Confinement

Like I said in my previous post, what was most unbearable for me was my Confinement Month. What is that you say? We Chinese actually have this custom where you stay indoor the whole month to recuperate after giving birth. You are not to be exposed to wind. (But I still on aircon. Come on la, it was May. In forever summer Malaysia its like one of the summerest months of the year). Its even "better" if you don't bath at all. And you are advised not to wash your hair for the whole month. Yup. ONE whole month. 30 days. And you are fed with special confinement food that has either alcohol/ ginger/ pepper/ sesame oil/ or ALL mentioned.

Anyway. I am sure you can google/ read up what's chinese confinement is, elsewhere. Today I want to talk about my very own experience. This year being a dragon year, there's a lot of dragon BBs. Good confinement lady is hard to book. Our 1st choice was actually not available, she was exported to Taipei to do confinement in May. See how laku it is?So was our 2nd, 3rd, 4th....sighhh..Anway, ended up we still manage to book one, recommened by Oink's friend's cousin..'x'

1st day - Was tired cos didn't get much sleep the previous night.  Remembered mom came over to see me and bb but was too tired to get up. Ate "ang zhao" chicken for dinner. But didn't eat much, cos still not much appetite. And heard from Oink that the CL tidy up and organized stuff in our kitchen.

3rd day- I requested for bath. Instead of a bath, I just wipe my body with my bath mix.

4th day - I took a bath with the special bath mix. Covered myself up for my follow up visit to the gynae. After the visit. I felt cold and something is not right. Ended up having fever 'x'.

1st week - Not much breast milk. Pump to stimulate my milk production whenever I can  and feeling better.Pumped whole hour only can get a few drops. SIGH. And even more discouraging is what CL keep saying. #1 I don't think you will have much milk. #2 Direct latch better! Sit up straight while latching, else how the milk will flow?? ( how to sit up wei when your ahem is in PAIN? And later I found out online that I can actually breastfeed while lying down. SIT UP straight my FOOT). Found out she didn't use the Anakku bottle cleanser I bought to clean the bottles after each feeding. Didn't even use the brushes I bought! She just rinse with water. And didn't even bother to sterilise my bottles. What the! Didn't dare to post on all these on FB cos found out some of my either mine/ oink's friend is also friends with her daughter. Kuching is so damn small. All these stuff make me damn stressed. She even refused to use lampin although we keep asking her. She said difficult to wash. Got washing machine ler. Every night she brought bb downstairs to watch TV. By the end of the week, I think I can pump out about an oz?

2nd week - Still struggling to make more milk. Not giving up. Tried nursing more frequently to increase production. Ended up with a grumpy newborn. HAHAHA. But what to do? I pump when she is in another room with the CL. I think got increase to 1.5 oz? Can't remember. I let her drink my bm first then topup with formula milk. This is the most depressing week for me. I was practically wilting. How much longer do I need to endure my oily hair?AHAHA. I terribly miss McD then. Finally got the CL to use Lampin, use my bottle cleanser to wash my bottles and sterilise my bottles and pump everyday.

3rd week - Can pump more. And the session between each time shorten too. CL was amazed. I think I need to thank her. I was somewhat provoked by her to produce more milk. LOL. Don't want to get looked down at by her.

Last week - Oink let me use his laptop every night. I think he pities me.'x' . I was counting down to the day I can wash my hair!

After confinement, I think I am still pretty weak. I get tired from carrying Bb for too long and my milk still consist more of foremilk than hindmilk. But by 1 week after confinement, I am quite pro at breastfeeding while lying down. I secretly scolded myself for not trying that earlier. Its so easy. BB can continue sleep after she is full and I can continue sleep/ rest.

And today, for 6 days straight, I manage to fully breastfeed my baby (I use my pump to express the milk nowadays, since I started working after 2 mths ML). And before that, she only gets max 2 FM each day. The rest are all my BM. :) But I suspect that once she gets another growth spurt, my milk might not be enough again. So I have to continue to work hard. Hehe. But trust me, BF is worth it. There's a sense of achievement after each time your BB drinks your milk eagerly and finishes it.