Celebrating my Magic Milk

Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (July). For this month, we join the National Nutrition Council - Department of Health in celebrating Nutrition Month with the theme "Isulong ang Breastfeeding - Tama, Sapat at EKsklusibo!" Participants will share their experiences in promoting breastfeeding or their tips on how breastfeeding should be promoted. Please scroll down to the end of this post and check out the other carnival participants.

I wrote this blog in August 2009 and want to share it with everyone since next month is for celebrating our magic milk!

August is World Breastfeeding Month..it's funny that I decided to take a 5-day trip to Sagada to attempt to wean Benny from my breast. After all, it has been two years and four months.



When I first started breastfeeding, I said I would do it for three months..that's all I wanted. But the bond and intimacy shared between Benny and me was priceless that I decided to keep at it longer and longer.

The weaning process was a long one. The trip was actually a test for independence: for Benny and for me as well (I'm sure you can relate yummymums, our children get along fine without us..it's us mums that feel that little sharp pain in the heart when your child looks at you with eyes that say, yes mum, i can do it by myself.)



I pumped a bit, missed Benny a lot and came home to an independent little man who was singing the chorus of Michael Jackson's Beat It with his cousins. After some playing, he came to me and said, 'mama dee, i want mamam (milky).' I explained that my milk was almost gone (today, i am not sure if i should have said that coz it made me sad too.) and so Benny, with his bright smart eyes said, ok, i want TO HOLD mamam. (fine, if i can't drink it, can i at least hold them???!! what a sweetheart.)

it's been 12 days and he's been sleeping well..some nights are hard and cranky, but we almost always end up hugging in bed, his head and hands close to my chest. i am always in love.

i kinda miss giving him my magic milk, but treasure every single fleeting moment of these two years. to all mothers out there, breastfeeding is a joy. i will always love it. keep feeding!


xoxo

p.s. have you seen the LATCH and QTV plugs for breastfeeding? :)

more to come!

another heart warming vid i want to share

p.p.s. OH, just so you know- benny and i went back to bfeeding after 2 weeks of having none..i said my milk dried up in the cold air in Sagada and he believed me until he saw me expressing milk one day in the shower and said: it's magic mum!! you have milk again!! so we were back at it for another 10 months until scotch tape did the trick and i was able to successfully wean Benny from my breast at 2.10 years old!

Today, he still pretends to drink sometimes, for comfort and he says that there is still milk and it is sweet like avocadoes or chocolates! He gropes me to sleep and caresses me at night. I allow him because one day he will be too big to do so. :* And honestly, i do miss it too sometimes..


Please visit and comment on the other Milk Mama Diaries Carnival participants!


* Breastfeeding Promotion Tips from a Formula Feeder (Yes, you read that correctly…) by The Fearless Formula Feeder

* A Simple Breastfeeding Campaign by The Lazy Mama

* I Am A Breastfeeding Mom by The Painter’s Wife

* The Low-Milk-Supply Mommy Did It! by The Odyssey of Dinna

* On Promoting Breastfeeding by ImPerfectly Created

* Mama Milk Diaries 3 by Benz Co-Rana

* Why I Don’t Nurse in Breastfeeding Rooms by Legally Mom
* Breastfeeding Mama by canDIshhh

* I *heart* Breastfeeding by The Mum Side

* Spreading the Word on Breastfeeding by Mommy Kwentos

* A Breastfeeding Formula-Fed Mother by Soprano Mom

* Breastfeeding: Promoting It Even If I Didn’t Get Lucky The First Time Around by Glamma Momma

* Taking Breastfeeding Further by Mec as a Mom

* Three Ways I Promote Breastfeeding by Example by Dainty Mom

*
A Simple Breastfeeding Campaign by The Lazy Mama

* I Am A Breastfeeding Mom by The Painter's Wife

The Sweet Life

been really busy as the bazaar is coming up in 3 days! its goin to start noon on friday, all the way til 9pm..then again sat and sun! wow...im sure M and i (and our babies!) will be super tired..but looking forward to fun and sales and good contacts! it's all happenin' for INDIGObaby!



guess what!!! my ex boss called me last thurs pm asking me if i could do a racket for them the next day, speaking engagement daw. so i was like, ok, what do i have to do..turns out i had to present a powerpoint that they made, and say that i was a SKIN EXPERT who has been doing herbal remedies for 5 years!! i wanted to take the job, but 1) could i do it? 2) what about benny????

was able to get elisa to agree to watch ben in alexandra, mama nuca's house, as the talk was in tektite, 5mins away! liz is great with kids, in fact, she was the one who taught me to hold a baby, before when i was preggy pa. and she's free coz she just graduated and is looking for a job.

another prob, i only had 5 oz of stored milk! the night and morning were spent expressing as much milk as i could get, total of 10oz.

i reviewed the powerpoint presentation that night and it was on herbal soaps, 8 varieties of fab ingredients and benefits. not so hard coz i was familiar with most of them..thanks to papa and naturally yours!! thats why R thought of me i guess:)

so the next day, we ventured to deposit ben at alexandra, get him and liz settled in, then me to meet the client and discuss the talk i was going to do in the next hour! small talk small talk, then i told her about indigo and our fab new organic line for mums and babies. turns out, she knew someone in the QTV show, The Sweet Life of Lucy Torres and Wilma Doesnt, the guy who casts guests on the show!! she immediately called her contact and recommended, no more like sold, us to them and said that they HAD to feature us!!! we gave the guy our multiply address and i called him after.

sunday, he calls me and asks if we were free to shoot monday!!!! omigosh!! yes! we were taped yesterday, benny me, monica and santi! as guests on the show! it'll be aired end of november still, but fab still coz we were able to plug the alabang bazaar we are joining in december:) lucy and wilma loved the kids, along w the entire crew and staff:)

as our segment was about to get taped, benny decided to get hungry and fussy, so i had to feed him under our Indigo Reversible Nursing bib..i was feeling a bit sad coz he'd miss his chance at being seen on national tv, and i said to myself, i'd raise his feet up nalang as say "hi, this is benny!"

so thy started taping us, intro intro..lucy said, "we have with us today, indigo baby's yummy mummies monica and denise with babies santi and benny....then (i am not joking!!!) benny, who was nursing and asleep under the bib, pops his head out from under the bib and looks around at everyone, as if he knew it was time for him to come out and show himself to the world!! with drowsy eyes and the i-just-got-up-but-am-still-cute face, ben was amazing! hahaha! it was soooo funny i swear!



we demonstrated the nappy clutch, the bib, and all the other items. it was great!! mons and i are so amazed at how it all came to be! parang the world is conspiring to help us out...so indigo gets big and we never have to leave our babies alone!! :)

p.s. oh, the talk went well by the way..turns out i knew more than what was expected of me! ;) good job dee!

starting solids

october 8..benny celebrated his half-year mark..my my how time flies. really.

that meant introducing some solids to his diet. as an Open 24/7 No Reservations milk machine, the idea of food for benny was a little bit scary.

"oh no, what if he likes the food better than me?"

I was worried.

I saw how he looked at us with intent in his eyes when we'd eat on the dinner table. I watched how his head would turn to an almost right angle as he sat on my lap and looked up as my fork traveled from the plate to the mouth. He was ready.

So I did it. I introduced my sunshine boy to oatmeal three mornings ago...first with a little bit on my clean finger, then with his spoon. He took to it well. It was adorable how he opened his mouth and leaned towards the spoon.

Oatmeal dripped from his lips, but he enjoyed it. So did I. (Even if I had a sudden fear in my head about the day when he'd stop drinking my milk:<)

So I have officially started solids I guess. I used oatmeal from the local grocery, ground to a powder in the blender, and cooked in a little water. He eats very little so far, but we enjoy his feeding paraphernalia from Baby & Co (except I had to exchange the cute colorful ones because they were made in China!!)

Food glorious food.

The funnest part of it all is that Ben still adores my milk-giving breasts! Even if they have shrinked to size, adjusted to his need, he giggles and half whines with desire when I position myself next to him in the bed right before a feed. Like he really wants it. I love that.

A friend of mine had a daughter refuse her breast after five months of mix feeding. The infant enjoyed her new fake nipple. This friend of mine experienced depression. I am guessing it was the grieving from weening?

I know it will be hard for me...so milk, keep flowing and Benny, keep sucking!

fighting for feeding

i think i just made myself an enemy.

i watched the video on you tube about a mother breastfeeding her children until they were five and eight. quite inspirational for me since i pray for the milk to keep flowing til then. her husband was ok with it and very supportive in fact. her children loved her breasts and milk, saying they'd "choose breastmilk ove a thousand melons".


i have been feeding benny for almost six months now, and this was my initial goal when i gave birth, but now, i would like to do it until he's four or five. even longer if possible. there is a beautiful connection i feel when he feeds. something that is so pure and amazing. i never thought i would love it so much.

anyhow, while browsing through the videos close to the previous one, i found a rip-off satire done by some chain-smokin' white lady. silly really. i couldn't help but post a comment for the video.


a day later, she replied.

at least we agree that breastfeeding in natural and beatiful. but i kinda feel like i made myself an enemy..to fight for the right to feed without constraints, embarrassment, and prejudice!

here's to more fun feeding moments with benicio!

cheers to all you lactating ladies out there!

loving the latching

this is just to express my gratitude and joy that my little benny is a great sucker..from day one, when we were both new at this, he readily came to me with eagerness and latched. some babies don't even do that. and it is sad i guess.
there is great fulfillment i get from breastfeeding my baby and after 4 months, i sometimes worry about what my life will be when benny grows up and weans himself away from me.. i think i may need some weening as well! anyhow, this wil be a long time from now since benny and i are loving the latching!



lately though, he has become very hyper and so fond of playing that he feeds less. less, compared to his feeding-almost-every-minute days, but still enough to keep him staying healthy and happy. i notice though that trying to feed him when he is not hungry is a bad bad move. we both just get frustrated thn give up. the consolation of it all, is that when this little boy is hungry he latches immediately and without hesitation. i love that.

a friend of mine whos baby is a 'light sucker' has to pump 24/7 to give her baby enough milk. we jokingly planned to make benny latch onto her one day to get the milk flowing and maybe entice the baby though show-and-tell. before, i thought this idea to be sick (sharing teet!! eeeew!). But now, if it were in desperation, i would consider sharing my milk or letting my baby receive from someone else if i couldn't give. it would maybe break my heart, but i'd do it for him.

luna was born yesterday, august 15, 2007 at 7.1 lbs.
luna, little luna..with her murmur in her heart. be strong little one, we're all praying for you.