When I was pregnant, I vowed that I will be breastfeeding my daughter. There is no plan when it come to nursing my baby. So hindi kasama sa listahan namin ang formula milk. I am working in cavite but wanted to give birth in Baguio City which is my hometown. Bukod sa mura ang manganak duon almost all of the hospitals there are breastfeeding advocates. As in, when I was in labor, a nurse told me that I should breastfeed my baby and bawal ang formula milk. In the case that I a mother cant breastfeed her baby, my standby breastmilk sila. Nung nanganak ako, my baby wasn’t able to breastfeed from me. She had potential sepsis at that time and she was under observation overnight only. The following morning, we were already roomed in. Sinundo ko ang baby ko from the nursery and I was so happy that we will be staying in our room na. I tried to breastfeed her pero fail ang unang attempt. The nurse taught me how pero hindi pa rin kame naglalatch, I was panicking and about to cry because I was so worried na gutom na ang baby ko. I gave her my right booby pero parang walang lumalabas na milk. Kaya linipat ko na lang sa left and there it was, my precious milk! I was so happy. But I was still confused then. My boobs are engorged pag hindi nagdede ang baby ko. There was a bit of pain. And I felt my problem ang right breast ko kasi para siyang barado. I thought eto na ung mastitis kasi ayaw minsan lumabas ng milk. Kahit i-hand expressed, ayaw pa rin lumabas. I later found out that mas marami palang supply ng milk sa right booby. I do alternate them during feeding time although mas madalas talaga sa left. Kaya pala panay ang vomit niya kapag sa right booby siya magdede. Overfeeding na pala. Pag sa left naman, dede ng dede after two hours.
What made me decide to do breastfeeding is I read a lot about the good benefits. Plus makakatipid ka compared sa formula milk. I also wanted that special bond that mommies and daughters have which I think hindi maibibigay ng formula milk. I have nothing against formula milk users, im sure we all love our babies whether breastmilk or formula fed sila.
I did 2 months of exclusive breastfeeding until my mother told me na magpractice na daw si amber sa bottle because im going back to work soon. It saddened me a lot. Ayoko talaga. Im glad that my brother in law gave us a double electric pump. I am currently using the Ameda Purely Yours. It is a good pump and at cheaper price too. It was bought in US and it is autovolt. Buti na lang.
My baby is turning 6 months old and I am giving her breastmilk for 6 months already. She is not nursing from me anymore. I made a mistake of giving her the bottle exclusively. Dapat pala during the transition time, whenever she is using the bottle, someone will give it to her and when I am available, sa akin na siya magnurse. Lesson learned for me yan.
I am pumping milk every 3 hours and I get 4oz. my schedule in the office is 9am. 12noon and 4pm. I continue to pump as soon as I get home and then every 3 hours pumping ulit. It is tiring and nakakapuyat but its all worth it. Im back to my pre-pregnancy wweight already after four months of breastfeeding. I call my daughter a milk monster dahil napakatakaw niya. Siguro dahil malapit na siya sa stage na pwede ang solid foods. Nagkakasakit ang baby ko pero bihira lang. usually sa ubo sipon pero I gues dahil uso naman ito nuong January. We also visit my family in Baguio so dahil sa change of weather kaya siya nagkakasakit pero twice pa lang naman ito nangyari in 6 months niya.
I am happy that one of my kumare which is also a co worker is exclusively breastfeeding. Kumbaga we are each other’s support system. And she always encourages me to breastfeed my child. I plan to continue breastfeeding my child habang kaya pa. okay lang dahil mapipilitan ako to eat healthy talaga.
