hi all
i also would like to share with all of you my experience. Not sure if it'll help, but hope it can encourage some of you in some small little way.
my baby boy was born in aug 07, and i'm very blessed because he can latch on very naturally and well. i'd a emergency c-section, so latching on was quite painful due to the position. i bought a my brest friend and that helped a lot. baby was slightly jaundiced, and had to stay on in hospital while i was discharged earlier. so those few days without baby, i just kept massaging the breast and squeezing out the milk. i remember the KK LC said, no pain no gain. the colustrum, interestingly, is very orange in colour. looks like orange juice.
once baby came home, i started to latch him on for every feed and after that i massage and squeeze out or pump out whatever milk i can so as to increase supply.
however, during 1st month confinement, i caught a bad flu bug, and not wanting to spread to him, i started expressing using my ameda pump and got my mother to feed baby instead.
after 1st month, my mom went home and i handled baby alone with maid. i still continued latching on, but introduced 1 bottle feed in the afternoon (3pm) per day to baby. that turned out to be a wise decision.
when baby just turned 2 months old, one night, baby was especially hungry, kept waking up for feeding. at about 4am, when i finished feeding baby and was seated on the sofa, i suddenly felt a sharp pain at my back. i forcedly walked myself back to baby's room and put him safely down on the mattress. afterwhich i walked back to my own bedroom so that i can lie down to rest. however, before i could reach the bed, the sharp pain at my back was so bad that i can feel myself fainting. i called out to hubby and before i knew it i already blacked out and hit my head against the floor. hubby could not really catch me in time. when i regained consciousness, hubby told me i was in fits. i slowly climbed back to bed and felt a bit better. however, a few hours later, when i tried to go to the toilet, i almost fainted again from the pain. i'd to be taken to tan tock seng in an ambulance.
i hurriedly asked my mom to pack my manual and electric breast pump as i knew i'll be away from baby for some time. at the hospital, after all the tests and screenings, both breasts were already terribly engorged as it was quite a long time from the last time i can sit up and feed / pump. i was diagnosed as having a slipped disc on my spinal cord. for the next few days, i could not walk, nor sit up properly, totally bed-ridden. i was so tempted to give up breastfeeding at that time. but i told the doctors i want to continue and try to pump out so that i can continue feeding when i return home. i was told that it'll take at least 6 weeks before i can recover if i've to undergo a surgery. it was really very tough and i prayed to God for strength. with the nurses help to prop me up in bed, get the pump for me, and throw away the milk (as i was on super strong painkillers), and wash the pump for me, i was able to pump four times a day. at one point i actually asked the nurse, can u tell doctor i don't want to breastfeed anymore, can you give me some medicine to stop the flow. but the nurse told me, i don't think we have the medicine now, need to wait, why don't you tahan a bit more.
i must thank her for that. miraculously, on the 4th day in hospital, i started to be able to sit up, and stand up without wanting to black out from the pain. by the 5th day, i started walking with a walking aid for very short distances. by the 6th day, i could bathe on my own, imagine how happy i was. i was discharged on the 7th day, although i still needed a lot of help walking. i requested for breastfeeding-save pain medication and discussed at length with the doctors. they finally gave me something of the same family as ponstan and i was able to continue feeding baby through pumping (i still don't have any strength to carry baby).
meanwhile, when i was hospitalised, my mom was feeding baby the extra frozen milk that i managed to keep during the 1st 2 months. good thing baby wasn't fussy, he was able to drink from the bottle. as we all didn't know how long it'll take for me to return home, mom also introduced baby to FM, which he took to it quite well too.
after i was discharged, my milk supply went very low. i'd lost about 4kg and maybe it's the medicine or hospital food, the milk looks very diluted and watery. i could only pump 6oz every 6 hours instead of 10oz every 6 hours.
however, i persevered, and ate a lot of fish, pigs trotters, spare-ribs, eggs etc. i slept a lot (was sleeping on 2hrs on average in hospital as the ward was very noisy, the other patients were moaning through the night). finally, my supply went back to normal and i was able to meet baby's demands, and went back to TBF through pumping.
i went back to work after my mc, when boy is about 3.5 months old. i started a strict schedule of pumping. 5am, 10am, 3pm, 8pm, 12midnight, and slowly reduced to 5am, 11am, 4pm, 11pm, and now 3 times a day at 6am, 3pm, 10pm. i'm kept busy all day with work, physiotherapy sessions at TTSH, daily exercise to strengthen the back muscles and the usual baby care work.
i'm happy to share that my son is now 7.5 months, 9+kg and is a TBF baby who has started on solids. i even managed to have an excess of 70+ packs of EBM frozen in the fridge (some have expired though).
to all those struggling in one way or other, jia you!
