Faithchild

Hi! Today I’ll be talking about how breastfeeding is good for your baby and you…Cut!

Nope, I am not going to give a talk. But rather sharing of my experience in breastfeeding Wafaa for the past 3months plus.

For the new mommies, I am very sure some will find total breastfeeding during your maternity leave extremely difficult and tiring. It’s also cumbersome and embarassing when you have to do so in public. (Let me first declare that I am not in any association with any pro-breastmilk organisations.)

Anyway, I did face challenging times of sleepless nights and restless days as baby Wafaa is takes small amounts of frequent feedings. (I’ve heard people say that most baby girls suckle like that) I faced ppl suggesting mixed feeding as they think the baby is not getting enough which I just shrug it off with a smile. InsyaAllah, it is enough…in fact one thing that I regret not doing is to stock up during this period. The thing is when I went back to work, I could not pump enough to supply her whole day’s needs.

A lot of times I used to blame myself if baby Wafaa becomes cranky as it could be due to the food that I eat. I always have to think twice before eating anything as certain things can cause gas in her stomach. Sometimes, I grumble in my mind that I have to avoid certain foods… macam tak redha gitu.

Also, if you get a baby whose feedings are as irregular as the shade provided by moving clouds, then you will experience engorgement and worse, milk fever. Yeah.. been there, done that.

That aside, I persisted because it bonds me and her emotionally. And i had hope to follow the advice of the Quran that we should provide breastmilk for 2 years. Truely, at that time, i could not see much advantage except for the bonding part.. that too, i wonder if it was a ‘figment of my imagination’. Haha… (You know.. how do you quantify or qualify bonding with a newborn)

But anyways, recently, my mom (her main caregiver) caught the flu. So did my brothers (who live in the same household) and so I caught it too. I continued to breastfeed her in that condition as I reasoned that if i were to stop, then I would be depriving her with the ‘immunity’ that the breastmilk is suppose to provide.

Anyways anyways… only that recent incident showed me that breastmilk does work! Ta da! She didn’t get sick despite nearly the whole household did! Alhamdulillah… I thought that was the ‘prove’ of its effectiveness.

ooo… now that I think back, even with the 4-in-1 jab that she took at 12 weeks she barely got a fever when I heard that most babies will. But of course I straightaway gave her medicine when we came back from the polyclinic. (Despite her not being sick)

So that was 1 and a half prove.

My cousin who is a counsellor said that her two daughters whom she breastfed for more than a year became very close to her. They are 4 and 5 now. She adds further "Kalau bukan dengan u, siapa lagi you want them to be close too? Of course, as a mother you want your children to be close to you." Yeah, that’s true… probably such babies will heed their parents when they grow up and avoid mixing with bad companies… Ameen.

Probably, probably, I will see more and more joys of breastfeeding as she grows up to be a strong, intelligent and God-conscious little girl. That’s what I hope to see…

This is a materialistic world you know… Hmm… Or is it ME who is being materialistic??! I hate to admit this… BUT… the mrt ride every provides me with the opportunity to look at the shoes and bags and skirts and tudungs that women wear… and say, hey that’s nice! Maybe that’s something I should get too!

Urgh! How disgusted am I when I really think and reflect about such attitude. People are not defined by who they are on the outside, they are what they are on the inside… yes, in today’s world appearance matters if you want to get somewhere. BUT the inside matters if you want to stay-on that somewhere… Gosh! With such superficialities, what would I be imparting to my daughter then?

Sometimes, the materialism is "facaded" (if there is such a word) with ‘retail therapy’. Haha! How many of us are guilty of retail therapy? Definitely I am one… I guess some would say, well, it’s ok if you have the money. BUT..How many would say the therapy works? Hahaha. I say, yes the therapy works …probably momentarily… then you go back in the vicious cycle of work-stress-therapy.

Sigh…It’s been a long time that I took that shopping time to go to the mosque to do a short iktikaf…I should start!

In addition to all that, I’ve to think of all the resources we women are gathering/ buying that we don’t need… which will end up in the trash bin somewhere in the future. We’re producing more and more trash… *clap, clap, clap*

What is actually driving this materialism in me? Probably lack of communication with Him, lack of reflection, too much entertainment.. i.e. TV, amusements due to morning show on Warna, internet surfing etc… it all boils down to a lack of remembrance in Him… Astarghfirullah.

Hey girl! It doesn’t suffice to pray 5X a day, fasting in the month of Ramadhan to be a true Muslim who brings benefits to others and the environment. It takes more than that. Most importantly it takes a humble heart which is always seeking to be conscious of Him in our actions.

I am a bad example… however, I am striving and struggling to do better. So Wafaa, when you grow up, always remember this …

"Our lives are too short to make all the mistakes ourselves. Learn from the mistakes of others."

To those who are reading this Blog, please du’a for the God-consciousness of me, my husband and my daughter. Jazakumullah in advance.

Inspired by the name of my daughter… Faithchild is a dedication to my thoughts and feelings about making sense of Faith in today’s modern, globalized and techno-savvy world.

Probably some posts will not be directly linked to faith…but somehow it will if we really think abt it… be it faith-less or faith-full.

Ok let’s just wait and see how this all work out. (Fyi, I’ve always described myself as a ‘no-hope’ in writing… ;P)