Got Milk?

Today, Jack Jack has been exclusively breastfeeding for 4 months, 2 weeks and 4 days. I have always dreamed on breastfeeding my baby even before I met hubby. I know it's best for babies because of the many benefits for both the mother and the baby. He hasn't been sick except when he had a fever from the vaccines last month. His poop doesn't smell too bad. I can say he's a very happy baby (See this and this and this!) I can now fit into my pre-pregnancy slim fit jeans. I eat like a horse. I don't have to wash a lot of bottles - except for the ones he uses when I leave him with my Mom.

I'm proud to say that we've encountered a lot of breastfeeding challenges from the start. I didn't have milk yet after giving birth and Jack Jack wasn't immediately roomed-in at the hospital - this posed as another challenge since I needed to go to the nursery every now and then - with the stitches and all. The whole day we couldn't achieve the perfect latch. I was starting to worry since he hasn't eaten anything since he came out. Everyone is suggesting we give him something while waiting for the milk to come in but I've already set my mind on giving him nothing but breastmilk. I told the nurses to call me anytime he's awake. Yep! He slept most of the day. Thanks to hubby who is very patient wheeling me into the nursery even in the wee hours of the morning. Before the 24 hours were up, we were able to achieve the perfect latch with the help of one of the nurses. It felt so good as a mother though it hurts big time as he is still learning which muscles to use for sucking. It's like he's grinding my nipples! Still, the emotional mother in me is overwhelming that the pain is just a very small part of it.

The nurses also taught me to clean my nipples with a cotton ball and distilled water. Wrong!!! This made my skin dry therefore making it easier to break. I learned this later on that the skin around the breast produces it's own moisturizer. Thus, cleaning it would dry the skin. Duh! Had I only known this earlier, I didn't have the endure the pain.

Another challenge that we encountered is that I couldn't leave him. He doesn't want to drink expressed milk from the bottle. I'm not working anymore but I still need time for myself or I might lose my sanity. Not to mention I need to do grocery. After 2 months, he was able to successfully drink from his bottle.



- September 5, 2008: He can hold his bottle up.

The hardest challenge would be that my helper left us after 2 months! I could handle the housework before I gave birth. I was even cleaning the bathroom. But it sure was different when Jack Jack got here. Having a baby was a lot of work. I'm not complaining but taking care of him really would really take so much of my time. I am so tempted to leave him with my Mom and just let them feed him formula milk - cause it also takes time to pump milk.

I'm happy to say that I'm past those challenges now. Did I mention we moved houses the last week of August? Urgh! This makes the matters worst, you know. I haven't emptied all the boxes yet, but I'm getting there. How can I, when I'm here blogging?!!

His pedia told me he can start solids already since he can now hold up his head but I wanted for him to complete the whole 6 months exclusively on breastmilk. I might be breaking my head on this but there's this article I read regarding breastfeeding that the baby's stomach aren't that mature enough yet before 6 months. Also, breastmilk is 70% water so there's really no need to give them that as well. This is new research on breastfeeding and I would like to adopt that for Jack Jack. I will continue to breastfeed him for as long as I could.



- Lasing!