Expressing Special Baby Care

[Romily]

Hello

I have been told that there is a high chance that my baby, after induction, will have to spend some time on special baby care and that it might be useful to express some colostrum as I am hoping to breast feed.

At the moment I am only 27 week and although I have already started to get a bit of leakage from one breast I know this is too early to start expressing. When should I start to express? I appreciate it will only be a few drops (if that) at a time but I would like to have some for my boy incase I can not feed him myself straight away.

While I'm asking is there anything else I should be doing to prepare or that I should know about establishing breast feeding when there is a separation for a period of time?

Hi Romily, I'm not sure about expressing while pregnant. Someone wiser than me will come along but afaik you should avoid it as it can induce labour.
you should get lots of support in hospital with establishing feeding. My experience was that to start with the midwives hand expressed colostrum into a syringe for me (I did try myself but didn't get much). After a day or two they taught me how to use an electric pump to start expressing and I quickly built up supply. He started having it from a syringe then bottle (would have been a cup but his tongue tie meant he couldn't 'lap' the milk). To stabilise blood sugars DS had to be topped up with formula for a while.
I wish you all the best for the rest of your pregnancy and hope your little one is ok X

Sorry, I mean expressing with a pump - sure hand expressing is ok! Can you ask your hosp about it?

Thank you so much for the advice and links. I will of course discuss it with my HCPs before I do anything I just want to be prepared in advance. It has the potential to be a scary time late in my pregnancy and I don't want to be trying to take in any more info or to be trying to find things out when already tired and emotional.