5th
Banyak nak cerita. Sampai tak tercerita. But one thing that I HAVE to write about is a conversation I had with one of my best friends last week. She’s preggers. The conversation goes somewhat like this…
Me: Nanti bila dah bersalin berapa lama kau nak cuti?
Her: Hmmm… bolehlah cuti 6 bulan kot…
Me: Dah duduk kat umah tuu make sure ko breastfeed laa…
Her: Tgklah camner…ko boleh lah…susu ko banyak..
Me: (in my head…waaaa…i’m shocked someone actually says this to me…if only she knew how much effort i had to put into to exclusively breastfeed my baby) There’s no such thing as susu banyak or susu sikit tau…
Her: Tau laaa…
Me: Kakak ipar ko pun tak BF ke?
Her: Dia lagi laa… family dia semua jenis yang susu sikit… anak dia pulak jenis yang minum banyaak sangat…susu dia sikit…tak cukup…
Me: There’s no such thing as susu banyak or susu sikit tau…
Her: Tau…
It’s her choice whether or not she wants to breastfeed. If I can influence her to breastfeed that’ll be great, if not, its okay. My point here is that, I actually can not believe that I would be labeled as “susu banyak”! Nak gelak pun ada jugak. I used to be her! So I understand where she’s coming from. I used to say stuff like that. I used to think like that.
But now, being on the receiving end of that statement feels a bit, annoying. It felt like she thinks I have it easy. That I’m “one of the lucky ones” whose milk just magically pours out. I wanted to make her understand that I faced many obstacles to be able to breastfeed my baby for as long as I have. It wasn’t and still isn’t easy. I had blisters on my nipples, it was sore and cracked for weeks, it bled. After it bled and dried the skin would stick to the bra/breastpad/tube top that I was wearing. Sakit ok nak bukak. Baby minum darah masa awal2 tuu normal. In the early days I had to literally grit my teeth and prepare myself for the pain every single time i breastfed the baby. And the stress of pumping milk when I got back to work, tak payah cakaplah. Baca sajer. Banyak lagi lah benda. My point is I work hard so that I am able to exclusively breastfeed my baby, its not because of the “susu banyak” theory.
Btw, if you’re reading this (now or in the future), luv you babe mmmuahhsss! Read up more pasal breastfeeding ok! Its all in the mind!