As soon as Day 1, I had already started "training" Vera at the hospital with the help of the nurses, bringing her to me every three hourly for milk feed, which is part of the routine which I want her to follow, just like Xav.
Why is a routine necessary ? For main caregivers with no strong family support, a routine set for the baby is definitely going to benefit both the caregiver and baby. A routine is there to serve you, do not be a slave by a routine.
A routine basically :
- makes the baby/ child feels more secure and what to expect.
- allows the child to be more prepared to do what is required.
- should encourage the formation of good habits and the disposal of bad habits, this applies the same to adult.
Upon discharge from the hospital, thankfully I had a really nice confinement lady, Meijie, as recommended by a close friend of mine. She works on the same frequency as me. Very pro breastfeeding and had assisted me in establishing a routine gradually for Vera.
Hence, after she left, I continued on with the daily routine and Vera seems to be settling in quite well.
Vera had jaundice for as long as until her full month. Every morning without fail when Mr Sun came out, Meijie will helped to sun her for 20 mins (10 mins for each side). Every alternate day, we brought Vera to Sengkang Polyclinic for blood test to make sure her jaundice level goes down gradually with all the mornings and evenings sun bathing.
To bring down Jaundice, you may want to boil some honey suckle flowers and bathe baby in it. This
is something new which I learnt.
Meijie has also been recording down the number of feed and poo daily.
Vera's routine is as follows :
- Have her morning feed depending on what time she wakes and have her shower after resting for a 15 mins. After bathe, I will play with her for a while and put her back in cot.
- Milk feed is about every 3-4 hourly, drinking about 60-70ml per feed and latching for 30-40 mins for both sides of the breasts.
- Night feed she would sometimes wake to have one feed after a 4 to 5 hourly stretch. On bad days, she wakes twice or more. But that hardly happens . Thankful for that ! But during the one month when she still have her jaundice, we do wake her up for milk so that her body is well hydrated and she can flushed it out through the pee.
For breastfeeding, definitely no comfort latch is going to happen as I do not want to be a walking pacifier.
I chose to go on routine feeding as I have seen children who are on demand feeding when they were babies, grew up to look for or depend on food when they are unhappy to comfort themselves. But in reality of life, food is not going to be the answer to all problems in life.
So far, be it direct latching or bottle feeding, I have no problem with nipple confusion nor refusing either method by both Xav and Vera. They are both accepting it well.
Just to share a point which I learnt from a Parenting class. Always remember that babies need to sleep well or rest well before they can drink well. If they do not rest well, they will just fall asleep on your breast during feeding time and in such a way, they don't get good sleep either.
Should you want to start training your baby, do it when they are young. Trust me that it will be so much easier as compared to when they are months older.
Do share with me your tips if you are "training" your baby too ! Although I may be a second time mum, but this journey, I am definitely learning more and going through a totally different experience !
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