. The more milk you need (demand), the more you need to nurse/pump (supply). But you need to help your body make milk by drinking lots of water.
I don't know about you guys but I can feel a surge of milk come in whenever a letdown is about to take place. Some people have said they feel blah about it but I personally love the feeling. Like a boob-gasm of sorts. Haha. All you need to do in order to successfully initiate this second/third/fourth and so on letdown, is drink water WHILE you continue to nurse/pump. At least half a cup or so. With this method, I usually get an extra 0.5oz to 2oz yield with each subsequent letdown.
13. Breastfeed on demand; not on time. What baby wants, baby gets – whenever! And if baby wants milk every hour, just offer your breast every hour. Aside from the bonding and the comfort, your baby is helping you establish your supply. They're probably drinking so often because there isn't enough to go by anyways.
Of course, this only applies to proper day-time nursing where you can hear the baby swallow and glug, and not dream feeding or any other time when your baby falls asleep on the breast without properly emptying it.
Another reason to why I BF on demand is this – I NEVER have engorgement problems, and I also never have "no more milk" if I suddenly wanna pump right after I've DLed my baby. 😄 I just pump whenever I like, and I DL whenever JJ likes. And there's always milk! But when I don't for some reason or another like say I'm out without JJ or JJ suddenly decides to sleep many hours at a stretch, I also don't find myself leaking or feeling painfully engorged.
God is a genius. He designed the breast in such a way that when milk is needed, milk is produced. Our boobies have limits ok. Not everybody is blessed with double Ds that can takung 10oz per boob. But that doesn't mean that the baby of a flat-chested woman needs less milk than that of a voluptuous woman whose rack causes her not to be able to see her feet when she walks.
Problem with us humans is we always wanna pandai-pandai play God. WE want to decide when our babies get to have their food. WE want to decide how much they eat. WE want a schedule for OUR convenience. "My baby drinks 4oz every 3 hours!" Oh really?? All the time, every time? What about when they're having a growth spurt? What about when they're tired and just wanna sleep? Like most other things in Life, it's not always that black and white.
And if you think a schedule is for your convenience, it's not. You will discover that it is to your ultimate inconvenience and detriment actually. You'll be bound by those milking times and when you happen to be busy and have to miss them for whatever reason at all, you'll be leaking and engorged like nobody's business.
Let me give you an example. You've been keeping to a 3-6-9-12 schedule. But you have something to do tonight and won't be able to keep the 9pm session. Dang. Timetable thrown out of whack.
That means you'll need to prepare a feed beforehand so your baby has milk to drink while you're gone. You need to leave by 6pm and will only be home at 11pm. You usually get 5oz per session cos that's how much your baby drinks. But since you need to start expressing at 4.30pm to give yourself time to get ready, you only get 3oz. Uh oh. 2oz short.
You go out and you have fun. But by 7.30pm (3 hours later), you find yourself feeling full and starting to leak. By 10.30pm (6 hours later), you're ready to cut off your boobs before killing yourself. And you're not even home yet. LOL. Meanwhile, your baby is at home, crying cos instead of getting 5oz at 6pm and 5oz at 9pm as he/she usually does, tonight somehow turned out to be diet night and he/she only got 3oz instead of 10oz. 😅
If that was me, I'd have pumped once, DLed, then pumped again before getting ready. Then I'd go enjoy my night out and focus on having a good time instead of focusing on my boobs. And then come home without feeling engorged and proceed to DL my happy baby after kissing him all over. 😆
I can't possibly stress this one more. Throw away that damn clock and BF on demand. That's the beauty of breastfeeding! Imagine the freedom! No watching the clock, no counting hours, and no stressing over ounces. Woohoo!
14. Learn to DL lying down. This is the key to surviving nights with a baby who nurses frequently after sundown and doesn't yet STTN. You'll get the sleep you need to survive the day, and your back will thank you for it, too. Sure, it'll feel awkward at first. And it feels like you're gonna squish and suffocate your baby. 😱 But don't give up. Try and try and try again. It'll be worth it once you get the hang of it.
The greatest myth is to sleep when your baby sleeps. That's what everybody tells new moms. But I'm not the type to be able to fall asleep in a heartbeat. And come on. Which mom has the time to nap 22 hours a day anyway? No need to do other things ah?? For me, I find that I crave my personal time even more now that I am a mom. So if it's the day time, I tend to do my own thing while my kids sleep. Like pangsai in peace. 🤪 Or clip my nails. Or Dayre. Also let's not forget that there's a home to manage somewhere under all that laundry. 🥴
DL-ing lying down allows me to get enough sleep at night without having to nap during the day time. It's not 8 hours and it's definitely not uninterrupted sleep but at least it's enough sleep to go by and not make me feel like passing out from tiredness and sleep depravation by noon. I think this is especially helpful for FTWMs.
15. Breastfeeding is just as confusing for your newborn as it is for you. Someone once told me something that totally changed my perception of breastfeeding. Something I wish I had known before I started breastfeeding JZ. I'm going to tell you that something and include my own thoughts on the matter while I'm at it. Here it is:
"At Adventist Hospital, they make sure your baby knows how to nurse before you go home." Whoa. Mind blown. 🤯
You see, people always tell new moms to "learn how to breastfeed your baby", "hold your baby in the right position" or "make sure your baby latches on correctly". It seems like it's all on the mom to get it right. Right? Wrong! It's the baby who needs to learn how to latch and suckle properly. Mommy isn't the student; she's the teacher!
So when things aren't going the way you plan and you've got a plug, a blister, an exploding boob AND a hungry, crying, wailing baby on hand, remember this – be patient with your newborn. 🙂
Don't get frustrated. Instead, see it this way: If just thrusting your nipple into a mouth already feels sooo difficult for you to master, imagine how much more difficult it is for your newborn (who hasn't mastered much of anything so far) to successfully latch and work out the tongue lapping and swallowing motion required to successfully feed from your breast.
When you think about it, it really isn't fair for you to feel angry or frustrated with your baby who's doing his/her best to learn how to get food from your boob into his/her hungry tummy. You'd take your time to teach him/her in any other situation, right? Like self-feeding or holding a pen or riding a bike. So do the same now with breastfeeding.
16. Find your own solutions to your problems. Remember that we're all individuals with different bodies and different babies. What works for me may not work for you. So do your research, read up on your problem, then try those solutions you think may help you and your baby with your problem. If the first doesn't work, try the second and so on and so forth. My way is just one way and I am just one source. Google will help you find more.
And that's it! Don't stress, Mommies!
The pain never lasts but the memories do. ❤️
So, cuddle your tot and just enjoy the journey because only YOU
will ever get the opportunity to bond with your baby in this magical way.
