Demand and Supply

First of all, to celebrate the World Breastfeeding Week/Month 2008 i would like to honor all breastfeeding mothers for their hardwork, courage and determination to give the world's best food to their babies. All breastfeeding mothers should get a week off from their daily routine and relax... but how can we relax when we know that we still need to fulfill our responsibility as breastfeeding mothers? :) Poor bubs without the familiar smell of mommies boobies for the whole week is like ... a whole week of smokers without their ciggies?

Being a fulltime breastfeeding mum be it direct feeding or expressing at work is definitely a hardwork. It requires alot of determination and patience to meet the high demand of our babies. Who says being a mum especially an exclusive breastfeeding mum is easy? My first experience as an exclusive "Boob Mummy" was horror. I was a first time mother without a maid, working in an office which has no place to discreetly express your milk and had no hubby by my side towards the 2nd half of the experience because he was outstationed. Suck eh but that was my life.

Now with Arif, life is much easier. I have more experience and knowledge, i also have a maid to help me around, the office now has a mother's room and hubby is always around *smile*. I am also comfortable in helping and supporting other breastfeeding mothers around me. I share and give them moral support whenever needed. It makes me happy to hear and know that other mothers are also breastfeeding exclusively.

Current challenge: Arif turned 5-month old over the weekend. He is feeding more and i am expressing less. I guess this is natural, baby feeds more as they grow older and mother expresses less as they lose the momentum. Arif was waking up almost every 45-mins at night over the weekend. I was down with fever due to fatigue and tiredness. Well atleast it took me 5 months of sleepness nights before i fell sick *wink*. My patience and sanity was thinning. Hubby came to the rescue and helped me out that night. He woke up at every feeding to put Arif next to me. All i needed to do was to lift my shirt and shove the boobies :D Hubby took Arif away in the morning and let me sleep in for a while. It took me 2 days to fully recover and i am all up and perky again. My mission now is to increase my milk supply from 18-20 oz. to atleast 22-25oz daily. I have consulted Kamariah from susuibu.com and she has advised for me to hold on a little longer before giving solids to Arif. It has greater benefit if i can continue breasfeeding Arif until he is 6-month old. The option i had was either to start Arif on solid or to express more so i opted to express more. I am now trying on Pil Asi and biji Halba. Hope this works. I am on maximum expressing mode!

HAPPY BREASTFEEDING MONTH!