How can I feed early expressed colostrum/milk to baby

[Lotta123]

we're having some sucking problems when it comes to feeding our baby. She's four days old today.

Have fed her late last night. Been told to express every three hours and give a bottle if she's desperate but she's sleeping at the moment so no need for formula yet.

So have just expressed for 20 mins but not sure what to do with the milk/colostrum as I've produced about 5ml. Would really like to give it to the baby when I next express in three hours if she still won't feed.

Can I use a special bottle I've bought to avoid nipple confusion? Or should I try something else like a cup or syringe? Anywhere I can get those today?

I used a very small syringe to do the same with my ds. Not sure where you could get one - chemist seems most likely option? You could ask midwife if she is coming out today.

Bottles are best avoided at this point. A cup would be ok, so would a syringe, as long as you're just dripping little drops in, rather than letting her treat it as a bottle.

5ml is a lot of colostrum! Your milk is probably due to come in soon.

What's happening with the sucking?

Think of mummy bird feeding her young Seriously my DS was 10 weeks early and when he got off tubes we went to syringe (dropping slowly into mouth) then went to bottle then breast BUT that was because of strength issues as well as lack of the right reflexes. All this time i was still offering the breast - in the beginning he would lay and lick but he got the hung of it eventually. Good luck

I had to do this with DD. She was in SCBU so I expressed colostrum and the gave it her with a syringe.

And don't worry about only 5ml - it is precious stuff! Mind you, I wish I'd known that when I turned up in SCBU at midnight with my offering, and was told by the nurse "Oooh, is that all! She won't grow with that you know!!" I went back to bed feeling like such a failure

On a brighter note, once she came out of scbu, we had problems for a few more days until we tried cranial osteopathy - may not be any help for you, but worth considering?

A little goes a long way with colostrum! We used a tiny feeding syringe for DS2

Jammyrella - so annoying when nurses don't get bf. Had the same problem with ds1 (although not in scbu) and I used a syringe to feed him colostrum but they pretty much made me give him formula after a couple of days because they said he would be hungry. He (and I) got bf a day or two later and am sure he would have been fine without the formula.

Wish I'd known more about it then. Nobody came near ds2.

Syringes or tiny cups are best for colostrum as otherwise you'll lose a bit lining the bottle/teat (plus why introduce bottles this early if you don't have to?). 5ml is an amazing amount of colostrum - I thought I was doing well to get 2ml in a session when DD was in scbu. I'd place bets on your milk coming in today - try cup feeding then if you can. IME bottles this early do cause issues.

Jammyrella - I'm very and at that nurse! I was so lucky that my hospital were supportive or I'd have given up when I was working so hard to get 0.5ml!

Just wanted to agree with everyone and say that syringe or cup is the way to go. My son was a bit early and had latching issues and we fed via syringe for the first week. Don't worry, once your daughter gets the hang of it there'll be no stopping her!

A MW who tells you to express every three hrs and give a bottle is not supportive of breastfeeding.

As others say, hand express, syringe feed and lots and lots of skin to skin contact. Easiest if you can have her on your bare chest while you are propped up in bed and waited on hand and foot, if at all possible. Express right there in bed if needs be.

Thanks lovelies. I'm going to send DH out to buy a Medela Softcup Advanced Feeder. Having to throw away colostrum is the worst thing I've ever had to do. Fingers crossed this works.

When I managed to express about 0.2ml in hospital, it wasn't enough to even syringe up as it was spread across the expressor, in the end I made sure I had clean hands, scraped it up with my little finger and allowed him to suck it off of that.

5ml is v impressive, I thought i did ok to get 1.7ml on day 2, only to be told by the b*tch from hell midwife that it wouldn't keep him going - Every hospital must have one!

at that mw! When I expressed my tiny amount of colostrum for syringe feeding, mine made sure to reassure me that a little went a long way etc etc.

Good luck op, I agree with others 5ml is excelent, I think I got 1ml! :)

Think you may have a solution, but just wanted to mention that if you want to use a cup, you don't need an actual feeding cup, the lid of a bottle works very well. There's a bit of a trick to the cup feeding, the idea is that the baby is licking up the milk like a kitten, rather than you tipping the milk into them, so you're trying to sort of wedge or balance the cup at an angle that will let them do this. Certainly worth getting a demo if you meet anyone who knows what they are doing.

With pumps and colostrum, only use the pump to stimulate letdown and then remove the pump (quickly!) and scoop the drops of colostrum straight into a syringe - if you let it go into the pump, you'll lose so much as Pootle78 found.

Definitely hand express if at all possible - every drop counts :)

I hand-expressed in the hospital while still groggy from the GA. Lovely HCA collected it with a syringe. I think it might be a two person job, unless you hand-express into a sterile cup or bowl. Does she have a naso-gastric tube? Mine did which made the feeding easier, but you can feed even a tiny baby with a spoon or cup. The nicu staff put some on my baby's lips and she licked it off. Are you in a "baby-friendly" hospital? Could they find someone to help you?