My Breastfeeding Diary: 3 Months

After taking 9 weeks of maternity leave, I have returned back to work for 3 days a week.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my colleagues really got me the bar fridge (for storing expressed breast milk as the one in our branch is old and dirty) that I requested for before I went on leave! Apparently a few of them had to lug it back after buying it! Thanks loads! :)

My bar fridge fit nicely in my cubicle :)

Going back to work wasn't as bad as I had expected. I was busy the whole day, slowing my pace only to pump under a nursing cover at my cubicle (while reading my emails). Thank God for kind and understanding colleagues, especially those who sit around my table, who had to endure the thumping noise of my breast pump. Wish I have a vacuum bag to put the pump in so that it will be less noisy..
(-_-")

Thankful for all the support of my colleagues, which has really helped me to continue expressing at work.

On my first day at work, I got a call from the Mum-in-law that my boy refused to drink the thawed breast milk from the bottle. He drank only 40ml and refused to drink any more. She tried feeding with the spoon and he still refused.

Showing the amount of milk left

She had to throw whatever he couldn't finish away (can you feel my heart pain?). Thank God for a patient and persistent Mum-in-law who continued to try until my boy finally gave in towards the late afternoon and drank 100ml at one go. He continued drinking 100ml every 2 hours till it was time for me to go home.

I transported my expressed milk back home with Pigeon's "Fridge-to-go" carrier bag.

Pigeon Breast Milk Carrier Bag

Wall of ice on both sides of the bag to keep its contents cold for 6 hours

Milk packets & containers fit nicely inside

My boy was visibly very happy to see me when I arrived home! Almost immediately he cried for my milk. He sucked and sucked till he drank too much and vomitted quite a bit of milk after that.. (-_-")

He must have really missed me :)

After a few trial and errors at home, Mum-in-law observed that it was not the bottle that Baby Boy was rejecting; it was the milk! More specifically, milk that was frozen in January, more than 2 months ago (he's ok with milk frozen 2 weeks prior so the problem was not that the milk was frozen).

That meant that we might need to discard at least half of my stored milk! And boy, do I have a lot (can you hear my heart breaking? *sob*).

My packets of breast milk is taking over the freezer!

Amount of stored breast milk at the end of 3 months

Mum-in-law knew how important each drop of milk was to me and how the first 6 weeks of milk was the most nutritious, so she reassured me that she will try to force coax him to drink as much as possible so that we don't have to throw so much away. Some is better than nothing, we reasoned.

So far it has been working, though about half of my thawed milk is still discarded (*sigh*). Mum-in-law has been mixing up old and fresh breast milk so that Baby Boy would not "starve".

These circumstances actually make me feel better about the 100ml of my expressed milk that I accidentally spilled at work (most likely due to tiredness from lack of sleep). "If I didn't spill it, it might get thrown anyway.." I consoled myself.

My boy's preference for fresher milk meant that I cannot store up for overseas trips too early in advance as I had done with my girl. I need to have a new plan of action for my Sydney trip in May. Let's see if I'm successful..

In any case, I'm beyond thankful that he is at least able to drink frozen milk from a bottle. I just have to track that the milk has not been stored for more than a month.

Other than that, Baby Boy is currently drinking about 100-180ml every 3-4 hours in general. There are nights when he only woke for one feed, giving me at least 5 hours of non-disturbed sleep that I really needed. Of course there are days (and nights) where he's a terror but so far it has been manageable. I really cannot ask God for a better little baby :)


Continue to >> My Breastfeeding Diary: 4 Months
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This post is part of my series on My Breastfeeding Journey.
Follow me as I battle the perils of milk production and boob-related pain all over again.