A Sticky Situation: Do You Carry a Change of Clothes?

by B. C.

I am the mother of a 6 year old. At the end of the first month of pregnancy, my breasts got really sore and started growing. By the end of the third month, they were full and still growing but the soreness had come down. I really had never taken any extra care like the elders in my family had suggested like consuming milk, fruits, vegetables etc to increase the capacity of breast milk.

The only thing I religiously did as a routine was to take the pills prescribed by my doctor throughout the pregnancy. My appetite only picked up after the fifth month. By the end of my third trimester, I had fully grown mammary glands and started to feel a little uneasy.

I had a C-Section and gave birth to a healthy girl baby. Within a couple of hours from then, I was advised to feed my baby. I had excruciating pain, the first time I breast fed and I thought that this pain would last till the last stage of breastfeeding. But as and when time passed, I used to feel relieved after every feed.

I went back to work, exactly after two weeks and there I noticed, that if I did not feed the baby every three hours, the milk would automatically ooze out which made it pretty embarrassing for me to be in front of other people or in a meeting, hence I was forced to carry a change of clothes to work with me.

In Spite of this, I never believed in pumping the milk and storing it. This sticky situation carried on excessively from the first to the ninth month. I nursed my baby till she was a year and three months old. Because of this, I found that the child had a good immune system and did not fall sick that easily.