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
