When I was pregnant, everyone was telling me that I should breastfeed after Janelle is born. This was encouraged by my gynae and friends alike. One month before bb was born, I was already leaking on one side. I felt confident that I will be able to breastfeed my child when she is born and I have sufficient milk to fulfill her needs.
I did not try breastfeeding the moment Janelle was born as I felt nausea and was puking. Only when I was transferred to the normal ward, I tried to breastfeed her. However, Janelle was too sleepy and young to suckle the colostrum. We got the lactation consultant to assist the next day and was informed that baby does not know how to suckle yet and has to be taught. I was asked to express out the colostrum into a small cup.
The Lactation Consultant, Jenny, fed bb by wetting the bb's lips and tongue with colostrum. Bb starts to lick and swallow the food. It was then Janelle learnt how to suckle when she was lached on. Jenny then taught me the various methods to feed Janelle.
At home, I fed baby by latching on however Janelle was crying after every one and the half hours. The Confinement Lady (CL) insisted that I do not have sufficient milk for the baby and insisted feeding formula milk. We allowed her to do that while I expressed out the milk. When I was able to express out sufficient milk, the CL just kept quiet. However she insisted that I have sufficient rest at night and told me to express out the milk for her to feed at night. I got up early in the morning to express out the milk which I had. I did not require any alarm clocks or anyone to wake me up. The pain from the engorgement of the breast was sufficient to wake me up at 3am in the morning.
I had sufficient milk since day one but recently I realised that I could not express out as much milk as I am able to. It could be due that I had reduced the frequency of feeding as I had arranged for the massaging session. Upon reading up more on the Internet, I found that the amount which I was able to pump out initially was excess milk in the early weeks but this will change and the amount of milk will be regulated either gradually or suddenly. The amount that I am able to pump out and the amount which the baby will get when she is latched on is also different. When baby is latched on, she will be able to get more compared to when I pump the milk out. For more information, here is the website which I got the information from.
I did not try breastfeeding the moment Janelle was born as I felt nausea and was puking. Only when I was transferred to the normal ward, I tried to breastfeed her. However, Janelle was too sleepy and young to suckle the colostrum. We got the lactation consultant to assist the next day and was informed that baby does not know how to suckle yet and has to be taught. I was asked to express out the colostrum into a small cup.
The Lactation Consultant, Jenny, fed bb by wetting the bb's lips and tongue with colostrum. Bb starts to lick and swallow the food. It was then Janelle learnt how to suckle when she was lached on. Jenny then taught me the various methods to feed Janelle.
At home, I fed baby by latching on however Janelle was crying after every one and the half hours. The Confinement Lady (CL) insisted that I do not have sufficient milk for the baby and insisted feeding formula milk. We allowed her to do that while I expressed out the milk. When I was able to express out sufficient milk, the CL just kept quiet. However she insisted that I have sufficient rest at night and told me to express out the milk for her to feed at night. I got up early in the morning to express out the milk which I had. I did not require any alarm clocks or anyone to wake me up. The pain from the engorgement of the breast was sufficient to wake me up at 3am in the morning.
I had sufficient milk since day one but recently I realised that I could not express out as much milk as I am able to. It could be due that I had reduced the frequency of feeding as I had arranged for the massaging session. Upon reading up more on the Internet, I found that the amount which I was able to pump out initially was excess milk in the early weeks but this will change and the amount of milk will be regulated either gradually or suddenly. The amount that I am able to pump out and the amount which the baby will get when she is latched on is also different. When baby is latched on, she will be able to get more compared to when I pump the milk out. For more information, here is the website which I got the information from.
Now I can can just diligently pump out the milk and try to latch her on in the day as much as I can. Hopefully the supply does not decrease further.
All the best in your effort in breastfeeding! I had very little colostrum for the 1st 3 days. My baby cried and cried and at that time, I was so dumb, I didn't realise that she was hungry! She actually lost about 300g in 4 days :( My milk came in on the 4th day and since then I have been mostly latching her on. I have found that latching her makes my breast produce what she needs, even during her growth spurts. From what I have read, pumping after you latch her helps to 'trick' your breast into producing more. Take care!
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