Immediately I had the baby, my first breastfeeding experience was so painful!!! I was confused. Nobody told me it was going to be like this, why didn't anyone warn me??? I woke up from deep sleep to find Titobi sucking away with all his might and I screamed...yeeeeeeee! The nurse looked at me like "what is doing this one"? There were two of them. One proceeded to grab one breast, massaging it ferociously, while the other held the baby and placed in on the other breast. Can you imagine the scenario?
I was in so much pain and I felt the breast they were pressing sef was not working. Only few tiny drops managed to come out of the nipples. I looked up at heaven, "my father, these are watermelons, they cannot be producing nothing!"...I begged the nurses to give my baby formula, they first did initial gragra but when they saw that I was protecting my boobs, they introduced the bottle.
I was so happy! I bought more formula and gladly started bottle-feeding the boy but deep down I wanted to breastfeed and do the 6 months exclusive but I was always so tired and not a lot of milk was coming out. Whenever I go to the hospital the matron would ask, "are you breastfeeding your baby", I would say "ehn, yes ma"... LIES! Naim one day I went to the hospital for Titobi's checkup and all new mommies were told to breastfeed on the spot-like jamb exam. Titobi open my nyansh outside. I gave him breast he turned face, lol. He kept wailing. Bobo now brought the bottle out, see rushing! The matron look me with one kind eye, I will never forget.
So how did I start producing more breastmilk?
Keep Trying
I imagine breastfeeding is like learning how to ride a bicycle-the more you do it, the better you become. Experienced moms would always tell me "the more you breastfeed, the more milk comes"...they didn't lie! There was a time I would alternate, give bottle, then breastfeed, then bottle and I realised it's like the milk is drying up ohhh...that's because I wasn't consistent. From month 2/3 I became more consistent and 100% on the breastmilk, now milk just flowing everywhere yanfu yanfu.
Stay Hydrated
My mom would always call me "fowl" because I hardly drink water but ever since I had the baby and desired more milk supply I started drinking more water. Whenever I'm thirsty I grab a cup of water. From my research staying hydrated is good for the milk things.
Eat Healthy
There are some foods that nursing mothers are advised to eat for the milk to flow. Some include oats, pap, beverage. I take my milo and milk whenever I crave for it and I find thereafter my breastmilk supply is more than enough for my boy. I hear palm wine is good too, who has tried that? Serious shakis!
Warm showers
I love my warm showers and was advised to place warm towels on the boobs then massage for milk to flow. What I do instead is take warm baths and while in the bath do my handwork on the boobs. It actually works. When I come out of the shower the boobs are dripping with delicious milk.
My baby is 5 months old now and he has been on just breastmilk for the past 2 and half months and I am SO HAPPY that I overcame the breastfeeding challenge. The key is to continue, whether you think the milk is flowing or not. I KNOW a lot of mummies read my blog, I want to read your advice and experiences too! What worked for you?
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| A happy breastfed Tito! |
Hey Sisi! I'm not a mom yet, I'm not even married but I have learned a lot from this blog post! Thank you for sharing... Tito is sooo cute! he's smile shows he's satisfied.
ReplyDeletehaha @ watermelons :) congrats.
ReplyDeleteFor me pap did the trick. After i gave birth to my first baby, I didn't produce milk not even a drop. Kept pressing and pressing nothing came out. Nurses didn't want the bottle so I had to find ways to get the milk flowing. A day and half later, my baby still had not had any food then a fellow mother in the ward advised I take pap. like magic in a mater of minutes the milk was just pouring. This second time around men from the Labour room i am drinking my pap oh.
ReplyDeleteLol. (.From the labour room)
DeleteI'm scared already, this thing no easy o but it's worth it. I've learnt from this post
ReplyDeleteWww.perezvoguediaries.blogspot.com
First time mum.
ReplyDeleteDay 1-3 after birth, no milk came in and to make matters worse apparently I have a big nipple so he couldn't even latch on properly. I had to introduce formular as I was getting frustrated with my no milk situation and baby was getting hungry.
Thank God for lactation consultants in the hospital and my perseverance. We put like half of my nipple *literally* in baby's mouth and the more he sucked the more milk came out. And after awhile his mouth could contain the whole nipple. Five months down the line we do 70% breasts and 30% bottle.
I feel like doctors need to let pregnant women know that it's ok if your milk doesn't come in immediately because I really felt like I was failing my baby.
ReplyDelete***LONG COMMENT ALERT***
First of all Sisi, lemme say WELL DONE BABE!!!
You moved from Formula to Breastmilk exclusive and all alone too? At least no bobo and I don't see a nanny in all your vids...
Oh MY!!! Well done babe!!!
Plus you find time to do videos too regularly (even when one comedian says 'this week's video is not interesting oooo Sisi!!! Yes I saw that comment and it took JESUS for me to NOT respond!!!!)
Well done jare. from a mama to a 7month old to you!!!!
I did the whole exclusive thingy for 6months and I was DETERMINED to. I believe that some of us are blessed MORE with 'the blessing of the breast' than others. For instance, my Pastor's wife flows like a tap that she has to pour out milk sometimes to create space. Me, I have to put in effort and I did, cos I wasn't exactly a MAMA COW lol then I hd a lazy nurser and you know this thing works on a demand-Supply basis.
So I got a BREAST PUMP and pumped EVEY THREE HOURS for 1hour, 30mins on each breast!!! I had to keep supply UP and this brother was downing bottles like something else but would not want to do the work of sucking out the milk from the boobs. So direct breastfeeding was just like a snack and to sleep. Most of his supply came from expressed milk.
Sisi it was MY FULL TIME JOB cos it seemed like I went from breastfeeding to pumping to washing bottles and sterilising to breastfeeding to pumping to washing to.... and the cycle continues!!! Ugh!!! Plenty BREAKDOWN days mama, because like you, I had no help either, but hey we made it.
Personally, it was what I WANTED for my son because I BELIEVE IT IS BEST TO EXCLUSIVELY BREASTFEED FOR 6MONTHSand so challenges and all, I WAS DETERMINED!!! Through FOUR breastpumps both manual and electric, I MADE IT haha. Can I get a HALLELUJAH!!!
Now that I have introduced solids, has it gotten easier? Haha, we moved from one challenge to another, a different kind which is dealing with a VERY MOBILE AND VERY ACTIVE BABY!!!
So yes I don't spend all day breastfeeding but that boy is now more engaging in other ways.
This job is a FT something BUT I have no regrets deciding to QUIWORK, and BE A STAY AT HOME FT mom to take care of him PERSONALLY because I KNOW THAT IS THE RACE I HAVE BEEN CALLED TO!!! And mama, this race I am acing it FT rather than spectating other people's race...
High FIVE darling. I absolutely LOVE YOU!!! Like I said, I feel like you are my sister I have yet to meet...
E'
www.eziaha.com
this is me exactly, the only difference is i still work ( and on the island). My baby girl would be 7months in a week and i breastfed her exclusively for 6mths, breast feeding is still like 65 - 70 % now still. the logic is really demand and supply o, even when there is no demand try and supply (by expressing).
DeleteI was made to understand that at first colostrum (high in nutrient) comes out from the breast (you may not be able to see it) but it is sufficient for the baby as the have a very tiny stomach. The first week my baby lost some weight then i started to express, saving her the stress of sucking hard, i think this really helped her, i only feed her directly (at the beginning when i was sure there was enough supply for her or for bonding. babies dont really need so much milk cos their stomach is so small 20 - 25mls every 2 hours was fine for my baby, this would keep increasing as baby grows though but by 6months 100,120, 150 ml would do the baby (for 2 - 3hrs) moreover you would have been producing enough. supply increases as baby's demand increases. The funny thing i noticed was rice did it for me o, i know it sounds weird but yes, water is very necessary too.
hello sisi, my baby is seven weeks old and i have been breastfeeding exclusively. like you said, breastfeeding is not easy but if you keep going at it, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeleteThe hospital i birthed encourages exclusive breastfeeding so i had to endure the pain of my baby's consistent sucking till the third day when i started producing colostrum.
Funny thing that happened in the labor room, when the medical team was sewing up my episiotomy, one of the nurses made a comment like "after the birthing hurdle, then the breastfeeding hurdle", in my mind i was like nothing can be more painful that what i just went through. Boy, was i wrong.... ?breastfeeding na reaaal hurdle.
As for mllk production, tea and pap does it for me.
Oga ooo. Serious watermelons. Datsall I see.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the time my wife has been pregnant, she never really allowed me to touch her breast and her nipples were a "no fly zone".
ReplyDeleteI told her that when baby comes, na me and baby go share am, but she thinks I'm on cheap drugs.
I will make sure she reads this, as this is an encouragement to new mothers out there!
Wow. Glad to know im not alone. I cried to God as my baby cried in hunger. Twas one of the most difficult yet rewarding experiences i've ever had but with the help of God, lots of pap (that i've always hated passionately) and lots of drinks especially water..i breastfed for 14 months (6 months on the dot exclusively)
ReplyDeleteMay God bless and continue to strengthen all moms
Havr never commented on your blog before.
ReplyDeleteWhen I gave birth to my son, no breast milk at all. And God it was so painful when the boy tries to suck. He didn't eat for the first two days, hubby had to go get formula for him, it was the third day after this hot water massaging on my body and boobs, the milk just started flowing as if it was hiding somewhere before but mehn pregnancy ain't easy, labour is not either and breastfeeding is the worst . whenever am breastfeeding like this my Tommy will be paining me seriously that I will be crying ooo. But all that is in the past cos my baby is just six month now.
The tummy pain is your uterus shrinking back to its normal size.
DeleteHow cool of you to share this! Filing all this information in the back of my brain for future use. Lol
ReplyDeleteWeldone sisi, breastfeeding is good for baby and the mother too; For the baby: you get a happy, healthy and fulfilled baby: fulfilled in the sense that when a baby is well fed he or she is happy, playing and the mother is happy and can rest too. Such a baby's immunity too is high, hardly falls ill.
ReplyDeleteFor the mother, it helps bonding between mother and child, helps the uterus to shrink back to its former size, but one thing I don't like about exclusive is that you keep getting hungry and you keep eating per second-per second making you fat in the process.
I have had to breastfeed two boys(now ages 5 &3) the first time breastfeeding was painful but i had more than enough milk after for my baby. My second time, I was ready with my LASINOH nipple cream, the initial discomfort was less and was able to breastfeed baby more than enough.
Breastfeeding made lose weight. I went back to my pre pregnancy weight in 6weeks. It's was weird to me because what I was told was that breastfeeding mums add weight. My baby is 5 months now.am still breastfeeding.
DeleteImmediately after labour you are tired yet I was immediately made to breastfeed, so baby and I could bond. It was so painful (with some bleeding as well), even more than labour to me and I was like why did nobody tell me. Although my milk flowed at the start, it took about two weeks for the pain to stop and breastfeeding was actually so rewarding in the end. What helped with the pain was using lansinoh on my nipples. To encourage milk flow I took a lot of milo and oats and baby was exclusive for 6 months.
ReplyDeletewww.wurassecrethair.blogspot.com
I wish I could be like you guys, i happen to be amongst the few that can't produce enough breastmilk i have drank pap,tea,palmwine and even some herbal mixture given to me by my mother- inlaw still no sign of improvement i allow my baby to suckle and top it up with formula .i really wish i could breastfeed exclusively but the glow is not just there. Try bonding eith my Cutie by llooking into his eyes whenever ee re feeding . don't know if there are other mothers out there going through same situation.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be like you guys, i happen to be amongst the few that can't produce enough breastmilk i have drank pap,tea,palmwine and even some herbal mixture given to me by my mother- inlaw still no sign of improvement i allow my baby to suckle and top it up with formula .i really wish i could breastfeed exclusively but the glow is not just there. Try bonding eith my Cutie by llooking into his eyes whenever ee re feeding . don't know if there are other mothers out there going through same situation.
ReplyDeleteThey are o.i have tried almost all and more.the only ones I haven't tried are these foods we can't get here in Nigeria.my baby girl is almost 2 months and still looking for that ONE that will be the one
DeleteI typed this really long comment and then it disappeared ! Anyway just to say well done on successfully breastfeeding! I was blessed to have a lactation consultant when I had my first baby and I learnt that what's most important is a good latch.. Make sure ur whole nipple enters baby's mouth.. Also hardly anyone has flowing milk for the first day or two rather it's colostrum (aka liquid gold).for most people and contrary to what most people think your baby will be fine and does not need glucose or formula unless your milk is delayed for days . This is why many babies loose a little in the first few days it's normal, as long as they add it back and are producing enough wet diapers by the next week ur on track. whole idea of a nurse massaging ur whole breast Sounds painful and frankly don't think it's necessary ..there's is a way to gently way to coax the ducts into action.. Not with force like I've seen some people do. Just keep putting the baby to the breast and if he or she sleeps you can gently wake baby up.. Also a good pump helps. if you introduce bottle very early then most babies will prefer it to the breast as it's easier to suck a bottle than a breast.. The baby will just take the easier route. Lastly apart from pap you can also try fenugreek spice in pap or tea to really help your milk flow! Sorry for the long comment !
ReplyDeleteFenugreek is good. I agree with you on that.
DeleteMy milk comes in about 2 days later and like the person who mentioned large nipples, OMG, the first few days hurts like labour pain sef, blisters on the nipples too bcos the baby can't latch well on the big nipples yet. But I must confess I hated breastfeeding, if not for bonding time I wouldn't have cared much. My mum didn't breast feed any of us for more than 6mnths, we turned out fine ,thank you. One of the reasons I hated BF is that my breast when it comes flows like tap, I wear breast pads till I stop breast feeding. Like if baby is sucking in on one ,the other one will start leaking, very messy. I always had pads handy. Even when I go to work before I know it ,it's full and all my shirt will stain .I don't even know how I manged to bf my youngest till 15mnths.
ReplyDeleteAww thanks for sharing you experience and I have been waiting patiently to hear your story. I love the fact that you conquered and both mom and baby are happy. Thumbs up! For ideas on complementary feeding I look forward to sharing ideas with you as I have some recipes on my blog. http://jaynewhyte.blogspot.com.ng
ReplyDeleteWhen you were dating your husband, he did not romance u enough to the point of squeezing your breasts. That is why u had so much problem with breastfeeding. Girls should allow their boyfriends to squeeze their breasts in order to loosen it so that milk can flow when they are breastfeeding.
ReplyDeleteWatermelons 😀😀😀😀😆😆
ReplyDeleteHello sis yemi.... This piece was needed. I'm a new mom with a 4weeks old baby. Pregnancy was good. Labour was supernatural. But breastfeeding has been hellllllllllllllll........ OMG...... I have flat nipples to start with.. So latching on for the first few eek was hell... We struggle for about 5minutes before he latches on. Then after that the milk flow is low. I took pap the a fault, had warm baths and still the milk would be dripping like tap. Immediately i express it, i don't get more than 30ml at expressing. But another reason is ihad an incision and drainage on one of the breasts for about 2weeks now. So he's been feeding only one one breast. So i want to believe when the other one is back the milk flow would be superb and i would go back to exclusive. Because it's more of formula than breast milk now.
ReplyDeleteI really am happy for you guys. My story didn't go well at all. Flat nipples coupled with the fact that there was no support emotionally, i mixed fed till she was 3months and i gave up. She will be 7months in few days and i have strongly desired to give breast feeding another shot. I tried pumping today but nothing came out just saw dots of water and colostrum on my nipples. I will keep trying cos i heard Relactation is possible. Don't know any LC in Lagos but if any one knows where i can get Fenugreek, kindly post (would appreciate). I have resumed my pap tonight. Wish me luck fellow moms!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes.
DeleteHey Sisi, thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a new mother and I do breastfeeding as well as feeding with Hipp organic formula (https://myorganicformula.com/collections/hipp-organic-formula) because my breastmilk production is very low. But I hope with your tips I will be able to produce more breastmilk, so that I can give up the formula feeding.
Pls can anyone recommend a lactation consultant in Lagos. My baby is 6 days old now and doesn't want to even come near my breast. The nurses started her on a bottle after I had her thru CS and I was still sleeping thru the effect of my drugs. I feel like I'm failing, I really want to breastfeed, any tip would help. Thanks a lot
ReplyDeletePlease where can I get the fenugreek spices
ReplyDeleteSpar Park and Shop VI. Check the spices isle
DeletePlease where can I get the fenugreek spices
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteI am happy you ended up breastfeeding successfully.
I am yet to breastfeed my almost three month old baby and it breaks my heart. I have tried all the above methods and it was flowing at a time but I think I introduced bottle too early and sufferd from sore nipples initially... baby doesn't just want the breast anymore and milk is drying up.i still have warm baths and stay hydrated. I don't have access to a lactation expert. I guess that would have helped. Is there still hope of breastfeeding my angel, what else can I do? How can I help my baby to suckle again? I am considering palmwine but I read it could end up sedating baby...HELP!
My baby is 4 weeks today, my breast milk is Ok, but way I dnt understand is she sucks all the time, she cries for breast milk like 20 mins after breastfeeding, and she has stomach upset, always restless weneva she is going thru the pains, sometimes it makes me want to cry for her. Though the doctors said it's normal and it will go away on it's own, but am worried.
ReplyDeleteIt's totally normal. My neice can suck breast for 24 hours even when asleep. Relax mama and congratulations on your new baby.
ReplyDeleteI really need your expert advice .My babies are two weeks old now yet, not a single drop of breastmilk. How do I produced milk for them? I have been taking paps, beverages etc, yet nothing .
ReplyDelete