Any non breast-feeding mummy.... from start

[mummy_bean]

Hi Sonia:

thanks for sharing ur sorrows with me. Ya I felt exactly like how u felt then. My tears just well up I am not sure why am I so vulnerable and I dare not tell my closed ones fearing they might be suspecting me getting post natal blues and etc. And I felt worse cos all my friends around me BF their kids and I am actually wondering how come I am the only oddball that can't do it. My husband was consoling me we all grew up drinking formula and we all did well. Perhaps its the anticipation to BF my little one since day 1 I knew I had him in me. I guess like u say time heal all wounds. I felt much better reading all ur stories here. And I believe time will heal my wound. =) Thanks for the encouragement !

Hi Mae Siew,

my flow was real slow too. And my MIL and my mum told me they dun even have a drop too. I think it all depends on individual. I think ur massage lady was quite cute. ha. Actually I do have friends who anti-BF like one of my good friend she is a Staff Nurse she told me she anti-BF and never believe in this. And she told me she got loads of supply but she just let the milk flow til they dried up. ha. So I guess ur massage lady might be right. Its the promotion of BF that makes us feel BF is a necessity. But I am glad that ur gal is doing fine and give me some encouragement that without my BF, my son will do as well too. =)

 

[maesiew]

Hi Mummy Bean!

Oh not only me no milk.. I thought it's necessary EVERY mommy should have milk. Then how those stone age people feed their NB? (Oh ya.. got nanny right? Or so call NAI MA) =p

So surprised that even a Staff Nurse don't believe in BM. Everyone says BM super good.

But, some say unless you very healthy than BF is good for bb. How we know the cow is healthy too? Confusing right? (eh.. i seem not helping at all..)

Anyway... as long baby is fine, who cares! No BM means we no suffer from cracked nipple, hard-stoned breasts every 3 hours =) And we still get our own pre-pregnancy pretty nipples =)

BTW, my aerola still big and dark brown.. Hope that it would be back to 'normal' soon!

 

[mummy_bean]

Hi Katie's Mum,

ha...ya I also thought so too... actually I still have a bit of milk supply so I am still diligently pumping at every 2 hourly hopefully my milk supply will go up and got hubby to buy Fenugreek from GNC..giving it a last try...

ya true... I am also very confusing on the part about BF and cow's milk la... yesterday when I was making FM for my junior, I told my husband even the tin wrote Breastmilk is still the best for baby. Please check with your physician before feeding formula milk to your baby. Even formula milk advertise for BF..so I believe they must have had their own reason...

actually my nipple is already quite back to the pre pregnancy state... but there is still milk coming out... so I also dunnoe am I consider drying up ? anyway I seeing a breast specialist on Mon..hence I think my doubts would be cleared by then... =) no worries.. I think ur nipples would return back to pre pregnancy state very soon... cos I just had the infection for a few days...my nipples just soften alot all of a sudden...

 

[maesiew]

Mummy Bean

My auntie told me that fry the black beans and then boil or soak in water n drink it (tastes extermemly awful) can stop the milk flow liao. It was passed down 'recipe'.

I was told not to take those pills to stop the milk... your boobs will shrink ALOT! Scarly even A cup also cannot fit how?!

For me, totally no much pain at all.. Only encoutered few times and no more feeling, breasts all go soooooooooooo soft (pregnancy went to B1 and after deliver B3 now B2). hahahahahahaahahahahah!

 

[bbfelice]

Cheers up mummies

No matter whether is BF or FM so long our baby take it well & grow healthy, that's most important. Don't have to stress ourself on this.

In fact for me, it's my colleagues who stressed me that I should BF my girl

 

[mummy_bean]

Katie's Mom,

is it ? haha... I had no cup size prob... cos I had been having too much fats over the boobs since sec school days... before pregnant...was a D cup and pregnant a DD then deliver E..now think back to D...cos totally soft also... well..the breast specialist just tell me to keep on let my bb suck to stimulate the flow... think I am almost on the verge of giving up..now I can only supplement his FM with BF....doing it the other way round...

Hi June,

my colleagues also stressed me to BF my boy.. when I go back to deliver the full month cakes..everyone has been asking me did I BF..and all of them BF their kids and we even have a pumping room for mummies... I got so stressed up answering why I can't BF my boy... and in fact they couldn't believe I have no milk cos I have big boobs... stress... But I do agree with u... so long out baby is growing well it doesn't matter what they r fed with...

 

[maesiew]

mommy bean,

I had never BF bb, now she already 8.5mth still can stimulate the flow? I did asked the Breastfeeding Org, they told me it will take at least double the time you had stopped BF. (If you stopped for 2 months, need to stimulate your breasts for at least 4 months!!) I hate that stimulation... hahahaahaa....

And both of us big boobs no milk.. What a shame! Haha! My brother always tease me infront of katie - See, your mama's boobs fake one, so big no milk!!! Sigh... I wanna kill him!

June Lim, so you managed to BF you bb from thiose stress? won't that makes your BM flow decrease?! heee

 

[bbfelice]

ha ha Katie's mum, your brother so funny

Same as me, my sis & my friend, we have big boobs but don't really have milk so my friend joke & said bigger boobs always have lesser milk

ha ha

I did not BF my girl from start (though I did tried pump out) as I took alot of those alcoholic confinement food....scared later my baby drunk

And same as u, despite already told my colleagues reason why I don't BF, they still keep telling me how good BF is & I should do it.... A bit frustrated cause it's like a great sin for not BF my girl. But I keep my cool & told them there are cases where FM kids can still grow healthy, my niece is one of them

I know they meant well but........haiz.....

 

[bbfelice]

Ayai..paisei.. stressing part is referring same case as Mummy bean

 

[mummy_bean]

Katie's mum,
ya I also hate the stimulation part.. I din completely stop BF but I also can't pump out much milk despite all the stimulation and eating papaya or the fenugreek thingy they introduce...ha..ya my colleagues all laugh at me and say hey dun look down on small boobs k... I guess these period would be over before we know it..

June,
ya I got quite stressed up too as I am a staff nurse and all my doctors are stressing me with BF..and they just don't take no milk flow as an excuse... *faints* but anyway I guess after 4 months when I go back..they might stop psycho me abt BF... =(

 

[bbfelice]

Mummy Bean,

Just one ear in & one ear out loh. Don't be affected by them

I thought docs thinking should be more open? Luckily my gynee & PD didn't stress me

 

[mummy_bean]

June,

ya..I am learning to one ear in and one ear out... they are not open becos the books says all mothers can have milk..ha..that's why...

but thanks for the support. felt much better to know I am not alone cos I really felt like an oddball initially.

 

[samval]

i'm so glad that i've found this thread. i'm a mother of 3 and all the more i feel guilty for not bf my #3. my bb is now 3 months and i only partial bf from start. now he doesnt even want to latch and i pump out just get a miserably supply. i've tried all sorts of things, fenugreek, motilium, more milk plus, goat's rue and nursing mothers' tea, but still get a miserable amount. my lack of knowledge on bf also plays a part. i shld not have given fm during my hosp stay. i feel soooo guilty now. i'm from the jan 2009 thread, and read so many of them can bf lah, pump lah, store, buy the fridge to go etc etc... i'm falling into depression soon.

for my #2, i managed to partial bf for 6 months....i've done everything rite for this time, but still low ss...

 

[mummy_bean]

Hey Samval,

I understand how you feel. Ya initially I was very upset and am glad that I found some of us facing the same situation. I also had lack of knowledge and problem latching my son hence now he is mostly on FM and partial BF and the supply is also miserable. At least u manage to partial BF ur #2 for 6 months. I wonder could I even sustain 2 months due to my lack of supply. Don't worry. I think we had done our best as mummies and at least we did try. That's how I console myself. BF is good but doesn't mean without breastmilk our kids can't grow. =)

so cheer up and we can vent it out here if u need any listening ear.

 

[kittyminky]

Hi all,

I'm a first-time Mummy to a 3-week old baby girl. Right from the start, I wanted to breastfeed. But I had no idea it would be so difficult...

My baby has no problems latching and I don't get sore nipples. However, she only sucks when there is letdown and I hardly ever get letdowns. When there is no letdown, she just sucks lightly (comfort sucking) or she just holds the nipple in her mouth and falls asleep at the breast. When I put her back in her cot, she would wake up about 10mins later and start screaming. Her mouth will keep rooting like she is terribly hungry. But when I place her back on my breast, the above happens again. It seems like she is a really lethargic nurser. It's really frustrating for me as sometimes I spend whole days and nights just having her at my breast!

I tried unwrapping her, tickling her cheek, toes etc but nothing works.

However, I know she is really hungry because once I give her the bottle, she sucks vigorously away and is contented after that.

Since the direct latch route didn't appear to work out, I tried expressing but my supply is pathetic!!! I can pump for 1 hour and get only 50ml from both breasts. Baby is drinking about 120ml currently when she is on FM.

Whenever I give her FM, I feel extremely guilty and I would start crying. But if I don't give her FM, she would be at my breast all the time (not sucking) and would be hungry. I don't want to starve her but I feel really awful when I give her FM..

And it doesn't help that my family is against FM. When I give FM, I can tell my mother isn't happy. And I don't have the support of my husband as well. He thinks I'm not trying hard enough. But I am!! Just that my supply is low and baby doesnt want to suck...

I'm thinking of going totally formula as I find that I'm really stressed over breastfeeding. It's reached a point where I even resent myself and my baby...

I'm so tired and stressed and depressed. I feel like such a lousy mother and such a FAILURE for not able to breastfeed my baby...

 

[adenjo]

Hi highheels, i can totally understand how you feel. When my boy was 2-3 weeks old, he had heartburn and we bottled-fed him EBM exclusively for 5 days so that we could add the medicine into the milk. After that, when i tried to latch him on again, he became very impatient and would be pulling and tugging at my breasts. After latching him on for 40 minutues to an hour, he would still be crying for more milk and could still finish 100ml of EBM! Eventually I decided to express exclusively.

However, my supply could not match up to his demand. I would pump for 45mins to an hour every 2.5 to 3 hourly and get probably 80ml from both breasts. I would be very happy if i could get 100ml-120ml! He was drinking more than that from hiw 4th week onwards. And i was very stubborn in that i didn't want to give him FM yet. So i was very stressed up, which made my supply even lower. During that period, i nearly gave up but my hubby told me to just give baby whatever amount of milk i have and supplement the shortfall with FM. I finally relented and felt so much better since then. My baby is turning 9 weeks old, and i've now managed to cut down his FM feed from two feeds to one, with the rest of his feeds being EBM. I'm really glad that i did not give up. Your supply will definitely increase if you continue to presevere on.

By the way, I tried out various methods in the hope of increasing my supply. I took Fenugreek since my baby was 3 weeks old till now and even gotten my gynae to prescribe medicine to increase my supply. I also had a massage lady to help me clear my blocked ducts and rented a manual pump and an Ameda pump as i suspected that my Medela PISA was not emptying my breasts, thus causing the low output. I also bought the Super Shields from Mumsfairy, which made pumping more comfortable. Maybe you can try the methods as well?

Don't get too stressed up over breastfeeding. You will definitely succeed! If you wish to talk further, you can PM me.

Take care!

 

[first_born]

Me too...

I tried to BF my baby boy for 1 wk, not knowing i dun hv much milk. And I was wondering why my boy kept screaming for milk every hour. He was extremely sleepy n would not latch properly. I tried pumping on the 5th day n only hv 10ml... I kept crying for the nxt 2 days until...

On the 7th day when we brought him for check up, he already lost >10% of his birth weight n had high levels of jaundice and had to be hospitalised for 3 days.

I hated myself then. I thought to myself if i had not been stubborn n insists on total breast feed, n hv supplemented w formula, my baby would not hv jaundice.

After he was discharged, I started supplementing w FM after every latch n he started growing. I also trid Fenugreek, drank papaya fish soup everyday, took motillium, drank MIM mother's milk tea, More Milk PLus... but none seems to work as my baby just wouldnt latch often enough. N I had no time to pump.

now that he's already 9 weeks, i'm still on more milk plus, n my milk is still only abt 50-80ml every 5 hours...

sigh... i still feel v guilty towards my baby...

 

[swm]

Hi first born,

You sounded very stress. Don't put the blame on you. It's normal to lost some weight for new born and jaundice is common in asian babies.

You are doing your best already. Given that you take care of baby all by yourself.

Relax, stress makes milk supply worse.

Maybe you could spend some time just by interacting/talking to your baby when he's awake. When you see how wonderful your child is, you will be filled with joy and enjoy motherhood better.

Good luck, remember, you are a wonderful mother to your boy.

 

[xsun]

Bump to revive