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!
