My freezer is full of this! There are cups and cups of this in the freezer and I'm running of space. No. They are not jelly or agar-agar. They are cups and cups of breast milk for my Ryan.This is how we saved and stored the expressed milk for Ryan from day one. Since he was a premature baby, he had difficulties in sucking directly. It was extremely frustrating and stressful initially. After much massaging and pressing, there were just a few tiny drops. At that moment, they were like liquid gold to us. We carefuly collected and passed it on to the nurses to feed Ryan. The nurses at the Damansara Specialist Centre were extremely helpful and encouraging. Since Ryan could not suck directly and not wanting to give up our desire to breastfeed him (since it is the best milk to him), my wife has been faithfully and diligently expressing it out and stored them in this tiny cups, frozen and stored them for Ryan. (That's how she got the De Quervain's Tendinitis if you read one of my earlier post).
I understand that it is extremely difficult to continue breastfeeding once you start to work. This could be another good way to continue giving your baby, breast milk for as long as you can. However, this is sometimes easier said than done. We were lucky that my wife's organization does provide their female employee with a special and private room for this purpose.
If your baby is having difficulties sucking directly, do not give up breastfeeding. You too can express the milk and feed your baby using the bottle. It is still better than feeding him baby formula.
The cups are cheap. We buy them from Giant. The one that we are currently using is able to store 4oz each. We will sterilise them, store the milk and freeze them. When needed, we will warm them up by placing them on warm water. DO NOT put them in the microwave oven!! The process of course takes a little bit more time as compared to preparing baby formula but the baby is still getting the most nutritious milk there is.
And a great big hug to Ryan's mommy for her dedication, diligence and commitment in wanting to give baby Ryan the best.
29 comments:
Hi!
may be u can consider using glass bottles to store the breast milk in the freezer instead of these plastic container.
i m not too sure if u r located in Singapore! In singapore, my friends will get the extra milk bottles from the KK hopsital to store the breast milk. Is safer to use glass then plastic.
i use this cuppies too but I don't have any ebm in my freezer. hehe he sucked me dry!
Agree with Jas. May be you can consider of glass bottles or BPA free bottle instead of plastics one..
And bravo to mommy Ryan in the hard work of breastfeeding Ryan.
And daddy Ryan, may be you can visit my friend's blog. She got a lot of stories and experience to share about breastfeeding..
http://farrahim.blogspot.com :)
Hi there,
thanks for dropping by my blog...Leon is recover already..and welcome to parentshood...Keep it up! as breastfeeding is good...
Hi Jas. I'm in Malaysia. Thanks for the advice. Will see whether I can find some glass containers. Would need lots of it though.
Hi Sasha. Haha. He has a big appetite eh....:)
Hi Bonnie. Thanks for the advice too. Will start searching but like I said, I would need lots of it. I'm having close to 30 of cups now in the freezer!
Hi Marilyn. Thanks for dropping by too. Good to hear that Leon has recovered. Parenthood is great and definitely looking forward to seeing you here more often.
Thanks for dropping by :)
With my #1 boy, I also suffered De Quervain's Tendinitis. The most effective way of curing this was a wrist guard which I got from a specialist at DSH, since I couldn't take medication because I was also nursing. As a result, I invested in an electronic pump for boy #2. I remember that the pain was so bad until i couldn't even hold up a pen!
Yes, mum's milk is the best. Keep feeding baby Ryan, he needs all those nutritions from mum's milk!
as long as Rayn continue to suck and your wife pump her milk out, she wouldnt dry out. Some friends even continue feeding their babies with mum's milk even when babies are up to 1 year old!!
Hi,
I would like to add for the glass bottles, u need not have to get those for milk, u can always recycle those glass containers like honey, fruit jam, etc. And if ur boy feed on those baby food (Heinz : http://www.heinzbaby.com/english/mix/juice.html)from the shelf, they r in glass containers too. It would help to save $$$ and go green & safer!
Not too sure if there are breadfeeding groups in Malaysia, if there is, they will sure have more tips!
"加油"
:D
I breastfed all my kids till they are abt 2 yrs old ..without formula.
For my twins boys, i used to have lots of plastic containers like u until luckily i won a fridge to stor them.
Then for my daughters, i got to knw about disposable plastic bags with measurement markers.
Each time i get about 8 oz each breast at the beginning. then once they start solid, the amount begun to educe naturally but still having the regular supply before i go to work , during lunch time and straight on after wrk.
Oh hw i miss those beautiful bonding moments.
i joined the support group to give counselling to mothers who need advice in my hospital but later due to time constarints I provise counselling among my friends thru email all over the world.
check out my post here on my breastfeeding xperience :
http://physiomom.blogspot.com/search/label/breastfeeding
Thumbs up to your wife for the effort..not easy but best investment for Ryan. I'm not expert but will be happy to share my xperience if u need help/tips.
BTW thk God i didnt have DeQuervains coz I stretch my wrists muscle each time before I express ..moreover i have a good helper..The AVENT pump..light & easy. Mayb u wanna get ur wife one set.since's it's your frist bb, wrth investing on the set. I used mine until my 4th child.
*clap clap clap* for the effort.
for me, I knew it would be tough initially, but I MADE IT WORK! cos' latching on directly can never match expressed milk. its better for baby and mommy and the production of the milk.... it was tough 2 months, but after that, it was a breeze!
I also use this type of containers to store my breastmilk but a little bigger which could store about 5-6oz. Now I don't store anymore.
Well done to mummy Ryan! Keep it up! :)
Well done to your wife. Breast milk is precious. Same to my girl as I only had engorgement on 5th day and she refuse to latch on however I tried. Luckily I had bought Avent manual breast pump and I pumped for a year, really exhausted.
hi..thanks for dropping by my blog. you have a really amazing wife :D
Hi Bryan's mommy and Renet. Thanks for advice and comments. Wife is also using a electric pump but she uses her hand to massage the breast as she pumps away. I've got her a wrist guard as well now. It's black in colour and when she wears it, I called him ninja mom!!
To all mothers here who breastfeed, I salute you because I understand (looking at my wife) that it definitely calls for commitment and dedication, not to mention sacrifice (especially for those who are working after confinement).
And Jas, thanks for the tip. We are already on lookout for glass bottles.
To Chumpsy's mommy, yes. She is amazing. But I am sure all of you here are amazing as well. Handling work, home, big baby (hubby) and small babies and problematic baby (maid).
To all who have dropped a comment, thank you so much for encouragement, tips and advice. My wife appreciate it very very much. :)
Hi, I got on your blog through RamblingMoo. Totally agree with breast feeding, and all the plastic/glass stuff. I breast fed both my kids too. However, I do have to advice you to put a date on each containers. There IS expiration dates (or not so fresh anymore)on these stuff too! I cannot remember how long it should be kept in the freezer/fridge, but I can go dig out my notes/books.
BTW, you can also take a couple of containers and defrost in the fridge the night before, that way it won't take as long to warm up in hot water.
great job Ryan's mummy :-)
Hi first time visit your blog. You got a wonderful baby and an amazing wife.
My boy is 4 months old now. Have been fully breastfeeding him since he was born. My gal is a full breastfed baby too till she was 10 mths old. Like your wife, I'm also working full time. I got the De Quervain's Tendinitis when I was b/feeding my gal. So now I try to be more careful not to get it again. It took me more than half year to fully recover and can hardly carry my gal during that time.
I use the milk bottle and disposable sterilized plastic b/milk bag to store the ebm. I did not know that we can use the plastic container for it. Is it safe to sterilize?
I breastfed my boy till he was 18-month and never regret a single bit!
Way to go to your wife!
Hi Jenny. Thanks for dropping by. If I remember correctly, once frozen, the milk is good for 3 months. So, I make a conscious effort to identify the earliest cups stored. Used to write it down but got a little lazy lar...hehe..
Hi Sting. Thanks for the compliment. She is so happy to read that.
Hi Angeleyes. Thanks for the encouragement. Sometimes, when it becomes stressful for her, encouragement like yours really helps.
Thanks for visiting Cheeyee. Wah. It took so long to recover from the De Q thingy ar..? The cups were recommended by the nurses at the hospital. Anyway, we put them in steralising solution before using them and we do not boil and steam them, fearing the excess heat will cause ill effects. We are grateful with the advice of using glass bottles and we are already thinking of switching. Just got to get enuf of them. Looking forward to seeing you here more often..:)
Mothers who successfully breastfed their kids like me need great support & understanding frm family especially their hubby like you.
Strong determination & the sense of not wanting to give up breastfeeding kept me going...no regrets ..full of pride!
Ryan is very lucky to have great parents like you & wife!
Hi Renet. Thanks for the kind words and encouragement.
I also a BF mother. I BF my ger till she 8months old. 4oz container is not enough for me. Each time i managed to expressed about 7-8oz milk. *Shy*
Hi Serene. My wife also gets about 8oz to 10oz each session. So, she will use a couple of containers. I always teased her as being `highly productive...' haha
Wah I'm so jealous. Due to stress in life and work, my supply has been fluctuating. *cry*
Yes support from family is important. I'm glad that both my parents and my MIL are supportive towards me fully b/feeding both kids.
It took me that long to fully recover from the De Q thingy coz I did not give the hand fully rested. So the pain keep on coming back after some time if I'm not careful enough.
Btw - where to get the sterilizing solution for the cup? Can I reuse the cup after pouring out the milk? I'm actually running out of the milk bottle for reuse.
Hi Chee Yee. You can purchase the sterialisation tablets from Pureen from either Babyland or baby department store. I'm currently using those for the cups. We are reusing them because we are not heating them. However, with all the advice on using glass bottles instead of plastic, we are also currently searching for glass bottles that we can used to replace these plastic cups.
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