Bottle Feeding but Exclusively Pumping

Many people have the same reaction when they saw baby Pier, "Wow! So CUTE! How old is he? Look at his chubby face..." and when they heard my answer, they were like, "huh!?! oh wow! he is huge! Do you breastfeed him?" My answer will be, "yes." but in real life... this is not the case... I bottlefeed him, but breastmilk. I am one of those "exclusively pumping" mother.

No doubt, breast milk is the best for baby. Everybody talk about breastfeeding, the benefit of BF, method of BF, bla bla bla.... but what if direct BF doesn't work out?

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Baby Pier was admitted into neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) right after he was born. It was because after the long labor, he was grunting non-stop instead of crying like a normal baby. In fact, during the last hour of labor, his heart rate was unstable. They admitted him into NICU for further test to ensure everything is fine for him. Since I was having Group B streptococcus (GBS) bacteria, he was on IV drip / antibiotics injection for 3 days while waiting for GBS culture result. I didn't have the chances to BF him until two days later. During that time, they were bottle feeding him. I tried to BF him on the 3rd day, but since I did not do any early expression to stimulate the milk production, Pier was fussed when there is nothing came out (totally nothing, not even the colostrum)... At the end, Pier was too hungry and the nurse in NICU came to me, asking my permission to give him formula in order to stop him from crying. Then, the nurse lend me the breast pump to stimulate the production. Pump every 3hours, 10 minutes on each side, but still, nothing came out. On the forth day, we were discharged from the hospital.

I was extremely upset. When I attended the parenting course on the 3rd day in the hospital, I feel so lonely & left out when I saw other mothers who went out in the middle of the class, to nurse their BB, and some of them were actually leaking milk during the course... At home, I cried badly after my mum told me that how much milk she had right after she gave birth to us.... and me? nothing came out. Lewis was the only one to comfort me, giving me support and asking not to give up. A week later, I managed to pump out 0.5Oz of yellowish bubbles (just bubbles)... and my confinement nanny was asking, "how come your 'milk' is only bubbles?" Tears burst out immediately, but I know it is a good progress so far... I continue to pump, even thought it's only bubbles. Day after day, I saw the improvement. Slowly, I managed to get an Oz of yellowish milk (with 3Oz of bubbles on top), I gave it to the confinement nanny and said, "feed him this! then top up the rest with formula..." This is the most important milk, baby 1st milk which contain all the antibodies for him. From then on, my milk production started to increased...

but.... Pier was used to bottle-feed. Every time when I tried to BF him, it end up like world war III. We were both soak in sweat and exhausted. He refused to latch on. He only take in bottle nipple but not mine. After 3 weeks of trying, I feel loss but gave up. With the support from Lewis, I go for exclusive pumping, but somehow, there are something missing in me. Every time when I sign in to the motherhood forum, I will skip those talk about BF. I know the benefit of BM, but I will avoid anything about BF experience. Somehow, it hurts. There are lot of support groups for BF mother, all talking about how their BF experiences, feeling, etc. but I seldom found someone talk about pumping milk other than from those who had to return to work after their confinement. Felt like I am a looser.

Until recently, a reader from the Mother&Baby magazine shared her experience in BF in the Feb '08 issue, after the magazine's Jan'08 special issue on "Breastfeeding Special". Her situation was like mine, and she mentioned that there are support groups for exclusive pumping mum like us (one example she mentioned was www.exclusivelypumping.com). I am glad that I am not alone. At least, I am still giving my BB the best milk and I promised myself, I will give him BM at least for a year, or maybe longer! ^.^

Teething process started!?!

BB 哭闹了两天, 越闹越凶, 还以为他肚子又疼了... 可是怎么看都不象绞肚子... 天啊! 到底他是怎么啦?

昨晚帮BB冲凉洗嘴巴时, 摸到牙龈上有个硬硬的东西, 原想看看是什么东西, 可BB却不肯开口... 直到刚才, BB又大哭大闹时, 才发现下面的牙龈上有两个白点... 小小的牙齿要出来了吗? 可BB才两个月, 太早了吧!?! BB的确有长牙的症状: 一直流口水, 想咬东西... 可是他还不会抓紧手中的东西, 怎样给他发牙的玩具呢? 最后, 只好给奶嘴而已... 奶嘴一掉, BB就浩滔大哭, 得赶紧把奶嘴给塞下去...

BB真的长牙吗? 猪猪迷糊了...




Baby Pier has been crying badly since yesterday morning. At first, we thought that it might be his tummy cramp again (he was having diarrhea for the past week), but somehow, it doesn't look like stomach upset...

When I was cleaning BB's mouth last night, I realized there was something on the lower gum. Wanted to find out what was that, but he refused to open his mouth. Even when he did, he sticked out his tongue to cover it... (naughty boy!) This evening, he wasn't feeling well and was crying again, where I accidentally saw two white little teeth sticking out of his gum. (I guess it's his tooth) he has been showing some teething syndrome these few days, where he was drooling badly & blowing bubbles, crying/screaming for pain, wanted to suck (or bite) something (where we offer him pacifier since he can't hold any teething toy yet)... but, it's too early for teething process to begin... He is only 9 weeks old!

I had been searching for more information online-> On average, the first tooth comes in during the 7th month, but it can be as early as 3 months, or as late as a year... so, maybe Pier is on the early side?

I then called my mum for baby teething information, and my dad was laughing & asked, "hey! is your baby running express?"

An evening off for mummypig...

Hooray! Piggy got an evening off to go shopping at Orchard... Daddycow worked overtime today (to take care of Baby Pier).

Reached Takashimaya @8pm, went for a fast dinner at Yoshinoya (coz wanted to save time for shopping)... Then to G2 for long pant (I am still wearing maternity pants as the old one were too tight)... yeah! Sales -> buy the second piece for 50% off...

Time to pamper myself with some expensive stuff.... was having extremely dry skin & it started to peel off badly since BB was born. So, went to the Taka department store for some deep hydrating creme gel. "Interviewed" several sales girls from CD, Estee Lauder, etc. and tried their product on my hand to see if there is any allergy.... at the end, got myself the HydraAction Deep Hydration Creme Gel from Dior...

Then, went to the children / baby accessories stores to find a suitable baby gym for BB, but not much choices... hang around at the BB area & suddenly, the bell rang & the operator was saying good night. Wow! Times up! Rushed to the cashier before they close the counter (my shopping cart was full of BB stuff....).

Oh NO... Lewis's dinner!!! I promised to da bao for him... Again, rushed to the restaurant and glad that they are still taking order (sometime their kitchen won't take in new order at this time...) and while waiting for the food, saw some cute BB shirts for sales (50%) next door... heehee. grabbed two & pay, get the food and head home... ^.^

BB名字的来源...

每当别人看见BB的名字, 都是同个表情, "怎么这么怪?" 其实, 那并不怪. BB名字源起于....

家公家婆都是化学工程系教授, 而老公牛牛和他姐姐名字取于 Chemistry Periodic Table 的 Radioactive Elements. 姐姐名为"铀" (Uranium, 92), 牛牛则是"镭" (Radium, 88)... 身为化学工程师的猪猪, 绝对赞成以同样的方法来给BB取名...

选了好几个 Radioactive Elements, 终于决定了"锫"这个因素, 取名为俊锫.
"锫"英文乃是 Berkelium, 97, 其资料如下:

• Name: berkelium
• Symbol: Bk
• Atomic number: 97
• Atomic weight: [ 247 ]

• Standard state: solid at 298 K
• Colour: unknown, but probably metallic and silvery white or grey in appearance
• Classification: Metallic

Availability:

Berkelium is a radioactive rare earth metal, named after the University of California at Berkeley (USA). Apparently, berkelium tends to accumulate in the skeletal system. It is of no commercial importance and only a few of its compounds are known.

而英文拼音名字嘛... 原本是 Jun Pei, 但总觉得不好听... 变变一下, 就变成了现在的 Zen Pier 了. 很特别吧! ^.^

分享篇...

想了很久, 不知从何下笔... 只想把BB成长的点点滴滴记录与分享...

这是我最喜欢的BB照片... BB 6weeks ->

理发篇...

BB头发长了. 是时候修一修. 趁他睡着了就... (BB第一次理发嘞!)

Before: ............................................... After: ...............................................
















嘿! 不错! 蛮好看的... (不过, 怎么看都像 "兵头洗粉" 的标志...)

CNY 2008

We went back to KL last week for CNY, but we did not visit around as our schedule was badly affected by Pier. Baby Pier wasn't feeling too well after the long journey, he was vomiting for the first three days, followed by diarrhea & tummy cramp. he had been crying most of the time due to the discomfort. At first, I taught it was my diet change that causes this, so we switched to formula, but the syndrome continue. Lewis's sis suspected it was due to virus.... that last for 3, 5 or 7 days depending the type of virus... no medicine for this... so, the only thing we can do is WAIT for this to passed, but really heart broken when see him cried till no voice... Finally, he is ok by the 7th day. here goes our CNY trip back to KL...


Dressing Pier in Cow's hood... ^.^ moo moo!

Baby Pier vs Michelin vs Japanese Sumo

Time for first month injection & check up... When we arrived at the clinic, the first thing was to take the baby weight and length. OMG!!!! guess what? my little michelin (err, well, i still think he looks more like japanese sumo) is overweight! He has successfully increased his weight by more than 2kg in 5 weeks!!! He was 3.23kg while born, and now 5.36kg. Gosh! No wonder Lewis was telling me, "hey! wow! our baby has four tikus on each hand... " and the doctor's reaction when he saw the baby was --> Wow! so chubby! (meaning? He is overweight)... but how to control?