Mothering

Other than the self indulgent baby pics (it's true that mothers fall in love with their kids), my regular readers will notice that I haven't posted anything substantial of late.

While I know of many fellow mums out there who follow this blog, many of the posts that I write are penned with the purpose of sharing my experience with other mum-to-bes or mum-hope-to-bes - which I previously was. I wanted a honest to goodness, frank look at the pregnancy experience - something I hope I've achieved with this blog so far.

Now that Ellis is here, I guess it is just a natural progression to move on to the mothering bit. I haven't written much on this yet mainly because I haven't had much time - Ellis is a bit of a crankpot in the day - sleeping only short intervals in her crib and crying to be picked up when she's not asleep. Secondly, there is just so much going on - so many new things to speak of, I don't know where to start! But let me try.

I've decided to go on a topical basis - starting with breastfeeding since it now takes up such a significant part & time of my life. Although practically none of us were breastfed (I'm a formula baby and have no allergies, asthma or eczema), mums are now under so much pressure to breastfeed that the inability to do so puts tremendous guilt on us.

I, too was also sold on the idea - after all, books, hospitals, lactation consultants all proclaim that "breast is best". I planned on breastfeeding ellis, but tried to mentally prepare myself that I might have to bottle feed as I had heard/read about women who encountered a lot of problems with it. Not to mention the scary pictures and stories the instructor at prenatal class told us about. Mastitis, engorged breasts, sore and cracked nipples, etc etc.

And then there was the mechanics of it all.

Will baby latch properly? Nipple confusion? Milk supply? Scheduled or on demand feeding? Feed directly or express? Manual or electric pump?

I'm happy to say that Ellis and I managed to figure out the whole breastfeeding thing with relatively little fuss. I was fortunate in that Ellis was a full term baby and she learned to latch on properly with some practice.

+ It isn't as hard as it seems. I was so apprehensive about breastfeeding based on what I had read - especially the whole demand supply thing which seemed like a very delicate balance which I wasn't sure if I could achieve. I was a little blur at first - I didn't even know when I was engorged initally - but eventually I learned to listen to what my body was telling me.

+ Latch early and often. I started in the delivery suite when baby's suckling reflex is still strong and to stimulate milk production. I wasn't even sure if there was any milk but I just did it anyway. Luckily Ellis went along with it!!!

+ Get the latching on right from the beginning. I went for nursing classes at the hospital every day and asked loads of questions. I asked for help from the nurses when breastfeeding her in my room and even stayed an extra day in hospital to make sure that I would be confident enough on my own at home.

+ I'm not achieving sprays of milk (nor the supposed tingly "let-down") but this hasn't stopped me from successfully breastfeeding.

+ Don't be afraid of formula. My milk supply wasn't sufficient in the beginning - Ellis didn't poo for 4 days after returning home from hospital - so I topped up with formula. It was one feed during the night - I only had to do this three times till my milk supply caught up. And it didn't result in any nipple confusion either, unlike what the books and lactation consultants tell you. In fact my gynae and paed advised me to do the same thing. I'd rather supplement formula than have my baby starve.

+ Ask for breast massages if you have a post natal massage lady. I did and it really helped with unblocking the milk ducts and engorgement.

My two cents worth on my experience breastfeeding. Hopefully it's more helpful than just what the parenting books provide.