I’m a mother of two wonderful girls, Isabel who’s turning 3 in August and Hannah, a two-month-old baby. I breastfed Isabel for 30 months and is breastfeeding Hannah totally at present.

Isabel’s a fussy baby and demands to be fed every 2 hours for the first three months. My confinement month was stressful and breastfeeding for the first time isn’t easy even though I’ve done some readings. I called the breastfeeding hotline a couple of times for the first three weeks and the counselor who helped me gave me a lot of emotional support by encouraging me to press on despite my very sore nipples n bad engorgement. At that point of time, I had only few friends who could share their breastfeeding experience with me.

I turned part time for half a year and managed to succeed in breastfeeding Isabel exclusively for 6 months before supplementing with solids. After going back to work full-time when she was 6 months, milk powder was supplemented only when I didn’t have enough EBM supply.

When she was around 7 months, I had a bad flu that required me to take antibiotics Augmentin. The doctor dissuaded me from breastfeeding her during this period of consuming the antibiotics. For the first day, I had to pump out the milk and dispose it! I felt so sad that I couldn’t nurse her directly. She kept crying when she wants to nurse and I had to push her to my mum who’ll feed her EBM through the bottle. The night was unbearable as she’s so used to breastfeeding directly and sleeping with me. She cried so much and simply refused the bottle. On the next day, I called the pediatrician. I was so thankful when he assured me that it was absolutely safe for me to nurse her as he also prescribe Augmentin to babies too. After this bad experience, I was even more determined to continue breastfeeding Isabel for as long as I want to.

Some close relatives from my husband’s side kept asking me to wean her off after she turned 1 year-old. I find it especially difficult to continue breastfeeding when people around you aren’t supportive but I am thankful that at least my mother, who’s the caregiver, is supportive. When I became pregnant when she’s 22 months-old, I was again pressured to wean her off. Thank God I wrote to the hotline again and the counselor encouraged me to carry on. The gynae I chose due to proximity of clinic from my place also asked me to decrease my feeds, so I switched to another gynae who was supportive of breastfeeding during pregnancy. I suffered from very sore nipples and managed to wean Isabel off night feeds eventually and subsequently during my eighth month of pregnancy, when she was 30 months, she self-weaned.

Now that the second baby arrived, I thought I could tandem nurse, but Isabel simply refused to latch on again. Hannah, the younger girl is equally demanding, but I encounter much less problems in breastfeeding her. I’ve had a wonderful breastfeeding experience with Isabel and I hope to breastfeed Hannah for as long as I can. Of the friends I know of with two or more children, most weaned the younger child earlier than the eldest one.

I was blessed to have breastfed Isabel for over two years and I really admire those who can breastfeed up to even four or five years! I strongly believe in the unique bond created between mother and child through breastfeeding. Thus, I hope to render others emotional support in their breastfeeding attempts. I am interested in gaining more knowledge in breastfeeding so that I can help others in making their breastfeeding experience a memorable one rather than a painful one, just like the counselors who helped me in my first breastfeeding encounter.

Written 7 July 2006 (from WBW2006 blog)

 © BMSG (Singapore)