Pain to Pleasure, Challenges to Enjoyments - my breastfeeding journey

One thing I knew for certain when I got pregnant was that I wanted to be able to breastfeed my baby. I had already heard so many stories of moms giving up on breastfeeding attempts early on. After all my prep work leading up to Jude's birth (see post on Confidence - the essential ingredient to successful breasfeeding) , I envisioned a pretty smooth journey. We had even practiced different holds in my pre-natal class so I was all set, I knew exactly how to hold my baby in a cross-over hold  and what a correct latch should look like, sounds easy enough, right? Wrong... 

      

Although I was mostly hung up on not having enough of a milk supply to continue breastfeeding that ended up being the least of my concerns. 

The journey started right in the delivery room. Lucky for me, the only intervention I ended having was the nitrous oxide/laughing gas which I really enjoyed. I'll have to save my birth story for another post. Nitrous oxide does not pass through the placenta as would the epidural or pethidine. With the help of midwives at Corniche Hospital we managed to latch on and get breastfeeding started in the delivery room. I was a happy camper!

Well the following few days were not easy. From having people pinch my boob to get her to latch, from having a lactation consultant yell at me that crying was a late sign of hunger - even though my baby was on the boob just a few minutes before she walked in - , from having my mother and other relatives try to convince me to put my baby on a supplement when Jude would be crying at night. It was definitely not easy starting things off.

However, I'm glad that I stuck with my instincts and kept what I had read in mind. I knew that supplementing would not encourage my milk to come in and that I just needed to keep my baby on the breast and nurse her as much as she wanted.

It took a bit of practice to get the correct latch. Even when we were latched correctly, the first few seconds were quite painful. I initially thought the pain was due to wrong latch, but it turns out that some women get latch-on pains that last for a few seconds at the beginning of every feed session until they get accustomed to nursing. It was quite painful,  I would just close my eyes in anticipation of the pain at each feed. That continued for at least a week. 

By the second week I was so engorged and could feel lumps forming, all the way up my underarms. That's right, my UNDERARMS ...  I know! Shocking - apparently the way I was sleeping with my arms crossed over my head would get the milk to flow in that direction. How odd!

By the third week I started getting a fever and chills and ended up being re-admitted to the hospital. I was so chocked up when they told me that I would be admitted all I could muster up to say was "What about my baby? She's breastfed". At that point in time I could not bare to be separated from my baby. I'm sure she would have been fine if I had left her with my mom to take care of. 

I insisted that I would be able to cope with taking care of my newborn whilst being hooked up to an IV the whole time. Of course my mom knew that it would be difficult and she insisted on staying with me for the whole three nights that I was in hospital sleeping on an uncomfortable semi-reclinable chair since there was no spare bed in my room. While she cared for her daughter I cared for mine. 

They put me on antibiotic drips and I had to continue on antibiotics for another 2 weeks. After running all kinds of tests they could not fine anything wrong with me and attributed my high fever to possibly mastitis and told me that I had an oversupply issue! Who would have thought. The lactation consultant asked me if I was taking any galactagogues .. and I was like galacta - WHAT? Sounded like something from a galaxy in outer space. I now know that a galactagogue is any substance taken to increase milk supply. Well, yes of course, I was on hilba and both my mom and mom-in-law insisted that I drink 3 cups of this heavy fenugreek porridge to ensure that my milk supply came in (recipe below). I was so sick of being forced to drink this porridge, it would make me feel so full that I had no appetite to eat anything else. I was so glad that I could go back home and finally stop drinking it on ... ahem.. "medical grounds". That's what it took to convince my overeager family !

During my time at the hospital I met with different lactation consultants all with different opinions on how to address  the oversupply issue. Some insisted that I should pump to relieve the engorgement, whereas others discouraged me from pumping as that would not resolve the oversupply issue. It was so confusing, but I ultimately ended up going with what I felt most comfortable doing. I took a break from pumping for a few days but then went back to pumping once a day at least because I wanted Jude to be able to alternate between bottle and breast.

Unfortunately, being on antibiotics probably lowered our good bacteria and ended up leading to thrush which was something we ended up struggling to get rid of for another 6 - 8 weeks. I even gave up sugar in the hopes of expediting the recovery.

Its been pretty smooth sailing since then, although I do think that I tended to be a bit susceptible to blocked ducts and had them on at least 4 different occasions. After trying a few different things, I found that the quickest solution for me was to take lecithin supplements whenever I started feeling a block and pumping directly after feeds to make sure to drain the block.

Today nursing is so easy and enjoyable I look forward to connecting with Jude when I get home from work in the one way that I know no one else can. I love our bond and although I initially planned on nursing for 6 months, my new aim is 1 year and will see from there.

Hilba Recipe (if you dare!) 

Ingredients
2 tbsp hilba (fenugreek)
3 tbsp rice soaked in water
pinch of cardamon powder
Saffron strands
Sugar to taste
1.5 litre milk

Directions
Soak hilba overnight in water
Grind the rice in a blender with a bit of water
Heat the milk, then add ground rice
Stir continuously to keep lumps from forming
Add sugar, cardamon and saffron
Continue to stir and cook on low flame until milk is reduced to half
Add drained hilba and continue to cook for a few more minutes
Cook less or more according to the thickness you prefer

Post Eid Clean Eating

Eid Mubarak!

Hope you had an excellent Eid with your families. If your Eid was anything like ours, then you probably over indulged in halwa, biscuits and lots of meat meat meat. One of the most exciting things is the lamb Shuwwa that our family has on the second day of Eid. Its absolutely great, but then we definitely feel the need for a healthy eating streak to compensate for the over-indulgence. Not to mention all the fried foods that accompanied breaking our fast in Ramadhan and the sweet cravings that followed.

We've decided to have salads every night post-Eid and we've done quite well at sticking with it. Thanks to pinterest there's always a new or creative salad to try out. The winning salad this week was the Shrimp Quinoa Superfood Salad.

Quinoa is a protein and fiber rich gluten-free whole grain, cooked pretty much the same way as rice and can easily be part of breakfast, lunch or dinner. This low GI carb is considered to be a superfood packed with antioxidants and is one of the more popular super foods - at the moment - we all know how quickly the celebrity foods get de-listed. Qunioa is a low glycaemic index (GI) carb , so takes longer to break down and keeps you full and sustains energy for longer. 

 

 

I got this recipe from Iowagirleats.com, here's the recipe . The lemon vinaigrette goes really well with the quinoa and the combination of savory and fruity ingredients was really enjoyable. 

 While looking out for healthy recipes, I also decided to try out zucchini noodles, also known as "zoodles", which are cooked similar to pasta recipes, replacing the pasta with zuccini. The concept sounded pretty interesting so I decided to give it a try. There are several different tools out there for getting the perfect shaped zoodles. I just used what I could find in my kitchen, a grater and veggie pealer. The grated zucchini seemed more mushy whereas the pealed slices seemed to have a better texture. I threw my zoodles on a pan with some pesto sauce, sprinkled some parmesan over it and added some pine nuts.  It actually looked pretty good.

However, it miserably failed the taste test, and turned out to be quite bitter. I don't think I'll be trying this out again and will just stick with my usual whole wheat spaghetti.

 

Ramadhan and Bran Muffins

Ramadhan Kareem!

Today is the 22nd of Ramadhan and they have just announced the Eid holidays. We've been given a nice long 10 days off together with the Renaissance Day holiday. Its going to be Jude's first Eid so we are looking forward to spending time with family.

I wasn't sure whether to fast or not this Ramadhan as its not required for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers if they feel that it may affect their baby. I decided to go ahead and give it a try and take breaks if I felt that I was having any supply issues. I didn't want to miss out on another Ramadhan since I was pregnant last year and didn't end up fasting. 

So far I haven't had any major issues. I just tend to get really thirsty during the day and end up drinking over 3 litres of water between iftar and imsak. Just last week I noticed that my supply tends to be a bit low as I approach 7 pm, I don't want to end up with any long term effects on my supply so I decided to take 2 days off over the last weekend, and noticed that it did make a bit of a difference. We are close to the end of Ramadhan so hamdilla I managed to fast nearly all the days.

I'm not so great at having suhoor, but there's a buzz feed post that's been circulating about some of the ideal foods for Suhoor. The recipes look really delicious, so I decided to try out the bran muffin recipe today since I also happened to notice wheat bran for the first time at the supermarket. 

I skipped out on the pieces of raisin at the end, but not quite sure why my first batch collapsed down the middle. Either way, tastes good!

For some links on breastfeeding and fasting click here

I like coconut in my food...

We all have silly moments that we remember many years later.

I remember during one of my master's classes we were asked to go around introducing ourselves and  mention something special about ourselves. For some reason, I could not think of anything at all that was special about me when it was my turn to introduce myself. So the professor continued on and said that she would come back to me (as I wishfully hoped she would just forget coming back to me - and didn't bother giving it much thought).

Contrary to my expectation, she caught me off guard when she came back to ask what I thought was special about myself. The person right before me mentioned that he was allergic to strawberries, so my thought process went directly to food and all I could think of was " I like coconut in my food.." Lol, I ended up feeling really silly and had my friends laugh at me about that to this day.

Well fast forward 6 years later, and not only do I still love coconut in my food, its the up and coming superfood! Yay, coconut!

From coconut water, to coconut milk to virgin coconut oil, its all good stuff! My husband isn't a fan of the aroma of coconut oil when I stir fry my veggies because it confuses him since he typically associates coconut oil with a greasy head. MMM, I love it.

Although it contains saturated fats, majority are in the form of lauric acid, a medium chain fatty acid said to reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase good cholesterol (HDL). Other claimed benefits include antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiviral properties.

I like including coconut milk with its other fatty friend the avocado to make smoothies, here's one of the blends I enjoy. 

Avo-coco smoothie 

1/2 cup coconut milk (canned or whatever form you prefer)

1 avocado

1 cup crushed ice

water to blend

sweeten with honey

toss in some frozen banana chunks if you like

Blend to desired sweetness and consistency and enjoy!

For more info on coconut benefits http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html