Bangs Garcia with her daughter, Amelia. Image: Instagram/@valeriebangsgarcia
Like any mother, actress Bangs Garcia wants what is best for her newborn baby, especially when it comes to keeping her healthy. That is why breastfeeding is essential for providing all the nutrients her daughter needs.
But for Garcia, she got a reality check when her journey had bumps on the road, as she shared on two Instagram posts on Wednesday.
The new mom admitted that “the struggle is real” when she tried producing milk for her baby Amelia. “Breastfeeding doesn’t come so naturally to all mothers, different strokes for different folks; but with perseverance, it’s possible,” Garcia wrote.
Recalling her experience after giving birth, when her baby first attempted to latch, she recounted that it was going fine on the first few days. It was on the fifth day that her baby suddenly stopped, which sent Garcia wondering why.
“We weren’t discharged right away from the hospital because I had an infection after my C-section, little did I know that my breastmilk was affected whilst I was getting treated with antibiotics and diminished my supply,” Garcia recalled.
This, along with the pressure from mid-wives telling her to breastfeed despite her lack of milk, “magnified all the pain and exhaustion I went through from labor and surgery at that time.”
Against her will, Garcia had to resort to giving Amelia formula milk. She still persisted to find answers to help her to produce milk. She sought advice from fellow moms and did her own research.
“I have learned that it doesn’t matter if she gets only little amount of my milk and feed her with formula as well, it would still mean a lot because breastmilk is like 100 times more nutritious than formula milk,” she said. “I’ve also learned that mix feeding isn’t gonna make you less of a mother, I was just too fastened on my illusion of a ‘Perfect Mother’, and there’s no such thing.”
All turned out well in the end when she was finally able to feed her baby with breastmilk, with the help of an electric pump.
“I found her getting lazy to latch on my breasts at times coz she much prefers her bottle teats for lesser effort in getting milk,” Garcia shared. “But it’s alright for as long as I pump my milk out and she still drinks them from her bottle then I’m very happy with it.”
Ending her post, she noted that it’s indeed a case of “different strokes for different folks.” She hoped for things to get better next time around, when she has another child.
“It’s always about [a]cceptance & [a]djustment, then you will soon find yourself taking any aspect of motherhood in stride,” Garcia said.
Garcia and her husband, British-Filipino property developer Lloyd Birchmore, welcomed Amelia last December. She is the first child for the couple. JB
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