Malaysian Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Training Program 2012

* Back-dated post.

I still remember when I first trying to fully breastfeed Lynn about 6 years ago, it was not easy at all. Despite I have read a lot about breastfeeding during pregnancy, even attended the prenatal class and fully prepared myself for it, I never expect it's such a challenging task. Luckily I had a colleague who breastfeed her first child exclusively gave me tips and some guidance, plus my own determination and supports from hb and family, finally I was able to breastfeed Lynn exclusively. So I totally understand it's not easy for most mothers when come to breastfeeding journey. 6 years ago, breastfeeding was just started getting more common. Without this colleague of mine who the only person that I know was breastfeeding during that time, I don't think I could breastfeed Lynn exclusively. It shows how important to get supports from another mommy who has experience on this matter. That time also I don't know about this The Breastfeeding Advocates Network (TBAN) yet. So there were lots of trial and error for me during that time.

I know there are mommies out there especially first time mommies, who wish to breastfeed their child but not successful due to lack of supports and guidance. I wish I was there to help them and support them. When I know about there's this Malaysian Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Training Program through TBAN, I did not hesitate to register myself for it. It was a 3 days program. All participants must attended full 3 days to get the certificate which would be given at the end of the training.

The training was held at a very interactive way. Lots of group discussion and presentation. Most of the participants are mommies and are still actively breastfeeding their child. So babies below 1 year old are allowed. Mommies feel free to nurse the baby, carry them or pump if the baby is not with them.

 Everyone seems so relax. :) 

Presentation after group discussion.

Some mommies pumping at the side by just cover themselves with the shawl. 

The correct way to bottle feed a breastfed baby. Not in lying down position, but in sitting position with support. 

Ryle's tube - One of the lactation aid for mother that wish to re-lactate or adoption mother that wish to breastfeed the baby.

With some help from nurse or family members to place the baby on the chest, mommy who has gone through c-section can breastfeed the baby right away. 

 Breast models made by us. :)

The role of a peer counselors. 

Though I have just weaned Hao from the breast for about a year ago, I feel that I have forgotten so much on breastfeeding! This program not only refresh my memory, I have also made lots of new friends with other mommies there, who are also passionate on breastfeeding, and also learn a lot of new things from the sharing of other mommies. We also learn about the 3-steps communication, the important of listening, and the dangers of giving advice. Why is it dangerous to give advice? Because people maybe skeptical; if they follow the advice and success they may become dependent on you; if they follow the advice and fail they may blame you etc. And also we are not expert. Sometimes the mother may just want to be heard and not asking for advice. We as peer counselor, is important to make sure the mother feels good about herself at the end of the session. And most important, we cannot judge. 

Whether the baby is exclusively breastfeeding, or mix with formula milk, as long as the baby is getting some breast milk from the mother is better than no breast milk at all. But still we have to respect other mothers who choose not to breast feed their children. They may have their reasons for doing so. We should not judge them. I believe all mothers want the best to their children. :) 

"Nen nen"

The kids are referring "milk" to the fresh milk that they drink everyday, and when Hao wants me to nurse him, he will say "nen nen".

About 2 weeks ago, we transferred Hao from sleeping in the baby cot to a small mattress on the floor next to hb. Lynn was lying on the mattress together with Hao. It was bed time soon. Then I saw Lynn lifted up her t-shirt and offered to Hao "Hao, do you want nen nen? Jie jie gives you nen nen want or not?" *FAINT*

Hao was looking at Lynn. Then looked at her chest. He looked puzzled - jie jie really got nen nen? LOL! He was just keep on looking at her, did not do anything. :P

Then later that night, Lynn asked nen nen from me. Long time ago when Hao was still on full bm, I did ask Lynn want or not and she said no. So I was surprised that now she asked me to nurse her. I did not give. A little tempted but I also worry do I need to go through another weaning process with her? She's a more demanding child as compared to Hao. Hao can sleep by himself without being nurse, but not Lynn when she was still a baby before weaning. After that day, Lynn asked me again one more time. Luckily she did not insist that I must give her.

Last weekend, we went to Mid Valley to celebrate my niece birthday. I took the chance to go to Jusco to do some shopping. Lynn was with me. Hb took Hao with him to watch tv at the Electrical section while waiting for us. We were at the lingerie section. Then I heard Lynn saying this "Mommy, I like this pink nen nen. Mommy buy this pink nen nen."

I was like OMG!!! And then I realized, she was referring the bra as nen nen too!

Later when we were back home, I was hanging the clothes after the laundry was done. The kids were playing at the side. Hao saw this bra lying inside the laundry basket waiting to be hang. "Nen nen", said Hao.

Oh no!!! He is also referring the bra as nen nen???!!! Alright, TIME TO TEACH THEM THE PROPER TERM!!!

Going out for lunch

Finally, after one and a half year of eating buy-back lunch from office, I can go out have lunch with hubby. This is because, all these while, I was using the lunch time to do my homework - expressing milk for Hao, in the office. So for the past 18 months, I have not been stepping my foot out from the office for lunch, have not been experiencing the hot weather or raining days outside the office during lunch time. :) Except few occassions where there was some celebration during lunch time, I have to adjust the "homework" time earlier before lunch. Even during weekend at home, I was also expressming the milk at home, to maintain the supply. This time, I was really hardworking as I would like to bf Hao as long as possible.

2 weeks back, finally I decided to stop expressing the milk. Due to stress and mood etc, the milk supply has been dropping a lot. It is not worth to express now as I get little only. Thus I have decided to stop. But I'm still continue bf Hao in the morning before coming to work, and at night before he goes to bed. So in the afternoon, the bm is replaced by fresh milk. I will continue bf him at home, or whenever he is with me, as long as he still want it. I hope we can continue at least until he reaches 2 yesars old.

In the past, hb will buy back lunch for me in the office (we work in the same office). So while having my lunch, normally I will blog hopping to visit other blogs. Since I have started going out for lunch, the time spent on visiting blog has become less. I would like to apologize if I do not come as often nowadays. I have not forgotten my blogger friends. Don't worry, I will sure catch up on all the posts that I have missed and leave my comments whenever possible. :)

Extended breastfeeding

This is my first experience in extended breastfeeding. Lynn was breastfed till she was 10 months old. Though the weaning was initiated by me, I was regretted after that as I missed the bonding moments. Now with Hao, I'm aiming to breastfeed him until he self wean. But I'm not sure how long I can supply without introducing the formula into his meal. My next target is 18 months. Hope to delay formula until he's at older age.

If you ask me any different breastfeeding a toddler compared with breastfeeding a baby? I would say no much, except shorter duration and less frequent. And whether Hao bite me when I nurse him? He did. But not anymore. Just have to teach him not to bite.

What is other family reactions to me still breastfeeding Hao? Well, they are just asking am I still breastfeeding him and that's all. :) And really glad no problem with the people from child care too. The teacher even encourage me when I wean Hao later, switch him to fresh milk instead of formula as fresh milk is better than formula.

I have readjusted his milk time after he has reached 1 years old. Now Hao is on 3 milk servings per day - first time right after he wakes up in the morning, one time in the afternoon around 3pm, and one time right before he goes to bed at night. He will take cereal in the morning tea time around 10am. Then porridge for lunch and dinner. When we are having our dinner, I will give him some of our food too, like rice, soup, fish etc. Whenever we are having food, for sure he will come over and ask for us. He likes cheese and bread, or anything that is soft. Since whenever we are eating, he will get some share too, I seldom need to nurse him outside of the house nowadays.

My favourite position is actually the lying down position. I love to see his facial expression while nursing him. Sometimes after he has stopped, he will look up at me. And when I smile to him, he will either smile back to me, or or give me a big laugh, made me feel so warm and melt my heart. I want to remember this feeling forever. This is the only thing that actually keep me continue nursing him till now, despite still have to express milk during lunch hour. It makes me feel so close to him, makes me feel I'm so important to him. Whenever me and hubby go to pick up the kids, both Lynn and Hao will shout loudly when they see us, as if they are so excited to see us. This is their way of welcoming us. And we are excited to see them too. Nothing is better than seeing a smiling and happy face from your children. :)

WBW Simultaneous breastfeeding

I was breastfeeding Lynn (she was 9 months old at that time) in a place near Chinatown in Singapore. Oh I miss this so much!

The World Breastfeeding Week is from 1 - 7 August 2009. The Penang mother to mother support group is holding a mass gathering of breastfeeding moms on 1st Aug. Click here for more info. During that event they will be holding a 1-minute Simultaneous Breastfeeding and the number of moms participating nationally will be given to the press in an effort to promote breastfeeding.

Some of us here may not be from Penang. However if you are able to breastfeed at 10.30am in unity with other moms before the event finishes, please send your name, contact number and email contact to Christine at mamalink@streamyx.com by Sat 25th July. Christine from Mamalink will be collecting the details and pass over to Connie (organiser in Penang) as she will be holding a press conference after that. Or if you are from Kajang area, Susuibu will be holding a similar event in Kajang on 9th Aug at Dewan Bandaran MPKJ from 8.30am to 1.30pm

For those of you who are breastfeeding, come let's put our hands together to promote breastfeeding!

The Princess and the Chick Pea (and the Grape and the Walnut)

Please click to read this… it’s short and worth reading.

Once upon a time (as recent as a moment ago), there was a Queen who gave birth to a Princess. What made her a Queen was that her partner called her one, and what made their daughter a Princess was because they thought her so. Aside from the nicknames, the Queen and the Princess were not unlike any other woman or baby girl. Click here to read the rest of the story.

Come across this from Tweeter and I just love it…… I would say this is the best story I have come across so far. :)

Breast milk vs Formula milk

Come across a forum few days ago, a mom started a topic talking about she had to give formula to her newborn, as the baby was not growing well. The baby is losing quite a bit of weight in the first week and not gaining much weight since then. The mother was breastfeeding the baby. The paed recommended to add formula to help the baby gained weight. The mom thinks she made the right choice of giving the baby formula and she should not feel bad about not able to fully breastfeed the baby.
From the reply, majority of the moms agreed with her and think that we should not too worry about not able to breastfeed. While there were few mothers think that most mothers gave up breastfeeding easily and formula milk should be given only when there is a real need. Therefore, these two groups of mother were debating there.

I think we just have to go with what we think is the best at that time. I’m sure if given a choice, most mothers would like to breastfeed their own babies if possible. However when they could not do so, we should not look down at them. Breastfeeding is not an easy journey, without proper guidance, encouragement and support from people around us. What I dislike most, is the people around the mother interfere with her choice. They will say things like breast milk is not good, too watery and baby get hungry too soon; not every mother can produce breast milk bla bla bla.

These people have very negative mindset about breastfeeding and they do not know any knowledge on breastfeeding. They don’t know that the beauty of the breast milk is its composition will change according to the baby’s need. Breast milk composition also varies by diet as well. Some women may produce more calorie-dense milk more than others. For those mommies who produce fewer calories on breast milk will need to nurse their babies more frequently. This is where the old people will always comment why the baby get hungry so soon, must be not getting enough milk from the mother that kind of talk. Well yes, baby on breast milk tends to get hungry fast. Why? This is because breast milk is easier to digest compared to formula milk. And what makes the breast milk easier to digest? It's the protein. There are two classes of proteins in milk — the caseins and the wheys. Caseins turn into clots or curds in the stomach. The wheys remain liquid and are easier to digest. And there are about 60% of the proteins in breast milk are whey, while most baby formula milk are high in casein.

If the mother is willing to try breastfeeding her baby, or wanted to breastfeed her baby, the people around her, especially the family members should feel happy and give encouragement to show support. I have witnessed how the negative statements and mindset, has made the mother feel so stressful and believe herself she does not have enough milk to breast feed, her milk is not good enough as the baby keep on crying for milk etc. When I was breastfeeding Hao for the first 2 months, he could cry for milk for every one hour. It is absolutely normal for a newborn to cry for milk more frequently. When Hao was 2 months old, slowly the interval become about 2 hours. Until now, his milk interval is still every 2 hours. Therefore, because of the discouragement from the family members, the mother was so stressful that she could hardly produce breast milk and given up breastfeeding the baby, just after about 1 week the baby was born. They do not understand, breast milk will not produce by itself, unless you are really gifted with lots of breast milk. We need stimulation, the baby needs to suck to send signal to the brain for the body to produce the breast milk. The more stimulation we get, the more breast milk we could produce for the baby. Despite lots of effort being done to create awareness to everyone that breast milk is the best for the baby but there are still some people especially the older generation think that formula milk is better. I think it’s difficult to change their mindset. Nevertheless, I’m glad that both my parents and my in-law are very supportive on my choice wanted to breastfeed both my children. They do believe that breast milk is the best for the baby. Of course not to mention hubby too. Support from family members is important on the success of breastfeeding.

My collection

 

This is my latest collection – none other than the breast milk for Hao. I have been collecting the milk since Hao was one month old. During that time, Hao had been eating a lot and I had not started working yet, so I get to stock up quite a bit. After starting work, due to stress and pressure, my supply had dropped. Yet I still able to stock up some during weekend (Hao sleep through the night most of the time, so I pump out the extra in the morning after feeding Hao). 

For all the frozen milk, I labelled it with date and the serving size. I have 21 bottles in total – 15 9oz bottle, 2 5oz bottle and 4 4oz bottle. In order not to invest more in buying milk bottles and to save space, I bought the milk storage bag instead. Until today, I have used up one box of 125 liners (8oz size) and now using the second box.

When I go to work, I will give mixture of frozen and expressed BM to the caretaker. I tried not to keep the frozen milk for more than 2 months. As frozen milk does not taste as good as fresh and expressed BM, I have a fear that Hao may reject it after he turns 1 year old when he has exposed to more and more solid food. Right now, I’m trying very hard to clear as much frozen milk as possible, while he is still taking it. Moreover after starting him with the semi solids few months back, my supply has been dropping. I’m still expressing milk during office hour when I could not directly feed him. Therefore, the milk supply in the freezer is reducing slowly, under my control.

Technorati Tags: breastfeeding

Enough!

I feel like want to cry. I had to throw away an unused, 5oz, thawed frozen breast milk. Yes, you hear me right. I HAD TO THROW AWAY AN UNUSED, 5OZ THAWED FROZEN BREAST MILK. (Well, it is actually still inside my fridge, as I feel so heavy to throw it away. However, I know I have to, as it is not good to drink already.) How this will happen?

Apparently, Hao did not finish his milk for the day on the day before. However, the babysitter did not tell me about it. Therefore, I still gave her the same amount of milk this morning when I sent Hao over to her house. She did mention to me this morning that Hao seems like does not like to drink those milk anymore. However, so far I have no problem nursing him at home. He did not show the sign does not want me breastfeeding him. In fact, he is looking forward to it every night.

When I went to pick up Hao after work, the babysitter told me tomorrow no need to bring any milk to her. Hao did not want to drink the milk. He just finished whatever left over from yesterday. And the BM that I gave her this morning remained untouched. Well of course, Hao won’t want it. Everyday, I gave the babysitter both expressed BM and frozen BM. I expected all milks to be finished on that day itself. Therefore, I did not tell her, which one is frozen, that Hao had to take first and which one could be later. And any leftover milk from the milk bottle, if not being consumed within the next 1-2 hours, had to be discarded (the same rule apply to formula milk too). And thawed frozen BM cannot be kept until the next day. I don’t think she knows all this. Obviously, Hao would not want that ‘old’ milk, as they did not taste good anymore. But she should have told me this yesterday.

As I did not give her any formula milk powder to stand by, I wonder if Hao was not taking the BM, what he takes? The babysitter said he just take the normal cereal and porridge. Other than that, he did not want the milk. I did not understand, wont he feel hungry? Just when I wanted to ask more questions, I heard the babysitter was telling Hao “嘿, 长大了囖, 知道不好吃了啊.” (means now you have grown up, you know the BM does not taste good.) After hearing this, I could not hold back anymore.

Immediately I told the babysitter in a very stern and serious tone, showing my unhappiness and disagreement “Aunty, how can you be so negative. I’m very sensitive to this. Breast milk is the best milk in this world. All this while you like to ask me when am I going to stop breast-feeding. Commenting the texture of the milk, the taste of the milk etc. Milk is not the main food for baby after 6 months old. In fact, the paed just told me to replace one of his milk with semi solid food. This is the beauty of the breast milk; it will adjust to the baby’s need. However, despite all the benefits, you are not encouraging at all. Even if the baby is rejecting the milk, this is his choice. How can you tell the baby it does not taste good? Well seems like the baby is listening to you now.”

I dislike this babysitter as she has been acting and talking negatively all this while. I and hubby already have plan to change babysitter for Hao. But I did not expect such thing would happen before Hao switch to new babysitter. When Hao was about 7 months, I requested the babysitter to cook porridge for him. She told me Hao did not like to take porridge. I did not rely on the babysitter. I took my own initiative to find out what Hao likes and what he does not like and updated the babysitter. Apparently she did not listen to me. One day, she told me Hao was not ready to take porridge yet as he vomited right after taking the porridge. Well I did not have such problem back at home here. I did not argue with her. I just checked with her how she cooked the porridge and the texture of the porridge. I doubt she cooked it in the way that Hao likes.

She stopped cooking porridge for Hao after that day. I did not get mad at her. One or two weeks later, I asked her about it. I told her back at home during weekend, Hao’s evening meal was on porridge, no more milk. So far, I had no problem feeding him porridge. Only after hearing me saying this, she resumes giving him porridge and no more complains from her on this.

I gave her a box of Baby Bites biscuit when Hao reaching 6 months old earlier. I told her to give to Hao as snack. After 2 months later, I checked with her. She told me the biscuit is like the Japanese rice biscuit, she thinks it’s too hard for Hao. Therefore, she did not give him. I was like – what? If I did not ask, means she won’t tell me about it. I assured her the biscuit is soft enough to give to a baby. Lynn started eating those biscuit when she was 5 months plus. I personally also had given Hao those biscuit to eat and he knows how to eat those biscuit. Very obvious she made her own judgment without trying it. Still after that, she did not give it to him. She complained to me that Hao did not like to drink plain water. I suggested change to sipping cup for him. This happened to Lynn before. She also did not like to drink plain water from milk bottle. But she’s ok after we change her to sipping cup. Guess what the babysitter told me? She said Hao won’t want to drink from the sipping cup (how she knows if she never try?), he does not know how to drink from the sipping cup (no one come to this world know everything, we have to learn). She even asked me to try first, if he drinks then only give her the cup. Well I did try at home. Hao did not reject sipping cup. But I did not tell the babysitter. There are many incidents already. Since she won’t listen to me, I let her do the way she wants. She is being lazy. She thought as long as the baby is not grumpy, not cranky, she has done her job. All the babies that she previously take care, the parents only brought the baby back home during weekend. I doubt those parents know how this lady take care of their child.

Since then, we know she is a very negative person. She uses the same method same way on all babies, but we know this will not work as every baby is unique. In addition, a baby needs a positive environment to grow. Hubby and I have been talking about changing babysitter. We actually have decided to send Hao to the same playschool that Lynn is going now. We just need to sort out some of the arrangement.

I know I'm going to miss this the most...

Thanks for all the comments on whether I should continue breastfeeding Hao or not. Actually the night after I had published the post, while I was nursing the boy to bed, as usual I was admiring his face. I always like to see him having his milk with his both eyes closed, enjoying all the comforting moments that he is having. This is the time where I will automatically put my hand gently touching his head and his body. Amongst all breastfeeding sessions, the last feed for the day is my favourite and feel we are at the closest. At that moment, I realized that if I ever stop breastfeeding him, this would be the moment where I will surely miss the most. You do not get to see this if he is on his milk bottle. Then I started to ask myself - am I really want to stop breastfeeding him after he has reached 1 year old? I know the answer will be no.

Although hubby would like to have one more child, but I'm not in favour of the idea of having one more baby. Most probably, Hao will be my last baby. I felt regret and missing something when I stopped breastfeeding Lynn 2 years ago. During that time, we would like to get ready for the second child. (My body only resume the monthly menstrual cycle after I had stopped breastfeeding.) Thinking about that, I would not want to make the same mistake again. If I not going to have another child, I will not be able to enjoy the bonding moments with the kid anymore.

Hao is a different baby compared to Lynn. In some degree, he can be by himself. In certain time he will look for me and will not stop crying or complaining until I hold him. Sometimes he will let me go after he has enough milk. Sometimes he would not want to let me go even after almost 1 hour of comfort sucking. Even though we have planned for second child, but he came earlier than our plan. (We did not expect able to conceive at such short time.) His arrival has a special meaning to me. He comes to this world for a special mission.

My dear Hao, alright mommy will continue to breast-feed you, until you are ready for self-weaning. You are mommy's strong boy. Mommy loves you!

Technorati Tags: breastfeeding,self-weaning

Wait for self-weaning?

There are people asking me for how long I intend to breastfeed Hao. Well, my original plan is at least he is 1 year old. Looks like I'm going to achieve it very soon. (Hehe less than 3 more months to go. :P)


For Lynn, I breastfed her until she was 10 months old. I feel a bit regret after I have stopped breastfeeding her. Like no more bonding moments between us, even though she was still much attached to me even after no more breastfeeding (until now still the same). For Hao, I don't really mind to breastfeed him longer, after 1 year old. Even though I can't be lazy expressing the milk everyday (yes everyday!), no more dine out for lunch (lunch time being used to express milk), when I go out alone or without taking him along I have to think of what time I should be back to feed him (so that I don't have to pump) etc. However since breast milk is the best for the baby, moreover you CANT buy it, so I have NO complain at all! Just need to arrange the time accordingly. :)


I really don't mind and would like to breastfeed him, until 2 years old (following the WHO recommendation). I only have one concern - will he become like a mommy boy? I tried do some reading over the Internet. Some mention about the baby will be self-weaning after they are 1 year old. Is that mean I should wait for him to self-wean? Last time for Lynn, since I'm the one who want to stop the breastfeeding, I purposely replaced her milk time with semi-solid food. Within 2 weeks to 1 month, my supply dropped and eventually being fully replaced by formula milk the following month (hehe it took ages and much effort to increase the supply but very easy to reduce it). In fact, towards the end of the month, she started to reject drinking the breast milk from the bottle already. Alright back to Hao, should I continue and wait for him to self-wean? Is my concern of him becoming a mommy boy, valid?

Brewers yeast flakes

Went to an organic shop to buy the fenugreek last month. After knowing that I'm taking fenugreek to stimulate more breast milk, she recommended me taking the brewers yeast flakes. As it is not too expensive (around RM15 for one tin as shown above), I agreed to give it a try.

She told me to take it 3 times a day, one tablespoon each time. However I don't quite like the taste and the smell of the yeast. So I just add 1 teaspoon each, twice a day (I'll be having 2 cups of hot drink - in the morning and after lunch at work). The results? Quite effective actually. Can notice some increase in the milk supply.

Is it really cheaper?

When someone ask me what brand of the formula milk that Hao is taking and I said he's solely on breast milk, most of the people will respond "Wah, can save a lot leh." Well, does it really can save a lot with breastfeeding? I doubt it. Actually there's quite a number of 'hidden cost' that probably only us who is fully breastfeeding the baby will know. :)

• Nursing pad - For those good brand like Medela, it costs about RM1 per piece. Even the cheaper brand like Tollyjoy will cost about RM0.50 per piece. We have to use this as long as we are still breastfeeding to prevent your shirt to get wet if the milk is leaking.
• Storage bottle or storage bag - I have about 20 milk bottles in my freezer. However it is not enough for me so I have to invest on storage bag that costs about RM0.50 per bag.
• Nursing bra - This is mostly for when I'm out with the baby, so that I can nurse him easily in the public.
• Breast care cream
• Breast pump - This is needed especially for a working mum like me. A good breast pump even just a simple manual one side pump will cost few hundreds.
  
• Food warmer - Some people may invest in food warmer to heat up the storage breast milk, but not me. We use the 'traditional' way - just place the milk bottle in a cup filled with hot water. It takes less than 5 minutes to heat up the milk. :)
• Supplements - Since all the nutrients from our body will go into the milk, we have to make sure our body have enough nutrients for ourselves too. I'm also taking domperidone to stimulate more milk (this is not cheap at all. It costs about RM0.50 per pill and I have to take 6 per day. )
  
• Nutrient food - We will search for all sort of foods that will boost up our milk supply, like fish, papaya, fenugreek etc.
  

And most important for all is the time and heart! It needs a lots of persistent and patient to go for fully breastfeeding. I have to sacrifice my lunch time to express the milk for Hao in the office. And need to ask someone to pack the lunch for me. And not to mention everywhere I go I need to take Hao with me. If not, I have to pump out the milk for him. All these are priceless! And for all the moms who are breastfeeding the child, the main purpose is not to save money, but want to give the best to the child!

Extracting orange juice?

Everyday during lunch and after office hours, I will need to do my daily 'homework' - to express milk for the boy. Most of the colleague in the office know that I'm breastfeeding the baby. Few days back as usual, after finishing the 'homework' I was cleaning the breast pump in the office pantry. Before the office was relocated, I used to do it in the Ladies toilet. We used to have our own toilet just for the staffs here. There are cleaners come to wash the toilet every morning so it was well kept. However after we have relocated to new place, we no longer have our own 'private' toilet anymore. We have to share the public toilet with another company on the same floor.

So while I was still cleaning up the breast pump, a male colleague bumped into me. He saw me do the washing and asked me what is the thing.

He: Hey, what is that for? Making tea?
Me: Err... nope.
He: Extracting orange juice?
Me: Hehe... no lar. *laughing at him* (I actually can't help myself from not laughing after hearing this. Lol)
He: Oh.
Me: Err... this is actually for the milk for my boy. hehehe

Apparently he never see a breast pump before and he thought we should be using electrical one. Well, he's a married man but no kids yet. :)

Developing comfort sucking

Recently I have to spend more and more time nursing Hao. From half an hour, to one hour and sometimes even more than 1 hour! Especially towards the end of the day. I noticed Hao has started developing comfort sucking habit.

When Lynn was still a baby, she can't sleep without me. She started comfort sucking to sleep since she was born. Most of the time gone due to this. And she had developing a habit must sleep with me. Else she can't sleep. I have spent lots of effort to make her to able to sleep without me around. In the past, when I was not around, she will cry looking for me. And eventually fall asleep getting tired after crying. I certainly would not like this to happen to Hao. This will make hubby getting headache to get the kids to bed if I'm not around. Hao does not seems to be too attach to me yet to be able to fall asleep so I certainly would not want him to have to comfort sucking habit to

Hao @ 4th months check up

Brought Hao for his scheduled 4th month check-up this morning. In fact, he's approaching 4.5 months now. For Hao, we are taking him to the government clinic (Klinik Ibu mengandung dan Kanak-kanak) for his jap. This is my first experience with the government clinic though we have been visiting government hospital all the while (Hao next scheduled check-up with HUKM is end of next month).

As usual, you have to expect long wait in the government clinic. In order to be able to get there earlier, I stayed overnight at my parent's house the night before as it is nearer to the clinic. So hubby was alone at home last night. (Well, as long as he got his PC with Internet access, he won't be boring being alone at home. :p)

I was anxious to know what is Hao's current weight. He has not been putting on weight during his last month check-up. After knowing that he has put on about 1kg this month, I feel relief. The new babysitter is still not very used to fully b/fed baby yet. She always very nervous when approaching milk time. She said 10 mins before the milk time, Hao will start screaming already. it has been several times that she has asked me when do I plan to stop b/feeding. Well I have to admit that the supply can hardly match with the demand nowadays. However I still have not thought of stopping yet. I still remember last time right after I stop b/feeding Lynn, she started to fall sick. Just 2 more months after Hao started on the semi-solids, the b/feeding part will be become easier. So I just have to hang on for a while more.

Hao @ 4.5 months
Weight: 7.1kg
Height: 67.5cm

Demand > Supply *cry*

Hao is more than 3 months old now. When I put him with the previous babysitter when he was 1.5 months old, I started him with 90ml for every 2 hours. It looks a lot for a baby taking breast milk but I found that only taking this much then can last him for 2 hours. So we have been sticking to this until recently. The new babysitter has been complaining the boy is not having enough milk. So I increased the feeding to 100ml for every 2 hours. When my mom called up Dr Koh to check how much milk should Hao been taking, I was a bit surprised to find out that she thinks 90ml every 2 hours is way too much for him. She said it should be a 3 hourly feeding. She suggested if we increase the milk to 100ml, make it 3 hours. I don't think 100ml can last the boy for 3 hours. So I continue him with the 2 hourly feeding and 100ml.

Just one week, the babysitter complained to me the boy is not having enough again. He will cry when she try to take the milk bottle from him after he has finished drinking all milk. Oh alamak, how can be not enough? And I think increase the milk again is not a good idea. Due to the working late nights, my supply had been greatly affected. Even though stay in the office much longer hours, however I couldn't find any extra time to express one more time. So the supply has become lower. During the weekends when I breastfeed him directly, I noticed that his feeding time had been increasing, and still having both eyes widely open after the feeding. Which means that very likely he's not full enough and I have no more for him! This is so stressful that besides feeling stress about work, every time when I will calculate that whether it is enough for the day or not. For almost the whole week, the expressed milk is one feeding less than the expressed milk I pass to the babysitter in the morning. Argh this is real bad. I have no choice but to increase the dosage of the domperidone. Hopefully this will help.

Stress, stress, stress

Recently I'm having so much stress. Stress from work and stress from home. I had lost 3-4kg within 1.5 months since I went back to work about 2 months back.

At work, we all are working without days and nights to get things done before the dateline. Some of us even had to come back to work one full day on Saturday for the past one month. I'm glad that I still can enjoy rest day on Saturday. However we do work until very late, around 10pm. On one Friday, we even worked until 3am in the morning! Well, the dateline had past however the boss is not very happy with the results. We need to put in more effort to get it done. So there will be more late nights next week. Being a team leader I even need to face more stress from the boss as well as the top management team.

As for the kids, due to the unavailability of the previous babysitter, despite the busy work schedule I had to squeeze some time to look for a new babysitter for them. It was not easy at all due to the fact that both me and hubby are working late. So we need someone to take care them at least until around 9pm. It was so difficult to get someone who is willing to take care kids till so late. Most people requested to pick up the kids around 7pm.

Finally I manage to find someone who is willing to take care the kids, with some extra charges. The market price here for one child is RM600. I top up additional RM100 for late pick up. This lady is staying near my parents house, not somewhere near my living area. However I don't have much choice as I could not get any babysitter nearby my area to take care the kids. (There was another lady staying near the work place area, charging additional RM150 for late pick up. And later another Rm100 for the porridge when Hao turns 6 months old later. Moreover she is intending to take care more than one kid at the same time. I think this is over charging.) As for Lynn, she will be going to the child care. I will write another post on this.

Stress at work and the worries about the new arrangement of the kids leave some impact to the milk supply. Some of the days the supply will be low that could not meet the daily demand of the boy. So this add another stress to me. I do have some extra milk storage in the freezer, but I do worry about not producing enough for the boy during the days will decrease the supply over a period of time which cause me could not fully breastfeeding him very soon. Sometimes during the weekend, especially on Sunday towards the end of the day, I can feel that the supply had gone low and Hao is not having enough. I had no choice but to continue taking the domperidone in order to maintain the milk supply. Next week I need to increase Hao's serving per feed and this definitely will add more stress on my body in order to produce more milk for him.

4 days in the hospital...

While we were thinking what kind of treatment that Hao needed, the doctors were thinking what was the cause of the fractured bone. To them, this is a serious injury. They said a normal fall would not cause the bone to be broken (yes, i saw the x-ray, 1 bone has been broken into 2 smaller bones.)

In total, Zhe Hao was admitted for 4 days (from Sept 1 - 4). In fact, according to the paed ortho doc, Zhe Hao required no treatment. Since he was still a baby. the bone will require by itself. It will take about another month more (since they said it happened about 2 weeks ago). By the time, it will be back to 1 whole bone by itself. When I asked about any side effects from the fractured bone, I was told that any side effects will not be visible when he grow up later. As for Zhe Hao, he is just like normal. He did not really cry a lot, does not seems to be in pain. At least I feel relief seeing him being normal. His diet is normal, passing motion also normal, did not complain when I move his leg when changing diaper etc. As long as we be more careful on his right leg, do not cause any pain to him, Zhe Hao basically is just like normal.

And since Zhe Hao does not need treatment at all, so why we still need to be in the hospital for 4 days?

Day 1 (Night): the paed doc came to ask me details on Zhe Hao, like who take care of him, who else in the family, in the babysitter house, any accidents, how Lynn treats Zhe Hao etc.

Day 2 (Morning): Another paed doc come asking me a little bit more details than the first paed doc. Then she told me about the NAI, about what they need to be done as the doctor, in order to protect the child, they need to investigate how this could happen, to make sure no child abuse incident etc.

Also when other doctors, nurses or other parents come to know that Zhe Hao was having fractured bone, they all started asking did he fall down, is he taken care by the babysitter etc. Most of the people suspecting the babysitter but me and hubby are not. The same babysitter has been taken care Lynn when Lynn was still a baby. Lynn has been well taken care of. And the babysitter family all treat Lynn very well. Buying clothes for her, buying toys for her, taken her out for shopping, willing to take care of her till late, or even overnight, willing to take care of her even during public holiday when me and hubby need to go to work. And she's not a calculative person. She never ask for any OT money from us. So we trust her will not harm Zhe Hao. However we do worry that if it's caused by the kids. Besides Lynn, the babysitter also is taking care her one year old granddaughter too.

Day 2 (Afternoon): Zhe Hao was taken for another x-ray session - to scan any other places in his body that also having bone fractured. The doctors also examined his whole body for any bruises.

Day 3 (Morning): The eye specialist doc came over to check Zhe Hao's eyes, see if there is any internal bleeding. Poor Zhe Hao... when the eye specialist come over, he was just fallen asleep. Howeve the examination required him to have his eyes open. So they forced to open his eyes and he was crying loudly complaining the doc disturb him sleeping. Until me also feel like crying. Luckily the whole session did not take that long but enough to make you feel pity to the boy having to go through all this examinations despite the fact that he's not being abused.

Day 3 (Afternoon): Both me and hubby, as well as the babysitter were required to be in the hospital to be interviewed by the doctors. So I had to repeat the story how I found his leg swollen then sent him to hospital for further checking... After that, we were required to lodge a police report. It is for the hospital to further carry out the investigation. The people from social welfare will pay a visit to our home as well as babysitter home, to ensure the environment are safe for the baby.

Of course the doctor will not trust the babysitter. However I do believe they don't think we the parents will abuse the baby. How can a mother who is fully breastfeeding the child will abuse her own baby? This not make sense at all. And because I need to breastfeed Zhe Hao, I had been 'stucked' in the hospital, 24 hrs a day, to take care and breastfeed him. So my job in the hospital is breastfeed Hao, eat, sleep, drink, rest. That's all. It was sooo cold in the hospital at night. I could not sleep well as it was too cold. Thanks to hubby who brought me the blanket on the 3rd day so at least I still get to sleep well on that night. It was a tiring experience. But I'm glad Zhe Hao is fine.

Day 4: Finally we were allowed to go home. And I need to take Zhe Hao come back hospital for x-ray after one month.

Jaundice

When Lynn was still a baby, she got prolonged jaundice until she was about 4 months old (if I remember correctly). She had gone through the photo-theraphy twice within first month of age, and even had taken the ultrasound for her liver. During that period, she had gone through numerous blood test (until it leaves a mark on her hand!) and were given multivitamin and iron supplement for it. Each time I take her to the hospital, I feel so sorry for her that she had to undergo all these despite she was just a few months old baby. She also gone through the audio test to make sure her hearing has not been affected by the high bilirubin level during the first month of life. One good thing about government hospital is they make sure the baby is healthy before they stop seeing you.

After first experience with Lynn on the jaundice, I give extra care to Zhe Hao to make sure same mistaken would not repeat twice (Lynn had to go through the photo-theraphy during first week of life is due to underfeeding. She just refused to wake up for milk.) Zhe Hao on the other hand eat mor than his sister. In fact, towards the end of the confinement month, he had increased his milk intake tremendously - almost every hour he will demand for milk until I become so tired and so scare of nursing him. However Hao still cannot run away from not having jaundice.

We first notice the yellow towards the end of first week. Then it subsided about more than 1 week later. However in the beginning of the 4th week, we noticed the yellow come back again. I started to worry and wonder why. Zhe Hao had been eating well, sleeping well, and had enough wet diapers for the day. His stool was normal, he was active and healthy. And he got good weight gain. So that make me less worry. After 1 month, I took him to the clinic. There the nurse and doctor advised me to take him to the hospital to check for the jaundice. Following their advice, I brought Hao back to HUKM. To avoid long wait at the emergency, I was being directed to go to the HUKM Premier Clinic in Taman Tasik Selatan. As usual, blood test as well as urine test must be taken. Hao is diagnosed with prolonged jaundice. However the bilirubin level is not high enough for him to go through the photo-theraphy (phew!) but he is still under the observation of the doctor for the prolonged jaundice. Another blood test was taken on that day and another urine sample needed too (due to the last results show that the urine sample had been contaminated).

The second blood test results show some improve on the bilirubin level, but there are 2 readings from the liver panel that are not good. This time the doctor from the HUKM Premier Clinic refers us back to the HUKM Paediatric Clinic.

Hao took his 3rd blood test during the subsequent appointment in HUKM on August 13. Again, the same 2 readings from the livel panel still not good. No further test recommended at the moment. The next appointment is one month later on Sept 10 where another blood test will be taken during that day before seeing the doctor. I do hope Hao is fine and does not need to go through what his sister had gone through.

I have read that if the baby are breastfed, and the baby is active and healthy, having prolonged jaundice for few months is normal and give no harm to the brain. I'm glad that Hao is a fully breastfed baby. Once I was thinking of giving up breastfeeding him as he is eating too much, too frequent and make me so tiring. Luckily I did not stop at that point. Now with the jaundice, it makes me more determine to continue breastfeeding.

Hao at 6 weeks old: -
Weight: 5.8kg (birth: 3.67kg, 1 month: 5.1kg)
Height: 61cm (birth: 52.5cm, 1 month: 58cm)