Kite’s Breastfeeding Story
August 2, 2011 § 2 Comments
Let me share with you my story on breastfeeding Kite.
Abet & I just got married when we had Kite, being so young and ideal, we wanted the purest and the best. We started by taking the Birthing Class from Chiqui Brosas-Hahn, there we also learned about breastfeeding.
When Kite arrived we breastfed, when she feed in one breast the other would leak so I was told that means I have lots of milk. And I believed. But when Kite was 10 days old she developed fever for a few hours, my sister told me to have her checked since fever is not normal for newborn. We went to her pedia the next day, she was surprised to see Kite lost weight. She was scared Kite might have sepsis and is poor in sucking that is why she isn’t able to take enough milk. She made us go home and asked us to monitor Kite’s intake and output; and to also make her consume at least 20-24 oz of milk in 24 hours, if she cant then we need to confine her, also to get urine sample for testing and culture. She peed so little and trying to catch them in a container was so hard, it was midnight when we were finally able to get some sample. The next day we brought her to the doctor and we were still told we need to confine her as she barely drank the day before and her pee is not enough. We stayed in a hospital room but her temperature kept dropping she was at 25 or 26 degrees already, the room was already warm still she was cold.
wrapped but temp isstill low
The next day we decided to let her stay in the NICU where nurses can watch her round the clock and she can be in an incubator where temperature is controlled, our pedia also told us that she wants Kite seen by a neo-natalogist (a specialist on newborn babies). Oh I can still remember the fear inside us as doctors can’t pinpoint what was wrong with her, all test are negative but her behaviors showed sepsis. She was given antibiotics but it wasn’t working. They got urine to test, to culture, her blood too for test and they even performed a spinal tap on her to test and culture. I clearly remember asking the neonatalogist if there is a chance we wont be able to bring our baby home alive. (Months before the son of our good friend passed away, it started with a simple fever caused by a heart problem and in a matter of weeks their baby was gone.) We can just watching her behind a glass window not allowed to be inside the room where her incubator/insolite was. We got to touch her only when she started improving and was just allowed to touch her inside the incubator, cant hug nor kiss her 😦 Oh this is such horrible time for us, and add to that our savings were depleting! The day she was brought to the doctor was the day I stopped breastfeeding. My doctor actually said we can breastfeed even when she is in NICU we just stay at the corridor and the nurses will call us when she is hungry, but I didnt want to anymore. Breastfeeding drained me so much when we were still at home. She was always crying at night and I would jump off the bed to go to her which caused the first layer of my stitches to tear. (My OB ordered me to bathe already and she cant allow me to continue geh lai custom of not taking a bath para di pasukin ng lamig). I was mostly on auto pilot due to lack of sleep and add the anxiety over a sick baby, it was so taxing. So asking me to continue breastfeeding and staying in the corridor hospital was not an option for me. Oh! Kite started improving after the 5th or 6th day (it was a rollercoaster 6 days) and we were able to bring her home after 10 days I think. Diagnosis was clinical sepsis, all test were negative but symptoms were all there so clinical sepsis lang siya di siya sepsis. We spent as much on this hospitalization as on my birthing. She was hospitalized from August 17-29,1999.
Now did I regret not pursuing breastfeeding when she was back from the hospital? No because I felt so free na. (But if this happened now with me having access to so much support I would pursue relactating. Or most likely I would be pumping while she was in the hospital anyway.) Had there been enough support group then I would have made it I think.
Also breastfeeding Kite was an added reason why I never went back to smoking. I smoke before getting pregnant and stopped during pregnancy, though I wasn’t itching to smoke after giving birth still it dawned on me while breastfeeding that I can’t smoke even if I wanted to when childcare was becoming stressful.
Do I think mas stronger ang bond namin ni Kite if I breastfed? I dont know but we are quite very very well bonded so no regret too. Do I feel she’d be healthier? That I cannot answer.
Did I breastfeed my next child? Hell Yes! 16 months and counting…
MimmaBenz.com 
not married. don’t even have a boyfriend. but will definitely want to breastfeed!
i will be your breastfeeding buddy! sana relevant pa ako by that time.