My Breastfeeding Journey

Aisyah will be 2 years old this coming 26 Nov 2015. I started breastfeeding her just after I got out from the labor room, it felt amazing and weird at the same time.

Then the night after labor, I kept on breastfeeding her every 4 hours. But after we came back to my mom's house (where I had my confinement days), she kept on crying and sucking my milk like my milk was not enough. She was also crying like mad. To think back, I think there was "something" at my mom's house who disturbed her. Since we couldn't stop her from crying, we went to hospital and she was admitted into NICU for 2 days. During the 2 days, she drank formula milk. I just came during lunch and at evening to breastfeed her.

After she came back home, it was quite a struggle to breastfeed her. We (my husband and I) couldn't find the right position and we were wondering whether she drank enough. Then the nurse came and said she still had jaundice. OMG. We definitely need to make sure she drank ENOUGH milk. So I alternated between direct breastfeeding and bottle fed her. The jaundice reduced to safety level just before she reached 14 days old. Alhamdulillah.

I must say we struggled for almost 1 month just to ensure she latched properly. I believed sometimes she had that nipple confusion too. To be truth, there were times that I almost gave up breastfeeding. Seem like she didn't had enough milk, had trouble finding my nipple, she threw up many times, and that nipple crack and sore. All that lead to frustration and tension. I need to give credit to my husband here because he was really supportive, he googled how to latch properly, help me bottle fed her while I pumped my milk and a lot more. I really appreciate what he did. Thanks sayang.

My mom also kept saying I need to gave her bottle so that she can accept bottle when I started working. So at night I direct fed her but during the day I bottle fed her so that she will get used to it. But soon nearing to the end of my maternity leave, she suddenly rejected bottle. She didn't want bottle at all. Oh my goodness, its like my effort of pumping and bottle fed her before was nothing. Seriously it was tiring practicing giving her bottle because I need to pump, bottle fed her and washed all the bottles. Salute to all EP mom out there. So I guessed for the second baby, I don't want to practice giving bottle to my baby. Let it all come naturally. Haha.

Soon afterwards she can accept drinking milk from bottle because we kept on bottle fed her. Alhamdulillah.

throwback Aisyah when she was 5 months old

Before I started working, I tried to produce some stock of milk. I think my stock was around 80 oz before I started working. How I produced the stock? After I direct fed Aisyah, I will pump. My yield was only 1 oz/pump but I never gave up. Better small than nothing.

At the office, I pumped for three times a day. My schedule was at 10.30am, 1.30pm and 430pm.  It was only recently like when Aisyah was 22 months old, I reduce my pumping frequency to 2 times a day and when she was 23 months old, I stopped pumping. But she still breastfeeding at night. I know for sure it will be difficult to wean her off. I don't want to push it too. I want it to happen naturally, maybe some motivation words to her like saying:

" Bila Aisyah dah 2 tahun, Aisyah dah tak bole nenen, kalau sikit2 je boleh"

I noticed nowadays she didn't asked for nenen as much as before. Alhamdulillah.

Since she started eating, she didn't drink a lot of milk anymore. She used to drink 4 bottles x 4 oz per day during the day, then reduced to 3 bottles x 4 oz, then 2 bottles x 4 oz and  sometimes 1 bottle x 4 oz. It kept decreasing based on her need because she eats quite a lot.

There were times when I couldn't produce milk based on her demand, it happens when she reached 20 months, So I tried giving her formula milk but she rejected it. Then my supply increased back and I can catch up to her demand again. Since now I don't pump anymore, she drinks formula milk during the day.

May Allah ease our journey.

Till then, Assalamualaikum.