Re: nipple shield
My LC at raffles hospital introduce pigeon nipple shield to me. Yes, it’s so difficult to master it!!! Really needs a lot of practice and perseverance. It’s not only use for sore/cracked nipples but also inverted nipples. The 1st few times I use it it kept dropping it. Very pek chek.. But my determinination got the better of me. So, I tried and tried and tried, even to the extent of quarreling with hubby cos my girl was screaming all the way for milk! Slowly I got the hang of it and even use it to breastfeeding in my hubby’s van, everywhere..haha.. Once the baby suckle well on the nipple shield, it will be plastered to your nipple. It works like suction pad. So, it will not drop off easily after that..
Thanks to nipple shield I managed to breastfeed my girl.
Re: breastfeeding,
I think I can write a whole page on it. I’m not one what is blessed with lots of milk and I work hard for 3 months before I can total breastfeed my girl. My hind milk only came in on day 5. Well, having little milk and having over abundance of milk has its pros and crons. My SIL milk supply is so much that she got painful engorgement on day1 of her delivery! I had to go to her home at 12 midnight to help her because she told me she could not stand it and want to give up! I was thinking NOOOOO, so sayang.. When I checked on her, I realized that is painful engorgement like. Her breasts are really like 2 solid rocks! I never had that kind of problem because my girl always managed to finish my breast.. For ladies who are blessed with lots of milk, you need to manage the breastfeeding. For us who are not blessed with milk , we have to work hard for our milk and need lots of perseverance and determination. Yes, cracked nipple usually does happen. I had a few attacks and one that was so bad that when I expressed my milk, my milk turn pink!haha… I was shocked! My nipple were bleeding. So scary right? So, I immediately stop, put nipple cream and do hand expressed. It healed by itself pretty fast. By the next day or so, no more bleeding.
Oh, sore nipple is common. It’s when you’re not latching well and usually when we first started breastfeeding. For newbie, you might experience it for a few weeks because your nipple is not “season”. Really v v sore! A few weeks old baby will want to suckle every other hour and you literally feel like a cow! Not helping that we have to expressed out milk in btw the feeding schedule…haha… I felt so uncomfortable in the beginning with the expressing. I feel like the cow in the field being fondle..hahaha….so gross right? But I tell you, breastfeeding experience is really very very meaningful and sweet. When you baby suckle and fall asleep with a big satisfaction on her face, your heart will be overwhelm with emotion! I love breastfeeding!!! It’s the best experience any mummy can get beside pushing out the baby, ie natural delivery. Who else in the world has this privilege huh? And I always tell fellow mummies and my SIL (to encourage them), our milk is the best gift we can give our baby! Nobody can substitute us!
If I (not well endowed mummy, not blessed with milk and has 2 inverted nipples) can total breastfeed my girl (direct latch), so can any mummies!! If there’s any mummies who think that she doesn’t have milk, it’s because she really doesn’t put in as much hard work and doesn’t have confidence in herself. Breastfeeding is a big sacrifice but it’s totally worth it! Be prepared for sleepless nights because in the beginning you need to wake up in the middle of the night either to breastfeed or to express your milk to increase/maintain the supply. You need to try your best to stick to your schedule so that your body is tune to milk production.
I think I said too much.
I think after when you really breastfeed, you’ll have lots more questions I’ll be happy to offer my advice and encouragement..hehe..
Re: Kelly’s Photography,
I had signed up with my gfs and SIL sometime back liao. So kiasu right? My SIL who gave birth 2 months ago had her pix taken already. I would say it’s very nicely taken. And most importantly I think the fee is affordable taking into consideration, she doesn’t charge house-call fee, no extra charge when she take family pictures and she doesn’t use flash light on your baby which is one the most important criteria! Flash lights contains UV in them and it’s harmful for our baby. For older babies (ideally abt 6-8 months when they can only sit but not crawl), I would recommend seanlau photography but his fee is a bit steep but his style is like anne geddes (world famous baby photographer). I spent $600+ to buy back all my girls pictures! But the pictures are really really very cute!hehe…
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I had that hives too!! It was such a torture!! The more I scratch the more itchy it gets. My skin turn so ugly. After a few days, I BTH, went to see my gynae for remedy. She prescribe calamine lotion and anti-histamine pills (safe for breastfeeding of course) to me. After that, it went away.. Thank god!
.. the confinement period is indeed quite uncomfy.. the physcial pain is still ok. the hormonal upheavals is the sian part.. 
