My Humble Breastfeeding Experience (from a low-supply perspective)

Breastfeeding - one of the major topic when it comes to pregnancy and after birth. I did so so so much "homework" during my pregnancy when it comes to breastfeeding. Initially, I was all for "fed is best", until I started doing my homework, and when Emma was out, it became more of, "let me try to provide as much as I can". It wasn't easy I must say, and it sure was one helluva journey.

During my pregnancy, I borrowed books on breastfeeding, attended webinars and I would credit a large part of my successful breastfeeding experience (I am proud to say that I am still breastfeeding my 1-year-old Emma now!) to Hegen!

I was bent on getting the bottles from Hegen and as a result, the only mummy group I joined was Hegen's telegram group and from there on, I got to know people in there, signed up for their webinars and got invited to their Breast Practices workshop, birthday event etc. I was so thankful to be part of them, and learnt so so so much. My husband would jokingly say, "Don't you already know that? Why are you listening in again?" hahahahhaa. He would even be able to recognise Yvon's, the founder's, voice immediately.

I learnt things about how milk supply works, different positions for breastfeeding, common breastfeeding problems and solutions, and what to do the moment baby is out to kickstart the breastfeeding process. However, all these were just information, and nothing beats application!!! I recalled writing a list of things to do once Emma was out (in case I forget them due to fatigue). I had to do skin-to-skin immediately (was really lucky to be able to have 2h of skin-to-skin with Emma due to a busy day at the delivery ward hahaha), tell the hospital that you wanted to do the "total breastfeeding" way so they would not supplement formula milk for you unnecessarily, latch every 3 hours and etc etc.

The latching was tough.

Not only was Emma super sleepy, my nipple was sore to the extent it was actually painful for Emma to latch. In the beginning, baby needs to learn how to achieve a deep latch, and while doing so, the shallow latches would hurt and this was something I had to pull through! I recalled taking deep breaths before letting her latch so I could prepare my heart and soul for the stinging pain.

My milk was not kicking in fast enough.

During my 3D2N "staycation" at the hospital, the nurses were kind enough to teach me how to allow baby to have a deeper latch and the LC onboard also taught me how to hand express colostrum to feed baby. Hand expressing colostrum also helps the milk to kick in faster as you are removing the thicker "fluid" for the mature milk to come! The nurses told me that they would only supplement formula milk if the baby's weight drop to a dangerous level but if not, it was okay. From there, I understood that baby has reserves and they would tap into the reserve if mummy is not producing milk fast and sufficiently enough.

Each feeding session would last 45-60min long.

As I was not producing as much milk, and also baby was sleepy, I would latch 20-30min on each boob and pray hard that she is drinking enough. Feeding was really tiring because a newborn drinks 8-12 times a day?! It didn't help that I was not producing enough milk and hence Emma would become hungrier a lot faster.

Supplementation kicked in, and pumping begins.

Unfortunately, Emma's jaundice levels were dangerously high and had to be admitted to the hospital for phototherapy. I dread, and dread and dread pumping... According to my webinars, I was supposed to latch till around 3-4 months before pumping!! So now you are telling me I have to pump my milk out at the 1-week mark so I can bring the milk to the hospital and let the nurses feed Emma??!?! Imagine the devastation I felt... I was really reluctant, but I had no choice right? That was when it hit real hard - I wasn't producing enough at all. Heartbroken, and worried, I told the hospital to provide formula milk because phototherapy leads to dehydration and I would not want any further complications. I still diligently pumped every 3 hours, ate lactation cookies, drank lactation teas, ate whatever food that was "supposed" to help with milk supply but.. Nothing worked... I also went to the hospital in the day so I could breastfeed Emma every 3 hours, and that wasn't enough still. They had to supplement about 60-70ml each time after breastfeeding (imagine how little I was producing!). The nurses told me in a nice way that I was actually "wasting precious time that could have been spent doing phototherapy". Hence, lowering her jaundice levels was my top priority and I decided to research on how I can increase my milk supply, while allowing the nurses to supplement. I continued pumping and storing my expressed milk to welcome Emma home.

Finally, I found my magic - power pumping.

Power pumping was tedious, and time-consuming. I was doing the [20min pump, 10min rest, 10min pump, 10 min rest, 10min pump] cycle at least once or twice (if time allows) a day. As a result of the phototherapy, I decided to continue pumping so that I could monitor the amount of milk that Emma was drinking and have a rough idea how much she needed in a day.

Combining latching and pumping to trigger more milk.

Whenever Emma woke up at night, I chose to latch instead of expressing milk because I could sleep a little more while she latches and she tends to sleep a lot faster after! While she's latching on one side, I would use the haakaa on the other and then switch. It was truly tiring. After latching both sides, I would then pump for 5-10min (depending on how long she latched for) to further trigger more milk. Can you imagine the amount of "work" and time spent doing all these. Eventually, it was really worth it as it helped signal to my body that it needs to produce more milk!

Emma's STTN saved my sanity and I was finally getting there (regarding my milk supply).

I am really thankful that at the 3-week mark, we found some magically routine (we trial and error so many different timings and routines and found one that worked!) that allows her to she sleep through the night (10pm to 7am) and I could catch up on the milk supply while she's sleeping! Even though she was sleeping, I was still waking up every 3 hours to pump. As a result of the 2-3 pumps at night, she had enough in the day and I finally could take a breather. I stopped power pumping as it really sucked my life away, and I would always be on tenterhooks, worrying that she might wake up while I'm pumping and I wasn't able to attend to her (I did not have a confinement nanny at that time and there were days when I was alone at home with her).

Finding the balance between latching and pumping.

As my milk supply was increasing slightly, I decided to allow Emma to go back to latching. I also managed to donate milk away! My dream would be for Emma to be able to latch and take the bottle well so I was not ready to fully express all my milk and lose the direct latching benefits. I went to almost fully latching her at around 6 months old when she started solids and my milk supply had stabilised to an amount I felt was sufficient for her. I was latching her 3-4 times a day and her last night feed would be a bottle. This is so that papa can help to feed her at night and bond with her!

Surviving a nightmare at the 6-month mark.

Prior to flying up to Germany, there was the stress of packing, and shifting and as a result, I had an episode of serious engorgement that led to a fever. Not only did my milk supply dip by HALF, it took about 3-4 months for my milk supply to increase slowly. I was tapping so much on my frozen milk stash (thankfully I brought them up from Singapore to Germany) and I was feeding Emma more solids to make up for the lack of milk. Probably not the best as she was still so young but I was reluctant to start on formula milk. I was power pumping (AGAIN!!) for a few months as well.. Thankfully she was taking solids well and naturally her milk intake decreased along the way and my milk supply, was finally back on track FOR HER. Phew!

We are at 12-month mark and I am happy and proud to say that Emma is still fully on breastmilk and we seem like we are going to on like this for quite some time still :") I am also thankful that she was free from nipple confusion, and that could be because she was using Hegen's teat?

The journey hasn't been easy, but definitely worthwhile and now that she is almost fully latching, it really eases us on the continuous need to wash bottles, and going out has been soooo convenient - I don't need to bring anything! We hope that mummies out there find the will to persevere and see the benefits of breastfeeding. You can do this!