My Breastfeeding Journey

MY BREASTFEEDING JOURNEY

My name is Alison, a mother of two beautiful children aged three and eight. I’m a part time teacher, working in Ruiru and Nairobi most of the time, though I live in Thika. As the rest of the world celebrates World Breastfeeding Week,   I would like to share some breastfeeding tips in form of my own story. I hope that what I share will encourage someone to keep breastfeeding.

My breastfeeding story was not so easy with my first child. She was colicky and used to feed for very long periods. Sadly, I had to give up on the EBF (Exclusive Breast Feeding) journey with her at 5 months, as her appetite was more than I could handle. She breastfed until she was 11 months old. I was a little sad that she had stopped, and was constantly put to task by people for having ‘denied’ her the breast so early.

I must confess that with my first-born I was not so aware of the importance of EBF. I figured that I would breastfeed until I got tired, or she lost interest. That was it.

The breastfeeding story with my second born was very different. This time I was much more aware of the importance of breastfeeding.

He was born via an emergency C-section.  The trauma of having a CS as well as losing lots of blood made me unable to produce milk for days. This was distressing as I was so determined to start my baby off with breast milk. After three days in the hospital, my Gynae Dr. Butt saved my situation and gave me an injection to stimulate milk production. The milk came in little drops and I was discharged.  We went home to officially start our breastfeeding journey.

The first few days were good, apart from the pain from the CS wound.  Baby slept a lot so I was able to rest.  After a week, however, he suddenly discovered this extra yummy juice from the breast, which he began to demand for day and night! The result was severely cracked nipples.  Breastfeeding became a nightmare. I would cry whenever he woke up in anticipation of the pain.  To make matters worse, I was suffering from depression. I wasn’t eating and I was permanently tired. It was a terrible time.

 My husband was supportive during this time and would babysit at night so that I could rest. He also encouraged me to start expressing so that I could leave the baby with the nanny and get out of the house for  a short while. Those little outings made the first few months bearable.

As baby grew, I realized I had to start stocking the fridge  with breast milk as I was returning to work soon.  I was only able to express very little as I was not eating enough and I was not well rested. Thankfully I was a member of the Breastfeeding Support group on Facebook. I got lots of ideas on how to increase milk production. I would express from one breast as baby fed on the other one. I would drink up to five litres of water every day as well as hibiscus tea to stimulate production.  I would also eat an extra meal every day.  I would also express at the times of the day when I was most relaxed and I knew I would produce more milk. By the time baby was 4 months old I had quite a bit of milk stocked in the fridge. I also made sure I left baby alone with the nanny for an hour daily so that he would learn to bottle feed.

When baby was four months old, it was time to go back to work! That caught me off-guard . I had no breast pump, and I worked 50km away from home. I had no office, as I was a part time employee. 

How was I going to express during the day?

I decided to figure out the storage aspect first. I bought zip lock bags and put water in them. I froze these bags – and I had ice packs! I had bought a cooler bag before baby was born, and I had a few bottles.  Storage of the milk when I was at work was not going to be a problem. Now I had to figure out where I would be expressing my liquid gold.

So where did I express?

I would park my car in a secluded part of the school compound and dash there when all the other staff were at lunch, and express. It was a slow process.   A few times people would pass my car and wonder what was happening. On one occasion, a lady offered me her office, but whenever I needed it, she was busy working in there, so that did not work. I tried  the school nurse’s office, it didn’t work. Things were getting desperate as baby was consuming more and more milk every day.  He would consume 100-120ml per feed. Finally, it dawned on me that using a car with tinted windows would work well. The two ladies I approached were very willing to let me use their cars. I was sorted.

But wait- I was still hand expressing…. A very slow process .That was also sorted out when I shared my expressing nightmare with a friend.  She had very fond memories of breastfeeding and had safely kept her pump though she was no longer expressing. When she heard I was hand expressing she was shocked and quickly loaned me her breast pump, which was still in super condition! I was so sorted.  I continued expressing for baby until he was 11 months, and he breastfed to 2.2 years.  Looking at him today, I’m glad I was able to give him the chance to start off on breast milk…not to mention the bonding time we enjoyed.

Note: When baby was around a month old,  I used to ask my husband to bring me formula every week and he would refuse, and tell me to try and express instead. He was my biggest encourager in the EBF journey.

My parting shot to mums is – you can do this. EBF is a challenge, yes, but not one that can’t be conquered. Stay positive and take one day at a time. If you don’t have a pump, hand express.  If your employer doesn’t give you a place to express, get creative. If you don’t have a fridge, use a clay pot or a sufuria with very cold water to store the milk. It is possible to make it through EBF even with a day’s stock in storage. Most of all, make sure those around you are supporting you in the EBF journey.

All the best!