Well, I didn't write much about my breastfeeding journey with Caitlin before because its really so easy. There aren't much ups and downs, and the previous breastfeeding journey with Kieran has already proven that, yeah, I've got milk, and much more than I could ask for, so I don't expect many changes this time round if I follow all the rules I did before, except to over pump as I want to avoid over supply.
To prevent over supply
I belong to the lucky group of mummies who get lots of milk, fast milk flow and an over supply problem very quickly. Or maybe its not because I'm lucky but because I breastfeed my bubs diligently ever since they are born. Latch on within an hour after birth, breastfeed baby by latching on demand, not afraid of sacrificing sleep, rest, other activities etc, just feed and feed, and eat lots of food, and drink lots of fluids. The rule of breastfeeding is simple to me. Don't think. Just feed. Many mummies sabotage their own breastfeeding initiatives by doubting their supply, and went on to pump out milk to check how much they are feeding (inaccurate measure by the way), stress over how little they pump out, attribute almost all baby's symptoms to "not enough milk" like baby cry after feeding = not enough milk, baby tummy too hard = not enough milk/ my milk not good enough/ my milk is very gassy/ etc, baby don't take long naps = don't drink enough milk/ milk not fatty enough. I'm not saying these cannot be the reasons but there are just too many things wrongly blamed on our breastmilk. By adopting the "just feed" idea, mummy gets relaxed, baby get lots of milk, and both are happy.
I'm also lucky this time round really because Caitlin is second born. She gets 2 advantages. Firstly, mummy is more experienced. Secondly, nobody really bothers to fuss over every little detail of baby and nobody questions whether mummy can breastfeed because after all, mummy has breastfed the older one for 20 months.
But one of my problem is over supply. That tormented Kieran and I for many months. I was determined not to get this problem this time. For the first and second week after child birth, I breastfed by latching baby totally, no pumping at all. This worked well as Caitlin was just getting used to latching and there shouldn't be bottles introduced to prevent nipple confusion. I had milk since before child birth as I was breastfeeding my older child, so baby latched on and could be satisfied with lots of milk immediately. I felt engorgement by end of first week. This happened because of 2 reasons. Newborns are sleepier and thus she didn't drink as much as my breasts could produce. She finished with 10-15min on one side and then went to zzzz until about one to two hours later and I latched her on the other side. I allowed my breast to engorge without pumping and make use of cold cabbage leaves (only once a day) to relieve it. I use this sparingly and only with very painful engorgement because over using can result in reduction of milk supply. Other times, I applied cold compress. By third week, baby was drinking on both sides of breasts instead of one, which means my supply has dropped such that she required both breasts to satisfy her demands. She took about 15-30min one side, and fell asleep after latching 5-10min on the other side. It was about the end of third week that I felt baby might feel that the breast milk wasn't enough because she was fussing more at the breasts and I did not feel engorgement anymore. My breasts felt soft but when I pressed, there are still lots of milk. I decided to pump once a day, to bring up supply slightly and also to train baby to feed on bottles. I used Tommy Tippee and Pigeon (yellow wide neck type) and baby preferred Pigeon so we stuck with this. It was also during this time that baby got fussy evenings and growth spurt, so this was a really cranky time. Luckily we survived that ordeal! Phew!
I stored only very minimal amount of milk a day when I do pump. That is because over pumping will bring up too much of my supply, and I only need to store a few packs of milk as emergency. When I go back to work, I still prefer to give my baby fresh milk so I will pump enough to feed baby for the day. As for why I pump at all to bring up the supply, that is because I don't want my supply to be "just right" for baby. If I have it just right, by the time I go to work, work stress, traveling and the lack of latching may reduce my supply and "just right" can become too little milk. Call me kiasu but I just want to be sure baby gets enough milk. Haha.
To teach baby to take both bottle and breasts
My older child refused the bottle when I introduced it to him at 3 months. We tried a few times at 3 -4 weeks and he was ok with it but we didn't offer it anymore for 1-2 months and gave it to him at 3 months. No matter how we tried, he just refused it. Remember I had an over supply problem? So all the frozen breastmilk I stored had gone to waste. The only way he will take breastmilk was from my breasts. But that's ok coz I'm a stay home mom. Problem is, I couldn't leave baby to go anywhere more than 3 hours. Stuck with the babe! This time, I must let Caitlin learn to drink milk from a bottle because firstly, I intend to go back to work soon, and secondly, I do need to bring Kieran out or go out to run errands which may take longer than 3 hours. So, we took care to feed Caitlin from a bottle at least for one feeding a day. The daddy is happy though. He gets to feed his precious little girl. In fact sometimes he would insists on feeding her. We continued to give her a bottle a day to ensure she can continue to be used to bottle feeding. Few months later, we relaxed it a little and gave her bottles only when I needed to be away. That added up to about a few times a week. In the beginning, when she was fussy, and refusing bottle feeding, we gave her bottle feeding after a bath when she is both happy, alert, and thirsty. She drank up. And now she could drink from the bottle no matter whether its grandma, grandpa, daddy or mummy feeding her. But still, she drink from the breasts most of the time, because I still jealously guard this precious moments of bonding with her.
That's about all for now regarding breastfeeding.
Caitlin is latching very well and she's a very smart little girl. We just took her for a photoshoot. Can't wait to show the pictures here!
Update on 23 October 2014: Little Caitlin is now 14 months old and she hates the bottles. She giggles when she sees the breast and excitedly crawls over for a snuggle and milk milk time. She can take the bottle though. When I was away, caregivers managed to get her to drink from it but she hates it. Wise choice, I think.
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