Antenatal hand expressing for Gestational Diabetic mothers

[crystalmummy]

Hello,

I am now 37 weeks and at a breastfeeding workshop i was told i should antenatally express colostrum and store for baby when i go into labour to help with his blood sugars. They have given me 20ml bottles but each time i go to express i only produce 1 drop from each breast and need to scrape it onto the side of the bottle. I can store in the fridge for 48 hours, so need to get the same bottle and do the same procedure in the evening - again only a couple of drops but the drops I originally scraped into the bottle have disappeared! And sometimes i cannot produce any drops at all and i am starting to get frustrated and anxious in a period of time leading up to labour where i want to be as relaxed as possible :(

Has anybody have experience of this that can share any insight please - i want to do whats best for my baby but can't seem to store much at all?

I started at 36 weeks and I understand your anxiety. I found that having a very warm bath helped. It relaxes you and helps with expression. Massaging the breast helps a lot and putting warm packs on the breasts In between expressing. Morning is the best time to express. Try not to stress, easier said than done, I know all too well. I didnt express into a bottle. I was given 1ml and 5ml syringes. A 20ml bottle would be impossible to fill up in one session. At least with syringes you can freeze after 48h no matter how much you collect.

I'm rushing out so can't reply fully but there is a couple fo threads about antenatal expression of colostrum on the board so try searching for them and this pdf may be informative too.

Thank you for getting back to me, I managed 3 drops tonight from one breast but none from the other!, one is definitely not playing ball and has me worrying that it isn't functioning properly. I am seeing my midwife on tuesday so will ask about these syringes, i think the bottles make it look a lot worse.

If it makes you feel any better I have been bfing for the past 6 1/2 years (non-stop!) I am currently nursing DD3 who's 2y 10m and I am 37w pg - I can get between 2-4mls (in total from both sides combined) when I hand express so it's totally normal to make very small quantities of colostrum.

20mls is beyond unrealistic especially considering baby's stomach can only hold 5-7mls on day 1 so why would you need to be producing 20mls of colostrum??

Also, don't worry about having non-symmetrically producing sides - this is very, very normal as most women have a side that makes slightly (or a lot more) than the other. My right is my 'lesser' side but it still is just as used as the left!

I bought my own syringes from my local pharmacy for 60p each and I am freezing what I get (sometimes this is over 2 hand expressing sessions over 2 evenings). I hand express into a clean small plastic tub and then suck up what I get in the syringe and then pull back the plunger so there is plenty of room for the colostrum to freeze without coming out of the syringe. I am storing them upright in the top drawer of the freezer in a plastic bag so they are easy to get too if the need arises.

Hope this has helped reassure you.

Thanks TruthSweet, yes i think syringes are the way forward - i was mistaken - they had given me 50ml and 100ml bottles - how ridiculous is that?!?! No wonder i was worried.

I think a word to your MW about unrealistic expectations of how much colostrum can be made is needed.

If you hadn't come on here and found out you may only make a ml or so while expressing prior to the baby being born you may have thought there was something wrong with you and been put off bfing your baby altogether!

100mls of colostrum is approaching a days worth for a neonate!

No I was wrong.

37mls is the avg intake for a baby on day 1 fed colostrum direct from mum with a feed volume of 7mls, day 2 is 84mls and a feed volume of 14mls and day 3 is 408mls with a feed volume of 38mls (about when your milk 'comes in').

(The data is from the book 'Breastfeeding your Baby' by Moody, Britten and Hogg and is copyrighted to Inch & Woolridge 1995 and is on a handout given to me by the local CMW - I don't have a weblink unfortunately)

hello, so i thought i would send an update as still having issues. i did get syringes yesterday and expressed into it last night - i felt much more assured as could see a significant amount. however the syringes they gave me have no lid - so how does the milk remain safe?!?!

Tried phoning the midwives this morning as i noticed that the syringe had slipped to the fridge floor - with no lid on and worried about the safety of the milk - they said try using bottles - it is getting beyond a joke now and getting hugely frustrated and now emotional.

How are you guys storing your syringes? Do they have lids?

Hi, just thought I would let you know that I didn't manage to get any colostrum ante natally at all.

After my baby was born though (by elcs) my dp was given a syringe in the recovery room and he managed to get about 20ml out of me! The midwife said that was good going and gave it to dc straight away
Fortunately anyway dcs glucose levels were fine.

No lids on mine but I store them upright in the fridge in a glass if I haven't got enough to be worthwhile freezing and when I freeze them I put them in a ziplock bag and freeze the syringes with the nozzle upright.

Thank you, am literally crying over spilt milk - 38 weeks today and must be having an emotional surge!

I left a syringe of express colostrum out the other night until morning and then forgot to freeze one as well so I can well understand the crying over spilt milk! I am 38 weeks today too

Hello

On a much more positive note, the syringes are brilliant - the first one filled to 1ml in 48hrs and my second is a quarter of the way to that with after only 2 expresses out of 4 in one day so seeing some real results now.

Blonderthanred - syringes are definitely the way to go stored in breast storage bags x

Well done crystal!