Breastfeeding Surprised Me! 

Disclaimer: To those who sexualize breastfeeding, back off, this article is not for you!

I was in my second trimester when I joined a growing baby class. It dealt with several things about pregnancy, giving birth, newborn care, cloth diapering, babywearing, and of course breastfeeding. I love to attend an actual person-to-person class but this pandemic made it impossible, so we resort to an online class instead. The class was headed by Cebu's breastfeeding advocate pedia, Dr. Marini Esguerra.

Admittedly, what we learn in class is simply a theory until we experience the teachings we have accumulated. This is true with breastfeeding and I have been surprised several times right when Matti, my baby was born.

Let me share with you how breastfeeding had surprised me in soo many ways.

Milk Came After Four Days

Some blessed mommies get to have milk way before they give birth. Most of the time, according to our class, the milk comes only after the baby is born because once the baby gets out of the womb, the brain signals for the mother's body to produce milk.

"Unang yakap" or the first minutes of the baby with the mother has to be done so that the breastfeeding is initiated and thus the signal to create or produce milk begins as well. However, I didn't get a chance to have this when I gave birth. I wish I had that moment but due to the pandemic, we were not able to do so. The mother and the baby have to leave the delivery room as fast as possible.

So, on my first day with my baby, I initiated breastfeeding, I definitely want my baby to get the colostrum which is filled with nutrients and vitamins however, I didn't see any milk coming out. I was frustrated and cried, mothers are very emotional during this stage and it is critical because most mothers who are not able to express their frustration and emotions would fall into postpartum depression and that's a very serious case.

We resorted to formula milk which made me felt like I was a failure! I had been crying in the first four days of my life as a mother. I couldn't bear seeing my baby drink from a bottle. We didn't bother buying a bottle because I want to breastfeed!

Although I knew that the baby's tummy is super tiny at that age, the doctor and the nurses at the hospital where I gave birth had advised us to get formula milk instead which had confused me a lot. I don't want to give him formula milk but my baby has been crying and he sleeps well after a feed of 2 oz of formula.

I still offered my breasts and make sure that he would feed although nothing was coming out. I had done a lot of things, drank a lot of water, ate malunggay filled soups, took Galactagogue supplements, and a lot more.

It was only on the fourth day that I saw milk coming out of my nipple! I celebrated when I hand expressed and saw the liquid gold came out!

Breastfeeding Hurts Badly

I anticipated that breastfeeding won't hurt. According to our class, with the right baby position, breastfeeding is naturally painless and I believed that but, I felt nothing but pain!

When Matti latches, I would bend my toenails, bit my lips, and do whatever I can to handle the pain. My nipples hurt so badly that I became scared whenever its feeding time!

I asked for support and had an online session with one of the breastfeeding peer counselors who was truly helpful, she answered all my questions about this pain that I was feeling.

True enough, I had been holding my baby incorrectly. Through some guides, I had slowly learned to keep my baby as close to me as possible, making sure the entire areola is taken and not just my nipple. This had helped but then there's another problem.

Milk Bleb, Clogged Ducts, and Mastitis

Just when I felt confident with breastfeeding, I experienced milk bleb! No one had told me about this!

Milk bleb is like a pimple in my nipple. I had my first bleb on my right then on my left. Latching makes it more painful! I researched on how to ease this and there's no other way but just to let my baby latch. Amazingly, latching indeed cured it.

Thankfully, this issue didn't result in clogged ducts and mastitis. These are the serious problems with breastfeeding so every single time that I felt like a bump is formed in any of my breasts, I'd let Matti latch in that area, holding him in a way that his nose points to where the lump is.

I heard stories of mastitis and I sure don't want to experience that. It requires operation if not cured immediately. I am grateful for the breastfeeding advocate doctors who had posted several helpful facts to prevent mastitis. I learned so many things from them during that time when my mother can't help me because we were far!

Our Nipple Has Many Holes!

Are you surprised? This was mentioned during our class and I was truly surprised the very first time I saw my milk coming out of different parts of my nipple!

When my breasts become full and as soon as Matti feeds and he can't anymore take the amount of milk inside his mouth, he would let go and the milk would flow like a fountain, well in this case, fountains because they flow in many directions.

I don't know about you but I am truly happy whenever I can collect a good amount of milk from the other breast while Matti latches on the other side. I used Haakaa.

Liquid Gold Heals!

Our breastmilk is such a gift from heaven! Aside from it being free and that we don't need to buy any other material to feed our baby, this liquid also does more than just feeding!

During Matti's first few weeks, he had been having neonatal acne. I was advised to use my breastmilk instead by simply applying them to his acne. Also, the milk that I had captured using Haakaa, I use for his milk bath and true enough, it helped and after just a few days, this acne disappeared, his skin was lighter! 

Also, my husband shared that back in their home town, when someone gets any problem with sore eyes, they'd just ask a breastfeeding mom to give them some milk and that would cure the sore eyes!

Conclusion

Motherhood is amazing and breastmilk is powerful but surprising too! I appreciate all the mothers out there for their efforts in breastfeeding their children.

I would also like to say that whether you are breastfeeding or giving formula milk, you as a mother know best and whatever you have decided, you are doing great! 

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

xoxo,

mommy jean of momentswithmatti

Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.