My breastfeeding journey started when my first child was born in 1998. I had a few months of break in between each child. At 2005, it is still going strong!
Child #1 – Demand Feeding
With Child #1, I was sold on the demand feeding theory. This was what I was told – don’t watch the clock. Feed the baby every time he cries. So that was what I did.
#1 was a wonderfully placid baby at birth – maybe due to the pethedine shot I had? He would only wake up to nurse at 3 to 4 hour intervals. I was delighted since that meant I could take great naps in between feedings all days! And boy! Did I need to sleep after that l-o-n-g drawn out labour I had due to the doctor accelerating my labour by breaking my waters & putting me on a drip.
See Birth Story #1.
Jaundice
However, he ended up with extremely high jaundice. He had to be hospitalised for 2 days and I was a mess! I was in shock – from having to nurse and care for him singlehandedly for the first 5 days of his life to suddenly being forced to leave him behind in the hospital all alone!
Seeing him sleep in a plastic bassinet without any clothes on, just diapers, and a blindfold to protect his eyes from the UV lights made me burst into tears.
And to top it off, I had to stop nursing him for at least 1 day. In order to keep up my milk supply, I had to diligently pump every 3 hours, even through the night. Our doctor was most kind though. He instructed the nurse to feed the baby with a cup spoon and not with the teat to prevent any possibility of nipple confusion. And I thank God that the baby returned to the breast with no hesitation.
Sleepy baby = Jaundiced baby
I later found out that the best way to prevent such a high onset of jaundice was to nurse the baby at every 2 hours and not only when the baby cried for milk! A newborn baby is extremely sleepy, especially if the mother has had medication during labour. To wait for the baby to cry for milk was just not a wise decision at all.
Also, there was a vicious cycle being set in place – sleepy babies nurse less often. Less intake of breastmilk causes the bilirubin to buildup. With the build up, baby gets more jaundiced. The more jaundiced a baby, the sleepier the baby gets…………
So for the next 4 babies, I made sure I wake the baby up every 2 hours during the day and nursed them. During the night, they automatically woke up at 3 hour intervals. I didn’t have to put any of them through the trauma of being hospitalised again! Yes, they all still had jaundice but never high enough to warrant a hospital stay or any other treatment.
Note:
Jaundice is very common in Asian babies. And I have been told that while breastfeeding seemed to increase the likelhood of jaundice, we are seeing it through a wrong mindset.
Meaning – since breastfeeding is God’s way of feeding babies and breastfed babies tend to develop jaundice, then jaundice is normal. But because so many babies are put on formula from birth and formula-fed babies tend to have lower or no jaundice, doctors often panic when they see jaundice in breastfed babies and tend to be very aggressive in “treating” it.
More drama
After the jaundice drama, we went on to have more drama with him. I have often said that if I weren’t so determined to breastfeed, I would have given up! This baby loved to suckle but didn’t want the milk that comes with nursing at the breast!. So he would happily latch on and nurse. But, as soon as the letdown occured, he would scream blue murder!
At first, I couldn’t figure out why he was crying when I had this copious amount of milk spurting out. Then I realised what his issue was. Out of desperation, I offered him the pacifer! He took it for 1 night but the next night, he spat it out and wailed until I nursed him. Then he would quieten down but wail again as the milk flowed.
Rinse. Repeat.
It didn’t help that I had an overactive letdown (OAL). It was a nightmare!
I remember crying – from sleep deprivation and from feeling so helpless. Henson was sweet. He never even offered the option of putting him on formula. All he said was – why not express and cup feed him so that I could get some rest. Well, we tried and that failed too!
Pray!
In desperation, I would pray at every feeding. Prayed that he would be able to cope with the overactive letdown, pray that he would be able to go to sleep after each nursing session, pray that my body will quickly adjust to his needs and so on.
And God came to the rescue – of course!
Scheduled feedings was heaven sent!
We adjusted to each other finally and I continued to breastfeed him until he turned one. As I prayed, I was led to reading up on scheduled feeding instead of demand feeding pattern when he was about 3 months.
To have discovered it was heaven sent! I no longer had to guess why he was crying and whether he needed to be fed or not. Being a first time mother, a schedule brought sanity into my life!
I weaned him at about 13 months. At that point in time, I didn’t know anyone who had nursed successfully and I thought that nursing till he was one was an achievement for both of us. Weaning him was a piece of cake. I just replaced 1 feed with a milk feed (not formula) and within 2 weeks he was completely weaned with no fuss.
Child #2
Armed with the knowledge that a newborn baby must nursed every 2 hours to prevent a high level of jaundice, I made sure that I nursed her every 2 hours from birth. Yes, that meant that I couldn’t nap as long as I wanted to but that was a small sacrifice compared to being stressed and worried when the baby gets jaundice high enough to warrant hospitalisation.
A side benefit of nursing so often is that my milk came in really early. I had my milk come in only at the end of Day 5 with baby #1. But with baby #2, my milk came in by Day 3! And with baby #3, my milk came in at Day 2!
Baby #2 was what I called an efficient nurser. She would nurse 5 minutes on each side and was done! It was amazing compared to #1 who would spend 30 minutes or more nursing if I let him. She would also let me know that she wanted to nurse by crawling over to me and lift up my shirt if she wanted a drink. #1 never did that so it was very amusing to me.
She nursed till she was 14 months, when I was 4 months pregnant with #3. By then, my supply had dropped and she was nursing just 2 to 3 times a day. Weaning her was easy. She decided that she didn’t want her “milk-milk” anymore when I yelled out loud as she sank her teeth into me one fine day.
Actually I was relieved that she had weaned herself as it was getting very uncomfortable nursing her. But I felt bad for the way it ended so I offered it to her the next day. She smiled and walked away!
Child #3
He was a small eater. Probably because he was a tiny baby, compared to the others and had a small stomach?!
He would nurse just 5 minutes on just one side and was done! No matter what I did, he would not be interested in the other side. But he would nurse very often, every 1.5 hours to 2! I just couldn’t stretch him to a 3hr schedule for the longest time!
I then found out I was pregnant with #4 when he was just 6 months old. I panicked a little as I had always wanted to nurse for at least one year before weaning them off. So I put this request to God. God was so gracious.
Although I had very little milk left, Aaron continued to nurse till he was one. He weaned 2 days after he turned one – without any prompting from me. By then, I was already 6 months pregnant.
Child #4
Baby #4 was the first baby I had naturally. No pethedine (#1 & #2) and no gas (#1, #2 & #3).
And yet she was the one who though latched on correctly, had a very weak suckle. I don’t know the reason. I just kept praying about it and then one day the strength of her suckle improved and we were home free.
But this child was determined to nurse 7 – 8 times a day. When she turned 1, I got pregnant with #5! She was happily eating very little solids (as with the rest) and nursing like there was no tomorrow. But I don’t do nursing well when pregnant.
Nursing through pregnancies
I would feel extremely nauseous every time I nursed them and was extremely sensitive. I have always described nursing through a pregnancy as being akin to rubbing sandpaper across the nipples! It hurts so much so that I would be clenching my fists every time they nursed. It would get progressively worse as the pregnancy went on. I think it was because as the milk supply dropped, the nursling would suckle harder to get the milk out. And that harder suckling hurts!!! 
Calling on God
When I hit the second trimester with #5, #4 showed no signs of letting up! I knew what I had to do – drop the feeds one by one but I was too exhausted to actually put it into practice. Bear in mind that I had 4 children to care for plus a little one being knit in the womb. Knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things indeed!
I was so stressed that I broke down many times at the end of the day crying out to God. I felt bad turning her down and yet, it was so uncomfortable that I really disliked nursing her.
I remember breaking down one night after nursing her. I cried out to the Lord that I really couldn’t do this anymore.
The next day, my need-to-nurse-7-to-8-times toddler didn’t ask to nurse the whole day until bedtime! Hallelujah! From that day on, she would just nurse once in the morning and once at night. I managed wean her off the morning session but continued with the before bed nursing.
But as the pregnancy progressed, even that one time session was getting awfully uncomfortable. She protested big time when I tried to drop that feed. So again, I prayed to the Lord.
The next night, she went to bed without asking to nurse! The night after, she cried a bit when I told her “no” when she asked. But after that night, she was totally weaned! She was 16 months.
Child #5
What about #5? Well, she’s 18 months and still nursing 7 to 8 times a day and night! I am going to plan ahead and pray, pray, pray! Then I am going to go with dropping her feed, one by one and be more determined about it.
An update
Child #5 finally weaned at 21 months when I was 3 months pregnant with #6. As with the rest, I couldn’t take nursing in the second trimester. Since she was eating a lot of food by that age, she was actually nursing more for comfort than nutrition so it was much easier to wean her.
Child #6
She was another easy one to wean because, like big brother (Child #1), she was a thumb sucker. Because she had her thumb, she almost never nursed for comfort. By slowly eliminating her day feeds, she did not mind too much about the whole weaning process. But she has always been my easy-going child. Praise God!
Child #7
This was one very dedicated nursling! While Child #3 nursed frequently because he was a tiny baby and could only hold enough milk from one side of the breast, #7 was a voracious nurser. She needed to nurse both sides and then some! I think being a big baby at birth (4.3kg! See Birth Story #7 for the details.) played a big part in her hearty appetite. She needed the calories!
She was also the only privileged one to nurse way past one year, 2 months shy of her third birthday because I was pregnant with another baby. I was also ready to wean her even if I was not pregnant as she was mainly nursing to sleep and when bored. She gets a post all to herself on her weaning journey since she is my last baby. Sadly, the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
A long breastfeeding journey
My breastfeeding journey has been a long one – 1998 to 2012. I did not expect it to last that long. Through it I discovered that one can definitely get pregnant while nursing, that breastfeeding provides many health benefits to the baby (when I get sick, baby almost never does because I am passing antibodies to her), and that it is the best tool in the box for calming a fussy baby! We also saved a ton of money in the process! No need to worry about the strange ingredients manufacturers put into their formula or if they would raise the prices! All well worth the sacrifices.
Related Post:
Breastfeeding requires sacrifices
8 Tips for When You Have a Baby and Toddler Combo
*** Post updated 23 July 2017 ***