Breastfeeding Support Group

[jastan]

desert
After delivery, I stop all those prenatal vitamins and calcium, except that I am taking the fish oil. Will be stopping on that too coz stopping BF soon.

angelia
I start my boy on solid when he's 6mth, but when he's around 4.5mth, I introduce to him feeding by spoon for fruits and mixing rice cereal with EBM and feed him through bottles.

 

[calla]

Desert,
same as Jas, I stopped those pills after I hav delivered.

Jas,
Aiya, can still continue the fish oil har? I throw away leh so wasteful

 

[chloemum]

Hi All,
I would like to check whether it's alright if I don't express my breastmilk during the day but just feed direct to my baby at night?

Will the milk go bad from keeping too long in my breast?

 

[qhl]

hi desert,

I stopped the vitamins, but am taking cod liver oil capsules.

Hi Chloe, dun think the milk will go bad...but can you tahan the engorgement? Also, your body could be trained to just produce milk at that timing. But the supply may not be adequate??

 

[chloemum]

Hi QHL,
I'm already on the 7th month to breastfeeding.
The supply is not so much already. Currently, only enough for baby's night feed.

Btw, does your baby still wake up at night for feed? Mine still does... how do we train her to stop waking up at night for feed?

 

[qhl]

hi chloe,

wow....envy you for getting past the 6mth mark. I still have halfway to go. Praying that my supply dun dry up for whatever reason.

Yup. My bb still wakes up, usually twice a night. xiao xiao one, sometimes only once, othertimes can be three or more. But I have a feeling he's just waking up for fun cos he suckles like maybe a few minutes before drifting back to Grandpa Zhou's place again.

Apparently the few main methods are:-
1. Feed only water when bb wakes up. eventually they will learn that waking up only get water, no point.

2. Ignore cries. again lesson learnt that crying dun help, so better not to bother to wake

I think I too softhearted to try either methods. Just let it be and see how. Hoping that when bb starts on solids, life will get better.

 

[calla]

Chloe,
No lah, how could the milk in the brs go bad??

Do you intend to stop b/f soon? otherwise I wld advise you to continue to express in the day and latch on your bb at nite.

 

[stylobb]

Hi gals
Did not write cos busy at work..

Masshiro
I only noticed that in the first three months, bbs tend to double their weight and after that slow down. But strangely Jesse put on 1 kg from 5.5 to 6.5 mths even tho he had a bit of running nose due to the dust thingy.

angelia
Sorry, I can't recall what exactly you asked. We bring our boy back every nite, been like this since day one. It's tiring but no regrets. Of coures hb getting involved and helping a lot lightens the burden otherwise I dun think Ican cope.

jas
Yah, it looks like a mini notebook, I just surf with it on my lap and it does not heat up at all.

 

[desert]

Miu/QHL/Jas
Aiyoh, my gynae told me to continue to take them as long as I'm bf. So I've been taking them for 5mths + now. So I think shd be ok if I stop when my ss runs out.

Chloemum
After my boy is on 3 solids meal, I am actually interested to continue to feed my boy for as long as he wants if it is possible to just hv one morning and nite feeds. I am also wondering will I hv enuff milk to do so and is it ok if I dun express in the day time.

Stylobb
Just read tt Jesse poo poo in the bumbo. So cute, yah it does looks like a potty, no wonder he's mistaken. But nvr mind, tt means he's toilet trained rite?

 

[blessed]

hi angelia,

how old is ur bb now?

hi dessert,

think our gynae the same

...she say only calcium is needed when my multivit ran out. so she asked how long i plan to bf...hehe n i say 12mths. so she prescrible 3 bottles of calcium for me. but i lazy, always forget to take.

 

[calla]

hi desert,
your boy is on 3 solid meals liao? Jus started my gal rice cereal every morning. Not much, jus one tablespoon.

stylobb/Jas,
stop b/f aredi?

 

[deon]

Thanks Stylobb,Jas. Hope my baby's weight can double in 3 months..Think his weight gain so far should be alright lah. My baby is starting to respond when we talk to him, with smiles and vocal sounds like he's trying to talk..so getting fun to play wif now.

Bet your babies are so much fun now at 6 months. It's such a joy watching our babies grow up, isn't it.

I'm not a religious person, but I'm really so thankful to God that I can have a healthy baby. That's all mothers just want isn't it?

 

[missylan]

what are the things mom shld avoid to eat while breastfeeding? Heard that Ginger and Chinese Herbal shld be avoided... why?

 

[calla]

missylan,
I know must avoid taking ginseng cos' it will decreases the ss. The rest not too sure

 

[jastan]

miu
yeah fish oil can continue, so wasted you throw them away. in fact I bought some more from my gynae.

chloe
milk in the breast will not turn bad, they are always fresh as long as it still inside our body.

blessed
angelia's bb is still growing comfortably in her tummy...

miu
have not stop BF yet.. you? intent when to stop? I will be cutting down pumping session from 4X to 2X in another week or two.

but seems like these few days my ss decreases themselves, now I take longer time just to express the same amount of BM needed. so sian... looks like it a signal to me to stop liao.

 

[blanche]

Hi,

Would like to check with all the experts here... I'm currently 3.5 months preggy, due in Jan and looking around and reading around for good breast pumps. Realised that there are sooo mannnny types.

Would be happy if you could enlighten on which are the pumps you find useful. I intend to pump when I go back to work as well.

Thanks a million!

 

[stylobb]

Hey gals
Only managed to log in now..

Masshiro
Yah, be thankful for our bbies... Jesse is talking and squealing nowadays.

miu
Only express once.... and can see ss is decreasing.. so I just feed him watever I can express... Funny my parents asked me if Ihave stopped..

desert
Yah, not so cute when it happened...cos hb was alone with bb while I was out having dinner....he did not know whether to save the bumbo or bb first cos so much shit.... he said he is traumatised....I say, wah, bb so good, save mummy from the mess...
Btw it's more expensive to get from UK...

 

[mar_mum]

Can I have some advice from mummies here? I'm starting my boy on semi-solid. Which brand is better? Brown rice or plain rice?

 

[angph38]

<font color="aa00aa">blessed,</font>

like what <font color="ff6000">jasTan</font> mentioned, my bb still growing comfortably in my tummy (but i not so comfortable now

)

asked so many qns cos wanna prepare myself with more info 1st, since there are so many mummies here. don't want to panic when my time comes (though, i guess, more or less still will panic

)

 

[qhl]

hi angelia/blanche,

Enjoy the days of 'peace' and sleep well at night...things will never be the same once bb is out. Anyway, just prepare yourselves that bm supply doesn't come naturally and abundantly (at least to most of us). Perservere and all will be well.

Blanche, I use Avent manual pump. Quite tiring, but it's very portable. Also cos i alternate like mad during pumping - so it's good for me and the price is affordable.

 

[deon]

Hi Stylobb,
I love hearing my baby making those baby sounds like trying to talk. So it must be fun playing with Jesse now. Usually around when will baby start calling papa or mama?

Blanche,
I'm currently using the Avent manual pump. I find it quite good, but can be tiring and time consuming esp if you need time off to pump during office hours. If you intend to pump often, then maybe can consider those electric double pump. Ihaven't used that b4, maybe those that have can advise. I'll be sticking to Avent manual cos I find it cheap and good

 

[desert]

Blessed
I think we got the same gynae...wk tan rite?? Anyway, I'll stop when my calcium and multivitamins run out, since I've been taking them for so long already.

Miu
No lah. I mean when my boy is on 3 solid meals a day, I want to bf him only in the morning and nite only. Currently, he's also on one cereal meal in the morning + 1 tablespoon of fruits and veg. Aiyoh, he's still eating less than the recommended amt of cereal.

Stylobb
Aiyoh..ur poor hubby, can imagine the scene. I tot it was quite funny, coz our family always laugh when my boy anyhow poo poo. Sometimes I think my boy can understand tt we are laughing at him, coz he will be angry. Yesterday, my boy actually managed to poo in the potty. His 1st time.

 

[littleprince]

hi, QHL

can the milk expressed from both breasts be contained in the same milk bottle? thks!

hi, blanche

i just bought my double electric pump fm Medela at an offer, u may wish to chk it out at Moms &amp; Babes at Plaza Singapura .. there are some comments tt the pump is pretty noisy but when i went down to view it, the noise is okie to me .. currently selling at an offer price with freebies .. u may want to go down and take a look, they sell avent pumps too.

 

[calla]

morning mummies...

Jas/stylobb,
Aiyo! my gynae didnt tell me can continue taking the fish oil

I am still expressing. I think I will jus continue until one fine day......

I was jus wondering if reduce the pumping session, how long it will take for the milk to be totally dry/gone.

desert,
How many tablespoons of rice cereal are you giving to Ivan? I can sense dat debbie "eats" until she very frustated so I pour the cereal (very watery) into a bottle and feed her.

little prince,
of course the expressed bm from both brs (which are expressed on the same time) can be put in a same bottle

 

[mini]

miu,
so u have decided to continue with bf? think i also leh.. at first wanna stop when bb 6mths but most prob will continue but dunno till when. think max will b 9mths n that will b dec already. feel wasted to stop hor since still have supply n bb still want brs.

stylobb, jas
when u plan to completely stop expressing?

 

[calla]

mini,
Good then, we can encourage each other

I dun have a date in mind to stop b/f, jus take a step at a time to see how. If my gal shows dat she is able to take more solid meals &amp; reduce her milk intake. Then probably I wld want to stop b/f.

 

[qhl]

hi blanche,

One thing more, this kind of thing (aka pump) nonid to rush to buy. Wait until there is irresistable offer. I got my manual pump at $59 - think offer price thereabouts. Must tell yourself There's always another promotion coming up.

I bought my avent steriliser at $115...only to see 1 month later Taka selling limited sets at $96 (thereabouts).....a bit 'tui'.

 

[jastan]

mini
I not sure yet, now trying to reduce the session as my boy now no need so much milk as he is taking porriage for 2 meals, and I got no more space in the freezer to store the EBM already.

mar_mum
I gave my boy Heinz Rice cereal. Not sure which is good but use Heinz as it is plain rice cereal and not milk-based, so I can mix with EBM.

 

[lyn_tan]

Hi all mums, understand tat we hv to keep chk on the type of food we eat, cos what we eat goes to the bb rite?? So what r the food we cant eat/drink??? Currently my bb is 1mth old. Giving him EBM n occassionly FM for nite feed.

 

[qhl]

hi lyn_tan,

Actually moderation is key. But cos my bb's skin sensitive, I now avoid shellfish like prawns, mussels etc like the plague. At most only take 1 piece a day. Find that it seems to help.

My dad told me to avoid the Del Monte type bananas (like during pregnancy). I just whack other foods lor - even took a coconut...

Other things could be like alcohol and caffeine.

 

[qhl]

hi mommies,

was wondering if I can fill a bowl with water, put my pump inside and microwave it to sterilise the pump? Any ideas??

Nid to sterilise the pump in a hurry...

Didn buy the microwave steriliser, so not sure what's involved.

 

[blessed]

hi <font color="0077aa">blanche</font>

when i was preg, i intended to TBF, but not sure how successful. so i bought a Avent manual pump. after i gave birth n succeded TBF, i bought a Medela PIS which i think is very good. I still use the avent manual pump when my gal dun empty my breast n i lazy to set up the PIS, so juz use the manual one to pump.

hi <font color="ff0000">desert</font>
ya its WKtan. i think most impt is hv a healthy diet

hi <font color="119911">angelia</font>
ooh i see...i think i see u in other thread too, n tot ur bb still in ur tummy, so ask u to confirm

... juz my view, when bb is out, u'll sure to not bear leave him/her overnight at caregiver! i m not a children person, but when my gal arrived, i juz feel a need to b near her n take care of her myself

 

[stylobb]

Masshiro
How, busy at work?
Just checked the development chart, possibly after 7-8 mths, they can mouth 'da' and 'ma'....now Jesse will squeal or chuckle loudly or if he wants my dad or hb to carry, he will grunt loudly. Just now it was quite funny cos we were in the lift, we were standing behind this man, Jesse tapped him with his hand and went 'eh'...

desert
But it was not funny to my hb when it happened... he felt so helpless...hehehe....

miu/mini
My supply dipped from 80ml to today, around 20ml over about 2 weeks or so. What I did was after I managed to skip the night expressing, I would express in the morning....then on weekends, I started to delay ie instead of 7am, I would do it at 10am... then 2pm... and then dun express on weeknite until at 9+pm...brs not so hard and I think less and less bm, I think overtime it would stop naturally.

angelia
So have you decided to bring bb home? Understand if caregiver stays far, it'll be tiring to do it esp after work, for us we live near to our parents so we bring bb back every nite.... used to it already.

jas
Did you manage to scale down your expressing ??

 

[stylobb]

QHL
I really agree with you, I really miss those 'sleeping in peace' days with no interruption... hmm....now never get to really sleep thru, cos when bb makes a bit of noise, it's like auto-wake-up call! Plus nowadays he has habit of kicking his leg on the cot bars.

 

[angph38]

<font color="aa00aa">blessed,</font>
hahaha.. maybe shld wait &amp; see how lor. many oso told me i won't bear to leave the kid overnight at my mum's place.


<font color="aa00aa">stylobb,</font>
hmm.. at the moment, still hoping can dun bring the kid back everyday. guess the best solution is to psycho my mum to move over lah

 

[desert]

Miu
He takes 2 tablespoon if its Heinz rice cereal or Frisocream. If its Si shen brown rice, he only takes a tablespoon. The recommended amt is abt 3/4 tablespoon. He has no problem eating his fruits and veg though. I cannot feed him thro the bottle coz he's totally rejecting the bottle again. Hiaz...

Stylobb
So u are stopping, when ur milk runs out naturally? I think I will hv a problem weaning my boy off fr my breast, daytime shd be ok, but he's quite attached to it at nite. I will be starting to drop his evening feed when he turns 6 mths and I can introduce porridge to him.

Blessed
Ya.. a balanced diet shd be sufficient. But I am guilty of taking unhealthy stuff all the time, maybe tt's why my wt nvr gone down much. haha...I remembered asking wk tan for fish oil when I was preggy and got a "scolding" fr her.

 

[calla]

morning mummies,

Stylobb,
over 2 wks then drop 20ml, dat's kinda slow. I think probably it will takes 2 mths for the ss to be entirely gone??

I think my ss increase again. Haiz...
Last nite, I got 400ml I think I can get more than 400ml if I keep on expressing but my hands are tired and I am so sleepy so I stopped at 400ml.

Desert,
Thanks for your info.

 

[nattylooi]

Hi Ladies,

There's a public talk tomorrow on down syndrome by SGH O&amp;G Dept. Thot you'd be interested.

Date: Saturday, 24 July 2004 (tomorrow)
Time: 2pm-4.30pm (1.30 reg)
Venue: Auditorium, 5th Floor, Revenue House
55, Newton Road, Singapore 307987

Fees: $8 per person
$15 per couple

If interested please call senior staff nurse (SGH) Choon Tee at 63265923 (8am-5pm)

2pm: What is down syndrome? What causes it? Who is at risk? Do they have special needs?

2.30pm: Screening tests for DS in pregnancy. Ultrasound? Blood tests? Both?

2.50pm: Diagnostic tests in Pregnancy-amniocentisis, chronic villous sampling

3.10pm: Putting it all together- which tests do I need?

3.35pm: Ready for "Newlife"?

3.50pm: Q&amp;A

4.15pm: Refreshments

 

[mini]

miu,
thats alot of milk leh! wont ur brs feel v full n leak milk? so far i can nvr hit 300ml even though brs already leaked milk due to fullness. so i guess ur supply is much more than demand? sometimes i also afraid ss increase as bb will slow down milk intake when they take more solid n really headache what to do with excess milk. also afraid harder to stop bf. think will take 1-2mths for ss to be entire gone.

 

[calla]

hi mini,
400ml is after 9hrs. My brs aredi engorged by then. Feel very hard so must quickly pump it out.

So far, my brs very long never leak (touchwood) but once I start to pump on side, the other side will leak. Last time during my confinement, my brs will automatically leak after 3hrs. But hor, when I pump, I only can get 60ml

I am aredi producing more than demand but must continue to pump otherwise I scared ss will drop.
I jus freeze the excess milk, even resort to use my SIL's fridge to store the ebm.

 

[jastan]

stylobb
yeah, just started to try to reduce to 3x yesterday and will continue for about 1 week, then switch to 2x. so far when switch to 3x it still okay, not much of engorgement.

now my boy is having lunch and dinner of either porriage or sweet potato, so he consume much less milk, so have to cut down my pumping schedule as my freezer got no more space for milk. I just throw away a few packets of frozen EBM which are more than a month old yesterday, will be throwing some everyday.... he cannot finish the cold EBM already, so unlikely he will have the chance to use frozen EBM.

miu
I like you freeze the excess milk in both my mum's fridge and my fridge, but seldom utilised as my boy cannot finish the fresh cold EBM already, in the end like what I am doing now, got to throw again packs of expired EBM which are more than a month... sigh... if I know got to throw away ultimately, might as well throw away then rather than freeze, at least can save some storage bags...

 

[deon]

Hi Stylobb,

Jesse so cute...know how to interact with other pple already...must have been funny.

Hi Jas,
Wah..so heartpain to throw bm. For me, every drop so precious cos I can't squeeze out a lot. REally envious the rest of them here who can express so well...to me, sometimes getting 60ml is a struggle.

I'm trying all kinds of methods to increase supply, like pumping every 3 hrs in office, eating fish, drinking water, latching on at home, getting up in middle of night to pump also..but still supply is pathetic..sigh..

 

[calla]

Jas,
You are throwing away those frozen bm which are more than a mth?? I thot frozen bm can be kept for min 2 mths??

 

[qhl]

hi miu,

my pd recommend not more than 1 month. Those around that time has a smell when defrosted.

In fact when I read the instructions in Medela and Pigeon pumps. They reccomend like 2 weeks or something. I nearly fainted cos at that time I had packs that were 1.5months old.

 

[qhl]

hi jas,

Actually was telling myself that I should've drank it up instead. Had a 'da sao chu' last week to clear old stocks.

But then think can kiss my weight loss hopes if I were drinking the same stuff my bb drinks

 

[calla]

QHL,
thot I saw frozen bm can be stored up to 2 mths. Mayb I shd dig up my notes to refer.

Anyway, thanks for telling me. It is always good to let our bb drink "fresher" bm.

Hav a nice weekends ahead mummies!

 

[priviledged]

Hi all. Does anyone know how much breast milk we can expect to pump out AFTER bb has nursed both breasts? Anybody done this before? My bb is about 6 wks old.

Masshiro, my breast milk also quite low at the moment. Trying to stimulate and empty the breasts out to produce more.

I have so little confidence at the moment that my BM is enough for my bb. How? I want to stop this expressing and feed direct, but I'm so unsure that bb is getting enough ... how?

 

[jastan]

miu/qhl
Can store up to 2 mths provided that the freezer is soley for freezing EBM. Mine is not so and morever i don't like to give my boy EBM that are more than a month old. So got to be hard-hearted a bit lor, just close one eye and throw those expired ones. It's a bit wasted but what to do, nobody wants such EBM.

masshiro
my ss also so so only, still enough for my boy coz my boy since 4mth only take 120-130ml every 3hrs till now. And now he's taking porriage for lunch and dinner, the total requirement for milk decreases. If my boy demands 150ml-180ml milk, I will not have enough BM for him as well.

priviledged
I tried initally to pump after nursing my boy, but only get very little like 30-50ml after much struggle, which I gets demoralised. so trying a few times still the same, I give up already pumping after nursing.

 

[mini]

priviledged,
i pumped out after bb drank n only get max 20ml of milk only. only did that 1-2times n find it no pt since wasting effort. if u want to increase supply can try tandem pump, i.e. pump on 1 br when bb suck on the other at the same time. then offer bb the pumped br. in this way it is telling ur body to produce more milk. since ur bb is 6wks already, think ur ss should have establised. u must be confident that bb is getting enough as this helps to boost up ur moral.

 

[priviledged]

Thanks all for the encouragement. I think bb is much better now. She seems quite satisfied most of the time if I make sure she sucks well, and leave her until she relaxes and falls asleep/un latches herself. She doesn't take very long to suck most of the milk out - about 7-8 mins. After which I do a bit of breast massage to help her get a little more.