Rhacielle Cristina Magno-Cruz
Obstetrician and Gynecologist
When I had my first baby in 2020, I had little milk supply. The stress brought about by the pandemic further decreased my already little milk. It was so frustrating for me.
So when I delivered again this 2022, I was determined to exclusively breastfeed my second baby. Unfortunately, he was admitted to the NICU immediately after delivery and was not allowed to latch. I was afraid that for the second time, I might not be able to breastfeed effectively again.
When the lactation nurse came to me, I did not have milk yet. I performed lactation massage in the room in between my visits to my baby. And as soon as he was allowed to latch, I would visit the NICU every 3 hours to latch to stimulate milk production. My husband would accompany me all the time and help me latch and position.
And by day 3, I already have milk. But the milk wasn’t enough yet. Baby Pio was still at the NICU that time. He relied on the milk from the Human Milk Bank while I was still building my milk supply. I religiously went to the NICU on schedule to latch, manually expressed milk in between and it worked for us.
By day 4, my milk supply was already enough. Pio was also roomed in that day. Transitioning from cup feeding to purely latching came natural to us because of our many latching sessions in the NICU. By day 5-6, my milk supply was more than enough.
More than the milk supply, I believe that successful breastfeeding relies more on strong determination.
I am very grateful for all the support and assistance that my husband gave me in this breastfeeding journey.
He knew how much I wanted to breastfeed. The lactation nurse and all the hospital staff were all very encouraging and their positive affirmations helped me gain confidence.
My parents would also cook malunggay soup for me during my early postpartum days.
All of them have contributed a great deal to the success of my breastfeeding experience. I could not have done it without their help.
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