“My Milk Is All My Baby Needs” -Sherrie Mae Siy Ong

From Planet Noah's site (read the original post here).  It's a very inspiring read and one that I agree with wholeheartedly! There are so many things that go against breastfeeding and I sometimes feel like i'm fighting an uphill battle. It shouldn't be something that I should apologize for.  And then there's the (non-)support that I get from certain people who pay lip service to "yes, it's best for your baby. but nanny... it has been more than 7 months now.  don't you think it's time to stop?  pwede na, you already gave him lots of milk!  you can now give him formula."   who said that there's a time limit on this?  i'm so happy that i've lasted this long!  imagine, he's still fully breastfed at 7 months and 3 weeks?!  who would have thought?!  be inspired by her article, people... i know i am!  

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I'd like to share my friend Sherrie's inspiring piece on her breastfeeding experience. It's one of the entries that were chosen and posted in the lobby of Cardinal Santos Hospital as part of their celebration of Breastfeeding Month. I hope it will encourage more mothers to breastfeed despite the odds.

When a mom gives formula to her baby, no one gives it a second thought, but when a mom breastfeeds her baby, a slew of questions will immediately come her way: “How can you go back to work?”, “Why do you make it hard for yourself?”,°°“Why don’t you supplement with formula?”. And of course, that most often asked question which would strike at the hearts of even the most self-assured of nursing moms, “Do you have enough milk? Baka walang nasususo iyan.”

As all breastfeeding mothers know, the 2 most important truths in nursing are:°°1.All mothers have sufficient milk for their babies. 2. Breastfeeding works by supply and demand and the more we let our babies suckle, the more milk we produce.

Confident that I knew my basics, I got down to the actual business of breastfeeding which to my dismay, was even more demanding than being pregnant!°°

The first few times I experienced milk letdown, I felt a peculiar sensation of weakening°°as if the nutrients were being leached from my body. I persisted to discover still more things the breastfeeding books never mentioned (probably so as not to scare new mums!): sleepless nights especially the first couple of nights when I was desperate for sleep but could only nap for 15-30 minutes before my newborn would cry out again to be fed or cuddled.°°
 
And while the books did mention that breastfeeding would be every 2-3 hours, the reality is that in between burping, changing diapers, washing breastpumps, bathing baby, rocking baby, there is hardly time to do anything else besides breastfeeding. Forget about cooking or other household chores. Many times, I didn’t even have time to eat or take a shower!

I coped by multi-tasking. Checking my email while breastfeeding, bringing my son with me everywhere even to work°°(which is a major production entailing bringing a lot of baby gear heavier than baby himself) and pumping milk while working. In fact, pumping milk anywhere I could: at the back of a bus, in washrooms, in backrooms of exhibition halls. I even pumped while driving.

Even with all of this effort, people started to comment that my son was thin.°°While I knew that breastfed babies are normally leaner than formula-fed babies, I couldn’t help but worry myself.°°I went to a lactation consultant who commented, “Anong payat?”. He was healthy and thriving and that’s what matters, she said.

So here was another irony. It takes more effort to breastfeed, but the result is a leaner baby whereas if a mom formula feeds, she can just hand over the job to the yaya and people will look at the chubbier formula fed baby and nod in approval.

And then of course, there is work and the rest of your life.  In theory, pumping milk while being away from baby will maintain your milk supply, but as I discovered when I went on a 5 day business trip to Hongkong and a 3 day marriage retreat, not hearing baby’s cries made it so tempting to skip pumping sessions. In fact, even if baby just spent the day or night over at his grandparents’, out of fatigue, I would not pump according to schedule (which of course reduced my milk supply and I would have to relactate.)

So one thing I learned is that you can’t hurry nature along. The more you let your child suckle from you directly, the more milk you will produce for him. 

Why do I breastfeed despite all these challenges?  It is simply the best gift I can give my children.°°The gift of health. The gift of my time. There is°°no shortcut to breastfeeding, and while that is its biggest drawback, it is also its greatest virtue. Breastfeeding encouraged me to spend time with my babies and to slow down the pace of life from the hectic urban jungle to the natural rhythm of eating, sleeping and playing with baby. And isn’t that a more meaningful way of spending one’s time?

I must mention though that a good support system is critical in our breastfeeding journey. I was blessed to find support in family who assisted me in taking care of my son and in friends who shared their breastfeeding experiences with me. My friend Judy even lent me her breast pumps and would answer my breastfeeding questions even at 2 o clock in the morning.

Although breastfeeding asks of us a great deal of our time and patience, we must remember that this time to breastfeed our children will never come again. Never again will they turn to us for their complete physical and emotional nourishment. When I see my baby growing bigger each day, it is with a sense of awe knowing that my milk is all he needs to grow.

Breastfeeding may be tiring, monotonous, time consuming, but through it, I have experienced motherhood to its fullest. It has allowed me to be the best mom I can be by giving the best milk I can to my children.
 
Note: The writer breastfed her firstborn exclusively for 8 months until she got pregnant again. She is now breastfeeding her second born and has more realistic expectations of breastfeeding and resolves to minimize separations from her baby until he is weaned =).

Judy: I've posted this article on other mommy group sites with Sherrie's permission and have been getting overwhelming responses from like-minded moms. we love reading your breastfeeding stories and anecdotes =)

here are other readers' comments:
http://breastfeedingmums.multiply.com/journal/item/79
http://breastfeeding.multiply.com/journal/item/27
http://mommysrus.multiply.com/journal/item/211
http://workingmoms.multiply.com/journal/item/34/34