Whenever I tell people that my girl can’t live without my breast at night. People will laugh.
“How old is she”, they will ask, when I say “20 months”, I could see amazed look from their facial expression. J Actually, I plan to stop when she turned one year old but it was kind of hard, I fell in love with the close-ness we share together during breast feeding.
It all started when I seek support from reading all breastfeeding mothers’ blog. It was so great and I learnt a lot from their experiences. Reading is important as I prepare myself for being a breastfeeding mother for longer than 3 months. I mentally prepared myself I wanted to breastfeed for 6 months at least. It was a good start.
Things went well, my girl was born and I started feeding her immediately in the hospital. It got really demanding at night where she wanted to suck my breast for comfort every single hour. I was so very hungry as I gave birth towards the end day and there were no food around. Luckily I brought some milk powder with me. My body was lethargic and weak on the second day. Just feel like sleeping and not wanting to do anything. This is the hardest part as most mothers would give up breast feeding. Tell yourself to give her another chance. Endurance it is you have to tell yourself. You will get the hang of it.
I stayed home for 4 months after delivery and fully breast-feed her. I resigned from work as in I told my boss I will quit and take care of my beautiful kids at home. But actually I see no future in what I was doing. I wanted more challenging work. I resigned after my confinement. I wanted to be SAHM but not easy la, got commitment here and there, got to find job la. The point is staying home longer help developed a breast feeding routine. When I finally got a new job where my girl is 4 months old, the routine is there; my body has gotten use to the milk flow. It’s like part of what I need to do daily. E.g.: “Peeing”. Everyone needs to pee right? So I told myself, it’s just like that, nature calls for pumping milk in the office. It became a habit before you know and this will last forever if you want it to be. I told everyone in the office, I will need to pump milk twice daily and ask them to pardon me; I have specially designed breast feeding signage to place outside the door to alert them. They were all very nice and understanding. I will store my milk in the freezer and carry them home with a cooler box. 
Another way to motivate myself was my breast looked fuller and nicer when I breast feed. So that also keeps me going initially. But now it really is why not, it’s only at night. I love seeing her so close to me and nothing in this world is nicer than the breast feeding position. Ha-ha!
I breastfeed her until 1 year old and I stop pumping milk. I somehow managed to time myself to only feed her when I get home and now she only needs my breast before she sleeps and in the middle of the night. She drinks mix of both formula and fresh milk during day time and at night mummies’ milk. At times, I do need help from drinking this to get my milk coming. Drink lots of water and eat well, don’t forget your calcium pills and multi-vitamin. I eat all including curries and spicy food. All I could say is what my son always tell me nowadays, “never try never know, you must try everything.” I am sure you can do it.
