10 Months & Still Counting...

2 more days and it will be the 10th month of my breastfeeding my precious Larissa.

I can clearly remember the very moment I started to breastfeed her. I did not take the spinal epidural when delivering Larissa and so, was awake and able to breastfeed her immediately. I told the nurse very clearly that I would like to feed her as soon as possible and the nurse passed her to me right after she was cleaned and had her measurements taken. I then tried to breastfeed her but she was so sleepy that she did not even bother trying to latch on. 

She was soon taken away from me to be put into the incubator and I was pushed into the ward to rest. I can still clearly remember feeling so excited with all the adrenaline pumping through me that I wouldn't get to sleep at all. All I wanted to do was see my baby!

The first couple of times Larissa was latched on

Throughout my 2 days stay at the hospital, I did not manage to have a good rest as I was woken up every couple of hours to feed my precious girl. The nurses did ask for my permission to feed Larissa some glucose as  my supply has not kicked in yet and its insufficient for her. If you are wondering, I stayed at Thomson Medical Centre and despite the many complaints I heard about the nurses not being pro-breastfeeding, they did bring my baby for me to latch her on every other hour so I am pretty satisfied with them. The only complain that I have is that the Lactation Consultants spent too little time with me and it felt like she was simply shoving my nipple into Larissa's mouth but I don't blame them as I understand that they have many other mothers to see to.

Breastfeeding did not come easy for me at all. I was in pain the very first time I tried to latch Larissa on. As we're both new to breastfeeding, the latch was totally wrong. Can you imagine seeing blood after latching your precious on for a few times? My guess is that she sucked very hard as she couldn't get any milk due to the wrong latch. I was in a lot of pain and the nurses kept telling me its just my nipple bring sore but I know my nipple very well and the truth was that my girl had sucked off a piece of me. Scary isn't it? That wasn't the end of the story....

As Larissa had to latch on every 2 hours, the wound never had a chance to heal and with nobody to correct the wrong latch, my one wounded nipple soon became two wounded nipple. I soon found one of my nipple to be lipstick shaped...My best guess is that one part was sucked off. The pain every single time I fed Larissa can be described as excruciating, it was worse then labour pain and I would be biting my teeth before latching her on and tearing after latching her on.

It took Larissa about one month before she managed to learn the perfect latch and the wounds slowly healed. Now, latching her is no longer painful. If you asked me, I am thankful for the pain as it made me more than reluctant to stop breastfeeding Larissa now. After all the pain that I went through, I am not gonna give up so easily and so soon!

If you are reading this right now and considering whether to breastfeed your child, I say go ahead. It may be tiring but you will bond with your baby a lot more than just feeding formula milk and you are giving  your precious little one the immunity he or she need during his or her first year. There is no formula milk that can replace what God gave us. Oh, and to add, my little one has only had slight flu once in the past nine months!