Haikal is already reaches 10 month old and he has been on breastfeeding until now, Alhamdulillah. It had been a tough journey, but it was great because to breasfeed all my children is my passion. To me, it is one of ibadah and it is like the child’s right to have his/her milk but I don’t want to be prejudice to other moms who are not able to breastfeed their child because every mother has different problems and hindrance. I believe every mother wants to give the best for their child in every different ways.

I started the journey with ‘pasang niat’ as early as I confirmed my pregnancy. I believe it will help with the spirit, motivation and a du’a before we start anything. And I leave it to Allah to ease my pregnancy & breastfeeding journey, plus also my the other half blessing.. 😚

Few months before my delivery due date, I started to get all the aquipment necessary for the journey ie: new breastpump, breastpump bag, nursing attire and accessories. This time around, I choose Cimilre F1 to replace my old BP, mamivac lactive. First because, my old pump is too old already 😂, plus it’s size make it inconvenient for me to carry it around and of course, it is too noisy. I prefer Cimilre F1 because the lightweight & compact size of the pump, very silent and rechargeable battery operated. In term of it’s ability to pump, no issues for me so far.

Haikal was born in KPJ Penang Hospital. I chose KPJ Penang because it is one of baby friendly private hospital, means that they promote breastfeeding. Haikal was given to me immediately after he was born for me to breastfeed him. This process we call it, encouraging skin to skin contact is actually one of the way to stimulate production of prolactin (hormone which plays a big role in milk production). Most of people do not understand the reason behind skin to skin contact. So, now you know why..

The first 3 days, Haikal was fed only with my colustrum and at day 3, I started to produce milk for Haikal, slowly and progressively increased in amount. Alhamdulillah, I still manage to give enough milk for Haikal.

For stock wise, I had been keeping breastmilk stock since 2 weeks postnatal. At that point of time the breastmilk has become so call mature and suitable to be kept in the freezer. I will pump whenever I had the opportunity to pump. Usually I will do EBM after direct feed session with Haikal or, pump simultaneously on the other side while Haikal latched on the other side.. The frequent pumping session will help increased the milk supply. Don’t worry to pump as frequent as you want even though you are with your child. The brain will ask our body to produce more milk when the demand is high! Amazing right!

I will store the milk in a food tray by Sensible Lines. Every tray has 8 spaces to store 1 oz of milk each. Once all the milk become frozen, I will take it out from the tray, and store all the milk sticks in zipper bag or sandwich bag and then labelled the bag according to the dates of the milk produced. Finally I will store it in my deep freezer for later use. Every time I want to thaw the specific amount of milk, I just have to take a few sticks to put in the bottle and warm it to thaw. For example, if Haikal needs 3 oz of milk, I will take only 3 sticks for usage. Simple and save isn’t it? I don’t have to throw away the unnecessary milk if I store all the milk in storage bag (conventional way). Hope you guys can get the idea…

My pumping session during working days.. Most of the time, I will try to stick to my routine that is 3 times a day during working hours. The session will be at 9.30 am, 12 pm and 3.30 pm. Every session will takes about 30 minutes or the least 20 minutes. That is my routine. Routine in pumping mothers is very crucial because it will determine your milk supply will be maintain or drop. So, please stick to your routine ya! Kena rajin gitu.. tak boleh culas dan malas!

Ok, I think enough for this time. I will post about challenges and obstacles in breastfeeding some other time. So much facts and stories to be shared regarding breastfeeding. Idea mencurah-curah dalam kepala tetapi tak tertulis..haha. Hope you guys can get some benefit from what I share here.

Ok, till then, bye bye!