Monday, December 29, 2008

When breast squeezing is NO FUN!

Yes. There comes a time when that happens. For some reason, my wife breast’s was engorged for the last couple of days. It was a painful experience. I could feel hardened lumps at several places and she was crying out in pain each time she tried to express the milk out for Ryan. I have always known my wife to be one who has very low pain tolerance. She is horrified of the needle and will whine over a simple paper cut. Yet the endurance she went through childbirth amazed me.

I can not comprehend the pain but I could certainly see that it must be painful. Each squeeze and stroke she took to try to unblock the blocked milk ducts was pure agony as I can see tears welling up in her eyes. Yet, being known as one totally dreadful of pain, she persevered and squeezed harder. When her hands grew tired, I helped and believe me, although many men might disagree, breast squeezing in moment like this is certainly NO FUN. With each stroke, as she grits her teeth to endure the pain, I could almost feel the pain too.

Breast milk, undoubtedly the best and most natural milk for babies with the correct amount of nutrient and antibodies certainly comes with huge sacrifices. Among the many obstacles a breastfeeding mommy has to endure include:-

  • Cracked and painful nipples.
  • Engorged breast.
  • Discipline and stress of expressing breast milk regularly to ensure continuous flow or risk engorgement and reduce and ultimately complete stop of supply.
  • Discipline to refrain from eating food that might not be healthy for the baby since it will affect the nutrients and quality of milk.
  • To constantly ensure eating the right and nutritious food to ensure quality of breast milk produced.
  • To constantly drink lots of liquid and soup to maintain or boost the supply of breast milk.
  • The stress and concern when breast milk supply runs low.
  • The inconvenience of wet shirt as a result of dripping as a result of not expressing overflowing milk.

I certainly hope that when Ryan is old enough to read and understand this post, he will begin to appreciate what his mommy has to endure to ensure that he gets the best. Meanwhile, there is little that I could do but to support and learn to appreciate her love for our baby.

11 comments:

Hazel said...

oh, will be like that!I don't like breastfeeding

Anonymous said...

ouch! that hurts! I bf my boy for 2 years and I m very glad that I did that for that is like my best gift for him. I am sure you boy will appreciate what your wife have gone through.
Here's wishing you and your family a wonderful new year

Merryn said...

u know, for the cracked nipple part, wat i used to do is at the end of each feeding or expressing, wipe clean the nipple and squeeze just enough of milk and rub it on the nipple. let dry and that works wonders to prevent the nipple from cracking. i learnt this from the hospital i gave birth in, D'sara Specialist Hospital.

Anonymous said...

Ya man! Tell me about it! The 'sufferings'... but in the end, its all worth it...

there is a way to prevent engorgement...

express alittle (though it may seem wasteful, well, I drank them, so its 'recycled' *wink*) every half or one hour... not completely, maybe 1/4 or half or you don't 'feel' the weight anymore...

expressing a little , at a frequent basis, do help to prevent...

MommyAngel said...

I Angel has been fully breastfed until she was 1+ and I have been through this stage not once but at least 5-6 times so far and trust me, it's 'no fun' at all. Even the lightest touch somewhere near the breast was like 'hell' to me but don't worry, keep on expressing and it will go away eventually. One of the reason for such incidence was the breast was not fully expressed out after each feeding. Hope Ryan's mommy will feels better soon :)

MommyAngel said...

Oh ya .... pls avoid under wired bra too if possible. This will caused engorgement on the breast as well for breastfeeding mommies. Take care ….

Vickylow said...

Oh yes I hate that. Every I got it sure will get fever.

Unknown said...

Yes it's very painful. I do understand that sometimes we cannot express in a fixed schedule that we wish to due to some reasons. So we can just do our best. One time I even got fever due to the inflammation from the blocking milk duct. So I went to see the gynae for the medication. He applied ice pack to the area with blocking duct, before he use his finger to push out the milk. Amazingly I feel no pain at all! He said the ice pack made the area numb so that I wont feel the pain. So maybe you can try the same way to your wife too . Hope that she will be alright soon.

Bonnie said...

Ouch, I've been reading few moms who experience the same. Sadly, I dint breastfeed wawa so I dont know how exactly it feels. But from your word, I can imagine it's really hurt. So baby Ryan, you must love your mother cause she sacrifice a lot just to give you the best.. Not easy to become mother hor..

Mommy Ryan,
hope you're better now..

Sarah's Daddy and Mommy said...

It is really a painful experience.

Your wife is really a great mommy.

Alicia said...

yes i would understand how ur wife felt... i went thro 4x breast infection in 15mths because of bf Jesse, no kidding each time is damn painful with fever

More Pictures on Jeju Island Coming up NEXT!