Friday, June 29, 2012

Breastfeeding older baby

Baby has come very far from a tiny infant who kept sleeping to a big baby who can loudly declares his displeasure and happiness.

After coming so far on my breastfeeding journey, I now realised that there's an extremely big difference between breastfeeding an infant and breastfeeding an older baby!

  1. The first big difference is of course when he's an infant, he's super sleepy, and rarely cries for milk until he's very hungry and that's almost 4 hours since the last feeding! Now, he's very active and can shout, kick, protest and clammer towards me whenever he wants milk. He drinks every now and then, which is around 3 hours apart but I didn't record the time exactly.
  2. When he's an infant, he's ok with me feeding him outside and covering him with a nursing cover while I chat with my friends. Now, he will attempt to pull down the cover every time I use it, so I have to use the nursing room whenever I need to feed him. But the good thing is, he is now older so he is more predictable. Every 3 hours feeding is every 3 hour feeding. When he's an infant, he could ask for milk anytime and screamed and cried loudly without any warning.
  3. When he's an infant, and we brought him out shopping or for walk, when he's in a strange situation and felt nervous, he would require nursing for comfort and would scream and cry at the top of his voice, making us super embarassed in public. Now, he's very interested in everything around him and would not feel intimidated so easily. So I only need to nurse him when he's hungry.
  4. When he's an infant, I had over supply problem which means my milk supply is much more than his demand. The effect is that I feel engorged easily and when let down comes, they sprayed out lots of milk at high speed. Poor baby would pull out of my nipple when the let down happened and cried, refusing to nurse. I coaxed him back to nursing and ensured my helpers and relatives that no, I didn't torture baby, and yes baby still wants milk, please don't take him away, its just that my baby couldn't cope with the fast milk flow yet. My mother in law likes to say "He don't want milk, don't force him." and took him away. I didn't let her and continued to nurse. It's very painful for me too. Baby seemed so upset and my breasts kept spraying milk... those were the painful days! Everything's wet with milk whenever during a feeding. Now, baby can nurse very well and my supply had gotten used to his demand, so the over supply problem is no more.
I enjoy breastfeeding my baby. I enjoy the bonding and the feeling that he needed me and wanted me. Nursing him to sleep at night, too, is the best as he doesn't need to wake up crying for milk and nobody has to wake up to feed me. Whenever I see him grizzling and making the err err err sound in the middle of the night, I just have to turn around, and nurse him while lying down and fall back to sleep together with him. Yup, he shares the bed with hubby and I, our nice big family bed. He's naughty and he likes to show his mischievous face whenever he's planning on some naughty deeds like climbing up while holding the window ledge to see the LRT drive past, and crawling into the bathroom to play with the drain cover, and many other naughty deeds!

9 comments:

  1. Aww that is a beautiful post!! I'm glad breastfeeding is going wonderfully well for you! :o)
    Alison

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  2. Hi
    I am Gonna be a SAHM soon after my ML finishes.. I came across ur blOg and enjoy reading it. I'm currently bf my 2nd bb who is 7 weeks old. It is a challenge learning to be a mum again to an infant and experiencing bf issues that I have never encounter with my first one. Glad to read thru ur bf journey as its a form of encouragement for me!! Especially when pple ard u kept saying he's not an easy bb like the first one shld jus give up bf! Well I rem my first one was equally difficult lol jus that they forgot!
    Hope to be able to share more motherhood stories! I have a blog too..
    www.octopusmummie.blogspot.sg

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  3. I'm glad you enjoy reading my blog, furry friends! Thank you! OMG, how do you handle newborn, toddler and cats?! I love cats so much but I decided not to keep one because hubby doesn't like to keep pets and I'm afraid the fur may affect baby's health. Jia you on your breastfeeding journey! No matter what, just strive on and we'll enjoy the result of our effort.

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  4. Hi Suqi, I've finally finished and posted up Sofia's birth story! Took me long enough hahaha
    http://bearsnowasleep.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/birth-story-of-sofia/ :)

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  5. bearsnowasleep, I've read your birth story! Wow! Was it very painful? You didn't write about using any pain management medications at all! I had epidural for my first birth as I was so afraid of the pain. I think for my second one, I'll try to go all natural.

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  6. Hi Suqi
    Thanks for your encouragement! I love cats and they are part of my life. I am lucky my hubby learn to love them like I do. I wasn't too concern about the fur and baby despite everybody telling to give my cats away for fear they developed asthma or my cats attacking the bb. I just make sure the cats doesn't get near bb when he was still an infant and they dont rest on the bb's bed.
    Actually its much easier to manage cats than toddler or a baby haha.. You just need to make sure their litter box is clean, provide them with fresh water and food and give them some attention and they are good on their own most of the time. In fact they don't like to go near baby treating him like an foregin object now.
    Its heartwarming to see my boy learning to be gentle with the cats and for the cats to let their guards down in his presence. I do hope I can cultivate my children to show love and respect for all animals in this way!

    PS: Do you stay in Punggol? Cause i am..

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    1. Yes I stay at Punggol! If you haven't brought your kid to the waterway, you should! See this post http://mummysuqi.blogspot.sg/2012/07/baby-plays-with-sand-and-water.html.
      My 9 month old totally enjoyed the water and the sand!

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  7. Hi Suqi
    Yup I've brought my boy a couple of times there and he too enjoyed playing around with the water! There's also another water theme playground on the roof-top of Tampines 1 mall which is FOC which even comes with shower area!! its a good place to bring them there when its a super hot day and for them to burn off their energy.. only thing it tends to be crowded on weekends

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  8. Exactly, you're very kind of us about comment!.
    birth

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