“di mana dia,
anak kambing saya?
anak kambing saya,
yang namanya aniq!”

… everybody now!

i started the ‘kid’ (ha ha) on goat’s milk after some researching (and soul-searching), and whaddaya know – he likey!

so much so that the two litres of hay’s goat’s milk delivered at the doorstep on the dawn of thursday morning was all gone in 60 seconds. ok lah, ‘kid’ding (ha ha), by saturday morning, actually.

since that went down well (literally), we scouted around mustafa centre for a powdered version. according to my colleague and fellow avid b/feeding mum who weaned off both her healthy kids on goat’s milk, you can get it for two dollars cheaper there than at ntuc.

and whaddaya know – he likes it very muchly too!

so the conclusion is: my anak kambing is a greedy little goat who will wallop anything that’s given to him.

or, it actually tastes good, contrary to popular belief.

i tried taking a whiff of the goat’s milk, and it was surprisingly quite… pleasant. no, err, goaty smell (not that i know what goats smell like, but i’m assuming it’s akin to someone who hadn’t bathed in a month), just a normal fresh-milk smell.

and for the powdered version, no goaty smell there either; it’s pretty well-masked by a nice vanilla smell.

after five months of plying cow’s formula on the little one, i can’t help but find the smell and taste rather… metallic, and unpleasant. my sensitive nose is quite turned off by it, especially when discarding unconsumed milk from the bottle. it smells… pukey. maybe it’s just me, but i simply don’t like the smell of formula. (yes, i’ve tried a couple of them). :S

i really can’t be too sure of the long-term benefits of goat’s milk, and i’m certainly not gonna declare that it’s better than cow’s milk (like i did, and always will, with b/milk) – i is no scientist after all. just a (cerewet) mom going with her gut feel.

well, a little googling helped too…

- goat milk is a far better emulsion than cow’s milk;
- the oil globules of goat milk are one-fifth the size of cow’s milk;
- the reaction of goat milk is alkaline (the same as mother’s milk), whereas cow milk gives an acid reaction;
- the curd in goat milk is small and flocculent, hence easily digested and assimilated, while cow milk has large dense curd that is largely indigestible and causes an excess of catarrh and constipation;
- the goat is a browser fond of herbs and barks (as opposed to a cow, which is a grazer), and thus its milk is high in silicon—silicon is the enemy of tuberculosis, which is never found among goats or goat milk but flourishes among cows;
- goat milk is naturally homogenized, but in our attempt to duplicate this process in cow milk something went wrong;
- and, finally, The Journal of the American Medical Association, the official organization of 100,000 physicians in the U.S., under the heading “Dietetics and Hygiene??? says: “The goat is the healthiest domestic animal known. Goat milk is superior in every way to cow’s milk. Goat milk is the ideal food for babies, convalescents and invalids, especially those with weakened digestive powers. Goat milk is the most healthful and complete food known.”
- from ‘the national association for child development’

there seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding cows versus goats, and it probably has little bearing to many mothers who are perfectly comfortable with their current choice of formula (if they are no longer b/feeding).

maybe i subconsciously resent the formula companies for marketing their products so effectively and successfully, and for taking over my milk-producing duty, that i kinda wanna rebel against them. macam personal vendetta liddat. and since the goat is the underdog (like b/feeding seems to be, sigh), i’m inclined to give them the support. (great, it’s not enough that human’s milk has been politicised, even the different animals’ milk has joined the fray!)

The nutritional value of goat milk has been acknowledged by many cultures for centuries. However, the cow milk industry around the world has developed in a more sophisticated manner in terms of production, marketing and research compared with the goat milk industry. The key benefit which the cow milk industry enjoys is that cow milk can be produced more economically than goat milk, largely due to the greater productivity of the cow. However, the economic advantages do not necessarily mean that cow milk is more suitable for human consumption. In fact, many consider that goat milk is closer to human milk.
- from Dairy Goat Co-op (NZ)

anyway, it’s a parental right for a first-time mum to experiment on her first child, isn’t it? hee. i’ll keep him on this for a while, and see if his very mild eczema (itchy and scratchy joints) and phlegm will go away for good. so far, the runny nose has stopped. then again, could be the antibiotics and snuffle babe vapour rub i’ve been slathering on his feet at night doing their tricks.

now, if only they sold human b/milk in the market…

(THEN i’d happily quit my job and ‘milk’ myself full-time – for $$$, yeay!)

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mum told me how the boy was watching hi-5 the other day and suddenly went up to the tv screen and pointed at one of the girls wearing a low spaghetti strap with, i suppose, a fair amount of cleavage revealed. and he went “tehteh”… which cracked mum up.

and we were sitting around that evening reading magazines and newspapers when something caught his eyes.

he stared intently at umie aida’s ample, in-yer-face erm, assets which were prominently featured on the cover of manja (i don’t wonder if the readership of pakciks increased twofold with this issue)… and mum asked, “tengok tetek? mana tetek?” to which, my TekBoy promptly pointed at the said erm, assets.

right on da money, baybeh. (TAPI, mak harap kau dah besar JANGAN ogle macam gitu sudah eh! HEP!)

after a while, he kinda lunged at me with a short whine, and i so skillfully deflected his attention towards another magazine with no offensive mammaries on the front page.

sometimes my mum still goes “kasi lah dia tetek, dia nak ngempeng aje, kesian…” and i’d grit my teeth and tell her, well duh, don’t keep going on reminding him then. coz he does understand what we’re talking about, that boy.

and you know, she sounds EXACTLY like her own mother, believe it or not, and i don’t think she’s even aware of it. see, my lovable but forgetful grandma, she’d always go “kesian, dia nak tetek, kasi lah dia…” EVERY SINGLE TIME the little one lets out a mere squeak when he was a baby. and i’d have to tell her, “dahhh nek, BARUUUU kasi tadi”. and she’d repeat this line again and again throughout our stay, hehehhee. it’s quite funny and i didn’t mind her, coz she does that anyway, repeats the same questions and remarks to everyone, due to her short-term memory.

so anyway, i kinda miss it now, like i guess he does occassionally… but you gotta stick to your decisions and move on.

and that’s that.

ps: don’t worry, we also make sure he knows other more proper body parts, eg. nose, ears, toes, belly button, etc… hehe.

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i wanted to ‘password-ize’ this entry coz of the erm, what some may feel is the rather ‘unsavoury’ business of boobs. (i can picture the guys’ eyes turn round as saucers, but don’t worry, they will be duly disappointed if they read on.)

but it’s pretty groundbreaking news.

what i want to talk about is something close to my heart (literally)… yes, you know where i’m getting at – tekmilk and aniq’s tek-pendency.

and what i want to announce is:

we have officially, successfully, and surprisingly, painlessly, weaned off each other, tek-wise.

!!

let me recap my journey of tek-hood.

the lil fella gulped down one full year of BM aka tekmilk (of which he’d staged a strike against the bottle for a few weeks in his fourth month before begrudgingly succumbing to the inevitable silicone teat and sterile bottle when i went back to work in the fifth month).

one full year of lugging around my borrowed pumps (and a perpetual love-hate relationship with them).

one full year of nursing bras (and sweaty breastpads, till i stopped buying them and ended up with the occassional wet tshirt – no, no, it’s definitely not the stuff of fantasies, boys, it’s very – i repeat – VERY unglamourous and tak stim langsung).

one full year of revolving my life around his feeds (and not leaving him behind on dates and outings for more than half a day if i can help it).

as soon as we reached that first-year mark, i knew it was time to let go. so the day after he turned one, i’d begun him on his FM journey, the last he’d tasted it being at the hospital when he was born.

then the thirteenth month came along, and again, he staged a similar coup – refusing the bottle with the ‘offending’ FM. (dah satu bulan minum baru tau lain ke? haha!) it’d gone along fine at first. i’d cut down my pumping sessions, so that he still had half BM and half FM per day, and direct feeds in the mornings and evenings when i was around. it’d also become a force of habit for him to automatically turn to the teks as soon as we stepped into the coltmobil aka BFmachine. ho ho! a sticky situation we have here, i thought…

then a friend advised me to mix the BM with FM, gradually lowering the amount of BM and increasing the FM till he gets used to it again, and that actually worked when i was not home. on weekends, i began bringing him out with a bottle of FM and a steely resolution, as well as a bag of distraction tactics, eg. gave him biscuits to make him thirsty, showed him the scenery, whatever it took to make him forget.

my mum and i reckon that this happened to be the period that he fell ill (fever/cough/runny nose) and his body was probably instructing him to get more tekmilk to boost his immune system. well, that’s what we THINK anyway. plus, his gums were swollen at the time, and his appetite to eat had gone down too.

but he got better, and every weekend thereafter, i increased the FM, and limited direct feeds to morning and evening. i stopped pumping altogether early this month, as i slowly let my supply dwindle, from 200ml… till the last i pumped, a mere 80ml.

i have to say that my body did take some time to adjust. there’s a case of what O told me was the ‘blip’ (no, i’m not censoring anything, that’s what it’s called, apparently, but i can’t seem to google anything on it). it caused lumpy blocked ducts and i had no choice but to make him (and by him, i mean aniq) solve the problem for me.

you always hear that bedtime feeds are the hardest to drop, and i really thought so too. but he continued to surprise me by accepting a bottle of FM before bed (distraction tactic: tv!), and proceeded to do his other nightly routines of reading some books and rolling around in his cot till he falls asleep by himself. i always thought he couldn’t sleep without the teks, but i was wrong! just like the time i was proven wrong when he slept through the night all by himself in his own room at 8 weeks.

i think, perhaps, he has this… intrinsic independent streak that has made him a relatively ‘easy’ baby, in a sense. we’re blessed, i’ve no doubt about it. of course, with his strong desire to be independent, comes other not-so-easy problems! like… immediately running off the OPPOSITE direction whenever we put him down (and not even looking back to find us). wanting to do things by himself although he’s not physically capable of doing them yet (think sofa stunts and messy meals). and you know, with a gungho little person like this, the possibility of him getting into all kinds of trouble and accidents is MASSIVE. :S

anyway, i never really set myself a target as to when to wean him off totally, and if i felt that he really needed comforting, he’ll still get them. coz that’s what they’re only good for now, comfort. (that refrain, “everybody need a bosom for a pillow”, suddenly comes to mind, heh.)

so, that day we went to the parade, was also the first time he went without the teks throughout the day. he didn’t ask, i didn’t offer. and for those of you who know us well, would know that this is big news coming from the TekBoy himself!

and the coltmobile is now a safer place because he’s stopped clambering out of his carseat to get to my boobs. of course, distraction tactics are still at play – a small box of cornflakes at his side to munch on, a frisbee to bang on, a straw to chew on, a mini magna doodle to, err, doodle on, a ball to throw around. however, mum was clearly disgusted by the state of the backseat of coltmobile when she rode on it yesterday, and promptly nagged and picked up stray cornflakes crumbs and other tiny swallowable objects i’d dropped while wrestling the lil fella. (mothers! we can never do anything to please them, can we?)

he now drinks up his FM with relish and anything goes. gain IQ, dugro, enfagrow… bedal ajer lah!

so there. my glorious BF days are, hmm, i guess… over.

i don’t feel hungry anymore.

disgusting tummy flabs have made threatening comebacks.

my boobs have shrunk back to it’s dismal borderline B. (Boohoo!)

but thank you. you’ve been of good service for almost 15 months. i’ll miss the times we had.

till the next round….

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he was uncharacteristically subdued and whiny the whole day on saturday, and when his cheeks flushed red, we took a nice drive out to the docs that evening.

he was weighed in – finally passed the 10kg mark! – and his temperature checked – close to 40 degrees. the nurse gave him a dose of paracetamol and something to sponge him with.

then we waited for his temperature to drop. his eyes glazed and did i mention he was UNUSUALLY subdued?

bagos jugak sakit tau, duduk diam sikit. hehee.

about half an hour later, his temperature went down one degree… and OFF HE WENT! running around the entire floor, climbing on the weighing machine, making passes at a little toddler girl (complete with flying kisses), being cheeky with the nurses, and… generally being back to his normal ol’ self.

oh well.

(urm, wreaking havoc at an undisclosed shopping centre later that night. parents took the opportunity since they were already out to stock up on depleted diapers.)

it was a viral infection, most likely caused by his one and only cousin dadam, who has been having a runny nose for the longest time yet INSISTS on kissing the little bub “satu kali ajerr”. banyak punya satu kali eh.

that night, we laid out the mattress in the hall, put him in the skimpiest outfit of singlet and shorts, sponged (or rather, towelled) him some more, and the three of us rolled around and had a lil camp-in, in front of the teevee.

i love that we have this whole space to ourselves, our own X square meter of floor area that we call home. i remember when i was young, i wished i could just move out and live in my own house so that i could do ANYTHING i wanted in it… like, eat ice-cream and chips any time of the day, or leave the bed messy without anyone nagging at me, or have a slumber party with a few hot hunks.

well, whaddaya know. this hunk, literally hot. ;p

(tearing his hair out with all my fussing. hee. i’m sure he’ll wish to move out and live in his own house sans his parents too some day…)

(… as soon as he gets over his Tek-dependence.)

so anyway, yeah, the whole weekend crept by uneventfully, POOF! just like that, not doing anything except stay within the confines of our X square meter of floor area. which is, hmm, quite a rare thing, actually. and ironic, since we used to believe that we’d stay home more than go out once we had our own place. hah, right.

(BUT heyy, according to dr j/a/z/l/a/n in last week’s berita minggu, i didn’t slack at all and did a TOTAL of four hours of aerobics and burnt 1200 calories over the weekend! woohoo! [ok, you actually have to hunt for a copy of BM to get what i mean.])

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the Zombie Mummy is now back to Human mode after three excruciating days of work at the Zombie Office. she’s still recovering from the shock of having to go back to work after that nice long holiday.

the night before she transformed into the Zombie, though, she did manage to have a bit of a last hurrah thing with some friends who were also to turn into Zombies the next morning.

the boys too had a last late night out to mark the end of the holidays. sigh. so clueless they are.

did i tell you he didn’t want anything to do with the milk bottle for the five straight days he was home with me over the hols? wuaahuahaa. manja eh kau. see your brudder rayhan, so nice and chubby. next to him, your biceps also fail lah bo-boy.

but when i’m back at work and the old routine of staying at his oma’s in the day resumed, he finished up all his milk, in the bottle no less.

hmph. (another reason why i shouldn’t be a sahm – my boobs will sag like a nenek with ten children in no time.)

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so yeah, we DID crack open the tin of wholesome moo-ness the day after One. (and you thought i’d chicken out eh, anne? heh.)

twas… thick. and bubbly.

i made sure he was really thirsty by then, so he gulped the whole thing down in a jiffy.

doo-dee-dooo…

you’ve been punk’d, hunny! HAHA!

erm, that tasted… funny. *burp*

so there. not such a big deal after all, huh? :p

i’m still expressing, though not as much, so he’ll still have his daily fixture of TekMilk for that boost of antibodies. also, i intend to keep the factory working for a bit longer, especially for weekends coz, erm, i’m still not too keen on being a ‘milk bartender’ when we go out. (bad, lazy mum.)

and besides… $24 PER TIN, NO JOKE SIA!

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on another note, they say we melayus are NOT making enough babies this year.

HUH? YOU SURE OR NOT??

TODAY reported that for the first time, Malays gave birth to fewer babies than were needed to replace their population last year. The replacement rate has been pegged at 2.1 and according to figures released yesterday, the fertility rate of Malays fell to 2.07… There were 37,500 births which is an increase of 0.9 per cent compared to 2004 but well below the 60,000 or so babies needed to replace the population.

so we need 60,000 or so babies, huh? hmm *whips out abacus*… that would take 60,000 wombs and eggs, or less if you factor in twins/triplets/sextuplets. oh, and a WHOLE LOTTA sperm. (but please eh, si dektu yang terperuk dalam jail, we don’t need anymore of yours, ok. sor-ry.)

and i thought we’re doing quite well, from the record number of babies i’ve visited and pregnancies (and re-pregnancies, if there’s such a word, heh) galore i’ve heard about this year alone.

after a whole year of repeatedly being asked when my next one will be, i may actually be running out of time and excuses.

speaking of which, my body has also sent me a “signal”. last friday, actually. the Full Moon FINALLY arrived, after a long period of absence. (or rather, a long absence of period, har har.)

it’s almost as if there’s an egg-timer (pun intended) in there or something. the timing really couldn’t be better, because we’d made a decision to start The Weaning Process right after his first birthday. periods, for the uninitiated, cause dips in milk supply, something i hadn’t gone through, thanks to the monthly no-shows this whole year.

so yeah, we’ll finally crack open our first tin of formula come monday (i think).

hmm, does it call for a celebration and fanfare, you think? ;p

i’m not sure how we’ll take to it, and which of us will have withdrawal symptoms. sometimes, it’s as if the boobies are his drugs. “macam ketagih,” says mum, chuckling as he buries his face on my chest after a day at work away from him, not about to be swayed by anyone else who tries to lure him off my lap.

who the “ketagih” one is, is your guess.

i remember writing that i wish for the day he’d run up to me when i come home from work and bulldoze me to the ground with a loud “MUMMY!”

i guess i got my wish after all. come 7pm, his oma would say out loud “mummy balik! mummy balik!”, he’d turn his head towards the door where i’ll be standing, and he’d scrunch up his face and grin before trotting over with a “mmMA!” and throw his arms around my legs.

the feeling is – FWAH.

so yeah, my one year of TBF – no regrets. at all.

sometimes i wonder, will i be able to do this all over again when the second (or third??) comes along? will i have the same energy and drive?

i have friends (and an aunt) who feel they’ve ’shortchanged’ their subsequent children with a “penat lah, tak kuasa” stance, after they’ve been all gungho with TBF the first time round.

but, i guess i’ll only know when i cross the bridge.

meanwhile, honey… bottoms up!

and here’s to MORE melayu babies to come… watch out, chingjiapore! (which was really the original topic of this entry, wasn’t it?)

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we’ve been ever so reliant on our, as Red puts it, “breastfeeding station on wheels” aka the coltmobil, that lugging the little one on public transport is something of a novelty for him.

i think the last i took the bus or train with him alone was during my much-missed maternity leave. it was easy then coz he didn’t weigh as much (or wriggle as much) as he does now, and all i had to do was feed him well before the trip and he wouldn’t so much as squeak all throughout. (remember, esah, our orchard trip? hee.) with SO MUCH to see and hear, all that hustle and bustle of the crowds and vehicles, he won’t even remember if he’s hungry or sleepy.

now that he’s too heavy and wriggly for me, i’d rather stick to my coltmobil, thankyewberymuch.

which leaves the Daddy to take him on them buses and trains to, erm, expose him to the true-blue heartlander singaporean experience of riding on public transport.

to date, his record holds from tampines to novena, and tampines to toa payoh, both times to meet me after work, with nary a glitch.

the daddy reported that the little one enjoyed himself very muchly, even so far as to terrorise other passengers in the train by calling out to them, swiping at their newspapers, and flirting with the ladies. (at least i THINK it’s the little one and not the Daddy, ha ha.)

but i guess buses and trains aren’t as exciting to him as cars. mention the word “car” and you’ll instantly hear a deep growl revving out of him.

somewhere in toa payoh…

“where is my P plate?”

“that a way, please!”

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you know what? i think i’ve visited more babies in this year alone than in my entire lifetime.

baby danial!

mister gahmen, please note that we ARE procreating okay.

maybe we should withhold the procreation thing for a bit after this and hold them wombs for ransom so mister gahmen won’t increase the gst next year. what say you?

no? still want ‘em cute babies?

ok lah. go ahead.

just don’t eat them up when the going gets tough…

beware the baby-eating monster!

trivia:

“A newborn has a developed sense of smell at birth, and within the first week of life can already distinguish the differences between the mother’s own breast milk and the breast milk of another female.”

so clever!

either that, or the other female smells REALLY bad after a day at work. :p

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we’re rehabilitating him to be kind to animals AND babies, see.

“sayang… sayang…”

let me tell you the name of this baby.

ready?

it’s A…neeqa! HAHA!

and ouhhhh, what a beauty lil aneeqa is. whee, another potential menantu for me!

i almost squeezed her like an orange pulp when her mummy didn’t see. i think i’m the one who needs rehabilitation.

aniq, atikah, aneeqa.

*****

i miss the time when he was all thunder thighs and chubby cheeks. now that he’s much, much more mobile and doing major workouts during his every waking minute, he’s shed even more of those baby fats we all love and cherish.

his food intake is good, or at least, he finishes up whatever’s in his bowl. he’s still on BM, though i believe, not as much as his peers who’s downing what, 200+ml by now? he only has patience for 160ml (in the bottle – probably less from direct source!) at most per feed, before he’s distracted by something or someone, and wriggles himself free from the boring work of drinking milk.

oh.. and some of you will be glad to know that we finally bought our first tin of FM the other day. a small tin of similac follow-on. which is now sitting prettily unopened, next to that big fat of also unopened tin of nan for below 6mths. (btw, anyone wants to buy this off us? give you discount!)

we’re not sure why we’re heading towards, as some would say (in jest) – “the dark side”.

he’s less than a month away from a year old, which means, i’ve almost miraculously reached my 1-year TBF target. :O

i’m almost ready to hang up those pumps, but not quite. daytime feedings should be easy to wean off coz he’s used to the bottle when i’m at work. and judging from the way he laps up EVERYTHING we give him, he probably won’t mind the taste either.

the night-time before-bed comfort suckling i don’t mind too much. it’s been easier lately since he’s learnt to unlatch and roll around the cot by himself to sleep.

you know, i think he’s become more independent, not just physically, but also emotionally since he started walking. he insists on being let down to walk instead of being carried. he even insists on letting go of our hands when we try to hold it.

and i suppose, this BF weaning process is also a kind of independence, on both his and my part.

so… when will the grand official opening of tin similac be?

*bites nails*

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occasionally i plod through ST for a change, when i’ve had enough of BH’s splash of gory pictures of people with scary diseases and deformities (usually in some remote village in malaysia) or even more gory stories of rape and incest (also usually in some remote village in malaysia). :O

[btw, what's with the Suria Raya Live-bashing lately in BH's forum pages ah? aiyah, raya over liao, maafkan saja lah! next year tak buat lagi, ok? but remember eh, cannot anyhow put happy, pretty people to prance around on stage in glittery costumes before raya, very tak ramadhan rocks.]

anyway, where was i?

oh yes, ST.

last week, someone wrote in a forum letter on the lack of nursing facilities in the workplace for new mothers.

Nov 2, 2006
Why no room to pump milk for new mothers?

I SPOKE to two women recently. One is a new mother back at work from maternity leave. The other is pregnant and her baby is due next month.

They don’t know each other but face the same problem: No private room in the workplace to pump breast milk for their babies.

Obviously they need privacy to do this, a mother’s duty. One of the women has supportive colleagues who let her use their office to pump her milk.

The mother-to-be said her office colleagues had repeatedly requested through the staff suggestion scheme for a room for breast-feeding mothers to pump milk.

But the higher management lacked either the resources or the initiative to deal with the matter, as nothing had been done yet on the suggestion.

The management said it was still looking into it.

This situation is common in many workplaces. One of the women works in a statutory board while the other works in a government ministry. This is what motivates me to write this letter.

The Singapore Government has in the recent years been working very hard to encourage a higher birth rate through the implementation of various policies. It wants married couples to produce more babies to augment an ageing population.

While the five-day work week for civil servants and statutory board employees was a great example of the Government ‘walking the talk’, it should also lead by example to provide facilities such as private rooms for mothers to pump their milk.

While it is good to see policies being implemented to make Singapore a more conducive place for couples to start a family, it is also important to ensure that the official message on the joys of parenthood is consistent with the government’s actions.

This means that those who take up parenthood should have adequate support from the Government.

To this end, it may now be necessary for the Government to take the lead in ensuring that the higher management in the Civil Service and statutory boards find creative ways to support new mothers in their new responsibilities, in order to encourage private employers to follow suit.

Ngiam Hui-Shin (Ms)

ahh! a topic close to my heart (literally – *feels boobs*). not that i have a problem myself, being employed in a, ahem, family-friendly organisation and fairly supported by colleagues who are all aware of my ‘extra-curricular activity’. they all go “eh, you got go *makes squeezing gestures* already?”. and it’s not just the girls, but the guys too, lol! even my very male boss enquires about my progress occasionally and gives words of encouragement. it’s quite… surreal, to say the least.

and then today, more BF militants have joined in the call.

Nov 7, 2006
Female employees should have a right to nurse their baby

I APPLAUD Ms Ngiam Hui Shin’s suggestion that management of public and private organisations reserve designated rooms for nursing mothers among their employees to pump milk for their babies (‘Why no room for new mothers to pump milk?’; ST, Nov 2).

This straightforward arrangement – a clean, dry, private room with a lockable door, table, chair and power socket – follows logically from the Government’s pro-family stance, and the slew of policies and schemes for working parents.

I appreciate the plight of the two mothers Ms Ngiam highlighted in her letter. I am a nursing mother myself. I have been expressing milk for my baby for the past five months since I returned to work from maternity leave.

I work in the business school of a local university and am blessed with bosses and colleagues who are supportive of my needs. I am fortunate to have a room of my own at work, and with that, the liberty to express milk for my baby three times a day in this room while checking e-mail and making business phone calls.

Yet, because this is not an official arrangement, it does not assuage my constant anxiety that this privilege can be rescinded at any time.

I appeal for this privilege to be made a right for nursing female employees, because a nursing employee is usually a happy employee, confident of the physical and emotional well-being of her child. Knowing she is assured of a lactation facility when she needs it gives her peace of mind to focus on her work. She will be grateful that her employer is provides for an important aspect of her (and her child’s) welfare, and motivated to work all the harder. I know I am.

It is a fact universally acknowledged that breastfed babies are generally healthy, happy and smart and grow up to be healthy adults and workers. From the point of view of national health and productivity, it pays for all employers, including the Government, to accede to the needs of nursing employees.

Mary Lee Ching Ling (Ms)

Nov 7, 2006
Give nursing mums time off to pump their milk

I REFER to the letter, ‘Why no room to pump milk for new mothers?’ by Ms Ngiam Hui Shin (ST, Nov 2).

This subject is close to my heart as I nursed my elder son for more than two years and am now nursing my six-month-old son. I fully agree that with the call for more babies, the Government should give new mothers all the help they need to fulfil their role as mothers. Providing a nursing room in the workplace is a big step towards helping them juggle two roles, as dedicated employees as well as dedicated mums.

With increasing awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding, it is heartening to know there are a lot of employers who provide nursing rooms for employees. Some companies have the works, providing employees with everything they need from a conducive environment to a pump, a refrigerator to store breastmilk and ice packs, a sink to wash up and some, even a steriliser to sterilise pump equipment after use. On the other hand, some companies just provide a basic room. However, speaking from experience, I believe any mother will be grateful for a room simply with a table and chair.

However, it doesn’t matter if the company provides these facilities for employees. The most important thing is that the bosses of nursing mothers are understanding enough to allow them to take a little time off during the workday to pump. A nursing room is really of no use if the boss is discouraging and frowns when the employee uses it or insists she pump during lunchtime. One has to remember that pumping is like answering the call of nature. Sometimes, the nursing mother really cannot wait. To maintain a steady supply, she has to pump as often as possible at the same time every day.

I am not asking employers to allow the nursing mother to be away for long periods of time to pump and effectively not do any work at all. Usually, each pump session lasts only about 20 minutes or at most, half an hour.

All this is really give and take. I believe nursing mothers will work harder at other times of the day because they know they have to take time off to pump. As a result, they may even be more efficient compared to other employees.

It is widely known that breastfed babies have better immunity systems and fall sick less often, which means mothers do not have to take leave so often – which benefits the company. Not allowing nursing mothers to pump when they need to will give them undue stress which will affect their milk supply.

Lotus Ren (Ms)

it’s a start, but those of you working nursing mums out there who have been sneaking off for furtive pumps in dirty toilets or tiny store rooms under the wary eyes of colleagues or employers, i besiege beseech you – circulate these articles to them!

and of course, also those of you who are about to give birth or go back to work. hey, must provide ready infrastructure for when you come back from maternity leave mah.

ok, go!

***

addendum (tak habis-habis addendum):

whaddayaknow! BH (9 Nov) pun ada artikel tentang SB (alah, you know, the melayu equivalent of BM)…

SUSU BADAN
Tugas bersama

Suami tidak harus lepas tangan dan biarkan kaum ibu tangani masalah sendiri

By Dr Zainal Muttakin Abdul Rahman

MEMBERIKAN susu ibu mungkin disifatkan sebagai tugas kaum ibu di seluruh dunia. Namun, peranan golongan ayah sebenarnya tidak kurang pentingnya.

Ayah tidak boleh bersikap lepas tangan dan membiarkan kaum ibu menanganinya sendirian.

Sebaik-baiknya, bakal ibu dan ayah harus berbincang semasa ibu itu hamil mengenai soal penyusuan.

Pasangan hendaklah bersetuju mengenainya kerana ia bukanlah tanggungjawab ibu seorang sahaja.

Cuba bincangkan tentang jangka masa ibu akan memberikan bayi susu badan iaitu sekurang-kurangnya enam bulan untuk menetapkan matlamat jangka pendek.

Golongan ayah memainkan peranan penting dalam membantu ibu yang menyusukan bayi agar beliau dapat berehat, memastikan pemakanan beliau terjaga dan berikanlah dorongan agar beliau tidak begitu tertekan.

Jauhi daripada menggunakan ungkapan seperti ’susu ibu tidak cukup’ atau ‘tidak sedap’ atau ‘bayi tidak suka menyusu daripada ibu’ dan sebagainya.

Ini kerana menyusukan bayi mungkin mudah buat sesete ngah ibu tetapi bagi yang lain, ia merupakan satu perjalanan yang amat mencabar.

Yang penting, pasangan hendaklah bersabar terutama sekali pada tahap-tahap awal ketika ibu mula memberikan bayi susu badan.

Sekiranya proses memberikan susu ibu masih terus bermasalah, keputusan untuk menghentikan pemberian susu badan sebaik-baiknya dibuat secara bersama setelah suami isteri saling berbincang.

Setelah keputusan dibuat, usahlah menuding jari antara satu dengan lain. Pada saat inilah, si ibu kadangkala berasa lebih tertekan dan mengalami kemurungan.

Suami hendaklah faham akan perasaan isteri yang mungkin berasa serba salah dan mengalami rasa rendah diri. Ramai ibu yang mengalami masalah sebegini.

Terdapat banyak isu dan rintangan yang ibu akan hadapi sepanjang usahanya untuk memberikan bayi kesayangan khasiat susu ibu yang memang cukup bermanfaat.

Ia termasuk bagaimana ibu dapat terus menyusukan bayi setelah mula bekerja, bilakah masa yang sesuai untuk memberikan susu ibu daripada botol, bolehkah ibu terus menyusukan bayi apabila ibu jatuh sakit dan bagaimanakah cara menghentikan anak daripada terus menyusu setelah usia dua tahun.

Semua ini mampu mencabar kekuatan si ibu.

Sebenarnya, baik jika pasangan suami isteri itu sama-sama mengikuti kursus antenatal (semasa mengandung dan sebelum melahirkan).

Dari situ, mereka akan mendapat nasihat dan tunjuk ajar daripada pakar penyusuan (lactation consultant) yang mampu mempersiapkan diri mereka sebelum bayi lahir.

Untuk membantu ibu bapa mendapatkan jawapan berhubung pemberian susu ibu, saya sarankan anda merujuk laman web http://www.kkh.com.sg/PatientHealthLibrary/WomensHealth/Breastfeeding atau http://www.breastfeeding.org.sg/ .

ahh, yang ini boleh circulate to your suamis or, if you rather, DHs.

selamat menyusu!

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so did you read BH yesterday? with hmm, six more days to raya, they finally came up with a throwaway article about b/feeding during puasa. about keeping at it, not giving up, etc.

and the best advice they could dish out?

“drink lots of water”.

like, WOAAAHHH. what earthshattering, groundbreaking, gasp-inducing advice indeed. gee why didn’t i think of thaaat. (can you see my eyes rolling?)

ok. enough cynicism.

on a more positive note, the bf thing throughout the fasting month has gone better than we expected. i probably used up all of, er, four? five? bags of my frozen stash so far. i’ll have to get around to dumping out all the leftover july ones. i’ll stroke them lovingly first, of course.

right. moving on.

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