Nicquee's Nook

Passion for Breastfeeding

Today, I took my morning off because I wasn’t able to sleep because Ayex started crying at 1AM. She refused to be put to bed. She would cry when the milk would not let down fast. She would sleep for half an hour and wake up crying again. To cut the story short, I got a headache and decided to work for a half day only.

My patience was put to test today but I won’t elaborate that here. When I came to the office, my teammates already started with our meeting that was supposed to be at 2PM. I was able to join them and raised my concerns and other insights. I can’t fully remember now why one Earth we went to the topic of breastfeeding. All I can remember is that, we were waiting for Atom to give his updates when I suddenly asked Quiel, our manager, if he knew anything about the on-going contruction in our floor. (We used occupy half of the floor only and now, we’re leasing the whole of it.) He said he can check his emails and asked why. So I told him what I’ve been thinking of lately. I told him that maybe, he can ask our HR to setup an room that will be dedicated to breastfeeding mothers. Yes, a nursing area. I told Quiel that it can be small, just to accommodate 3 comfortable chairs and probably an electric fan if an aircon is too much. I told him that I’m concerned because I’m leaning toward CHILD-LEAD WEANING. Yes, as long as Ayex wants to BF, I will.

Some time last week, I came home from work with one bottle of breast milk that is not yet full. So I told Mon not to put it in the fridge yet because I’m going to pump milk after I fed Ayex. We (Mon and I) managed to express milk from the left breast while Ayex is still feeding on the right. We started talking about manual and automatic pump, how to increase milk production, how helpful breastfeeding is, how I’m trying to encourage people I know to breastfeed, how happy I am with my manual pump and so on. I found myself talking on and on and on about the topic. I simply have this love for breastfeeding that I didn’t noticed Mon was already asleep, not to mention snoring.

I’ve been telling people I know that the decision to breastfeed should start even before they give birth. This allows them to be prepared physically, mentally and emotionally. That for a mom who is determined to give the best milk to her baby, a great amount of patience, perseverance, and sacrifice is necessary. Because there is no such breast without milk. Breastfeeding follows th law of supply and demand. The more moms make their baby latch, the more milk their breasts will produce.

I miss those late night outs with friends. Whatever it is that I’m doing while at the office should be stopped at least every 3 hours so I can express milk. I carry my parapernalia aka pump and bottles everywhere I go including outings and worries how can I keep all the BM cold to stay fresh. I still wake up during the wee hours of the night to feed Ayex. But heck! I’ve been BF her for almost 15 months and I’ve experienced most if not all of breastfeeding’s benefits! And I’m determined to go for child-lead weaning.

All these started when I decided I will breastfeed Ayex and started reading that tiny “How to breastfeed” booklet over and over again until I gave birth.

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Black propaganda against China?

When Ayex was about two-months old, I bought her some colorful plastic squeaky toys to stimulate her eyesight. I didn’t care before from where the toys were made.

As Ayex grows, she was diagnosed to have a very sensitive skin. Her skin would have rashes every now and then and what triggered them varies most of the time. It would be the food that was recently introduced to her, the soap that she is using, the soap that we are using to wash our clothes to name a few. So I’ve accepted the fact that my baby has a very sensitive skin. We’ve taken several precautions to avoid triggering her rashes. Hubby and I don’t spray perfume inside the house or anywhere near her. We don’t carry her as soon as we arrive home instead, we change our clothes first. I’m 100% sure that her rashes were never triggered by those squeaky toys I bought which are apparently made from China.

So when the news broke out that Mattel voluntarily pulled out some of their toys, which are made in China, my father and mother in law would comment on Ayex’s toys from time to time. This happens most when something weird things happens to her like some rashes suddenly appears on her face or neck when she wakes up in the morning (which I’m sure were never there when we slept). They would sometime say “baka dahil yan sa mga laruan niya?”. So every time they make a comment about Ayex’s toys, my response is always “black propaganda lang po yan against China. Hindi nila kasi matalo. Eh sobrang mura naman po kasi talaga ng labor dun eh”. I’m consistent with this because I believe that not all the toys made in China are dangerous.

In fact, we recently bought Ayex some new toys (I can’t believe how expensive toys can be now a days) to stimulate her cause-and-effect skills and again, they were made in China! I know, we all want the best for our little Ayex. We buy her toys to help her develop her skills. We control the food she eats and we make sure we take care of our environment at home to prevent allergies from being triggered. So, whenever rashes suddenly appear, let’s not blame her toys that were made in China. Instead, lets analyze the things that happened before the rashes appeared. I think that is quite unfair.

And to all people out there specially the parents, let’s not hinder our kids’ love for toys simply because what they want are made in China. Let’s be fair to our kids and to the Chinese people who make their toys.