After the birth of a child, what else would make a mother fret more? Perhaps, if I had not insisted on giving breast milk to my baby, I would not have been so stressed up. Perhaps a good reason why most mothers rather give formula milk to babies (I grew up drinking formula milk and I seem to grow up alright...).
Day 1 (Day of delivery): There was nothing - not even colostrum!
Day 2 (Following day of delivery): Still nothing!!! Was the milk factory even going to begin the production?
I was beginning to fret and feel pity for the little one when she started to cry.
Day 3 (Discharge from hospital, Day 1 at home): If colostrum is yellow and curd-ish, the milk factory decided not to produce them! Instead, what was produced were some gooey - transparent looking (texture like honey) stuff. And I only saw after the parentcraft midwife inspected the milk factory.
I tried latching the baby and failed. All I could hear was my dad repeatedly saying "Why is baby crying? She did not get to drink anything? She must be hungry! Poor thing!!!!" from the living room. Anyway, I cried over dinner - 1st for not having even the miserable colostrum. 2nd- my CL and parents insisted on giving baby formula milk by the bottle and not by cup. (Note: Hubby was not around to stop my CL and parents, so I felt like I was being outnumbered in what I thought was best for me and baby.)
Day 4: Finally, the thick and yellow milk flows.
I remember only a miserable 20ml for quite a few pumps from now onwards. The nightmare of operating the milk factory every 3 hrs including wee hrs of the morning started. However, this resulted in a all time high milk supply of 240ml per pumping session.
Day 10: Not able to take the operating hours (that were set by myself in the first place) of the milk factory, I only pumped the milk after more than 7 hrs of sleep...
Day 15: I went down with fever of 39.4 degrees and a headache. I felt pins and needles all over the milk factory and I was shivering from an invincible coldness. Even with the thick blanket, I was all curled up trying to get warmth. I only remember drifting in and out of sleep involuntarily. Each pump session yield was 50ml.
Day 18: Supply was still miserable and the milk factory workers seem to have gone on strike! (i.e. the milk ducts that were providing the milk seem to have stopped working) Went to TMC parentcraft and learnt that the milk factory was congested (i.e. materials were there but there was little yield). After much negotiation (damn painful massage), the milk factory workers decided to resume work. Each pump session yields about 120ml to 150ml.
Day 22 (Today): Managed to latch baby for a short while to feed (after the latch, she still need to drink expressed breast milk from bottle). I guess I will try to latch her as much as possible and see if I can get her to latch for a full feed.
In essence, maintaining and running the milk factory is not an easy job. It is however true that perseverance and lots of sacrifice on the mother's end and encouragement from your partner are essential for the milk factory to run smoothly. While this milk factory is still in its infant stage, it would not have made it this far without my hubby's encouragement. Then again, why do cows seem to have lesser problems than the human milk factory?
