What Breastfeeding Means to Me

Last March 25, 2013, I shared my thoughts and experiences on breastfeeding to new and expectant moms, lolas, health workers and some office employees---my fellow Fernandinas as part of the women’s month celebration.

Posting what I shared and some of the actual slides I used.

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When I was invited to be here, I was actually thrilled to share my experience as a breastfeeding and working mom. Breastfeeding has actually redefined how I see motherhood thus, I decided to share with you what breastfeeding means to me and in turn, I hope to give some information that might help new and expectant mothers.

Breastfeeding is a natural choice

You probably won’t believe that even before I have met my husband I have l already decided to breastfeed. Why? Simply because my grandmother breastfeed 7 of her 9 children and my mother provided the same precious milk gold to my brother and I for a year.

So when I got pregnant, I actually started preparing to breastfeed. A breastpump is part of my list of things to buy and I scratch any item that seems to relate to formula feeding.

 On my sixth month as a pregnant mom, part of my diet is boiled malunggay juice with calamansi and honey.

I have also informed my OB on my intent to practice exclusive breastfeeding and luckily she was an advocate. She made sure that my son and I were able to enjoy “unang yakap”. Here is my son enjoying his first meal during his first minutes of life in the outside world. This moment is so precious and I hope that every mother will get to experience it.

My son and I were home after a day and a half in hospital. Once home, that is when I learned that...

Breastfeeding is a challenge

I thought that like my mom and lola, milk will freely flow. That is was easy to feed. But my son had difficulty adjusting to his new environment and prefers to be linked to me thru my breast every hour on the hour. He was always crying and seems to be always hungry.

I was having a bad case of post partum depression. My worst fear is not having milk and I have been asking myself why is that I don’t have milk? We went to the extent of asking for milk from new moms who are also breastfeeding.

While my son is at my breast, my husband would placed the donated milk to my areola so my son would think it comes from me and he would keep on sucking.

I started reading researching over the internet on how to increase my milk supply and to have my milk come. I did everything –from not drinking any cold drink, having Malunggay in all my meals, self massages while taking a bath and pumping my other breast while my son was feeding on the other side. I would like to share some tips that helped me increase and maintain my milk supply:

·        Breastmilk increases as the demand increases

·        While baby is latched, pump the other side

·        Do not drink anything cold –drink hot/lukewarm water before nursing or pumping milk

·        Eat a healthy diet and include food that helps your body create milk –like Malunggay, oatmeal, etc.

·        Keep baby at the breast at every opportunity. When I am home or with my son, he gets milk direct from me

·        Be confident! Breastfeed anytime, anywhere!

Later on I learned that my son was just simply having a hard time adjusting to his new world and that he craves to be cuddled and cradled because during the 1^st few weeks of life, they don’t need much milk. Looking at the chart on the screen, it shows how little milk a newborn needs vs what the formula prescription of a paediatrician of 2oz every 4 hours.

Breastfeeding means more sleep for mommy and daddy

We don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to fetch milk, wait for him to finish and then burp. All I have to do is make my breast accessible and nurse the baby by my side. Yes, co-sleeping is safe and convenient.

Breastfeeding means having a healthy baby

In our country, sadly most babies are formula fed especially those who actually can’t afford to buy milk. They were led to believe that a healthy baby is one who is fat. But actually, no matter how cute a fat baby is they are not actually healthy. I have learned that there are two (2) types of malnutrition –the common one that we know which is under nutrition at which a child is so thin and the other when is overnutrition at which the child is overweight.

When you breastfeed, especially if you do it exclusively for the first six (6) months of the life of your child you are assured that the weight of your baby is managed properly. My son was never under or overweight. To common Filipino, he may appear thin but he is actually well within the required weight for his age. But most of the time, his skills development is ahead of the normal--he was crawling on his 6th month, walking at 10 months and running before he turned a year old.

Breastfeeding makes you sexy

I know I can no longer buy a free size dress on sale but breastfeeding helped me attain a fairly good weight with practically no exercise. I was able to be back in my pre-pregnancy shape in a month—including a near flat tummy.

Breastfeeding will make you fashionable

I have to admit that as any girl I always like to look fab. I would not want a diaper bag ruin my outfit. I can’t afford those high-end diaper bags but with breastfeeding, I actually don’t need a diaper bag because I don’t need to carry a heavy bottle of water and formula. Just a few clothes for my little one, baby wipes and diapers will do.

Breastfeeding is economical

Did you know that you spend about Php 5k to Php 10k a month for formula feeding depending on the brand of milk and water?

Imagine, just for six months, you can save minimum of 30k.

You might tell me know that a good double electric pump in the market costs around Php 20k. You will ask: How can you breastfeed and work if I don’t have enough funds to purchase a pump?

Actually, you don’t need to buy a pump if you can’t afford it. You just need to practice hand pumping. I have a friend who was able to express milk for three years just hand pumping. Only a few are experts on how to hand pump but there is actually a video in Youtube that can teach you how to do it and a few articles to help you learn more about it. Hand pumping is a practical skill for nursing moms. That is why one of my dreams is that teaching a new mom how to hand pump be made a standard procedure in all hospitals.

Breastfeeding makes a working mom innovative

I have said earlier, nurse anytime, anywhere. Now I am revising it to: when at work, pump anytime, anywhere! (except inside the CR). In over two (2) years as a working and pumping mom, I expressed milk in all clinics of all the hotels in Makati Central Business District, all nursing station of practically all malls in metro manila, dressing room of department store, inside cars, pantry, offices –you will be surprised on how accommodating people can be just to provide you with the privacy that you need, and of course in my own office cubicle.

Breastfeeding relaxes a very stressed mom

I would say that my job demands a lot of time and I just squeeze in pumping every single moment that I can. I actually treat it as a welcome break time and be away from stress and demands of my job from time to time.

Breastfeeding is my way of being with child when I need to be away for work

Finally, as a working mom, I had to leave my son and go back to work after 2 months of maternity leave. It was actually painful to do especially he was my first born. But breastfeeding helped me overcome the pain of being away from him at least 8 hours a day. Breastfeeding is my way of being with child when I need to be away for work. For every once, of milk that I get, I give him tons of love.

As a woman, I have been blessed to have various roles—a boss, a manager, a mentor, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother but to best role that I have been blessed with is to be the provider of unmatched nutrition for my son, Azlan Lione and I intend to be again for all of my future children.

I hope that I was able to impart a little information that you can use when you have your child or when you attend to your patients. For the younger ladies here, I hope that you will also decide to breastfeed even if you have not met your "the one."