Our daughter was born into the Koh family on 13th January 2012. It's all exciting to become a parent all over again after 2 and a half years and everything feel sooo new... we have forgotten most of how we took care of Gerald and thus it really feel like we are starting all over again... but one thing for sure, at least we know how to carry our baby this time round... hahha..
I haven't posted in this blog for quite some time now and sincerely is not expecting anyone to be reading or following it... but I really wanted to blog about something that has been weighing heavily in my mind... breastfeeding...
Everywhere i go... be it in the hospital or reading books etc... it's talking about breastfeeding being good for the baby... Yeap I have no doubts about that.. but I cannot understand why we have to be "forced" to breastfeed... I do believe about giving the best to my baby... but my first attempt to breastfeed Gerald resulted in me falling into post natal depression... I have no support from my family... not from my husband not from my parents in law nor from my parents either... it's me and me alone insisting that i want to breastfeed with the entire world around me going against it... it's tiring enough to be breastfeeding every 2 hours.. it's even more tiring to have people telling you that baby is still hungry.. you should not be tiring yourself out etc...in the end I reluctantly gave up the fight and have Gerald on formula.. but he grew up to be a healthy baby nevertheless...
This time round, I decided I am not going to stress myself out and have myself going into post natal depression and so I have decided to take things easy on myself... nevertheless I do have to go through the whole self - convincing struggle that it's okay not to breastfeed.. look Gerald drank formula and he's healthy and what's most important is that our daughter grew up healthy and safe too!
But seeing articles on breastfeeding and the slogan of breastmilk is good for your baby still bring back the guilty feeling from time to time. In all the articles.. they all talk about having support, that it's tiring but it's what a mum can do best for the baby... it's a great bonding opportunity etc... in the hospital all the nurses kept forcing you to breastfeed the baby... but seriously why non of the articles talk about not adding stress to the mum? All articles talk about getting help if you are having problems breastfeeding but if you are a mum that is suffering from baby blues.. struggling and learning how to take care of your kid... the worst thing is to have to struggle to breastfeed with no support from family members.. how demoralising is that..?
I dunno.. that's just solely my point of view.. i am not trying to find excuses for myself not breastfeeding my baby but i think I do not want to stress myself out and risk myself going into post natal depression once again... This time round I want to fully embrace the experience of having my second kid... and that can be fulfilled even though I am not breastfeeding... hopefully my daughter will grow up as healthy as her brother...
