Breastfeeding & fasting

First of all, to Cery I owe you this…well some part of this la…nanti baca2 if rasa2 leh jadi testimonial sila ambil yer…help yourself ;p

Ok to others, please ignore the above note. What I want to story here is about my fasting experience as a breastfeeding mom for the first time J For fasting I have a lot of experience la of course, bukan first time yer ;p But fasting AND breastfeeding is a totally different story ya. Well saje je wat ayat dramatic camtu. Actual case not very much different from normal fasting la. It’s just that you have to think on how to maintain the milk supply just like when you are not fasting.

Coming near Ramadhan, I admit that I was really nervous to face Ramadhan. Firstly because I never practice fasting ever since last year’s Ramadhan (dapat puasa full la katekan J Alhamdulillah). So no ganti2 puasa and sunat2 also of course la not in the picture as well ;p Then secondly because I just can’t imagine the thirstiness that I will feel after each breastpump session. Usually I will feel really really thirsty after the bp session and will drink a lot of water. But during fasting month how? And also eventhough Izma is already on formula as well I really need to continue pumping to maintain my supply because at night Izma won’t drink from the bottle. So if I don’t pump, there’ll be no demand and eventually no supply la. And I’m so afraid that my milk will dried up during this fasting month…huhu this is my biggest fear since my milk ni kan mmg kais pagi mkn pagi, kais ptg pun mkn pagi jugak sbb tak cukup dah utk ptg…haha so no EBM stock at all…huhu

Ok lah enough on my fear experience. So I was really nervous and thinking and thinking and thinking what to do about it. Ceh cam masalah negara lak kan ;p Then my friend Cery who is also a Shaklee dealer provide me with the solution…hehe she introduced me to Shaklee Performance Drink and Mealshake. I’ve been consuming the Mealshake for quite some time before that just as my vitamins supplements. But for fasting and breastfeeding she recommended the Performance Drink. So what actually does this thing do? It actually maintains your body rehydration so that your body have sufficient fluid despite of fasting during the day. And I gave it a try.

The result? I drink 1 glass of this everyday during sahur with 2 tablets of Alfalfa and as of now on 9^th Ramadhan I still able to maintain my daily production of 8oz (yeah it’s only 8oz ye, kecoh je lebey kan ;p). But sometimes it also drops about 0.5oz – 1oz. Still ok with me, enough for 2 feedings J And I’m still able to direct bf Izma in the evening. Yeay me and yeay Izma! J And the most important thing is that I don’t feel so thirsty after each bp session. So I’m ok having 2 bp sessions at office. Yeay again!

So to Cery, the Performance Drink rocks! It’s tasty (rasa cordial oren) and it works! Definitely will have this for my sahur for next Ramadhan as well…InsyaAllah if ada rezeki J

But anyhow comparing fasting during pregnant and fasting during breastfeeding, it is more challenging during breastfeeding, at least for me la. But for those who are gifted with so much milk may not really feel the difference. Even if there is any difference surely their EBM stock can back up any milk shortage…hehe as for me it’s not really about to provide as much milk as possible but the challenge is for me to maintain whatever supply that I have at least until Izma reaches one year old InsyaAllah…and it’s still 4 months to go so I really can’t let my milk dried up now. That more of the reason actually. Whatever la kan ;p

So whatever it is I hope it’s not too late to wish y’all Happy Fasting and enjoy your Ramadhan ya! Toodles~~~

p/s: Note to myself – 4 months to go to de-commissioning of my Medela Freestyle...tee hee…