tetap berjuang!

i'm writing this to motivate myself and also other moms and future moms to breastfeed our babies, as long as possible.

i read and hear other mom's stories, some are good friends of mine who are not successful of giving breastmilk exclusively during 6 first months of their babies' lives. so many reasons behind, but the famous one is "lack of milk".

it is true that breastfeeding is not easy. i've been there. to be able to breastfeed pilar like i do now is a result of both sides learning and struggling. and it is a never ending process. when he was younger, how to latch-on was the main problem. i had a small nipple which made pilar a bit difficult to latch-on. i even had in mind "will we ever succeed? will we continue like this (i pump and feed the milk by using spoon)?" but we didn't give up til finally my nipple is quite comfortable for him to suck. then his preference to suck from left breast rather than the right one. once again, we didn't give up. we try and try, til finally now he's happy with both. not to mention the pain i had in my nipples. those nights i cried. hmmm..

now that he's 4,5 months, he's so active that sometimes we don't have a quite and peaceful breastfeeding moment like we used to. but no worries, with all his movements, he still can drink a lot easily. thanks to those hard moments we shared together both pilar and me. i imagine, what will it like when teeths are coming? wuaaa..

when i first when back to the office, i could pump around 600 ml and pilar drank 500-550 ml (from 7am to 6 pm). i was in peace cos i still had a lot stock in the friz. lately, pilar drinks more than 700, sometimes 750 ml. i pump no more than 600 ml. i now see some empty space in the friz, higs.. still 1,5 months to go before the end of pilar's breastfeed exclusive time. i'm still confident that we will succeed. the problem now, i want this to continue until pilar is 1 year old. why?

simply because breastmilk is the best. it contains all the nutritions needed by our babies. don't we all, mothers, want to give our babies the best?

"lack of milk" is coming from unsuccessful brestfeeding. if the baby doesn't suck enough, the milk won't be produced sufficiently. by now, i say to myself, i can produce/pump as much as pilar consumes (>700 ml) if i want to. if i try harder. if i spare some of my sleeping time to pump. if i pump more regularly at the office. and not to forget, breastfeed him directly whenever it's possible (at night, in the morning, and on weekend). mouth suction is believed to be the most effective way to increase milk production. i shall continue eating nutririous food, drink a lot, drink milk, forget diet. i had 9 months to stock some fat, why should be thin again in 3 months?

how about work? it turned out that my 3 weeks training abroad is postponed to next year. blessing in disguise? i belive so. this way, i will stay closely to my son until he's 1 yr old next march.

again, this is not to brag nor demotivate others. in the contrary, do have trust in ourselves and our babies. we can make it! tetap berjuang!