Janet Hsieh likens breastfeeding to having paper cuts on chest

Ever since Taiwanese-American host Janet Hsieh gave birth to her son, Egan, a month ago, she has been providing insights and updates about life as a nursing mother. Yesterday was no exception where she talked about her experiences with breastfeeding on Facebook and shared 16 facts about the issue that she felt other mothers should know about.

The new mum mentioned how she had initially thought that breastfeeding was going to be “easy and natural” but soon realised that it was quite the opposite after speaking to the nurses at her postpartum centre. She discovered that she had a lot to learn such as “holding the baby properly, making sure he latches correctly, and also understanding the different ways to breastfeed.”

The 37-year-old mother said that all these skills required much practice and therefore, decided to help fellow mothers out by sharing important details to encourage and motivate them to press on during this tough time.

In her post, Janet remained positive and looked at the brighter side of things where she talked about how “breastfeeding burns around 500 calories per day” and joked that “one’s baby belly would disappear in no time at this rate.”

However, she then went on to talk about the realities of it where she admitted that “breastfeeding would definitely be painful at first” and it was “not all about the glamour and motherly love that was portrayed on social media and in magazines.”

“Your nipples will go through hell. And hopefully come back. But until then, they will be in hell. It kind of feels like getting little paper cuts on your nipples, continuously for about 30 minutes and then again every 2-3 hours,” Janet shared.

She also provided an important tip and reminded all the new mothers not to be “lazy” and to make sure to massage and squeeze out any excess milk in their breasts so as to prevent mastitis (an infection of the breast tissue that results in breast pain, swelling, warmth and redness).

Janet then left off on an encouraging tone by assuring all mothers that “there was no right or wrong” in terms of raising a child and that one should “just do what they felt was best for them and their baby.”

Janet and her husband, Singapore-based actor George Young, tied the knot in 2015 in an intimate wedding ceremony in Antarctica after going public with their relationship in 2014. She announced her pregnancy on April Fool's Day this year and subsequently gave birth to Egan on Oct 11.

Photos: PBE Media

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