Creamy Broccoli Soup - Good for Pregnant and/or Breastfeeding Mommies

Since it is a Sunday and we got tired of eating out, I've decided to cook dinner tonight. We still have four chicken drumstick left in the freezer and some frozen tiger prawns bought back from our holiday in Kota Kinabalu. The drumstick are baked with peanut butter and potato chips while the tiger prawns are simply baked with butter and garlic.

Our meals are never complete without a soup. Went online to search and came across this recipe, Creamy Broccoli Soup. Apparently, this soup is an excellent dish for pregnant and breastfeeding mommies since broccoli is rich with frolic acid. And the soup is relatively easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 crowns of broccoli, chopped
• chicken broth
• skim milk
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Boil onion, carrot, celery, garlic and chicken broth in a large soup pot. Add pepper to taste
• Add broccoli and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes or until broccoli is tender
• Allow the soup to cool and transfer soup into blender. Add in milk and blend until smooth.
• Transfer blended soup back into pot and reheat the mixture slowly until heated through.
• Serve hot.

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.

Preventing Food Allergy - The Role of Bifidobacteria

Our intestine produces 80% of all antibody-producing cells, thus, making it our largest immune organ. It is the home of trillions of both friendly and unfriendly bacteria, forming an intestinal microflora. Its role is to keep us healthy as well as preventing allergy.

A newborn’s intestine is sterile but within hours from birth, it will quickly become colonized by microorganisms from the mother’s birth canal and environment. A particular type of bacteria known as the Bifidobacteria becomes dominant and will eventually takes up 99% of the total bacteria count in exclusively breastfed babies.

The role of the Bifidobacteria is to stimulate the maturation and functions of our child’s intestinal immune system. It is reported that young children with food allergy have lesser bifidobacteria. In addition, Bifidobacteria also protects against intestinal infections caused by harmful bacteria such as gastroenteritis leading to diarrhea, which in turn is still the leading cause of infant mortality.

How does the method of child delivery affects the population of Bifidobacteria? The mother’s gut, skin and vaginal flora are sources of bacteria for colonizing the newborn’s intestine. Hence, it was found that infant delivered via caesarean section, where there is minimal or no contact with the mother’s vaginal and faecal flora, experienced a delay in the building of their intestinal microfloral and it may be disturbed for up to 6 months after birth. The Bifidobacteria population is further reduced if these caesarean-born infant are not breastfed or breastfed for only a very short time. Breast milk still has the special bifidogenic properties that will encourage the growth of Bifidobacteria.

Weaning also affects the population of Bifidobacteria, leading to changes in the intestinal microfloral population and decreasing the count of Bifidobacteria. Hence, solid food has to be introduced carefully since weaning is considered a high risk period due to the risk of developing food allergy.

Herein, lies another strong reason why we should be breastfeeding our babies as long as we possibly can, all the more so, if your baby is delivered via caesarean section.

Period? Now?

I understand that there are many breastfeeding mommies here. I am a man and has no glue pertaining to the relation between breastfeeding and period. As far as I can understand from my limited knowledge, as long as a woman is breastfeeding, she will remain infertile, no ovulation and hence no period. Right?

After giving birth, my wife has been breastfeeding Ryan ever since. And her period did not come for the last five months. Suddenly, she told me a couple of days ago, she had her period and was rather heavy too. She was puzzled and needless to say, I can offer no explanation except to get her to check with her married friends and call up her doctor.

We have yet to call, but most of her friends affirmed that period will come around 6 months and the volume of breast milk will start to reduce. This information got her worried, as she has intended to breastfeed Ryan for as long as she possibly can.

Any mommies out there care to share your experience? Seriously need some advice.

My freezer is full of this!!!

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.

Go Easy with those hands on the breast!

Now now. Before you start thinking naughty naughty thoughts on what this post is all about, let me just assure you that there is nothing of this sort.

After delivery, my wife over the last 1.5 months have suddenly developed an acute pain in her left wrist. It got worse to a point that she could not even hold a cup of water properly without feeling any pain. We bought a wrist guard thinking that she could have sprained her wrist but it doesn’t seem to help.

Finally, not being able to bear the pain much longer, we made an appointment to see an orthopaedic in Damansara Specialist Centre yesterday.

The moment we walked in and told him about the pain, he asked “Have you just given birth?” Both of us were astonished and asked him how he knew. (Looking back, it’s kind of foolish, asking a specialist whom is paid and is expected to know such things). He said “You have De Quervain’s Tendinitis.”

“Huh? What De Q…what?”

Apparently, De Quervain’s Tendinitis occurs when the tendons around the base of the thumb are irritated and constricted. Tendinitis meant that the tendons are swollen and hence the thickening of the tendons results in pain and tenderness along the thumb side of the wrist. Tendinitis is caused by overuse and can also be seen in association to pregnancy and is usually more common in middle-aged woman. (More information here) (My wife is going to kill me for calling her `middle-aged'. Sensitive word!)

He asked whether my wife has been overusing his left wrist or thumb lately. I gave her a quick glance and smiled. She has been faithfully expressing her breast milk for baby Ryan and have been vigorously massaging her breast using her left hand, putting a lot of pressure on her wrist and thumb. (She is adamant that she must have a certain volume each session!)

There you have it. Go easy with your hands when you are expressing breast milk. It might be hand that needs medication and not the breast.

The doctor gave her a cocticosteriods injection into the tendon sheath to reduce the swelling and pain, as well as a dose of anti-inflammatory medication. All in all, the 20 minutes visit cost us RM350. RM350 to learn a new medical jargon and spell it right too. DE QUERVAIN’S TENDINITIS. (Sounds like a spell from Harry Potter, doesn’t it?)

Does Papaya Soup Helps Breastfeeding ?

I have to cook dinner last night. Was wondering what to cook and found a small papaya given by a friend. So, papaya soup it was. I was told that papaya soup will help more breast milk reproduction for breastfeeding mothers. Honestly, I wouldn't know because I am not the one breast feeding Ryan but my wife will swear by it that it does help. We found the recipe in one of the confinement dishes cook book that we bought earlier. It is not a difficult soup to prepare and can be done within minutes.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 300g of pig's tail bone (I used chicken breast or half a chicken sometimes)


• 300g papaya (1 medium size half ripe papaya)


• 3 slices of ginger


• 1 tablespoon of wolfberries


• 1 tablespoon of white rice wine


• 1500ml of water


• 3 red dates

1. Blanch bones or chicken meat in boiling water and then remove


2. Put all ingredients into a saucepan or pot and boil for approximately an hour and then serve hot.

Any other mothers out there who can confirm that this soup does help?