Catch me (again!) in New Sunday Times featuring HM4HB Malaysia!

18th September 2011, Sunday - Yet another happy day for me and HM4HB Malaysia! All thanks to Tan Choe Choe of NST who did a very good write up about milk sharing for us :D

Part of the lovely (ahem!) mama behind the stage - The administrators for Human Milk 4 Human Babies Malaysia network in Facebook! Can you spot my lil QQ? :D

We (the ladies with bubs in the above pic) met Choe Choe on 3rd day of Hari Raya (2nd Sept) at Subang Jaya, one of HM4MB administrator's house for the interview. She is very keen to know about our milk sharing network in Facebook thus she wanted to do a write up on this interesting topic. By publishing this to the public, we all aim to create better awareness to everybody especially to those who are still skeptical about milk sharing as well as those who are not aware of such activity.

There are a few more admins in our group, but unfortunately some of them were out of town thus only 4 of us could make it. This round QQ was in the picture too, at the far right corner :) If you have missed out reading my very first milk sharing story which was published in The Star newspaper back in May 2011, that time only a photo of YY and I were captured. QQ didn't want to join our cheesy smile action back then.  In the above picture, QQ was standing beside Jean and her 11mth old son, and 3 of them pretending busy on the lappy. Jean was also my junior in my secondary school! What a small small world heh!! I really love the picture very much, as it portrays us nursing our loved ones calmly. Portrays only?? Hehehe. The truth is, yeah,  not all of us nursing our baby in real at that point of time :P In fact it was only ME who acted out! A big credit to YY who was very cooperative with me and the photographer. I had nursed her in the car, while on the way to this house. So when the photographer wanted to snap a picture of us nursing our baby, I was worried a bit coz YY had enough of my BM less than an hour ago. So, how to latch her on leh?? To my surprise, she didn't make a fuss at all when I put her to my boob. She didn't want to latch on but she stayed on that position exactly like latching on! It was funny to me as I looked at her acting skill. She was facing my boob, her eyes started to wander around - looking at the ceiling, then the stand fan, the sofa and my blouse. She gave me the look "are we done yet??" LOL!! She didn't perform any acrobatic stunt - arching her back with both legs stretch out straight, which she would definitely be doing it at home when I tried to latch her on and she wasn't keen on it. Even the photographer asked me, "you both are acting or for real?". I said "she's acting". Photograher was laughing and said "good actress!!". Oh YES she is!! ^_^

Here's the link to read the articles in NST. If you want to know who and how HM4HB being formed, have a read! Choe Choe came up with 3 write ups! Awesome-moresome!!!

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/18ccmik/Article/



http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/2milks/Article/


http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/18ccmilk/Article/

EBM is needed for an 8yo liver cancer boy

After a long missing in action from me....here's my very first back-to-blog post. A very unique one, but a sad post. 

This is a very special story of my milk sharing journey. When I saw a post by Mich in HM4MB page in Facebook, asking for donors for her 8yr old nephew who suffered from liver disease, not only me, but a few other mommies responded to her whether the request was for 8mth old or 8yr old? Any typo error? NO. It was indeed for her 8yr old nephew. Poor boy ;( According to Mich, her nephew had Hep C first, and by the time his family knew it, already too late as the disease has turned into cancerous. Doctor has recommended to feed the boy with EBM so that it could help his own body to produce some antibody and hoping that he could live a little longer (for a few months). His family has no objection on this thus Mich immediately approached HM4MB for donors. 

The respond was simply overwhelming. Within the same day (or perhaps within few hours after her posting in that page) many mothers with surplus of EBM contacted her. In total, she has collected 80 bags of frozen EBM (each bag 5-6oz). Thereafter she and husband drove all the way to Tangkak (near Johor) to deliver the frozen EBM to the hospital. Her nephew took 5oz of EBM twice a day. A month later, again, Mich appealed for another round of EBM donation. This round, I have given out 32 bottles (each 5oz) of frozen EBM to Mich. Due to her meeting many other donors on that day, HubB sent me to Mich's house to pass to her my stash.With this, the boy was my 11th milk "baby".

My stash of frozen EBM ready to be delivered to Mich

QQ my helper!

By end of August 2011, Mich has informed me that her nephew was not doing so well +_+ Hoping for miracle only, and the family was trying to fulfill his last wishes. It was really sad to hear such news. On 9th September 2011, the boy has returned to God. Sob.....  ;(( My deepest condolence to Mich and family. May her nephew rest in peace.

As for the remaining of the frozen EBM, Mich has asked us, the donors, whether her 10mth old son can consume it or not? Well, of course YES from all of us.

I did it again - 2nd SOS call for my EBM stock

Mother's instinct can never go wrong lah. Few days ago, I was thinking to post my 2nd offer of my extra frozen EBM in Human Milk 4 Human Baby (HM4HB) page in Facebook. My "regular receiver" didn't come to collect my stock, but I've already told him earlier than I can still give out to him. So on 1 fine afternoon, I decided to post my offer again, coz I just had the feeling that there might be some other babies out there who need my BM under emergency circumstances.

Yesterday noon, I got a message from SN asking about my EBM stock. She has to travel for 1 week and already have some frozen EBM stock but she worried that her stock might not last till she comes back to KL. She was actually a bit hesitant, whether is it alright to share breast milk. I have my own theory of formula milk vs BM, so I've decided to share it with her, hopefully she can make up her mind after reading it.

Mommy can naturally produce milk for her own baby. Some people might think that it's a bit geli/yucky to take other mommy's milk to feed their own child. But how about formula milk? Formula milk powder derived from HUNDREDS & THOUSANDS of UNKNOWN COWS :D You don't know the cow, you didn't meet the cow. Just because it comes in a form of powder, looks clean and presentable in a tin, so people feels that formula milk is better lah. So if you can accept formula milk (means accepting milk from sooo many different unknown cows!), why not accepting milk from a human? You'll definitely be meeting the donor face to face!  Again, this is my very own personal theory ok =) Not that I'm trying to hard sell my stock :p So after SN read it, she replied saying that she would like to have my stock for her baby. I gave her my add and contact no. Now waiting for her call to arrange for collection.

And here's the 2nd emergency request which I got yesterday night. At 11.30pm just before I hit the sack, I checked my email via my HP. I get another message in my Facebook with regards to my BM. LC wrote to me that her newborn baby is having breathing difficulty, thus baby is now under ICU. Paed doesn't allow baby to latch on mommy's breast due to her weak lung. Unfortunately, LC could only expressed out very little of colostrum milk which is not enough  for feeding. Nurses have told her that baby is starving already, and the 2 choices given to them were either feed baby with glucose or formula milk. And that was how LC stumbled upon my post in HM4HB in Facebook. So she quickly wrote to me so that she could get some of my stock to feed her baby. 

As soon as I read her message, I immediately sms her that I can offer her my stock and to call me back immediately for arrangement of collection. We spoke yesterday night. She told me that  Gina, my breast feeding guru, has also given her my contact no too. Haha, looks like I'm the top (BM) supplier in Gina's mind :P LC's baby is in Pantai Hospital, Bangsar. Great!! Coz my office is just nearby the hospital! I do have fresh EBM in my fridge but due to I'm having minor cough now, I guess frozen EBM would be better for her baby. I really do not want her weak lung to become worst. So to play safe, I've packed 6 bottles (each bottle 5oz) of my frozen EBM for LC, all nicely wrapped with newspaper to prolong  the coldness. And yesterday midnight, I've already transferred another 2 bottles of frozen EBM to the fridge, so that by the time I meet her, she will have 2 bottles of defrost EBM. See the below picture, that 2 bottles of frozen EBM already half way melting =) Just nice for her to feed her baby today.

I didn't get to meet LC as she had C-section thus it's not convenient for her to move around too much. So her hubby came down to collect from me this morning. Hubby was overwhelmed with my offer - 8 bottles of EBM for her newborn. I had advised him about the storage method, and I called LC again to inform her the best way to defrost/thaw the frozen EBM. 

Once again, I felt very happy and glad to be able to help the little newborn baby girl, effortless! Wishing her baby get well soon ya!

SOS call for EBM

Last Sunday morning, I received an SMS from Gina, my BF guru, whether I still have extra frozen EBM stock or not. She was asking on behalf of a new mommy, whose milk has not "arrived" yet but was pestered by the doctor to feed her baby with formula milk. I immediately replied Gina, "got got got!!". 

30mins later, a man called me. It was the little baby's daddy. He sounded so American, to the extend that I couldn't even catch his name :P I always have this kind of problem lah, cannot really digest those thick American accent. I gave him my address and he said he would see me in 2hours time. I have told him to get a cooler bag/box and a pack of ice cubes form 7-11. 

Upon his arrival, I was pretty shocked that he was actually an Indian :P I thought he's a mat salleh. Hehe. He bought a brand new Spectra cooler bag, inclusive of 4  milk storage bottles and 2 small cold pack, which were not frozen. Since he needed my stock urgently, I lend him 1pc of my cold pack to keep cold of my fresh EBM in his cooler bag. In total, I've given him 5oz x 7 bottles of my fresh EBM. He was overwhelmed! ^_^ The small cooler bag can only fit in 5 bottles, so my mom lend him a big cooler bag (those in silver color) which she bought from Tesco. We placed the ice cubes on the bottom of the big bag, then we put in the Spectra cooler bag on top of the ice cubes, plus another 2 more bottles of my fresh EBM. That should be safe enough for him to drive back to the hospital in Subang Jaya.

We had a quick chat with him about his wife and his baby girl. Apparently, doctor found out that her baby girl had jaundice and also low sugar level. During the pregnancy period, his wife had high sugar level. Erm, actually I didn't quite get him about this, I was confused then :P Mommy's milk has not arrived,  but was able to produce little bit of colostrum. Still, that was not enough for her baby. According to the doctor, if they don't feed the baby with milk, baby's life is in great danger! Doctor insisted them to feed baby with formula milk, since mommy couldn't provide enough BM to baby yet  +_+ So that was the reason why I didn't give him my frozen EBM, coz her baby was only 3days old and need to be fed urgently. Luckily I have not transferred my fresh EBM to the freezer lah. I had labeled my fresh EBM with date (all dated 26th March 2011), and I have thought him about the storage method. If baby can't finish the milk in 3days time, he needs to freeze it.

I felt so good and proud of myself, that I was able to help the little baby girl, and the anxious new parents too. Felt like being a paramedic personnel whom attended to an emergency : D 

24 in 45 out

 

24 empty bottles are back, and about 45 bottles of frozen EBM were taken out from Teacher Nel's freezer last Saturday. That was the last batch available in her freezer, all given out to KC. He was happy to sapu all my stocks for his lil baby ;)

Mom's freezer still has about 20 bottles and 20 bags (each bag 10oz-12oz) of frozen EBM. I can still give out the end of Jan 2011 stock. But those stocks dated between 7th Feb to 25th Feb will not be given away coz during that period of time, I was down with flu and cough. To the extend that I need to take antibiotic. Come to think of it now, why in the first place I freeze/keep those extra ounces of EBM while I was on medication? And I'm not giving away, nor feeding YY with it. I've decided to keep feeding YY with fresh EBM and whatever extra ounces will be frozen and to be given out again. For the time being, I can get about 20-25oz of EBM per 12 hour. More than enough to feed YY.

So what am I going to do with those "medicated" frozen EBM?? Down to the drain again I suppose...... +_+

Extra frozen EBM stock give away

2 weeks ago, after I came back from Ipoh for CNY, I have done something which I felt really bad. Mom's freezer is full of my frozen EBM again and I can't sumbat anymore frozen EBM into Teacher Nel's freezer too as hers also fully occupied by my stocks as well. I had thawed more than 25 bottles of frozen EBM  (each bottle 4-5oz) and all went into the drain ;( Before I decided to do this, I've thought of donating them to the needy babies. But I was asking myself, if other mommy offer me their EBM, am I willing to accept it? Honestly, I'll be in dilemma then. Somehow I just find it a bit weird to feed my baby with EBM from an unknown mommy. My concern focus on the cleanliness and worry on the risk of disease/contamination . BUT if I feed baby with formula milk, then it will be like feeding my baby with cow's milk from soooo many unknown cows too! LOL!! I don't have short supply of BM for my baby so let's not crack my head to think whether I can accept or reject other mommy's BM or not lah. All I know is, donating breast milk is just like donating blood to the hospitals/blood banks. No harm doing so.

Even after throwing away so much of my precious EBM, I still need more space. But I was very very reluctant to do it again (throwing away my milk), as it will be such a big waste. So I've decided to just try my luck to offer my frozen EBM stocks to public by posting it at The Breastfeeding Advocates Network page in Facebook. I was thinking there might be some mommies out there who can't meet their baby's demand but only wish to feed baby with breast milk and not to supplement with formula milk. 2 days after my posting on that page, there were 3 mommies responded to my post! Wow!! I was surprised and very happy reading mommies who have feedback that they need my stock. I quickly PM them my mom's add and my mobile no so that we can arrange for collection soonest possible. 

Out of the 3 mommies who had responded to my post, I was only able to keep in touch with 2 as the other one was actually responding on behalf of her friend. From there on, I've discovered something greater. 

 JC was the first to accept my offer. Due to logistic problem, she has asked her brother, KC to collect on behalf. But after discussing with JC via email, apparently KC also needs some of my stocks too. Both of their baby boys are of same age i.e. 3mth old now and the 2 babies are sharing the same date of birth too! How cool is that, bro and sister's son both same DOB =) JC's problem is her baby boy eats more than what she can supply, whereas KC's wife is on a long term medication which makes her unable to feed her baby with her own BM. FYI, the wife has to take steroid, so baby can't be fed with mommy's BM =( I am very glad and happy that KC supports BF very much. Although his wife is not able to do so, he's searching high and low for BM stocks for his son. According to KC, his baby boy was only weighing at 1.8kg at birth, so baby was very much underweight. Just a few days before our meet up, I stumbled upon my ex-college mate's photo in my Facebook. And to my surprised, in my that friend's picture I saw a lady who was seated next to her carrying a baby was tagged with the name JC. Both of them sharing the same surname. Uhhh Oohh....as I investigate further (try to be Agent Scully konon :P) JC and my friend must be sibling. I quickly PM JC about that picture and BINGO! JC is indeed my friend's younger sister!! The world is really really small lah. So now I'm actually supplying my EBM to her nephews. With that, I've become the babies' "nai-ma", ibu susu :P I've given KC a total of 24 bottles of frozen EBM. And BTW, as I'm typing this, KC sms me that his son has no problem taking my EBM =) He has kept aside 12 bottles for JC so he will only use the other half for his son.

Another mommy whom I met yesterday is actually staying very near to my own house in Kajang. But since my stocks are in Kepong, her husband drove all the way to Kepong to collect my stock. I have given her 30++ bags of frozen EBM, ranging from 6-10oz per bag.  Her job requires her to travel quiet often thus not able to have sufficient BM supply to her baby son as needed. 

Now both freezer units are pretty spacious already, leaving behind mid-end Jan 2011 stocks, and now I can start to pump more frequent to fill in the blank :P But I've been sick for almost 2 weeks, currently coughing very badly. So my BM supply has dropped a bit. As long as I continue to nurse YY more and pump every 3hr in the office, hopefully I will be back on track soon.  Also I have not been giving YY any frozen EBM ever since she has those mucus/phlegm in her throat (or lung?? not sure) since last week. She needs more nutrient and antibody to fight against the infection, so I only let her drink fresh EBM. At the same time kinda worry also,  once she has recovered I'll start thawing frozen EBM for her and she might reject the frozen EBM taste after enjoying the fresh milk for so long. Hope not. 

If you are a breastfeeding mom, do join this  and this page on Facebook. There are lots of stories and info shared among the mothers regarding breastfeeding. Eats on Feets Malaysia is a dedicated page meant for mommies who want to share her EBM with others. For those who are looking for BM  offer may also check out that page as they have a list of donors too. I get a message from a lady who's managing this page in Facebook, asking me to post my offer on Eats on Feets' wall. She saw my post in The Breastfeeding Advocates Network =)

Happy Breastfeeding to all gorgeous moo moo mommies!!

Nen nen issue :P

Yesterday, my mom told me something real funny about nen nen. Here's the conversation between QQ and my mom.

YY was a bit cranky coz she was looking for me. My nen nen, to be more precise =) So when my mom was carrying her, YY turned to her breast and tried to suck. Hahahaha. QQ saw it too, and here's what she said.

QQ    : Popo, mei mei wants nen nen ar?

Popo : Ya lah. (while looking at YY) Mei mei, I don't have nen nen, you wait for your mommy come back from work ok.

QQ   : Popo, you got nen nen ma!!

Popo : I got nen nen? LOL!! But not for mei mei. You also have, why not you give yours to mei mei?

QQ   : I don't have nen nen lah. You don't believe? (while lifting up her shirt) You see, where got nen nen? 

She even said that while stroking her flat chest!! Hahahaha!! So she was trying to say that she doesn't have bulging boobies yet, but Popo and I have! :P

In a way, QQ understands pretty well about the function of nen nen, to sooth her crying mei mei =)

Good night sleep

For the past 3 days, YY treated we soooo good =) Normal sleeping routine at night is to bring her up to bed at 9.00pm, breastfeed her and she'll knock off at around 9.45pm. She'll sleep for a stretch of min 6hours then only will show sign of hunger. Aaahh....isn't that wonderful? That's part of my eye bags treatment also :P 

Since she only wakes up for milk at around 3.30am - 4.30am, I breastfeed her and then I continue my sleep. My alarm takes off at 5.40am for me to express my BM, then get ready myself to work. I  kinda like this arrangement, so I really hope that YY will maintain this beautiful schedule for mommy (so that mommy will look beautiful instead of a zombie :P)

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and I need to start packing for our trip back to Ipoh. With QQ alone I almost pack as if we are moving house. Now with an additional member....maybe need a lorry lah....

Happy Chinese New Year all!! Gong Xi Fa Chai & Huat Huat Huat arrr!!! =)

Back to work with my gadgets

I'm soooo sleepy while typing this +_+ and the office is so cold! Nice to hibernate under the blanket now :P

I had my post-natal check up last Saturday, did my pap-smear and everything was fine with me. As I stood on the weighing machine......jeng jeng jeng.....I'm now weighing at 42.5kg, and that means I'm heavier than my pre-natal weight! Hahahaha. I used to be 40kg only :) I know the extra 2.5kg will disappear in no time +_+ But I hope not lah....coz I really need some extra kgs desperately!!

Today is my back to work day. I'm fully equipped with my below gadgets, which I used to carry them up and down 5x a week 3 years ago. Except the breast pump lah, coz last time I used Madela Mini-E breast pump so it was less bulky.

I've tucked in 2pcs of Techni Ice cold pack and 1pc of MLO's cold pack to keep my stock cooling till I reach home.

 

After each pump session, I store my breast shields in a zip lock back and keep it inside my cooler bag. This saves me lots of time from going to the toilet to rinse my breast shields after each session. By keeping them cold with some BM stains on the shields, I may re-use the shields for my next session without rinsing. The cold condition will prevent from bacteria growing.

 

This morning, my pre-planned feeding schedule seemed to work well. Here's what I did, in order not to kacau my mom from waking up too early to feed YY before I leave the house.

(23rd Jan, Sunday)
9.00pm : Breastfed YY and  then put her to bed
9.45pm : She already ZzzzZzzz

(24th Jan, Monday)
2.30am : I woke up to check on her. She still sleep soundly
3.20am : Showed sign of hunger. Fed her 3.5oz of EBM, changed her diaper then proceed to pump BM
4.30am : Washed breast shields, label and then refrigerate my EBM, then I went back to sleep
5.40am : Alarm clock rang. Washed up and changed myself.
6.05am : Fed YY 3.5oz of EBM and then changed her diaper
6.25am : Left house for work

With the last feeding at 6.05am, this enable my mom to send QQ to her pre-school at 7.30am and thereafter can even drop by the market for a while. YY's next feeding time was at 8.45am. Tomorrow morning during the wee hour feeding, I will breast feed her instead and will see whether the same feeding pattern jalan or not.

Wanna catch my afternoon nap now before continue my work.....

To scald or not to scald?

Lately, I've started to thaw some frozen BM to feed YY. I know that frozen BM taste and smell weird, so I want YY to get use to it before I get back to work on 24th Jan 2011. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to like frozen BM so much :( I'm a bit worry now coz I have LOADS of frozen BM stock in freezer, to the extend where I borrow Teacher Nel's freezer for extra storage space too! Her house is just a few blocks away from my mom's house, so that's the most convenient for me. Otherwise, I have to bring my stocks back to my house, a long drive lah. Mah fan. 

Whenever I try to feed YY with the frozen BM, she gave me the blluuueekkk face and even spits them out too. She insisted not to take it after many attempts of feeding, so in the end susu masuk longkang. Coz left over BM has to be consumed within an hour after heating, and not advisable to reheat it repeatedly too. The only way to overcome this is to feed her the same in midnite, or when she's semi-asleep. This way, she'll gulp down 3oz clean clean, without much struggle. If she's wide awake, no way to force it down her throat. I even tried to mix 1oz of refrigerated milk + 2oz of frozen milk for her, hopefully to reduce the metallic/soapy/sour taste of frozen BM.  This way only works once a while.

Actually I feel gross over the smell of  frozen BM too. So I don't really blame YY for rejecting it. Even when QQ was a baby, she didn't quite like it too but she was Ok with it after a while. Those weird smell of frozen BM is caused by lipase. Below info is extracted from this website. 

Why does my frozen milk smell unpleasant when I thaw it?

Lipase, the enzyme that digests fats, stays active when milk is frozen. Some mothers have a high level of this enzyme and their milk smells and tastes soapy when thawed. The milk is not harmful but the baby may refuse it. You can scald your milk before storing it to make the lipase inactive by heating the milk to about 180 degrees F (82 degrees C), or until small bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Chill quickly and store.

Now I'm thinking whether should I scald my BM before storing? Scalding (heating) the milk before storing it may help to reduce lipase activity, hence reduce the weird smell after heat up the frozen milk. But scalding will destroy some of the milk's anti-infective properties and may alter nutrient levels too. So how? Want to scald or not leh?

Any mommies out there have tried scalding method? Please share with me =)

My milky way life

I'm happy and blessed with abundant of BM supply for YY.  Breast feeding YY directly throughout the day and night has definitely increases my BM supply very much. But it is equally vital to invest in a good dual breast pump too.

Here's my personal review for my brand new Ardo Calypso Dual Breast Pump.

My first time using it was not really a pleasant experience, in fact I was pretty disappointed with it too. Firstly, I have never used a dual pump before, thus to handle 2 breast shields at the same time was rather mah fan, I felt. In order not to hold both breast shields for 15min, I've bought Pumpin' Pal  hands-free breast pumping strap, as recommended by my SIL. Though it is meant to ease mommy during each milk pumping activity, I still need time to get used to it coz initially I find it very troublesome. When my BM supply came, I had engorgement on the day after. I happily assembled all the gadgets to start using my breast pump right away. After using it for less than 10min, suddenly my breast pump stopped operating! The LED light was also blinking, flashing green and orange light, as indicated in the below far right picture. 

Manual book

Oooh uuhhh....something not right. I switched it off and start all over again. 10min later, the same thing happened. Duhhh....baru start using it and already malfunction?? +_+ I quickly called Mr. Tan, the 1 and only after sales service guy, for help. After explaining to him what I've experienced with the breast pump, he has advised me to bring it over to his shop so that he could inspect the breast pump motor. If it can be repaired, it will be done on the same day on the spot. HubB went over to his place in the afternoon and he came back with a brand new breast pump. Mr. Tan has replaced a new 1 for me. Honestly, I've loose my confidence on this brand

WAIT!! Maybe I've made my conclusion rather too early.  The replacement unit worked well. After using it for about 3-4 times (and till todate), my perception over this dual pump has changed, and I started to love it! The Individual Phase feature is really good.

Firstly, I will adjust the cylce speed to the max (full bar on right side) and the comfortable vacuum suction as shown in the left side. The higher the cycle, the more rapid suction I will get, just like how rapid a baby sucks the moment baby is latch on. The rapid suction will promote milk let down. In about 1min++ I will have let down feeling on both breast. 

Step 1

Once I have let down feeling, I will then change the vacuum suction and cycle as per below picture. Cycle has been reduced so that it'll be a deep suction to remove milk from breast effectively. This is the same like how a baby sucks deeply too when there's let down.

Step 2

During let down, milk will be oozing out fast. Once my milk flow starts to drip again, I will repeat Step 1 . Amazingly, I will experience another let down too! That is why I love the the Individual Phase feature on this breast pump. More let down means can collect more BM =)

I have tried all the different sizes of breast shields provided in this breast pump package, and what suits me best is the large size shield which fits with the silicon OptiFlow massage insert. 

Breast shield with OptiFlow massage insert

Initial output of my EBM using a dual breast pump

As I continue to directly BF my baby and express out my BM an hour after feeding (not for every feeding, depending how full my breasts are), my BM supply has increased dramatically. Once I've emptied both breast thru the dual breast pump, my breast will be full again within 45min later. That's fast! 

As of today, I can get this much per session (average of 6-8oz of EBM) an hour after BF my baby.
Most of the time YY only takes 1 breast. 

Best to use this type of masking tape to label your bottle of EBM.
Do not use the pre-cut sticker as it's hard to remove.

Now, I have more than 35 bottles of 3oz frozen EBM in my freezer =) Very happy with so much of frozen EBM stock!! Keep buying more and more bottles for freezing purpose, also bought some pre-sterilized BM storage bags too. I've chosen Jingle Jungle brand BM storage bag. It has double zipper lock feature.  For storage bag, I will store 6oz of EBM on each bag.

Btw, I still need to express my BM at least once (max twice) in the mid night as YY can only take from 1 breast. Thus I have to remove milk from the other breast otherwise I will not be able to sleep with the engorgement. Normally I will BF her around 9pm, then CL will bring her to our bedroom at 10pm. YY might need milk again at around 11pm-12am. Most of the time, the next feeding will be at 3.30am - 4am, subsequent feeding at 6am-7am. Thereafter, CL will take over. She'll carry YY downstairs to bath her and then bottle feed her. I will normally get up from sleep at around 9am, and I'll take over the entire feeding, depending on YY's cue.

Breast feeding VS Confinement Lady

This topic is not something new for a mommy who's in the confinement period, together with the newly hired confinement lady (CL) for a period of 1 month. It's not easy to get a CL who's well verse with facts about breast feeding. And I have to deal with 1 now.

My CL is from Ipoh and she's a good cook. She handles my baby with love and care. But when comes to feeding, she's yet another typical CL who just loves to sumbat newborn with lots and LOTS OF MILK!! This is my only complaint of her lah.

Not that she doesn't support me breast feeding YY. She will ensure me to have enough fluid throughout the day coz I will express my breast milk and also breast feed (BF) my baby whenever needed, round the clock. She prepares papaya soup for me to boost my supply. She even encourages me to let my baby sucks more often otherwise baby might reject my boobies if she's on bottle too much. Impressive!! HOWEVER, she made few statements and even materialize it and that really drives me up the wall.

"Oh, baby is hiccuping. MUST feed water"

Before my breast milk supply came, YY was on formula milk. And at that point of time, I did allow her to feed YY a little bit of water. But as soon as YY on full breast milk, I have reminded her not to feed any water, which she fully agreed too. But when YY hiccups a bit, I caught her feeding YY with some plain water. I gently reminded her again not to do so. I told her that all I did was just putting her in sitting position and stroke her back for a while. Within seconds, no more hiccup! So no need water! If hiccup persists, I will just BF her a littl while and it's over.

" She's still wide awake after taking 2oz of BM thru bottle feeding. Must be STILL HUNGRY lah. MUST add more to satisfy her hunger".

Neh....this is the point which boils me to the max. YY is not even a week old, and my CL already tempted to feed her more than 2 oz of BM per feeding. Gosh, I've already talked to her earlier that newborn stomach is very very VERY SMALL. It's better and safer to feed her less, but more frequent rather than sekali gus sumbat her with 3 oz of BM at every feeding. She's just a few days old lah. Why want to pump her with so much of milk at this early stage?? That's very bad! Then my CL will keep saying "yes yes newborn stomach is small, BUT after she wee wee twice, ma empty liao lor". I mau pengsan lah. She doesn't seem to understand me. I use alien language ka?? Sigh.......

The worst case happened 3 days ago. YY used to sleep with CL, but when feeding time CL will let me know so that I can BF my baby in her room. The reason why I didn't co-sleep with YY is due to QQ, as she will be awaken by YY's cry (she doesn't really cry out loud, just 1 or 2 "OooNgar" noise only) in the midnight. When YY cry for milk, QQ will also cry! Kecoh...kecoh. So on that particular night, CL bottle fed YY with 2 oz of EBM at around 12am. I told her that after this feeding, please wake me up for next feeding as I want to direct BF her instead of expressing my BM. She nodded. At 4.30am, I woke up due to engorgement. I was puzzled why my CL didn't wake me up to feed YY. I went into her room and saw 2 empty bottles on the table. I thought that she might have bottle fed her twice separately . Then YY started to make some noise, an indication to feed her lah. While I BF her, I've asked CL why are there 2 empty bottles and now YY still wants milk? Guess what??!! CL said "oh, that was for the 1st feeding actually. At 12am, after I've fed her with 2oz of BM, she was still wide awake and make some noise for about 30mins. She must be still hungry lah, so I gave her another 2oz of BM lor". OMG!! My tiny little YY has been fed with a total of 4oz of BM in 1.5hour!!! How disastrous!!! Again, I repeated to her what I've told her earlier. 4oz of BM is way too much lah aunty!! From then onwards, I've decided to let YY sleep in my room, in a baby cot. I've advised QQ many times not to wake up and join the noisy band whenever YY does so. I said " little mei mei cries a bit coz she doesn't know how to speak yet. Whereas you are a big jie jie and can speak well so you don't have to cry". Ok, she got it! So far so good, she didn't really wake up whenever YY made some noises in the midnight for feeding. Good jie jie =)

Anyhow, my CL is still a nice lady lah. She's not the calculative type of person. She'll cook for my sister and dad whenever they drop by to visit me and YY in the weekend. If you are looking for a CL, I would like to recommend her to you too. Just ensure that you take charge of your newborn when come to feeding, other stuff just leave it to your CL will do.

My baby was delivered on Thanks Giving Day!

Double joy on year 2010 Thanks Giving Day as my 2nd child was delivered on this special day, 25th November 2010, Thursday @ 10.17pm =)

It all begun on that morning, around 9am I started to have some minor contraction every 8-12min. After 1hour monitoring the pain, it stopped. Nothing after that. So.....it was a false alarm. Then at 7pm when I was about to have my dinner at home, I had the contraction pain again. This round, it was a bit more intense compared to the morning session. I really don't feel good at all, and can't even finish my dinner too. Thus by 7.30pm HubB brought me to see Dr. Tan and grabbed my hospital bag + Cryocord Kit along as well. I had the feeling that I will give birth on the same night.

As Dr. Tan checked my dilation progress, he said " Ok, it's about 6cm already! You may be warded now and give birth tonight". WOW!! 6cm already??? It was only 3cm 2 days ago! That means my EDD has been brought forward 8days earlier.

By 8.30pm, I had those heart beat detector patches on my tummy to monitor Lil BB's heart beat and my contraction as well, hand kena pocked with needle for dripping cum induce and water bag broken. The wet feeling with amniotic fluid leaking out slowly....Eeewww....felt so geli and dirty lah :P

At 9pm, I had my contraction pain every 5min. The pain was still bearable, thus I can still smile for the camera and chat with HubB and Dr. Tan as well. Dr. Tan kept reminding me that once I have the urge to berak, that would be the right time to push.

Tik tok tik tok.....an hour has gone and my contraction pain has only increased a bit only, about every 3min once. Still can smile though =) Then Dr. Tan decided to help me out a bit +_+ Gosh, when I heard him said that, I had goose bump leh @_@ It was truly painful when he stretched my cervix so that I can dilate faster. Just after that torturous moment, my cervix has opened up to 8cm and contraction pain has turned greater, up to every 2min once. All I could do was to breath in and out during each pain. This round I had sworn in for No Epidural, and I did it. Not even any local painkiller too. Ahem, a bit proud of myself lah, for being able to go thru the pain without any painkiller aid. But the pain was really indescribable. At 1 moment, I even asked myself why am I going thru this pain again?? Looking for own trouble izzit?? Haha Yeah, I asked for it!

At 10.10pm, behtahan liao.....and I finally felt the urge to berak so I quickly tell the nurses " I think she's coming out!!". Waaa....I can really feel the baby's head at the exit. Dr. Tan immediately put on his gloves and get ready to deliver my baby. I followed Dr. Tan's instruction not to scream my lung out, just use my full force energy to push the baby out. Screaming will drain out my energy. Ok, I had to keep my mouth shut throughout the pushing activity. So hard to keep quiet lah. It took me 2 long push to get her out. My first push was a failure, and I wondered why was it harder that before? Last scan showed that Lil Bb was only around 2.7kg

2nd attempt succeeded and once Lil BB was out, they put her on my arms immediately! I wasn't prepare for it actually! Coz I didn't had the chance to carry Smellybutt the moment I delivered her. So here she is....my Lil BB fresh from my oven, with the faufu-fa look :P

Lucky me as I've managed to get myself a private room with a queen size bed for HubB. Only 1 room left coz there were quite a number of patients there. Mostly already given birth a day before and 1 mommy was in the labour ward next to mine. It was a nice spacious room, cost RM180/night. Pricey? Never mind, it'll be covered in my RM2,500 allowance for maternity =)

Here's my Thanks Giving girl after cleaned-up, nicely wrapped in a fleece blanket like a sushi roll :P To my surprise, her weight at birth was 3.17kg. I've never expect her to reach 3kg. No wonder so hard to push out her head lah....Her size is considered big for me, coz Smellybutt was only weighing 2.3kg at birth! See the difference ka?

My best shot!

I've tried to breast feed her while in hospital but unfortunately, the same old history repeated i.e. my milk team has yet to check in! During Smellybutt time, my breast milk supply only came on day 4 after delivery. Sad....so sad....Anyhow, I still let her suck hoping that she can 'bring in' the supply earlier. But aiyah....true enough that I can only breast feed her on day 4.

So here's the picture of my satisfied consumer :P Btw, she accidentally scratched her tiny nose while in the hospital, quite a deep scar actually. But now subsided a lot already.

"Life is great...." =)

Before I was discharged from the hospital, a Pediatrician has examined her and gave us the green light to bring her back home. Due to my speedy delivery, we don't have to worry about the GBS infection affecting her. He has also guided me to monitor baby's jaundice which might be noticed on day 4. If only her face looks yellowish, it is alright. But if her chest has turn yellowish too, we have to bring her back to hospital for jaundice treatment. Luckily she only had very minor yellowish face on day 4 - 7, thereafter ok liao.

Lil BB has been named as Yi Ying. In Cantonese, the word "Ying" means translucent, shining. We kinda like the meaning of this name. Hope that this name may bring out her inner shine in future! As for Smellybutt, her name is Yi Qing. "Qing" means clear, bright sky. Hmm...from now onwards, I have 2 little Smellybutts!! Maybe I should start referring both of them as QQ and YY here =)

YY's umbilical cord has dried up and dropped off exactly 1 week after birth. That was very fast! During QQ's time, the confinement lady was very rough on her (while cleaning her umbilical cord) thus caused some bleeding =( Poor QQ, it took her another week before it finally drop off.

That's all for my delivery news. It was a quick and smooth delivery and we really thanks Dr. Tan for his great job!

Next post, I'd like to share the beginning of my breast feeding journey together with my brand new Ardo Calypso Dual Breast Pump. And not forgetting my confession towards my confinement lady!! Urrgggghhh!!! +_+

Busy bee weekends

October and November will be a busy month for me. Birthday celebrations all done for my 2 Octoberians VIPs - Dun Dun and Smellybutt. So my upcoming agendas are :

16th October, Saturday (9am~1pm)
Attending a breast feeding talk by Gina Yong at Bandar Utama. It's a sponsored talk, so it is FREE you know! I'm very excited, as this will be my so called "refresher course" =) I didn't attend any breastfeeding talk before I give birth to Smellybutt coz I really didn't have any exposure on BF. And yet I was very determined to breast feed her even before she was born. So what I did was, made countless of phone calls and SMS to Gina for SOS and browsing kellymom.com repeatedly to get some guides and info as well. With that, I managed to sustain my breast milk supply till Smellybutt self weaned off at the age of 16th month old.

30th October, Saturday
Gonna bring Smellybutt to attend a Halloween Party organized by Artworks Art and Craft Workshop. Again, I'm thrilled over this! Last year, we had a fun Halloween Party at my cousin's art centre. Unfortunately, she's not able to host for it this year coz she's very busy with her wedding preparation. So what would be Smellybutt's costume for this year's Halloween Party? I'm up with some DIY costume, will talk about it separately.

6th November, Saturday
It's Sports Day for Smellybutt! She will participate in a competition, i.e. hold a spoon, scoop some water and then fill in the bottle. Of course, there's a funnel on top of the bottle, otherwise the kiddies will not complete this game until dawn :P 3yr old student need not do marching, only 4yr old and above gotto do it. But according to Teacher Nel, 3yr old students will be walking next to the marching team, while holding a pair of pom-pom. Sort of a cheerleader's role for them lah. I did some rehearsal for her at home, for the water game. But this fella overruled it, coz half way practicing, she'll start to pour the water on other places and in the end wet the floor so much. What else...get scolding from me lah.

13th November, Saturday
That would be my beloved cousin sister's big day. Yeah, the same cousin sister that I've mentioned earlier. Wedding banquet will be held at Ritz Carlton Hotel. Smellybutt is the flower girl....and until today, there's no rehearsal for her yet. Cousin said, just go to the hotel earlier a bit and then practice a bit enough wor, walk straight only ma! Hehe. Sounds too simple ha. I really really hope it turns out well lah, don't embarrass the zhu kok couple and me Ok!

I'm so happy and looking forward to each of the above Saturday!

Ardo Calypso is the chosen one

I really had a super hard time to decide which dual breast pump that I should buy for my upcoming 2nd breast feeding journey with Lil BB. So many new brand available in the market now, with so many new function, accompanied by so many different pricing from different seller.

I used to adore my Medela Mini-E single breast pump. That is my very first and most expensive electric breast pump I've ever owned. Initially, I was using First's Year manual breast pump during my 2 month maternity period at home. It worked very well, and I managed to express 4oz of breast milk on my first try with it! I didn't have much knowledge about breast feeding at that point of time. Smellybutt could latched on easily but somehow I still couldn't breast feed her directly most of the time coz the timing wasn't right. Confinement lady feed her with formula milk, and there goes my opportunity to provide my lil one with fresh and warm breast milk direct from "de pipe" :P Luckily I've managed to contact Gina Yong, a certified lactation advisor who's now a friend of mine, for breast feeding guide. She's awesome! I called her day and night whenever I need help. She was the 1 who advised me to invest on a good quality breast pump if I want to continue providing breast milk for my lil baby. in long run That was when I decided to invest on Medela brand. Her advised was to get a dual pump, for better output result and time saving purpose. But I could only afford for the Mini-E single pump then. The Medela PIS price is way over my budget.

Half way through using Medela Mini-E breast pump, I really wanted to upgrade to a dual pump as I really felt that a single pump consumed a lot of my time. I was still very happy using it as I've managed to provide full breast milk supply to Smellybutt for the first 6mth. After dilly dally with it....to change or not to change....somehow time passed by so fast and I was still using it when Smellybutt already turned 1yr old. Ok, forget about the dual pump lah. I've officially weaned off from the breast pump when Smellybutt turned 1yr old. And Smellybutt self-weaned off from breast feeding at the age of 17 month old. That's the end of my breast feeding journey - a happy ending!

So here it is, my brand new dual pump, Ardo Calypso brand from UK. I almost bought it from the Parenthood Fair at a discounted price, but I didn't as I was still hesitating a bit on the $$. Some how my kiasi sense has actually saved my pocket! Last week, I started to search around from a few online seller, and comparing their prices. Apparently they are still offering the discount for this brand. Different seller offers different discount rate.


Finally I got the best offer from The Baby Loft at RM800 nett for an upgraded set (usual price : RM976. after discount : RM849). I can even get it lower than the after discount price =) Very happy Ooo!! Rushed and bought it from the shop on 15 Sep night coz this great offer is valid until 16 Sept only . What a last minute purchase :P According to the sales staff, this machine works silently, even Ameda which works silently as well also can't beat this brand. Well, expressing breast milk discreetly is equally important to me. My Medela Mini-E pump is so noisy +_+



I was so tempted to purchase Pump' Pal breast shield as well, as I do not want to encounter the same backache again from bending my body front ward a bit while expressing breast milk. Pump' Pal can help mommy to express breast milk while resting on the back comfortably. But the sales staff said not necessary to purchase Pump' Pal breast shield now as Calypso comes with 3 different sizes of breast shield. So perhaps I can try on all 3 sizes to determine which breast shield fits me (or rather my nipples :P) coz the reason why I need to bend down last time was might due to the size of the Medela breast shield not suitable for me.

This brand offers 2 years of warranty, and the best part is, the warranty period will commence based on my EDD, instead of the date of purchase. Their service centre is in Setapak. In case of machine breakdown, I can either send the faulty breast pump to The Baby Loft (TBL) or go direct to the service centre. But best to go direct to their service centre lah coz they will repair it immediately on the spot. If thru TBL, I might only get it back after a few days. Calypso breast pump is very light, and is made of BPA Free material too.

Really can't wait to try it!!

at anytime while expressing breast milk, I can still re-adjust the cycles repeatedly to maximize my output

it is also battery operated

What is your quote about breastfeeding?

ParentThots has posted a request in their Facebook wall. It says "Looking for mothers who have breastfed/are breastfeeding for a quote for The Star. Can you provide a quote here about how you feel/felt about breastfeeding? If you're shy, then just say 'I breastfed. Please message me directly for quote.' THANKS!"

So here's what I've shared with them....

Love your baby, love them truly,
Give them the best, so that they grow healthy and happy,
Breastfeeding is the best we mommies can give,
Breastfed babies are the greatest we can see!

I just can't wait to be back on track!

Factory Closed Down

Kuala Lumpur : A factory has stopped its operation for the past 3 weeks. The factory owner has mixed feelings of happy and sad. It closed shop naturally...without any pain to both the manufacturer and the consumer.

Vell, yeah...that's me - de manufacturer/factory owner! My breastfeeding journey has ended naturally recently. It all happened naturally coz my gal has weaned herself from nen nen :P I'm so proud of her! Weee!!

Self weaning - a dream for many BF mommies out there. But there's still lil pain deep down my heart. Sedih hati jugak lah. Becoz hor...I have breastfed her for 16mth leh. To be more precise, she has been on full breast milk for 13mth. Bersyukur coz I have managed to keep up my supply till her 1st birthday - memang dah berhajat utk menyusu dia utk setahun and beyond.

My memory lane :

1) from birth - menyusu direct. but still gotto expressed my milk, in build 'container' flooded with milk

2) during 2nd month of confinement period - started to keep frozen milk stock

3) back to work - managed to have about 25 bottles of frozen milk (3oz/bttl) stocked up in the freezer

4) by the time she turned 5mth old - dah ada 50 botol++ (4oz/bttl) frozen milk yg tersumbat dlm freezer. here are some of my precious 'antiques' during the good old days...

5) greatest achievement with my Mini-E Medela - get 9.5oz milk/session. for me, a lot liao :) i know some 'holy cow' can do so much better than me lah.

6) weaned off from the pump on Dec 08 - reason being that my supply has dropped badly due to work stress. and smelly butt has reduced her milk intake as well ever since she has started on solid food.

7) starting from 23 Feb 09 - smelly butt has rejected nen nen. Nen nen diabaikan. Nen nen stay idle....

Actually leh, there's a thing which has triggered this self weaning incident. The flu. She had some minor flu accompanied by hidung tersumbat condition before the self weaning incident took place. Blocked nose, no air.. no air..can't suck. And that's the end of my breast feeding journey. Sob!Sob!!

I'm happy that it happened to me - child lead weaning. Before this, I have been asking myself, when can I wean her off? How to wean her off? Coz she really enjoy having nen nen whenever with mama. If I were to lead, I believe that it'll be painful to both of us. Thus I've made up my mind to let her be the lead. Don't want to bother so much lah, just try to enjoy the 'intimate' moment with smelly butt as much as I can...and woila!! my dream come true :)

And now, I miss the breast feeding moment. Missing it very very much....