Episode 1: The First latch in the delivery room
The delivery nurse held the baby's head near my left breast while I held my left breast and used my nipple to tease baby's lower lips. Her mouth opened wide and the delivery nurse quickly helped me to latch her on. She then placed the baby on me and I cradled hold her. She started to suck and maybe in less than 5 minutes, she let go of my nipple or maybe my nipple slipped out of her mouth as I was not holding her properly). I told the nurse that I was done with the breastfeeding and the nurse placed the baby back into her "cot".
My reflections on my first latch
I was tired after the delivery and wanted to just let the baby had a feel of latching.
I guess I should have
1) Latched for a longer duration
2) Latched on both breasts
3) Allowed baby to rest on my body longer for more skin to skin contact
Before your milk comes in, you should latched both breasts, each side at least 15minutes. I only knew about this after the lactation consultant came on the next day.
Episode 2: Baby sleeping in nursery
My original plan was to get the baby to "room-in" with me in the ward as I read that co-sleeping would help the "milk to come faster". However, I wanted to have more rest and I was not confident enough to take care of the baby yet and so I decided to have the baby to sleep in the nursery. The nurses would push my baby to my ward every three hours or so for breastfeeding.
My views on baby "rooming-in"
vs leaving baby in nursery
For my second baby, I would want to let the baby "room-in" with me although it would mean
1) More tiring for me.
The "baby cot" comes with a clipboard which requires the nurse to note down the timing & duration of each breastfeeding session and the number of wet and soiled diapers. The nurses will also keep track of time and push baby in for breastfeeding every two three hours.
If rooming-in, it means that I would have keep track of the time and breastfeed at least every three hours. I would also have to check the diapers and change diapers. Most importantly, I would have to record these information on the clipboard.
2) Baby would have to be pushed back periodically for
bathe ? (I guess hospital do bathe the baby once daily?),
vaccinations and paediatricIan checkups
and maybe other things.
Well, I think for FTM, it is very stressful especially the monitoring of wet and soiled diapers and keeping track of time. However, for my second baby, I think it will be good to try. If I can't cope, then can always push the baby back to nursery? After all, tiredness and stress are milk killers!
I found this blog on room-in experience at Thomson. Do read up especially for first time mum!
Episode 3: Latching with the help of the nurses
Every two to three hours, the nurse would push in my baby to let me latch.
Some nurses were super nice. They offered to help me to latch and stayed for at least 10 minutes to help. They helped to wake my sleepy baby and came back 20 minutes later to check on us and push the baby back to nursery.
On the other hand, some nurses simply left immediately after baby latched on. Sometimes, the baby stopped latching and fell asleep the moment they left the room.
Some ways to wake a sleepy newborn
1) Unswaddle her
2) Dim the lights in the room (funny right but we tried and it works!)
3) If she latched on but not sucking, try to do breast compression
I found this link on waking up sleepy baby and some useful tips about breastfeeding newborns. FTM, do read up!
Episode 4: The Lactation Consultant visit
I gave birth at around 1pm on a Sunday. They did not have lactation consultants around on Sundays. So the lactation consultant came on Monday morning.
I told her that I was unsure my breasts were already producing colostrum and she told me to hand express to check. I wasn't sure how to do it so she hand-expressed my breast to check if I was producing colostrum.
I was so happy when the lactation consultant told me that my baby was latching well and I was producing colostrum for her.
How to do hand express
To hand express: simply place your thumb and two fingers on opposite ends of the areola (e.g. 12 o'clock and six o'clock) and PUSH IN, follow by "rolling forward" to squeeze the aerola.
I found this link on hand expressing breast milk very informative.
By the way, note that hand express techniques is a life saver during engorgement! And if you plan to fully latch during the first few months, make sure you learn how to do hand express before your baby starts to sleep through the night (STTN).
My reflections on the lactation consultant visit
1) Glad that she show me how to do hand express. Although I read up on how to do hand express, the best learning is still hands on practical.
2) I did cradle hold to latch on the baby. She taught me to use cross cradle to latch and then change to cradle hold after latching. (See my blog on latching and breastfeeding newborn)
3) I did not bring my medela breastpump to the hospital. I did research on breast flange and I thought the flange was correct size. I regretted that I did not get the lactation consultant check to see if they were correct size. I actually upsized from 24mm (default size) to 27mm and finally to 30mm! (Had bruise nipples and spent so much money.)
Overall reflections
I enjoyed my breastfeeding experience at Thomson. At the hospital, I thought taking care of a newborn was easy as I simply latched & burped her and then "send her back to nursery" after I latched her. However, she could still be crying and asking for more milk when she was at the nursery. And this, I wouldn't know.
When I went home, I realised that baby continued crying after I latched her 15mins on each side and I had difficulty coaxing her to sleep. At that time, I didn't know she cried because she was still hungry. Perhaps, if I had latched her longer at the hospital and also asked for her to room-in with me, my milk supply would be more.
Also, I should have at least try to pump once or twice at the hospital and ask the lactation consultant if I was usong the right size of flange.
Before giving birth, I read that milk would definitely come by Day 4 and baby would have enough "storage" in her body to wait for the "milk to come" . And that to know whether you are producing sufficient milk, you can count the number of wet diapers and see if baby is swallowing. However, as a FTM, I didn't know how to see if baby was swallowing, how heavy was a wet diaper supposed to be and how to use a breastpump. By Day 4, my baby became dehydrated and I used the "undersized- flange" breastpump wrongly. My nipples was bleeding. Realizing my baby had been "sucking nothing" for hours, I felt so guilty and almost went into post-natal depression.
Do look forward to my blog on what happened on Day 3 and Day 4 when we went home.
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