Dulce de leche

I once overheard a wise nursery nurse telling a new mom that, "breast feeding is the best gift you could ever give your child. It beats any Burberry pleated jacket; Bugaboo baby stroller or Tiffany baby rattle !"
A very wise advice indeed.

According to CDC, 80-90% of pregnant women wanted to breastfeed; among infants born in 2007, 75% were ever breastfed; 43.8% were still breastfeeding at 6 month of age; 22.4% were still breastfeeding at 1 year of age.

AAP: "Breastfeeding and human milk are the normative standards for infant feeding and nutrition, given the documented short- and long-term medical and neurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding, infant nutrition should be considered a public health issue and not only a lifestyle choice. The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirms its recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for about 6 months, followed by continued breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced, with continuation of breastfeeding for 1 year or longer as mutually desired by mother and infant."

Being a medical provider who strives to be a good mom, I have long decided that I will breast feed my baby. Armed with all the paper knowledges of breast feeding. I never thought that breast feeding can be so hard. You tend to hear the success stories of breast feeding, most people want to be encouraging. Even if you have heard some horror stories about bleeding nipple or infected painful breast abscess, you will keep telling yourself that it doesn't happen to everyone.

Breast feeding definitely did not come natural for me. I can still remember being poke by thousands sharp needles simultaneously when my firstborn latched on and sucked incorrectly. Each times he sucks, I get this very intense uterine cramp. Bear in mind, all these right after a 26 hours labor ! With all my haywire hormones, lack of sleep, high stress. I broke down, right in front of my families and nurses. At that moment, I just want to be a good mom, want to give the very best for my child. I am not the calm doctor that gives her patients sound advice.

Luckily, all the nurses and lactation consultants have seen it all. I learned that you can prevent cracked nipple by breast feeding your baby 15 mins on each side but more frequently. Apply expressed milk and ice pack to the sore nipples. Ensure a good latch that make the sucking more efficient and less painful. And most of all, be positive and be patience.

Breast feeding is a learning process, both for the mother and baby. It took me 6 weeks to become more comfortable and confident about it. As my piano teacher used to say: practice makes perfect !