yes she is breastfeeding in this photo
I think I wrote a lot of entries on breastfeeding Adam, didn't I? Somehow with Mia I haven't been talking about breastfeeding much any more. Yes she is exclusively breastfed too. It's just that by now nursing on demand has become so much part of my life, as natural and essential as breathing, that I hardly even think about it much any more.
Breastfeeding with my second child is different from breastfeeding my first. I am a stay-at-home mom this time, so there is no struggles with pumping and storing and not having enough milk. We're both very lucky. I remember how much effort is needed to fully breastfeed a child while working full time, and it gives me the appreciation for this special time that I have with my daughter.
Mia is a frequent nurser, but unlike Adam, she rarely breastfeed to sleep, except at night when we're in bed. Normally she needs a rocking in Daddy's arms for her to fall asleep after her nursing sessions.
With Mia I've breastfed practically everywhere - on buses, tubes, in the park, on the plane, while walking on the street, while shopping and talking to shopkeepers, in rivers and beaches while paddling, on boats, in restaurants...yeah, literally everywhere. Mia is a champion on breastfeeding in public. She's not shy, she'll ask for her milk whenever she feels like it, and she doesn't mind her face being covered in fabric while she's nursing. I've never even had to use a nursing cover. I normally use my wrap or scarf to cover up.
In this country breastfeeding is even more uncommon than in Malaysia. At least in Malaysia everywhere you go there is a breastfeeding room available. The last time we went for Mia's developmental check up, out of about 15 babies her age, only Mia and one other kid is breastfed. The rest are bottle-fed babies. Even the health visitors who were doing the check up didn't seem to be too knowledgeable on breastfeeding. While giving us the information on how much formula an 8 month old baby should consume in a day, they 'guessed' that the breastfeeding equivalent would be around 3 feedings a day. Are you kidding me? I'd have done 3 feedings by 10 am.
The reason I am thinking a lot more about breastfeeding recently is because I am currently facing a breastfeeding hurdle. Mia has 6 teeth already, and she is now teething, again. She is in a lot of pain, and so am I! It's come to a point where I've started to bleed and having to pump to avoid causing even more damage. Luckily Mia has no issues drinking breastmilk out of a bottle, alhamdulillah. I am having flashbacks to all those painful days back then whenever Adam was teething. And then it occurred to me, this is our first breastfeeding problem. After 9 months of smooth-sailing, exclusive nursing. It has been quite a blessing indeed. I've never had to buy a single bottle of formula with both kids. I hope we will get over this hurdle soon, but for now, I am happy to be paying my due. Alhamdulillah.
I hope to continue breastfeeding her until she is 2 years old. And the rest of our future children too. I may not be the best mother in the world, heck, most of the time I don't even know what I'm doing..but this one I do know is the right thing to do. So if one day God asks me, what have you done for your children, I can say I did one thing right, at least. InsyaAllah.
12 comments:
If only you have a `like' button for your posts..Sebab I xde nak komen. Cuma nak like saje ;)
hehe. betul. nak like jugak.
champion in bfdg. cayalah Mia..!
aida, tabah ok.
Oh dear you have dingbats for health visitors! It's a shame that not many in your area breastfeed. Maybe it's a city thing. At my little kampung most of us breastfeed.
Have you heard of the NCT? I went to their classes when I was expecting Aiesha and these NCT ladies are very pro bfing. In the meet-ups I've attended almost everyone would whip out a boob or two throughout for their babies and toddlers. Ada yang just let it all hang out when they nurse. I guess that's also why I'm still bfing Sophia beyond 2 years as it's not that pelik here. You need to move to Croxley or the surrounding areas.....ramai sangat yang breastfeed.;) Our local surestart centres even run breastfeeding cafes to help out struggling new mums or just to meet other breastfeeding mums.
I seriously can't imagine how difficult it must be to work and breastfeed full time. I only ever expressed for Aiesha and even then not for very long as I didn't see the point of it when she's with me 24/7. Very, very thankful I'm a SAHM.
About the pain when they have more teeth, I only ever have any discomfort when I'm pregnant. First time it happened I didn't realise until I got a BFP. I thought Sophia was chomping deliberately but in actual fact I was simply more sensitive. When I was pregnant with Sophia, Aiesha hardly had any teeth so I didn't get the full chomping effect plus I honestly can't remember all that much. Finding out I was pregnant when I had 6 month old was already too much shock. :)
Keep up with the breastfeeding and before long Mia will be 2 and you'll probably carry on. At the rate Sophia nurses at the moment, I don't see us stopping any time soon. Hopefully the pain whilst nursing will ease off soon or perhaps you need to POS? :P
Mx
nadine,
glad you liked it :)
kak fathin,
thank you!
melina,
gosh you giving me a bit of a scare now. i got really sensitive too when i got pregnant with mia (and didn't know it at the time) so bad that i was bleeding and in so much pain the doctor gave me an injection on the you-know-where. eventually i gave up breastfeeding Adam (he was 1.5 years old). wait, what's BFP? and what's POS? and why do i feel like you're suggesting a pregnancy test :p anyway, about the health visitor i didn't mean to criticise them, one of them happens to be genuinely caring and kind. but i guess they just don't know. probably the city thing, like you said.
BFP = Big Fat Positive
POS = Pee On a Stick
dot, you're talking about what most mothers do but the way you put in words made it special and encouraging. have you ever thought about writing parenting guide book? I think you should.
waah bagusnya;-)
ni buat Zaila bersemangat juga ni
Aida,
boleh ganti JK Rowling , tapi ko tulis bab parenting.
em bestnya aida, u still bf mia..aku hari tu smpi 7 bulan je, then dunno y milk supply reduce gile )ke sbb aku plant TA n tak smpt2 nk pump hadoi my bad)..kira dpt rating 3 je la ni bf rayyan smpi 7 bulan je..next child nak try lagi smpi 2 tahun jugak (of which i m not sure when..ehehhe..)mule2 when i started giving rayyan formula i was kinda depressed and so deep with guilt that i tend to shed tears everytime i bottlefeed him..then officemate plak baru habis pantang n pumping at office lagila rase besalah sbb aku pump2 tak kuar..deh2 sedih betul mase tu..but then my officemate tu plak tanye aku pasal bf cos kat office aku yg 1st dpt exclusive smpi 6 bulan lebey..trus aku rase ade hikmah nye kot, maybe i can share my experience wif my mate tu so that she can learn from my mistake and mencapai target 2 tahun,or even mo!
dan aku jugek mempromote blog ko ni aida sbb ko ni cth yg best utk working moms cm kitorg ni...ehhee..n oso babywearing is spreading at my office, oso thx to u dot cos introducing me to the wonderful world of babywearing!! seriously pls write a book about natural parenting dear!!
yeah aida, i'm totally agree w ernie..:)
tapi ernie..jenis2 academic writing ni needs focus, hehe..tapi aida tu boleje even dgn 2 si cilik pun, sbb she already prove it by all her knitting & sewing project :)
1 more thing aida, how did u do that..bf in public i mean???i dont even have a clue...sebab kalo aku sambil berjalanla katekan...emmm..ntah..cemane ye??..xterpikir la cara..
melina,
hope i won't need it. well not yet anyway ;)
ernie,
like i said, i hardly know what i'm doing..buat malu je nanti..
zaila,
bagus2...teruskan semangat :)
fizah,
hehe..i love j k rowling..
fiza,
at least ko berjaya bf rayyan sampai 7 months..ko keje plant slalu ke fiza? lamanye tak dgr cite korang...
hada,
ye ye je korang ni...hada, kalau nak bf sambil jalan pakai carrier..depending on the carrier, normally just lower the carrier a bit, and latch.using a nursing top helps. i can do an entry on bf in public if you like..
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