Breastfeeding journey,season 2...

Assalamualaikum sisters n brothers,

Alhamdulillah, we survived from haze! Hahaha... It was rili terrible and uncomfortable here in Gombak during the haze attack last few weeks. Paling kesian dengan kids and babies lah. Even kita orang tua pun rasa macam sesak nak bernafas, apatah lagi diorang! Anyway, Alhamdulillah, Allah had saved us all from that..

Actually, I'm just done doing my presentation slides for conference tomorrow. I'll be presenting my paper on that conference, InsyaAllah. Actually, start hari ni, tetapi, saya yang pemalas ini malas nak join today's sessions. So I'll join tomorrow's session je lah! Plus, tomorrow ada invited keynote speakers from University of Nevada, Las Vegas and University of Melbourne. My current SV advised me to go and meet them. Mana tahu leh jadi potential SV for PhD.. *wink, wink*

Ok, masih tak masuk tajuk lagi.. Camana nak get rid of this not -straight-to-the-point habit ni eh? Camano nak jadik lecturer ni, cerita pusing sana,pusing sini.. Huhuhuhu..

SEBENARNYA, I nak cerita pasal breastfeeding. Season 2 sebab this is my 2nd time. Alhamdulillah, I managed to breastfeed Fatin for 2years ++. She weaned off totally when I was pregnant for Faris. Maybe susu dah rasa tak sedap, or probably there's no milk at all.. Haha..

So far, Faris is still exclusively breastfed. No additional food or drinks. Totally breast milk. And InsyaAllah, I'm planning to stick to that until he is 6months old or until he is ready for solid. 

Breastfeeding wise, generally, is more or less similar to Fatin's time. But Fatin was a bit lucky that I only left her for classes when she was almost 6months. And most of the time, she was with me, so I can just direct fed anytime she needed it.  And I guess I started to actively pumping and storing EBM only when she started to go to Educare. She was already 9months old at that time. 

To be honest, pumping and storing wise, I was not really successful. Ibaratnya macam kais pagi,makan pagi, kais petang makan petang lah! I pumped for the next day supply. At first, macam survived lagi, since during that time Fatin rejected feeding via bottle! So milk consumption was not that much. But, after I changed her bottle to different brand, then she started to consume more milk, I dah start sesak nafas dah nak mencukupkan stock. Hihihi.. 

Akhirnya, when she was 1 year and 3 months old (if I'm not mistaken), I already supplied formula for her at school. When she was at home, I direct fed je lah.. Sedih sangat masa tu.. Rasa macam loser je sebab tak mampu nak supply only breast milk to my daughter! However, I pasrah je lah, sebab my priority at that time was my child's well being. Rather than she got insufficient nutrition, then lebih baik bagi je formula..

BUT, this time around, I am determined to try my best to give Faris breast milk as long as I can. In fact, I started to store EBM quite early. Masa dalam pantang dah store dah. Maybe it's easier for me to discipline myself this time since I start to leave him with nanny quite early (3months old). And so far, I stick to my 3 times pumping session at office, from 930am to 415pm. Alhamdulillah, so far, I managed to get almost 20oz a day from that 3 sessions.
 
I guess, the most important thing in breastfeeding and pumping is the mind set. Kalau kita set it is burdening and hard to do, then jadi susah lah. As for me, I'm blessed with so many facilities that are breast-pumping friendly. Individual office, sink just a few steps from my office, convenient pump (am pumping while typing this ;p ) and of course great health, Alhamdulillah! So I have no reason actually not to pump. Kalau malas jugak, memang nak kena ketuk lah. Kufur nikmat namanya! Huhuhu... Ada orang yang tak bernasib baik, Allah tak bagi rezeki menyusukan anak sebab tak sihat, tak ada susu and etc. Jadi sila ingat Pn Farahiyah, you are so blessed to be able to do that, so jangan sia-siakan! DISCIPLINE!

InsyaAllah... Hopefully, for this 2nd season, my breastfeeding journey will be better, longer and efficient! Amin.. Oh ya, I'm also determined to take supplement every day so that the milk produced will be healthier and rich with nutrition.. Hehe.. 

Wish me luck ok! And to all mommies who's currently breastfeeding and storing EBM for your child, all the best! Let's all GANBATTE together ok! Hehe..

 

Loads of love, 

* Farah Jasni*