Hand expressing colostrum: help!

[LaTristesse]

Hey ladies. I bf DS for 2 years so you think I'd know what I'm doing but I'm trying to hand express some colostrum ahead of birth (currently 36+2) and am getting nowhere! This is my 3rd day of trying and still zilch! I have all the LLL / local hospital instructions so I know the theory but I'm just not getting any results. Can I ask please:

How long do I persevere with each boob before the drip/flow starts? (Thinking maybe I'm not giving it long enough before I give up)

Does it take a few days for my boobs to get the message?! Should I keep trying or is it worth trying a different approach?

How the hell am I meant to collect anything down the tiny end of the weeny syringes I've been given?! don't want to waste any by putting it in something else first but there's no way my nipple is getting down the end of that syringe!

Any general tips appreciated too: I'm desperate to make this happen (maybe that's the trouble!)

Thanks

Hi - why are you doing this, though?

There's normally no reason to do it, unless you expect your baby might need it (eg because of diabetes).

Yes i was diagnosed with GD last week. I'm desperate to avoid formula top ups and will obviously spend as long as poss skin2skin and bf after birth, but in case she doesn't feed or there's a problem with me I want to have some colostrum on standby!

Hello. I haven't tried expressing before birth but I did hand express colostrum for my dd when she was born. It was neck achingly time consuming so you have my sympathy. The colostrum appears as tiny droplets anywhere on your areola which you then suck up with the syringe. I would typically get 1 ml in 20 minutes. Yes one millilitre. I definately agree with the description 'liquid gold'. Good luck.

Yes, as Meme says, you don't put your nipple in the syringe, you use the syringe to collect the droplets as they appear. I found it very tricky to do on my own, my DH did the collection bit for me while I did the massaging.

Can a midwife help you? they did this for me on my first day when I was in hospital expressing for my DD in NICU (i know you are not in hospital yet)

I did this before I had DD as I also had GD. It's called Colostrum Harvesting - you might find some helpful guidance if you google it. Also I remember an excellent thread on here about it a few years ago which I referred to.

You do not put your nipple in the syringe. There will be no 'flow' - you will be expressing tiny droplets of colostrum which (IME) will sit on your nipple and you the use the syringe to 'suck' it up.

Plenty of breast massage at first, and also during. Be GENTLE - try not to get frustrated that it is so time consuming. I found sticking to a similar time each evening helped as the days went on. I expressed colostrum from 36 weeks every day until DD was born (38+6, I think). For the first week+ I was getting little more than 1ml, but during the last week before delivery I was regularly getting 2-3ml a time (sounds a pathetically small amount but I was so pleased!)

If you are doing it daily, once or twice a day, you can build up a nice little stock in the freezer. You should then be able to bring it with you in a freezer bag when you go in to labour, and ask the MW to transfer it to the hospital freezer (make sure your vials and freezer bag are clearly labelled).

Good Luck!

Also, I was able to speak to the Breastfeeding co-ordinator MW at my hospital at around 35 wks, she provided me will all the syringes, syringe caps and labels, as well as gave me a knitted breast demo of breast massage, and how to collect the colostrum with a syringe. Is this something that you might be able to do?

Thanks ladies - what an idiot! Makes perfect sense to draw up the colostrum from the nipple - can't believe I was trying to stuff a nipple down the end - I'm going to blame pregnancy brain but actually I'm a fool.

And thanks for the reassurance that a) it takes ages and b) you only get a teeny bit out - I'll cut myself some slack and persevere!

MrsKitty yes I've had the knitted boob demo and got a kit so I'm ready to rock, I just wasn't getting anywhere, but now I know I need to be more patient!

Thanks again ladies