Golden B(o)(o)bie!!!

As my ticker says,

So Yes, I earned my GOLDEN B(o)(o)BIE Award! Yey!

I am ofcourse happy and very much contented that for more than 12 months and still counting, I am able to nurse and feed my baby and give him the right nutrition, bonding moment, patience, perseverance and endurance a working mom can give.

Though I am no longer exclusively breastfeeding Jared, still I feel so much blessed.

I really really thank God for this gift a mom can offer to her baby.
I promise myself that never will I stop nursing Jared until the last drop or Jared decides to wean on his own.

Afterall, it's Natures gift...FREE MILK! :-)

New Milk Supplement

Before I get to the main topic of this blog entry, allow me to say to you, dear readers that the one-month photo journal challenge I gave to myself, I now concede a FLUNK. Sad to say, I failed to post one photo entry for 3 times and so I must say enough of this. I'm just fooling myself. I really can't update this blog everyday. It's a FACT. I'm simply happy updating this blog and sharing my thoughts at least once a week.

Ok, let's move on. As I mentioned from my previous post on Malunggay Cookies, I really made sure I will have a bite of those promising cookies. Either I win the promo or not, I told myself I will buy and try those malunggay cookies. And so I did!!! Yey!!!

Left: Mango Malunggay; Right: Dark Choco Oats

They are actually good! At first, it has a weird taste. Sort of bitter after taste. It must be the malunggay powder itself. But My Mom said, she has not tasted any bitterness and she liked it...a lot! Her bet was the mango malunggay because it's more sweeter. As I munched on the cookies, they appear to be yummy on each bite. Among the 2 flavors, ofcourse, I like the choco more than the mango. And it's true, that it helps increase milk supply. I will surely buy more and for those milking mamas who will read this, I highly recommend this product. I'm wondering how the sugar free flavor taste.

BTW, it was actually hubby who bought me these cookies from Anna Banana shop in Enterprise Tower, Makati. It costs P65 for a pack of 6 cookies and my hubby got a free sample too.

Oh, as I checked, I did not win the give-away promo but it's ok, I'll still buy my next batch of cookies! :-)
Will try the banana walnut oats next time.

Marshmallow Mama's Malunggay Cookies

I have been EXCLUSIVELY nursing Jared for exactky 7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days now. It's really an effort to keep my milk supply with Jared who's growing bigger and bigger and consumes milk very quickly. I am taking supplements and always have soup and malunggay leaves included in our meals at least 3x a week. I tried malunggay pandesal and even malunggay juice!

A and I dining at stock market resto in High Street, Fort Bonifacio

my malunggay juice

Just to keep up with my son's milk demand, I read and look for other ways to consume malunggay and keep my milk flow at constant. And I'm happy to find this! Cookies made of Malunggay!!!

Mango Malunggay Cookies by The Marshmallow Mama

I read about this from Jenny of Chronicles of a Nursing Mom. And I am really interested and would love to try this. This blog entry is not only for the sake of joining the promo but I just simply want to write about it and really uber interested in this product. Even If I win or not will give this product a try.

Haha! I remember, I once labeled myself a cookie monster! Coz I always munch on cookies every so often. There was a time, I hoard every flavor or my favorite cookies (Mrs. Fields and Soft Baked) for a 2-month worth of supply. hehehe.

Will send and email to Marshmallow Mama to order. ^__^ (excited?)

Silver Boobies

Cheers!!! Yes! I am celebrating because I have surpassed 6 months and still counting of EXCLUSIVE breast feeding. Whew!!! That's a big big achievement for a working mom like me.

As I write this entry, it's actually 6 moths and 10 days and with this, I earned my Silver Boobs Award. In nursing calendar these are the important milestones:

Nursing for 3 Months = Bronze
Nursing for 6 Months = Silver
Nursing for 12 Months or 1 Year = Gold
Nursing for 24 Months or 2 Years = Platinum

I'm targeting the Golden Boobies. *Sigh* That's a lot of hard work to do, because I will still carry that extra bag (insulated bag for expressed milk) with me everyday I go out of the house. Need a lot of patience especially now that Baby J is developing his first set of teeth. Patience not to snap at him whenever he tries to bite my nippies and patience in carrying him at times I nurse him while standing. At 6 months, Baby J weighs almost 10kgs. That's a normal weight of a one-year old baby. Oh boy, he really is a BIG baby.

Need to continuously drink lots of water, have soup in my meal regularly, take that malunggay supplement everyday and avoid drinking caffeine and ofcourse alcohol.

Though I have several sacrifices because of breastfeeding, I know I have and enjoyed the benefits of it more than doubled. First, the reward of FREE supply of milk. That's a lot of savings! As in Big Time! If my milk stopped after 2 months of giving birth, our expenses will surely shoot up high. Considering 1 can of milk is 1k that will last for a week. That's already a clear savings of not less than 16K for 4 months just for milk. At the rate he drinks milk, I doubt my son will only consume 1kg can of milk in a week. Na-ah!

Second, the unexplainable joy of producing and providing for your baby. Nature's natural way! Simply amazing. Third, the pleasure of bonding together. The two of us. Mother & Son. The way he looks at my eyes while he drinks simply melts my heart....always.

Aaahh...the simple rewards of being a mother.

Well, I think, the blue nursing cloth will not have its break anytime soon! NOT YET : P

While nursing in a coffee shop. Baby J fully covered, you'll think I'm just wearing a shawl. hehehe

It's a Bronze!!!!

Yey!!! I earned my Bronze Boobie Award last week, Sept. 28, 2011. I'm exclusively breastfeeding baby Jared for 3 months and 3 days to be exact!

Whew! This is not easy job you know?! I am a working mom and just got back to work last Sept. 5. It is really challenging for me! VERY CHALLENGING!!! Why? Because I am always on meetings and going out a lot for client calls. To sustain my milk production, I need to express milk at least every 2-3 hours. But because of series of meetings everyday...and very long list of unread emails...i ended up expressing every 6 hours. There were couple of days, I expressed 8 hours in between. This was bad and resulted my right boob to decrease milk production. My regular produce will give me 4oz per boob. But on my 3rd week at work, my right boob produced only 1oz. It's a big No No for me. I was so frustrated and sad for being too focus on work. *Sigh*

Good thing, when I went to my OB for my 2nd dose of vaccine for cervical cancer, she shared with me some tips to help increase my milk production. I increased my in-take of lactating supplement from once a day to twice a day. Drink lots of water. Include soup in my main meals everyday. Not ordinary soup but soup with MALUNGGAY leaves. My husband is actually complaining that he is so (nasusuya) so sick of Malunggay now!!! hahaha!!! He said, he can be a substitute and can offer his own boobs for milk. hehehe. And, the most important of all is to make sure that I will expressed milk at least every 2-3 hours to help stimulate milk production.

True enough, with discipline and a lot of effort, I was able to revive and put my milk production back to normal. I'm producing a regular of 3 to 6 oz per boob!!! Yey!!!

So, I'm very very happy that when I reached 3rd month, I was again on high!!!

Kudos to other nursing mothers!!!

I am a proud Bronze Boobie and counting days to reach Golden Boobie Award!!! :P

Notes:

Nursing for 3 Months = Bronze
Nursing for 6 Months = Silver
Nursing for 12 Months or 1 Year = Gold
Nursing for 24 Months or 2 Years = Platinum

Celebrating Bronze Boobie Award!!!

Sharing my side: August is breastfeeding month

I am a month-old nursing Mom and counting....

I already talked about my experience on breastfeeding on this entry but let me continue and share some more since August is the month of breastfeeding.

My son, Aedan Jared is a vigorous sucker. It is painful everytime I feed him. My nipples are sore (as always since day 1). Even if he latched on properly, still, the pain is there. There are times he will bite on my nipples and Boy oh Boy, that is really painful. Recently (about 2 weeks ago, apart from biting), he learned to pull my nipples when he is upset or when he tries to get his best position to sleep (He do this everytime inaantok na sya) Hay naku! Talaga naman! Napapasigaw ako.

My MIL (Mother in Law) used to teased me na "Nag-aaway na naman kayong mag-ina..."

I tried putting on nipple cream to help ease the pain and soreness. It works, yes, but as mentioned, everytime I feed my son, the pain is there as well because he is indeed a vigorous sucker. As what I read from books, babies who suck vigorously are also called "Barracudas". Dabbing on my very own milk on my cracked and sore nipples helps and actually heals them. Yun nga lang, nasusugat ulit.

I have been away from home and my baby for more than 3 times now. My baby fed on extracted milk from which I pumped out manually from my boobies and put in the fridge so A and I can have our "US" time. Being away from home for several hours resulted to big, swollen, hard and painful breasts or termed as "breast engorgement". With this condition, we need to immediately go home. And when we get home, I still need to rest at least 30mins before I can feed baby J or pumped the milk out just to be relieved from pain. But pain does not stop after pumping out milk, it is still there. A throbbing and itchy feeling combined. Hu hu hu. Hardships and sacrifices all for your little one.

I admit, there were more than a couple of times I thought of giving up breastfeeding. I even consulted our Pedia for a formula to give just in case my milk is not enough or dries up when I report for work a month from now. I confess, that in my head, I am really thinking of mix-feeding.

But despite of these pains and rants on breastfeeding, I still do it and don't have any plans (as for now...hehehe) to give up breastfeeding. I do a lot of reading on breastfeeding so as to keep me in the zone and be positive on continuing breastfeeding. I also follow old-school-tips on breastfeeding that really works such as:

• good diet and nutrition since I am still feeding for two
• Malunggay, malunggay and malunggay always on my food with soup or sometimes, it's just malunggay soup only mixed with Knorr cubes.
• Making sure I drink lots of water every day to keep me hydrated.    

I know my son will benefit most from this sacrifice. Basta, all the best for him. I will provide and give my all as long as I can even if it means that I will undergo hardships. To moms, mom-to-be and women who will happen to read this, I am telling you to help promote breastfeeding. I have talked about its advantages on my previous post.

Bottom line, I know i made the right choice of having my shot on breastfeeding and hoping, I can sustain this for x months and even years for my son.

just a month-old-nursing-mom and counting...