Has anyone on this forum done pumping while in Pakistan? I will be traveling there with my soon-to-be-born baby when she turns 2 months. The last time I went, breastfeeding there was a big hassle… especially when I had to go to weddings or was visiting people, especially in the car when beggars would just come and stand there so I figured this time I will take my medela along and pump & store milk there for such situations and just use pumped milk when I’m out and about.
Any experiences and advice would be really appreciated.
I am in Pakistan. For the first 1-2 months of my daughter's life I used to give her pumped breast milk. When she was in NICU I used to visit NICU 2-3 times a day just to give her th pumped breast milk. Afterwards too I used to pump milk for her put it in bottle and keep in the fridge. Whenever she wanted milk I used to pour some hot water in a utensil and kept the bottle in it for a few seconds or a minute or till the milk became warm. I believe that you can easily keep the breast milk in fridge for a day but please consider the load shedding in Pakistan. We have stand by generator so it was not an issue for me. If the place you would be living does not have such arrangement then keeping in fridge for long enough would not be a good option.
Wherever you feed your baby breast milk or formula please cover the bottle with something . I will advise you not to breast feed in front of anyone. People have bad nazar and have heard so many cases when milk dried after breast feeding in front of someone. Even when you are feeding your baby pumped milk don't tell anyone that it is breast milk if anyone ask say that it's formula. Concept of pumped milk and breast pumps is not very common here and I am sure that it would leave many people surprised & shocked.
I visited baby shop this Sunday. It has all accessories related to breast pumps. I even saw medela this time. So don't worry about not finding the required brand here.
I find the whole concept of covering the bottle with a cloth so stupid, you know normally I dont notice if someone is bottle feeding a baby but I DO notice if someone is feeding and covering the bottle, if you are so nervous of nazar, why dont u just cover ur baby, kids like Michael Jackson did with his kids. Jeez really.
Saadia nazar does exist if you don't believe it that is just fine but don't label others believes as stupid. I think it's stupid and rude to pass comments like that. Learn some manners.
Believing on nazar is stupid but fearing from Jinn is not stupid right ?
its very easy for a baby that eats very very well to get nazar say.. from a parent of a child who just doesnt eat! and its common fact that milk products are very sensitive to nazar.. dont know the story behind it but atleast for me its a fact. thus covering the bottle... my son was a big eater when he was a baby... i initially didnt cover the bottle and once my friend who had a baby of the same age commented on just how much of an appetite my son has... scared me a bit cuz i do believe in nazar... started to cover his bottle from that day.
sorry to derail your thread mianva...
diamond has given great tips.. my friend was bfeeding her baby and took the pump along.. but she had her precious silver liquid (thats what she calls her breast milk haha) go to waste due to load shedding... so she quit pumping and just did the feeding directly from boob to mouth. she had bought a bfeeding blanket which she says was a life saver since she didnt have to worry bout the duapatta slipping or the chaddar falling off ... thats the only issue.. load shedding... otherwise pumping milk is quite common in pak.. atleast in my family and ppl that i know...
I find the whole concept of covering the bottle with a cloth so stupid, you know normally I dont notice if someone is bottle feeding a baby but I DO notice if someone is feeding and covering the bottle, if you are so nervous of nazar, why dont u just cover ur baby, kids like Michael Jackson did with his kids. Jeez really.
You know I am a mother myself and if my baby has a good appetite than its a good thing, not to be hidden because oh coz someone can give nazar, sometimes babies appetite change or they go through a growth phase and ppl blame, oh flana flana nazar laga gya hai .. us ki nazar buri hai, what if someone think you are giving their child nazar where as you are just looking at the baby coz its a baby and its natural people look at them. Such people I ignore them or their kids, as I dont want to be blamed for giving nazar and then they think you are being rude for not giving attention.
If nazar does exist, you can give out regular sadqa and no nazar will happend, really I dont believe that covering the bottle or their food will help, nor the black daagha or the black spot or the face will help protect from nazar.
Ok maybe I said it in a rude way, for which I appologize, as about jinns its written in Quran that babies can see somethings that we cannot not, but I think my baby was afraid of this big pink ball and some darkness nothing else.
You know I am a mother myself and if my baby has a good appetite than its a good thing, not to be hidden because oh coz someone can give nazar, sometimes babies appetite change or they go through a growth phase and ppl blame, oh flana flana nazar laga gya hai .. us ki nazar buri hai, what if someone think you are giving their child nazar where as you are just looking at the baby coz its a baby and its natural people look at them. Such people I ignore them or their kids, as I dont want to be blamed for giving nazar and then they think you are being rude for not giving attention.
If nazar does exist, you can give out regular sadqa and no nazar will happend, really I dont believe that covering the bottle or their food will help, nor the black daagha or the black spot or the face will help protect from nazar.
Ok maybe I said it in a rude way, for which I appologize, as about jinns its written in Quran that babies can see somethings that we cannot not, but I think my baby was afraid of this big pink ball and some darkness nothing else.
So is the concept of nazar. There is nothing wrong in believing such and nor is it stupid to cover the bottle of your child. Some people do have nazar in their eyes, I personally know of a woman who has nazar in her eyes, its not something people can control. Aur na hi nazar sirf bura sochne se lagti hai. Nazar can occur even when someone feels happy about something.
I dont know about yours but my relatives in Pak were shocked when i told them about pumping and feeding. So maybe not tell them its pumped milk? And for a lot of ppl, its common to cover the bottle when feeding. And like diamond said, keep in mind the load shedding and dont keep for more than a day.
I believe that all babies get nazar it’s not about only my baby gets nazar because all babies are cute and they attract people’s attention. Sadqa is good and should be given anyway. I do believe in Jinns too there is nothing to deny about their existence because it has been mentioned in Quran but if infants and kids can see them that I don’t know. Black thread or tikka I don’t know if they work , for the first few months I put black thread on my daughter’s wrists but now she does not wear them. When I was pregnant one of my Christian friend wanted me to wear black bangle because they believe it protects from nazar I didn’t but people believe on wearing something black or putting a tikka.
As far as nazar is concerned people say that maa baap ki nazar lag jati hai thats why we should always says masha allah when praising something about the baby.
so I figured this time I will take my medela along and pump & store milk there for such situations and just use pumped milk when I’m out and about.
ugh! Thanks for the reminder… I’ll keep that in mind when I go and thanks for the tips.