Expressing and storing colostrum prior to birth

[1973magpie]

Hi,
I am currently 35 weeks pg and have gestational diabetes, which I am currently managing through careful control of my diet.
I am planning on having a home birth, and have read / been told by my midwife that it would be a good idea to express some extra colostrum before the birth to help prevent low blood sugar in the baby after birth.
Has anyone done this before? I'm not sure how possible it will be to express this early, is it best to hand express or use a breast pump? Also, what would be best to store the colostrum in in the freezer?
Thanks.

Sorry about the lack of paragraphs it looked different on the preview...

Hm, I thought colustrum gets started to be produced as soon as Baby is born, somehting to do with the hormones released during childbirth...so, can't see how you can express before birth...hm....
Also, just put your lil one straight to the breast and that should do it really

Tiktok I think, posted this a while ago and i saved it.

Expressing Colostrum during Pregnancy Hypoglycaemia Policy Most babies have no difficulty in adapting to life outside the womb. However, some babies have an increased chance of developing low blood sugar, sometimes called ?hypoglycaemia?. Babies at increased chance of low blood sugar are: Babies born early or premature ? before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy Babies, who are lighter in weight than expected for the number of weeks of pregnancy, sometimes called ?small for dates?. Babies who need extra help to breathe at birth A baby who is ill Babies whose mothers had diabetes during pregnancy Babies whose mothers have had to take medicine for blood pressure (betablockers). If any of the above applies to you or your baby, then we will encourage you to feed your baby as soon as possible after birth and then to feed often, at least every 3 hours as this will help to prevent low blood sugar in your baby. Your expressed colostrum can also be given to your baby after breastfeeds. Your baby will be carefully monitored and we will check his/her blood sugar regularly. Is there anything I can do during my pregnancy to prepare for this? Sometimes as early as 28 weeks of pregnancy, women find that they leak colostrums. The midwives will offer to teach you a very simple technique for expressing colostrum and provide you with sterile equipment for collecting and safely storing it with labels for dating it. How much colostrum will I be able to express? Colostrum is present in the breasts from about sixteen weeks of pregnancy onwards. Some women leak colostrum and some don?t, both are normal. Don?t worry if you don?t leak colostrum, it is not an indication that you won?t have enough milk or a reflection on your ability to breastfeed. The amount of colostrum will vary from woman to woman. It can range from a few drops to as much as a teaspoonful or more. When do I start? A good time to start would be when you reach 36 weeks of pregnancy. How often can I express? A good time to have a first practice is when you are in the bath but you can express as often as you like. How is it Done? In 4 Easy Steps! 1. Prepare ? gently stroke or use circular movements with your fingertips to massage your breasts, moving towards the nipple area. (It is not essential but sometimes a back massage can help. Ask someone to stand behind you with a fist either side of your spine, level with your breast and rub their fists up and down, gently and firmly). 2. Finding the place you need to press ? You need to find where your milk collecting ducts (sinuses) are in your breasts. The best way to do this is by feeling for them. They may feel like peas or peas in a pod or just a change in the texture inside your breasts. They are often found a few centimetres from the end of the nipple or where the darker tissue around the nipple area (areola) meets the skin of the breast. 3. Removing colostrum ? Place the flat your thumb above and the flat of your first finger below, in a ?C? shape, over the sinuses and gently press and release, building up to a rhythm. A few drops of colostrum may appear at the end of your nipple. When the drips stop move your thumb and finger around your breast to the next set of milk collecting sinuses, repeating this process of rhythmic press and release. You may need to swap hands to express colostrum from the other side of the same breast. 4. Collecting and storing colostrum ? You will be given a package containing equipment for collecting and storing your colostrum. There will be small sterile syringes with red caps, which you can use to collect the colostrum directly from your nipple. If you chose this way to collect colostrum, carefully replace the red cap and place the syringe at the back of the fridge. Alternatively, you may wish to use the small sterile gallipot for collecting colostrum, if so when finished re-cover the gallipot and place it in the back of the fridge. If you are expressing more than once in a day then use a new sterile syringe or gallipot at each expressing. At the end of the day, you can put all of the collected colostrum into one container (universal container) and store this in the freezer at minus 18 degrees C. When you are coming into hospital to have your baby put all of the collected colostrum into the plastic bags provided, pack the bag(s) with ice. Once at the hospital give the bag(s) to your midwife who will have it stored in the hospital freezer.

sorry about the lack of paragraphs.

not at all 3andnomore. have been producing colostrum since week 16. I also plan to express and freeze prior to the birth.

OH wow...learn somehting new everyday...I never knew that...saying that, I only ever leaked before giving Birth with my es, with my otehr 2 I never started having milk//leaking unti after they are born.

doh, so, I actually knew that milk can start to be produced before Birth...doh...well es is 10...so, it's been a few years, lol....

ohhh interesting. I didn't know this.
So dejags, were you producing milk anyway and then start expressing or did you help it along a bit?

With DD1 my milk came in before she was born but i couldn't seem to squeeze out a drop during my pregnancy with DD2, not that I really tried but....

I am a bit different - as my norks have been remodelled

so with DS1 there was a little bit of colostrum, feeding was a disaster though (mainly due to lack of info and support)

DS2 small amount of colostrum if expressed (I didn't freeze it though). I mixed fed him until 9 weeks old when I gave up (once again I was misinformed and went about it all wrong).

Now with DC3 (due in May) am producing a lot more colostrum than with the other two. There is some evidence that the milk producing mechanism in the breast can re-canalise (I think in my case it's been a slow process over the course of three pregnancies). I feel much more confident and informed this time and intend to give BF'ing a "proper" go.

No, I didn't post that - looks like some sort of hospital guidance.

Usually better to express colostrum by hand, rather than pump, by the way.

I did wonder about that Tiktok. You get such a little, it would all be wasted in the works of the pump.

I think Mears posted that link.

So what week of my pregnancy should I sart trying to squeeze out a bit of colustrum then and if you only get out tiny drops what is the best way to store these little amounts?

tia

from what I read (Tiktok may correct me), it's best to start at the 36th week (too much nipple stimulation can contribute to labour kicking off - obviously wouldn't want that).

Only thing for me is, I can't find these syringe thingy's referred to in that article. I'll have to make another plan.

Sorry TC - there is mention of a syringe with a red cap in the article which Mears posted. See kiskidees post below.

Sorry missed that, will read again slowly this time!
Thank you

No worries about expressing whenever - some mothers bf their previous child all the way through pg anyway!

Thanks Tiktok. So is the whole nipple stimulation thing a myth then?

I wanted to get started a little earlier for max. benefit but was scared of triggering labour. Didn't think about BF'ing whilst pregnant.

That's great, thanks for all the replies Looks like I'll be giving it a go from next week then!

Kiskidee that's an excellent link, thanks

Does anyone have any idea where I could get the sterile syringes etc from? Maybe ask at the SCBU at the local hospital?

ask your midwife for sterile syringes

Kiskidee,I will ask her next week then when I see her, thanks

Do you know if I can freeze it in the syringes? Or will I need to get some sort of sterile storage pot/bag too?

Thanks again for all the help!

i can't see why you can't freeze it in syringes. you may have lots of syringes tho.

if you go to expressyourselfmums.co.uk or maybe it is the nct-online.org.uk website in their shopping area. they have little feeding cups which have tight lids and it is graduated in oz and ml. ameda makes them.

i think if you just bought 2 of these they would be more than sufficient.

That's excellent, thanks

I will go and have a look at those sites now, my midwife thought it was a good idea, but didn't really know much about it!