Warning: Long Post ahead
I would say that it’s a love hate relationship with breastfeeding. During pregnancy, I read up a lot on breastfeeding, thinking that it will be a walk in the park. Just bring the baby to the breast and job done. But in reality, it’s not. My hubby used to comment – “Babies of mammals can crawl towards mummy’s boobs and auto latch but why the babies of human can’t?”. I find the analogy very apt towards breastfeeding.
On the day of delivery, the nurse brought the baby to my breast for skin to skin and amazingly the baby started to suckle. I thought “wow there’s milk”. To my dismay, my colostrum doesn’t kick in till 3 days later. And this resulted in my baby crying throughout the whole night (see post here). The other noise u will get is of in laws commenting that you don’t have milk and that other mummy has their freezer full of frozen milk. With all the hormones raging, I felt very depressed.
Back home, the confinement nanny suggested supplementing with formula milk first. Mum guilt set in. How can I not have enough milk for my baby! However, I also heard of stories where the mum insisted on not supplementing with formula and baby ended up dehydrated and sent to hospital. My advice here is let go of your mum guilt and just supplement with formula first if your milk have yet to kick in or supply is not enough. The golden phrase that stuck by me is “Best is Fed”. I rather supplement with formula than to starve him. In the initial months, baby needs a lot of milk. During the first 3 months, his internal milk alarm was set at 3 hourly intervals (if bottle feed). When the interval gets shorter, I increased by 10ml. So by 3rd month he was drinking 130ml/3 hourly. However, I do find the information given by confinement nanny contradicting to what I read in the book. For example, book state that newborn stomach is the size of marble, but nanny suggested to start Baby Heng off with 100ml of FM. I guess since I hired her, I got to trust her experience. My nanny is awesome by the way. I hire her for 6 weeks and regretted not hiring her for 8 weeks (she has other job after mine). Do message me if you are keen to have her details. I kind of miss her when she left. I felt that as long as Baby Heng doesn’t puke after drinking, it should be fine. And he is growing well at the 95 percentile. In my post, I will just share on questions that I had when embarking on this journey:
Will I ever have enough to feed my baby without having to supplement FM?
Yes! Initially I thought I was a Low supply mum. Turns out I am a just nice mum (borderline low supply). Baby Heng refuses to latch (probably due to my slow supply compared to bottle) and will scream murder every time I try to latch (it’s a nighmare and I think quite common). So to make life easier for both of us, I tried to latch once a day and became an almost Exclusive Pumping (EP) mum. Best is fed right? I diligently pump (~ 3 to 4 hourly, 30 minutes each pump and aim to power pump for 1 hour twice a day) and by his 2nd month, I do not need to supplement with FM.
For the first two months , my yield is very little, about 40ml each pump and I pump 7x a day and try to latch at least once a day.
From 3rd month onwards, I pump about 7 times a day – 7am, 11am, 2pm, 5.30pm, 9pm (either pump or attempted to latch), 12mn and 4am. I could get about 130ml with each pump so daily is about 910ml. Middle of the night (MOTN) yield is the best so don’t skip that pump until your supply has stabilized. Very tiring but no choice. The tip is to get your hubby to bottle feed baby MOTN while you pump and reward yourself with biscuit and milo. This got better when Baby Heng started sleeping for a longer stretch at about 5 months old.
I got back to work when Baby Heng was about 4 months old, I dropped to 6 pumps – 7am, 11am, 3pm, 8pm (either pump or attempted to latch), 11pm and 4am and overall yield dropped slightly to about 800+ml. Surprisingly I still have enough for Baby Heng without needing to supplement with FM because he started sleeping longer at night, from 130ml he dropped to 120ml and can go longer hours without feed.
Will the number of pumps eventually decrease?
Yes! I wish someone told me this so that I can actually look forward to it. Baby intake will slowly decrease after the initial 3 months (at least for my baby) and decrease even further once he starts solids. Mine actually goes on a milk strike when he is about 4 months old and 8 months old, resulting in a decent stash of frozen milk even though I’m a just nice mum.
What pump to buy and what setting to use?
I read up on review for pumps and decided Spectra S1 (to use at home). As my yield was initially Low, I tried Medela too (2nd Hand from carousel) but I found the yield to be worse than Spectra S1. For portable pumps – Spectra S9 yield wasn’t so good for me so I bought Cimilre F1 which I find the yield to be comparable to S1. Spectra parts can be used for Cimilre. I think it’s a lot of trial and error and you need to see which pump suits you. For me , My each pump last for 30 minutes – 4 minutes on massage (1st letdown), 16 minutes on expression mode, 4 minutes on massage (aim for 2nd letdown), 6 minutes on expression mode. I would also like to share my Spectra S1 setting
What are the various boosters for increase of milk supply?
Unfortunately , I couldn’t find my milk booster despite trying many. I’m listing down what I have tried , hopefully you will find yours
- Papaya Fish Soup
- Kurma Milk
- Red date drink
- Oats (try milkingcow)
- Fish (Salmon , barramundi)
- Durian
- Lactation cookies and brownies (eg SLB, Marian, Shan’s)
- Lactation tea like earth mama Milkmaid tea
- Medication: Domperidone
- https://www.slb.sg/68-foods-that-boost-milk-supply/
- Supplements: Fenugreek , Blessed thistle , moringa, Legendairy Milk – cash cow , liquid gold , pump princess , milkapalooza (was reviews that this worked for many!)
- Non food : boobs massage ( I term it the boob abuse)
What medication can the mother take which is safe for breastfeeding?
Is It possible to relatch?
Yes!! I was surprised too! I become a EP mum (try to latch once a day) after many rounds of “war” with the little one trying to get him to latch. Probably he prefers the faster flow and less energy required to suckle route of the bottle. I tried latching him again at night when the hubby had to go for reservist and I was alone. He was 6 months old. Surprisingly, he was willing to latch! Hence, I started latching him in the morning and at night. During day time if he is at home, I still feed him bottle because he attends infant care and I want to know how much he is drinking. I was ready to give up EP when he turns 6 months old, but the convenience of latching at night kept me going. Latching is so much better than having to hook up to the pump at night and then feed him (no need to sleep already).
Tips:
If you are using spectra and the feeding bottle you are using is not compatible with spectra – consider buying the adaptor. For example, Baby Heng uses pigeon bottles so I bought the spectra to pigeon adaptor so that I can pump and store breastmilk directly into pigeon bottle. This save my time washing another bottle because I don’t have to transfer the milk from pumping bottle to feeding bottle.
The other feeding bottle that is compatible with both pigeon teats and spectra is autumnz bottle. You do not need adaptor to connect the autumnz bottle to spectra and at the same time the pigeon teat can fit on autumnz bottle. Amazing J
Handsfree bra is another life savior must have item. With it, it allowed me to pump and yet free up my hands to eat, drive, do housework etc. I have tried Annee Matthew and Simple Wish Bra and would highly recommend both J
Another tool to consider is Spectra or Freemie HandsfreeFlange. I got the Spectra Handsfree and I would recommend it! There will be times when you are alone with baby and he just want to be carried (for whatever reason) when you are pumping. The wireless handsfree flange allows you to do that J It’s a wireless cup fitted inside your nursing bra.
Website that I thought is good for reference:•
https://www.e-lactancia.org/ –> medication checker https://www.mother.ly/life/to-the-mama-struggling-with-breastfeeding• https://www.mother.ly/child/25-things-i-want-breastfeeding-mamas-to-know• https://www.mother.ly/life/the-best-breastfeeding-advice-i-ever-received-you-dont-have-to-if-you-dont-want-to?itm_source=parsely-api• https://trib.al/YM44ArO