3rd day of going pure total ebm and the supply has been sufficient so far to meet the demand. decided to wean off formula milk to see if i'm able to sustain.. so far so good. i guess doing so, 'forces' me to try to churn out more milk for her. if i always fall back on FM.. i suppose i'll get lazier..
suffers from morning/night sickness/nausea/poor appetite during first trimester
suffers from heartburn/bad acid reflux during last trimester
suffers from backache, massive water retention, sleepless nights becuz of the heavy, growing belly
suffers from becoming damn FAT and ugly
suffers from hairloss
endures disfiguring of the tummy (linea nigra & stretchmarks)
go through labour pains (be it natural or c-section)
suffers the AFTERMATH and excruciating labour pains
suffers from the one month of confinement with rubbish rules
suffers from sore/cracked/bleeding nipples
suffers from piercing pain when baby latches on despite the condition above
suffers from having to pump nonstop round the clock just to feed breast milk to baby
suffers from post-natal blues/hormonal changes/mood swings/depression from sleepless nights (again) and a screaming baby
sacrifices a man have to make to have a baby:
*long pause*
*longer pause*
anyone fill me in on this?
so dont tell me you dont have a life and dont have your own space. it will only make me scream murder.
* * * * *
well to be fair, he HAS done his part, he's..
changed diapers
bathed baby
cup/bottlefed baby
burped baby
carried and soothed baby, all very much like a PRO
and had his fair share of sleepless nights
do i see any light at the end of this tunnel? everyday's been the same, old cycle.. feed baby burp baby diaper change baby soothe baby feed baby burp baby diaper change baby..
u get the idea..
sometimes all it takes is for her to smile... and as cliche as it may sound.. it really makes everything all worthwhile...
hit my record high earlier with a 205ml yield. left side being 80ml and right side being 125ml. but somehow, i still find the need to supplement her with perhaps 10%-20% of FM (formula milk). its been crazy having to pump every 3 hourly.. the best i can manage is 5 pumps within 24 hours.. although ideally its 8 times every 24 hours. dunno how long more my poor boobs can take it. they've been thoroughly abused, squeezed, poked, squish-squashed from all possible angles to make sure that no milk is left behind. but i have to persevere, knowing that i'm giving the best gift i can for Mirabelle.. hopefully the antioxidants and nutrients in my breast milk will be good enough for her to withstand against bad viruses and bacteria.
she's now 2 weeks old :) last visit to PD's 2 days ago, she weighed 3.2kg.. daddy weighed her again this morning, 3.3kg.. 0.1kg in 2 days.. hee.. glad all the ebm (expressed breast milk) is getting into her system well.
frankly, i've been very blessed. for being able to latch her well and she's also able to take both bottle/breast/cup. never knew the depth of difficulties that existed until i hear from the other mommies in the forum. its been both convenient AND inconvenient to latch her. in the middle of the wee hours if she's been fussing, all i need to do is just shove a nip into her mouth and she'd suckle away contentedly till she gets sleepy.. but since its so warm and comfy in my embrace, she tends to sleep more rather than suckle, which meant i have to keep tickling her chin/cheeks/ears to wake her.. and the latching time can get really long.. and the other 'free' nip is happily dripping away, and i was not about to let those precious EBM (expressed breast milk) slip away, so the other hand is kept busy holding an empty bottle to contain the dripping milk. SO, she LOVES to latch.. which could also be tricky, cuz it meant that i cant be doing anything else but to sit there and let her latch! in most cases, babies prefer the bottle cuz of the faster let-down, and reject the nipple cuz of the slower flow.. for belle, its the other way round! she would bawl when the bottle was given and took abit of nudging before she would suckle on the bottle..
milk capacity and pumping
hm, so my boobies have a large capacity.. it does take longer for me to feel engorged.. and i can tahan 9 hours or more before i feel like i really need to pump. ideally i should pump every 3 hours.. but tis so hard! especially if i need to be running errands during the day. take those days where i need to visit her PD (pediatrician) or my own gynae for follow.. many hours are spent outside.. how to pump? and today, some relatives came over to visit.. and i had to miss 2 pumping sessions cuz i also went back home to sayang my cats and pick up some stuffs.. but anyways.. overall, i'm glad that my supply has been slowly increasing.. perhaps due to the nice soups mom has been cooking.. or that i TRY to pump more frequently.. or perhaps its due to fenugreek that i've been taking..
baby has been feeding so frequently and its round the clock and hubby and i can never remember when our last feed was and the quantity, so we've started recording down every single feed and end time plus the capacity she took.. i've also started a pumping schedule to track how much milk i can actually pump out in a day..
Sunday, 21 Mar 12noon - 175ml (highest record so far) 5pm - 130ml 9pm - 130ml 1.30am - 140ml
As u can see from the records, the yield has suddenly gone up quite abit on sunday, after 5 more pumps the day before.. hopefully this pattern continues..