Helene will be exactly 3 months old tomorrow, and for the first time in 3 kids, I am glad to say that she is a fully breastfed baby. Practice makes perfect, as they say :) With Hannah it was a total failure as she did not latch directly at all. So after two months of pumping, my supply of milk became less and less and that was it. With Heidi was a little better, she was semi-breastfed until about 5 months. I even managed to pump at work once during the day. You can read about my breastfeeding experience with Heidi here.
Now with Helene, it's definitely an easier and more enjoying experience. Of course, in the early weeks I had sore, cracked nipples and even a milk blister (something I never had before), but overcoming all those things, I'm glad I persevered. My milk supply now is more or less established, even though it is still low compared to some other mummies. I am quite envious of those who have thousands of ounces of breastmilk stocked up in the freezer, but so far my supply has been sufficient for Helene, without having to top up with formula, so I hope to make this last until she is at least 6 months old. Now I pump at least 4 times a day, twice at work, at night and another time either middle of the night or early morning. To cut a long story short, here are my top 6 benefits of breastfeeding.
1. Bonding with baby - There are no words to properly describe the warm fuzzy feeling you get with a little person nuzzled close to you, and knowing that you have what she needs to nourish and comfort her. Helene absolutely refuses the bottle of pumped milk which I try to feed her, and always prefers her milk direct from its source :) Initially I thought it was going to be a problem with her nanny, but surprisingly she drinks quite willingly from the bottle when her nanny feeds her - but only her nanny, not even her daddy or grandma. We left her with Ah Mah for a few hours the other day when we had a lunch appointment, and apparently it took her 4 times feeding to finish her bottle of milk.
2. Best food for baby - I am hardly an expert on nutrition, but I have read enough articles to know that breastmilk is the best food for baby, so I am going to try to provide her with it as much and as long as possible.
3. Weight-loss secret - I had no urut lady this time, but I could fit into my jeans by Helene's full moon and I could wear all my pre-pregnancy clothes by the time I got back to work. As of now, I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight and hope to lose another 5 kg by the end of my breastfeeding journey, fingers crossed!
4. Eating without guilt - I try to eat healthily, but since I don't need to diet (which I tried to do after my last 2 pregnancies), I can eat almost anything without having to feel guilty :) Also, I am quite lazy when it comes to drinking water, but since breastfeeding requires me to drink more liquid to produce more, I can finish a whole jug of plain water just in the office. The up-side of this also is that I can enjoy all the Milo and bubble milk tea I want, since I also find them to be my milk-boosters :)
5. Saves a lot of $$$ - Hubby is pretty pleased that he doesn't need to fork out hundreds of ringgit a month to buy formula since breastmilk is free! (he just needs to feed me well lol) We had bought a can of formula for the early days while waiting for my milk to kick in, and there is still more than half left in that same can. Hubby had also ambitiously stocked up formula, thinking that it would be the same situation as Hannah and Heidi, but now Heidi is drinking it, so as not to go to waste ;)
6. Convenient when going out - There is enough to carry with diapers, wet wipes, extra clothes and the other kids' stuff, so it's a welcome change not having to carry bottles, thermos, milk powder etc in addition to all of that. I just need my nursing cover, so Helene has fresh supply of milk, anytime, anywhere :)
Okay, now for pictures of happy Helene!
Loving those dimples!
