Tell us about your breastfeeding experience.
I am a 1st time mum and my baby Samaira is 2 months old. My breast after delivery is size 8 with really small nipples. I didn't produce milk for 3 days initially and had to use breast pump to get started. I had lactation problem and had to bottle feed my baby and in between try to make her go for my breast. My nipples were initially sorer as I tried to feed her and so I used a mild nappy rash cream on it after every feed to stop it from getting worse. It worked. I breast pumped every 2 days to see my progress as it was discouraging to see I produced only 1 oz per breast per feed every time I pumped.
Your Breastfeeding Story
Since my milk wasn't coming I would bottle feed her and burp her once so she’s still half full (which made her stop crying) and then breast feed her for 30mins. After that I will again give her bottle milk to ensure she is full. It was encouraging to see her not going for the bottle after that. She started to like breast milk more than bottle so I increased the time of breastfeeding before bottle feeding from 3hr gap to every time she cried which increased the making and flow rate of the milk. Even though my breast is sometimes limp with no milk it is surprising how the lurching to my breast and her chin stimulating the dark circle produces milk instantly for the baby to enjoy. I have a fast letdown now and sometimes she fed for only 10mins initially and now she can go up to 45mins at times. To produce milk I ate lots of ripe pawpaw, watermelon, cheese, fruity yogurt, vico/milo, weetbix, tin fish and/or tin beef and rice everyday which helped a lot as my milk gradually increased to 4oz in 3 wks and its still going up. I breastfeed baby lying down which makes it easy for her to larch on both my nipple and the dark circle around it thus avoiding the cracking of the nipple and her choking on my milk. At first I used to hold my breast between my pointing finger near her nose and middle finger underneath the breast and near to her chin. I realized that I didn’t get the feeling of baby stimulating the dark circle and plus I might be blocking the flow of the milk, so I stopped holding my breast and only used my pointing finger to lightly press the breast skin under her nose so she could breathe properly with one nostril while another is blocked to make sure she sucks hard enough to get to the milk. If she falls a sleep while drinking I don't wake her up as it will irritate her and make her cry so I play blocking and unblocking her nose in a quick movement so as not suffocating her yet forcing her to start sucking even though the eyes are closed. You can tell she is drinking milk seeing the movement of the jaw muscle under her ear. I do this only because I feed her lying down which gives her full control to stop feeding if she’s full or her nose is blocked, or if she needs a few seconds break before feeding again. She enjoys being in control and always looks forward to breastfeeding as she can always have her own way. She breastfeeds exclusively now and when I give her the bottle she rejects strongly...this makes me love her even more. In 2months I have become a happy mum.
Advice
- I have learn that god did not give a time for feeding babies when he made us female who can give birth to such beautiful angels. Different babies have different feeding habits so don't wait for 3hrs before feeding your baby the more frequently u feed the more milk you'll produce due to natural stimulation of the dark circle. the baby will gradually start feeding after longer hours themselves as you go along... starting from every half an hour and moving to 3 hours. Have confidence in your baby, they know what they doing even though it seems they don't. And burp them when they a crying at nipple and not feeding after few minutes.
