World Breasfeeding Day

August 1 - 7 - was World Breastfeeding Week. Articles and pictures splashed over the pages of daily papers reminded me of my own experience.

When I had my firstborn - 12 years ago - there were only about 100  of us engineers in RND. Out of these, there were only around 10 females. Half of them were single so when I was pregnant,  it was no surprise that I was the only one at that time - in the office.

When I delivered my son - I exclusively breastfed him during confinement . The first 3 months were chaotic - as  the baby started to adjust to our world.  My son would wake up every 2 hours for a feed, but fall asleep after less than 5 minutes. No amount of poking of his cheek or  caressing of his mouth will waken him! Since he was sleeping on a baby cot - I remembered feeling like a robot. Baby cried, I sat, picked him up, breastfeed him, put him back in his cot, continued with my sleep and the repeat the pattern 2 hours later!

When it was time to be back in the office, I found it  a struggle to pump and store my milk. Being an inexperienced mom made it harder. Coupled with being a junior engineer at that time which meant that it was just too difficult to manage my time - with tasks and meetings to attend. I ended up giving my son formula milk during the day and exclusively breastfed him at night. It lasted for about 4 months. 

When I was expecting my second child - my determination was high. I was mentally prepared - and most importantly through advise from a friend, I bought a simple battery operated pump. That turned out to be a purchase worth buying! My daughter was not introduced to formula milk and and 2 weeks before I was due back to the office, I started to store up the milk in the freezer.

I would take the milk to the nursery - and the teachers there would put the bottles in a bowl of hot water, come feeding time. In the office, I found out there is no such thing as 'mother's room'. There was not even a proper place in the small in-house clinic which I could use. The nurse asked me to use the 'sick room' - but most of the time - there would be somebody there - having headaches or migraines or what not.

So my best best option was....the ladies room! Yup, I would go to the ladies room and spent 15 - 30 mins to fill up the bottles. I was earlier informed that there used to be a fridge in the in-house clinic. But unfortunately I was told that the fridge was under repair. But the nurses there were very helptful. They helped to get some ice cubes from the cafeteria, put it in a bucket - and then put my bottles in the bucket.  Clever huh! So my routine before I called it a day was to go down to the in-house clinic and picked up my bottles. 

I had to juggle with work and the visit to the loo - to pump! It was not easy and requires time management and loads of patience. Over time I managed to master some skills to shorten the time to pump. Before I knew it - I had achieved the 1 year goal of exclusive breastfeeding!

It was a milestone much cherished. Something that looked impossible at first glance - considering the hassle required to pump! A few things that I noticed was that during that 1 year, my daughter had less problem - specifically health problems. She was rarely sick - unlike my son who was frequently down with something - especially if one of the kids in the nursery was too.  And the additional benefit - the saving of $$$ - I'm sure you know how outrageous the prices of infant formula milk is. 


Come baby no 3, the routine continued. A visit to the loo to pump, but this time around I skipped the visit to in-house clinic and instead just put the milk in a warmer in my cubicle - as the place had aircond on full blast, anyway! Again, I managed to achieve my goal of 1 year exclusive breastfeeding. 


When my youngest daughter was born, I determined to continue my tradition.. Finding time to pump was slightly easier as I had more control of my tasks and meetings. The night feeding was also bearable - as all my daughters - unlike my son - had longer feeds and thus I had longer sleep cycle.

The battery operated pump was great and I managed to use them for all my 3 girls - a very good buy, if you ask me!

I am also very proud that my persistence in fully breastfeeding my girls had inspired other engineers - following my steps. Some of them were amazed at my determination, calling me supermom and admitting that she was using me  as idol! After my youngest daughter, I noticed that breastfeeding has gained momentum in our office and coupled with the fact that there are now around 800 engineers - the environment has also changed. There is now a 'Mother's Room' - where new mom can pump in comfort. I envy them....but that is truly a good change.

Cheers to Breastfeeding!!!!!