Good-bye Hong Kong, Hello Singapore!
After 4 and a half years in HK, we have an opportunity to return home to Singapore.
I remember I was so determined about breastfeeding Zoë that when I was pregnant, I took the ferry to Discovery Bay Island to attend La Leche meetings. I refused to buy any milk bottles and powder and when I had nipple soreness in the first week, possibly due to inexperienced latch-on, the only two things I bought were nipple shields and a feeding syringe, both of which I used carefully and sparingly.
Today, Zoë is 2 and a half years old and partially weaned. She feeds a little before bedtime, but doesn’t need to breastfeed herself to sleep anymore. She feeds on and off throughout the night, until I get tired and thirsty and pull her out from the nipple. I would like to refute the books and say that it’s normal for babies not to sleep through the night. As a parent, please expect that and you’ll be a lot happier!
We would love to try for another baby. I recall those public breastfeeding experiences I had with Zoë in HK and I know it’ll be different with the next.
When she was eight days old, I had to take her to the Registry of Births (Our first Real public breastfeeding experience!). At that time, I hadn’t figured out how to use a piece of cloth to cover the baby while feeding her (which we usually do away with when we get more confident). I ended up covering both Zoë and myself and in retrospect, I thought it seemed strange to the crowd because an adult and a baby were struggling under that piece of not so huge cloth.
In her first four-months I found it easy to carry and breastfeed her in a sarong, a piece of cloth used by many mothers in Indonesia. Her tiny body and head would sink into the batik cloth and she would be all snuggled up for a cozy nap. Being a new mother, I was badly shaken when old lady came up to me and said in an accusatory tone that I was suffocating her to death by placing her in that position. I remember another incident in Stanley when she was 2 to 3 months old, where I was feeding her at a quiet corner. A four-year-old boy approached me to tell me that feeding my girl in public was a cause for the police to catch. I tried to educate the boy by saying that the baby’s hungry, to which his replies were: bring her home to feed, even if we lived as far away as the moon…
I found that in Hong Kong people share their ideas about childcare very freely - especially to other Asian mothers. Sometimes their feedback really felt like criticism and I wish the people I meet would keep these opinions to themselves because some of these came from very good friends. One said that to breastfeed a five-year-old was ‘twisted’. That hurt me deeply. Another opinion by pediatricians and friends who breastfed their babies which caused me great confusion initially was that breast milk had no nutritional value or was detrimental to the child when the baby reaches one-year of age.
And the good? I made friends with an asylum seeker family because I knew and could empathize with her when she said: I had to eat because when I breastfeed my baby, I would get hungry. When Zoë was 1 and a half I took her to the Union Church English-speaking playgroup. I felt a little awkward that no other children in the playgroup were breastfeeding and I felt I should feed her very discreetly, so I was most relieved and made another new friend when I realized that the volunteer of the playgroup was also feeding her three-year-old.
I know many individual mums who were able to breastfeed without support groups. I am grateful that I had a support group. My wish for all breastfeeding mums and babies: that one does not have to strive so hard to prove that it is politically and socially correct because it is natural and is one of the quickest and calmest way to soothe a child.
Jeanne Anne Hsi, written for LaLecheLeagueHong Kong, a breastfeeding support Group
I remember I was so determined about breastfeeding Zoë that when I was pregnant, I took the ferry to Discovery Bay Island to attend La Leche meetings. I refused to buy any milk bottles and powder and when I had nipple soreness in the first week, possibly due to inexperienced latch-on, the only two things I bought were nipple shields and a feeding syringe, both of which I used carefully and sparingly.
Today, Zoë is 2 and a half years old and partially weaned. She feeds a little before bedtime, but doesn’t need to breastfeed herself to sleep anymore. She feeds on and off throughout the night, until I get tired and thirsty and pull her out from the nipple. I would like to refute the books and say that it’s normal for babies not to sleep through the night. As a parent, please expect that and you’ll be a lot happier!
We would love to try for another baby. I recall those public breastfeeding experiences I had with Zoë in HK and I know it’ll be different with the next.
When she was eight days old, I had to take her to the Registry of Births (Our first Real public breastfeeding experience!). At that time, I hadn’t figured out how to use a piece of cloth to cover the baby while feeding her (which we usually do away with when we get more confident). I ended up covering both Zoë and myself and in retrospect, I thought it seemed strange to the crowd because an adult and a baby were struggling under that piece of not so huge cloth.
In her first four-months I found it easy to carry and breastfeed her in a sarong, a piece of cloth used by many mothers in Indonesia. Her tiny body and head would sink into the batik cloth and she would be all snuggled up for a cozy nap. Being a new mother, I was badly shaken when old lady came up to me and said in an accusatory tone that I was suffocating her to death by placing her in that position. I remember another incident in Stanley when she was 2 to 3 months old, where I was feeding her at a quiet corner. A four-year-old boy approached me to tell me that feeding my girl in public was a cause for the police to catch. I tried to educate the boy by saying that the baby’s hungry, to which his replies were: bring her home to feed, even if we lived as far away as the moon…
I found that in Hong Kong people share their ideas about childcare very freely - especially to other Asian mothers. Sometimes their feedback really felt like criticism and I wish the people I meet would keep these opinions to themselves because some of these came from very good friends. One said that to breastfeed a five-year-old was ‘twisted’. That hurt me deeply. Another opinion by pediatricians and friends who breastfed their babies which caused me great confusion initially was that breast milk had no nutritional value or was detrimental to the child when the baby reaches one-year of age.
And the good? I made friends with an asylum seeker family because I knew and could empathize with her when she said: I had to eat because when I breastfeed my baby, I would get hungry. When Zoë was 1 and a half I took her to the Union Church English-speaking playgroup. I felt a little awkward that no other children in the playgroup were breastfeeding and I felt I should feed her very discreetly, so I was most relieved and made another new friend when I realized that the volunteer of the playgroup was also feeding her three-year-old.
I know many individual mums who were able to breastfeed without support groups. I am grateful that I had a support group. My wish for all breastfeeding mums and babies: that one does not have to strive so hard to prove that it is politically and socially correct because it is natural and is one of the quickest and calmest way to soothe a child.
Jeanne Anne Hsi, written for LaLecheLeagueHong Kong, a breastfeeding support Group
posted by jeanne anne hsi at 9:34 PM
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