
When i look back those early days since she was born, im amazed by my own so-called journey in breastfeeding our little baby. its been nearly 5 months, and im loving every single minute of it.
i had a very bad start. i wasnt prepared for the worst. i was soo determined to bf our lil girl , all i thot was it will come naturally , bf wont be that hard, mom did it , MIL oso did it well. yes i dug every single info that i can about bf -after work. i bought a good pump, prepared the bottles, liners ,sterilizer, warmer n everything. But my biggest mistake was underestimating the whole starting process.
i neglected the facts about correct/wrong latching. i thot the baby will learn by herself or already mastered the skill soon after birth. boyy i was wrong. yeah Ayra was a master of suckling but not latching. she suck the soon my nip got in her tiny weeny mouth like nobody cares. i didnt get to adjust my nip for correct latch. it hurt a bit @ the 1st time , but i convinced myself that its probably normal . i thot maybe I was supposed to feel hurt. few days later it worsen. they got terkopek n bled . we tried purelan, minyak gamat, and palmers but to no avail. i even stop breastfeeding her @ 1 side to let it heal. they healed but just for a few days then they got cracked again.i even blame her for not latching correctly. (bad bad mommy) i cry n cry n cry (n scream, even)like crazy during her feeding sessions. i almost gave up. but since we dont have any formula in the house – i had to continue nursing her everytime. (which is a very good tip for mommies who want to exclusively bf their baby. -NEVER KEEP ANY FORMULA AS A BACKUP @ HOME. kena yakin insyaAllah susu kita cukup or else ull definitely opt for fm when desperate. )
i waited for them to heal , coz some of my friends said it will go away after couple of weeks, but heck it didnt.in the mean time, ayra drinks A LOT. i was tired , sleep deprived, my back hurt, n to make it worst, she was diagnosed with jaundice which means i had to feed her more often. 3 weeks, still not healing. one month gone by but i was still trembling in pain when i nursed her.
my 2nd mistake was not meeting a lactation consultant despite all the problems.i wanted to but i didnt know where to go n i was soo ego thinking that i can deal with it all by myself (another tips – arrange a schedule to meet a LC if u have any problems regarding bf . believe me, they know best)
then i decided to just ingore the pain, and patiently applying the nip creams and continue feeding her despited feeling like my nips are being CUT alive. Alhamdulillah few weeks later -when she was almost 2 months young, my nips healed completely. Since then i enjoyed every feeding session that we had n very looking forward to it everytime i come home from work. its the only bonding time we have during weekdays that i surely dont want to waste.
lately when we were out, i got many same feedback from strangers whom we met for the 1st time when they see / touch her. like
“dia susu badan ke? badan keras ni “
“breasfeeding ye? kemas badan dia”
” susu badan ke dik? geram tgk badan ketak2″
” sihatnye? susu badan ye?”
which made all the pain that i had to endure during the early days seems so far far away.
i pray to bf her for another 2 years, insyaAllah. Semoga Allah permudah kan segala urusan.
