Painful Milk

Milk! 

Aside it being what I “pay” Naa Ameley for being my facial expression muse 😂😂😂, it’s been a very significant part of my post-birth journey so far. 

After our CS delivery, my breasts produced no milk immediately. My antenatal nurse suggested we buy formula. And being the Danone employee that I am, I asked that my family buys us Aptamil. 

Naa Ameley ate, and my heart was happy…

… till the comments started coming in… 

A bit of context, we are a month and 2 days old now, and perhaps this is the easiest feeding day I have ever had. And it still hasn’t been entirely pain-free. 

My friend, Caroline, told me early in week 2, breastfeeding shouldn’t be painful, if it always hurts Mummy then it isn’t breastfeeding, it’s torture. 

And it always hurt, aside the rare occasions that were pain-free, it always hurt. 

Naa Ameley didn’t learn to latch or suckle properly. I don’t blame her — like I actually could, lol — she fed on baby formula with barely any breast milk for at least a week. And I guess that came with the territory of relying on a lifeless plastic teat that didn’t let her know that there’s a difference between sucking and chewing! She latched and suckled painfully! I mean, mind-splitting painful and that is not an exaggeration. 

Our strong-jawed Naa Ameley learnt how to chew before she could suck. And her chewing reminded me of the famous Ghanaian saying, “Babies with sharp teeth”!

So there was the painful chewing, which she’s getting so much better at not doing regularly nowadays (thank God!) and then there was the poor milk production, which I’d talk about another day. 

I knew that at some point it would get better. And I’m glad God gave us the occasional sign of hope at the beginning with a Naa Ameley that could actually suckle rather beautifully or even latch pain-free.  

Just in case you may have assumed Naa Ameley was giving me the expected bite that most babies tend to give their mothers, let me help with that. No, she wasn’t. She was literally grinding her gums on my teat. So much that I develop open sores on my nipple everyday… every single day. Thankfully, my Mum advised I put Drez ointment on my teat one day and that became my saving grace. After that day, I’d let her suckle/chew till I could bear the pain no more, then I’d apply the Drez ointment at night and wait till my morning bath to wash it off and begin our breastfeeding journey again the next day. The Drez helped me heal quickly and I couldn’t thank God more that there was a lot left for me to use in this manner even days after it was no longer needed for my delivery incision. 

I became one of those mothers that had a chewer feed as a baby 😊 but I also became one of those mothers who eventually found a way that worked. Thanks to the advice and encouragement of others, including Google. One day, I suddenly realised how the unhelpful and insensitive comments had gradually dissolved into our background. 

If you hear me yelp in pain with Naa Ameley’s next latch, rejoice with me! We’ve come pretty far, us two. That yelp is also a sign that this is perhaps her last painful breastfeeding habit that would also fade away some day. We’ve come a long way in one month… and I’m super proud of us, Naa Ameley, super proud!

10:31pm 

1st baby diaries || Monday, 27th December, 2021 || 1 calendar month, 2 days